by Carsen Taite
She didn’t wait for his protests. What was he going to do—threaten her more?
Back in her car, she dialed Mary’s number.
She answered on the first ring. “Hey, Nelson, aren’t you supposed to be babysitting today?”
“Today and every day. I’ve got some free time this morning. Can we meet?”
“Sure, but you may not want to make the drive. I’m staked out on Sophia’s ranch—just relieved one of the local cops I bribed into helping. Still not a word from her.”
A stakeout sounded like exactly what she needed to pass the time. “Text me your location and I’ll see you there.”
The drive to Valencia Acres took the better part of an hour. Dale zoomed by the turnoff from the highway and drove a mile down the road, following Mary’s directions, almost missing the second turnoff that was surrounded by a dense thicket. She drove the rocky, dirt road about fifty feet before she spotted Mary’s SUV and parked right up against it, cursing the tree branches that were scraping the sides of her truck. She jumped down and was looking for the bridle path Mary had told her to follow when she heard a loud whisper and looked up to see Mary standing a few feet away.
“I thought I was supposed to meet you near the horse stables.”
“I got tired of waiting on your sorry ass. Besides, Sophia’s out riding so I doubled back here to meet you.”
“I wish we could put a real team on this job. She might be meeting someone about Sergio. Hell, she might be meeting Sergio.”
“Or she could be just going for a ride. Pretty sure she does that most days.”
“I know you think I’m being overly suspicious, but I wish you could’ve seen her with Arturo yesterday. There was some connection there. One he didn’t want anyone to notice. If nothing happened then why didn’t she show up at the diner or return any of our calls?”
Mary shrugged. “I don’t know, but I can tell you that it’s been a dead zone around here. Aside from a hay delivery, not a lot of action here at the OK Corral. If you stay here long you’ll probably fall asleep before your big interview.”
“Not too sure that’s going to happen.” Dale kicked some dirt with the toe of her boot. “I had a meeting with Diego this morning. Basically, he told me if I don’t give the interview it could be bad for the agency and there might be consequences.”
Mary put a hand on her shoulder. “Fuck him. Pretty sure you’ve already suffered the worst consequences. He can’t make you do it.”
He couldn’t, but he had appealed to the one thing she’d always been able to rely on. Duty. Her whole life she’d let the obligations of duty invade her personal life, but she owed no duty to Lindsey and Spotlight America, and she was beginning to wonder how much allegiance she owed to the job.
“I bet she’s back from her ride now,” Mary said. “You ready to check things out?”
“You bet.” Work, real work. That’s what she needed to get past this feeling that she didn’t have control over her own destiny.
Dale followed Mary along the wooded path until the barn rose into sight. She’d been at the property the day Arturo had held Sophia and Lily at gunpoint. Based on what she’d seen then, she found it hard to believe Sophia would willingly conspire with Arturo outside of the job they’d sent her to do, but she’d seen stranger things. Family had a way of making people form strange alliances.
Mary pulled out a pair of binoculars and handed them to her. “You can get a pretty good view of the horse stables and the front porch of the house from here. If you look to the left, you’ll see her car. She’s got a pickup too, but she only uses it on the property.”
“How’re we going to know if she’s back from her ride?”
Mary pointed to the building that housed the stables. “She changed into riding boots outside and left her tennis shoes sitting right outside the door. They’re still there, aren’t they?”
Dale looked through the strong lens and confirmed the tennis shoes were still in place. “You should be a detective.”
“I’m thinking about it.” Mary leaned against a tree and folded her arms. “You know, if you were a good friend, you would’ve brought me breakfast. I’ve been up since—”
Mary’s voice became a dull roar against the backdrop of what Dale was seeing through the binoculars. The front door to the house opened and three people walked out. Sophia, Lindsey, and Lindsey’s cameraman, Alice. She made a zip it motion with one hand, pointed in the direction of the house, and motioned for Mary to look through the binoculars. Even without the aid of the lens, she could see that Lindsey and Sophia were engaged in an animated conversation, arms gesturing, but their voices didn’t carry.
“What the hell are they doing out here?” Mary asked.
“Fuck if I know, but I’m going to find out.”
Dale started to walk toward the house, but Mary grabbed her arm. “Let’s think about this. If you go barreling up there, what’s it going to look like to anyone who might be watching?”
“I don’t care.”
“Yes, you do. You can question Lindsey about it later, but if Sergio’s people are watching and you get in the middle of this, we’ll blow any chance we have of him reaching out to Sophia.”
Dale seethed, but she knew Mary was right. How in the world did Lindsey wind up here, questioning Sophia? More importantly, how had she not seen this coming? She debated telling Mary that she believed Lindsey had staked out Peyton’s ranch earlier in the week. Mary was her friend and her colleague and she deserved to know, but she didn’t know for sure that it had been Lindsey in the car that night. Although what she was seeing now seemed to confirm they were all being followed.
“Looks like they’re leaving,” Mary said.
Dale watched Lindsey and Alice walking away from the house toward the driveway while she came up with a plan. “I don’t get it. Where’s their car?”
“Maybe they walked in from the road.”
“If I head back out now, I might be able to make it back around to the front drive so I can at least follow them. No telling where they’re headed next.”
“Go, now. Let me know what you find out.”
Dale crashed through the woods on the way back to her truck. Part of her wished she’d confided in Mary, and not just about what DeJesus had told her. But telling Mary she’d almost fallen for Lindsey Ryan would somehow make it real. And it wasn’t. The fleeting attraction was just that, fleeting, and it was gone for good. The only thing she wanted from Lindsey now was some answers.
*
“Pull over here and let’s look up the county tax records for this area,” Lindsey said.
“Does everyone in Texas live out in the woods?” Alice asked.
Lindsey laughed. After they’d left the hotel, they’d gone to the home of Agent Mary Lovelace, owner of the other car they’d seen the night they lurked outside of the Circle Six Ranch. On the way, Lindsey shared the hodgepodge of facts she’s managed to gather so far about the players they’d seen gathered at the Circle Six ranch earlier in the week.
While they discussed their next step, the garage door opened. Lovelace’s car pulled out and turned down the street and they followed. The drive into the country had been challenging, but luckily, there were quite a few cars on the road that helped mask the fact they were tailing a federal agent. At least Lindsey hoped that was the case. Alice seemed oblivious to the danger, and with every mile, she’d conveyed her disbelief that anyone would choose to live so far from the city.
Lovelace pulled off the road and they’d whizzed on by, doubling back to see if they could get any information about who she was headed to see. Alice had spotted a sign for Valencia Acres just up the road from where Lovelace had turned off.
Lindsey paged through the local county appraisal district site on her iPad. “These aren’t woods. These are ranches. And this particular ranch is owned by VA Enterprises.”
“Well, that’s informative.”
“Hang on. I’m signing onto LexisNexis, but the conn
ection out here’s pretty slow.” Lindsey tapped her fingers on the console as she waited for the page to load. She couldn’t help but wonder what Dale was doing right now. Was she sleeping in because she planned to blow off meeting up with them at the Take-Back event, or was she back to doing the real work she’d been prevented from doing while she escorted them around?
She wished she could have a do-over, but she wasn’t sure what exactly she’d done wrong. Dale had consented to the interview. Surely she had to know that tough, personal questions were part of it, but Lindsey would give anything if she hadn’t been the one asking them.
“You find anything yet?”
Lindsey shook away the endless what-if thoughts and focused on the screen. A few keystrokes later, she found the names of the principals for Valencia Acres. Sophia Valencia owned the majority of the quarter horse breeding ranch, but someone named Jade Vargas owned thirty percent of the property. She took a screenshot of the information and then Googled Sophia Valencia’s name. The first thing she found was a tiny news article in the local paper that mentioned the arrest of Arturo Vargas, a Zeta Cartel leader. The arrest had occurred here at the ranch, and Sophia had been shot during an altercation with Vargas. More searching told her Arturo Vargas was currently incarcerated at the Seagoville Federal Detention Center awaiting probable indictment on federal drug charges. Mentioned in the same story was Cyrus Gantry who was believed to have laundered money for Arturo and his brother Sergio, who had yet to be apprehended.
“Holy shit.”
“What?” Alice asked.
Lindsey gave her a capsule summary. “I don’t know what all this means, but Cyrus Gantry is Lily Gantry’s father, and Lily is in a relationship with Peyton Davis, the woman whose ranch we stalked the other night.”
“She’s the AUSA who worked on the task force?”
“One of them. The other one is Bianca Cruz, the one we went to see at the courthouse yesterday.”
“Okay, so what do we do with all this?”
Lindsey mentally ticked through a list of options. They could drive back to town and she could spend a few hours on the computer, trying to connect the dots. Or she could march up to the front door of Valencia Acres and ask some questions. The first plan would probably net some solid information about the whos and whats at play, but the second method was a better way to get a feel for whether there was a real story here or just a string of coincidences. There was no substitute for asking questions while you were staring a subject in the face. “Let’s pay a little visit to the ranch.”
Alice pulled back onto the road, and Lindsey navigated them back to the turn-in for Valencia Acres. They drove down the long, winding drive lined with tall pine trees until a cluster of pale yellow buildings came into sight.
Lindsey pointed to a turnout to the right. “Let’s park over here and walk the rest of the way in. No sense giving whoever is here too much notice that we’re coming.”
As they walked along the gravel road, Lindsey noted the surroundings that included a two-story house with a wide, wraparound porch flanked by a barn and another building, probably the horse stables. The grounds were well tended and beautifully landscaped with containers full of mums, pansies, and winter cabbage. Whoever lived here cared about the place, or at least they cared about keeping up appearances.
They were a few feet from the house when Lindsey registered the clomp of hoofbeats and turned to see a woman on a gorgeous white horse galloping toward them. She stopped in place. “Follow my lead,” she said to Alice.
The woman reined in her ride and walked the horse over to them. The rider was beautiful, with dark hair, tan skin, and coal black eyes full of questions. Lindsey did her best to be disarming. “That’s a beautiful horse. Is he available for stud?”
The woman dismounted. “He is not, but I have others who are.” She looked around, her eyes darting back and forth while she switched the reins from hand to hand. “Most people looking for breeding services arrive in a car, and some even have appointments.”
Despite her attempt to look in control, the woman was nervous, apprehensive, and Lindsey sensed it was about more than the fact they’d showed up without an appointment. She had two choices: set the woman’s mind at ease or keep her off-kilter and use the element of surprise to her advantage. “You’re Sophia Valencia, right? What’s your relationship to Lily Gantry?”
It was a shot in the dark, but it hit its mark. The woman paled, and she gripped the horse’s reins tightly in her fist. For a second, Lindsey was convinced she was going to order them to leave so she was surprised when the woman pointed to the residence and said, “Go to the house. Wait for me there.”
She didn’t wait for them to respond before she walked to the stables and led her horse inside. Lindsey watched her walk away and then motioned to Alice to follow her to the house. They waited on the front porch.
“What’s next?” Alice asked.
“I don’t know, but I do know she’s jittery about something. Did you see the way she acted when I asked her about Lily? I’m just thankful she didn’t toss us out.”
“Shhh, here she comes.”
The woman shut the door to the stables and walked across the yard toward them. Lindsey took the time to size her up. She was tall and graceful and dressed in jodhpurs and sleek black riding boots. She looked the part of a gentrified horsewoman. Lindsey was certain this woman was Sophia Valencia, owner of the ranch.
“Come inside,” the woman said, holding open the door. When they hesitated, the woman’s voice growled with urgency. “Now.”
Lindsey was the first in the door, and she took a moment to observe her surroundings. Hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings, muted colors—the interior was classic, well-kept, and beautiful. Like its owner. She waited until the woman had shut the door behind them before she tried again. “Sophia?”
“Yes. Who are you?”
“My name is Lindsey Ryan.” She pointed to Alice. “This is my colleague, Alice Jordan. We’re working on a story for Spotlight America. I want to ask you some questions about Arturo Vargas.”
Sophia frowned. “You asked me about Lily. Why?”
“Well, I’d like to know more about her too. You know, to round out the story. My sources say you were shot during the altercation with Arturo. Are you okay?”
“Who sent you?”
“No one sent me. Your name came up when I was investigating this story.” Lindsey dug a pen and notepad out of her bag. She didn’t need to take notes, but she figured it would lend some legitimacy to her questions.
“If you want to know about my brothers, you will have to talk to them,” Sophia said in a dismissive tone. “I’m not interested in airing our family laundry in public, and if that’s what you’re after, I think it’s time for you to leave.”
Brothers? What? Was Sophia Valencia related to Arturo and Sergio Vargas? Did that make Sophia a criminal too? Deciding Sophia’s patience would only tolerate one more question, she lobbed a big one. “Does AUSA Peyton Davis know her girlfriend was here at the same time you were involved in a shootout with your brother?”
Sophia was in motion before Lindsey finished her sentence. She stomped to the door and yanked it open. “Get out.”
Lindsey held up a hand. She’d struck a nerve, and she desperately wanted to trace the source of Sophia’s sudden hostility. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you angry. Let’s start over.”
Sophia’s only response was to walk out onto her porch and wave for them to follow. Out of options, Lindsey and Alice left the house, but Lindsey gave it one last shot. “I’ll be honest. I’m working on a story involving the DEA, and that’s what led me to your door. I don’t have all the facts, but I’d like to give an accurate reporting about what’s going on. I have to talk to everyone involved. If you consent to an interview, I promise I’ll be fair in how I convey your side of the story.”
Sophia stared at her for a minute, and Lindsey had a feeling she was weighing her request, vague as it was. But
then Sophia’s eyes narrowed and she knew she’d figured wrong.
“I think you’re bluffing. I think you’re trying to put my family in danger.” She waved her arms. “I want you to leave my property now and don’t come back. Ever.”
That was it. As Lindsey walked with Alice back to the car, she could feel Sophia’s eyes on them the entire way. Sophia’s refusal to talk had lit Lindsey’s curiosity on fire. She was walking away without answers now, but she was more determined than ever to puzzle the pieces of this complicated story together.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Dale drove the highway outside of Valencia Acres several times, but there was no sign of Lindsey or the car she’d seen the other night.
She slammed her hand against the steering wheel. This was ridiculous. Why was Lindsey even out here? Had she been following the members of the task force when she wasn’t working on her piece for the show? Was the story about the Take-Back Initiative a cover for some deep throat investigation of the task force?
Too many questions and she didn’t know how to go about finding the answers.
That wasn’t true. She knew exactly how to find the answers. Same way she always did—go to the source. While she might not know where to find the source at this very minute, she did know where she would be in a few hours. Guess I’m going to be at the event today after all.
Resigned to her plan, she pulled out her cell and called Mary who answered on the first ring. “I can’t find them.”
“Well, they didn’t show back up out here, but something else strange happened after you left.”
Dale gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Talk.”
“I snuck out by the stables to see if I could tell where they’d parked. Sophia came back out and spent about ten minutes on the phone speaking in very heated Spanish.”
“You happen to catch any of it?”
