Coming Home - Pt-9

Howdy Folks,

On April 9, 2013 I posted the first installment of "Coming Home" and then followed with Pt 2, on April 10, Pt 3 on April 11, Pt 4 on May 8, Pt 5 on May 21, Pt 6 June 18, and Pt 7, July 31, Pt 8, Oct 15... If you're just joining us you can find Pt 1 (HERE), and each segment has a link to the next (If you'd like to revisit Pt 8 CLICK HERE) … In Pt 8 we left Billie and Hector alongside the road at the second crime scene of the day … I hope you'll enjoy this next installment.

Kessy, Saturday & me - writin' in the barn

Coming Home - Pt-9

     

She put her hand on his shoulder and gave her most assuring smile, "Hector, why don't you call me, Billie? After all we are equals, quite possibly going to be partners." She had a pang of guilt for saying that last part. Poor Roy was supposed to be her partner and he died before they ever worked together.



"Billie," he tried it out. Shook his head. "No, I do not think Billie sounds right. I think I will stay with Miss Weston. If you approve, Miss Weston."

      

"I approve, and I don't mean any disrespect when I call you Hector. Hector."

      

"Hector was my grandfather's name. It is a good name."

      

"Okay then, Hector, now that we know who we are, let's go examine our second crime scene for the day. I could have stayed in Nashville if I wanted to be this busy."

       

The car was nothing worth looking at out here, and even if she wanted to, it was still too hot. But the body, way on the far side of the road, that called for her attention. She outpaced Hector and squatted next to the body dressed in an above average looking suit, lying face down, almost comfortable looking. Her eyes were drawn immediately to the little patch of dried blood beside the dead man's face. Then she saw the little dark red, almost black spot in the back of his head. Just like the wound Juan del Paso had. And exactly the same location. She would roll him over, to look at his face. But she already knew who it would turn out to be. Andrew 'Quiet Man' Kent. She shook her head, well he's a quiet man now alright.

       

Hector rolled him, then looked at Billie with a big question mark on his face.

      

"I know," she said. "Why go to all that bother, kill Roy, kill Juan, just to bring him way out here, and shoot him too?" Billie rocked back, then sat on the road. One of the firefighters called out.

       

"Could you go see what they want?  I need to think about this."

       

"Sure Miss Weston," Hector said and started away.

      

Billie's phone rang. She looked at the screen.

      

"Hello Sheriff ... Yes, we're here. How's the family holding up?"

      

"It's rough. Been in law enforcement twenty-five years, never had anything strike in my own back yard before. Mary … Well the doctor gave her something, she's asleep now. Wish I was." He stopped, Billie could hear him sob. After a second he started again, "I don't feel much like this Sheriff crap anymore."

       

"I understand." Billie said.

      

"Oh Christ, Billie. I can't focus. I wanted to say, your Mom and Dad are on their way here. He called about ten minutes ago, I tried to talk him out of it, but your father's a determined man when he … Anyway what the hell did I want to say?"

       

"Ask about this mess I suppose."

      

"Yea that's it. What happened, a bad wreck?"

      

"Under the circumstances, I wish I didn't have to tell you now, but, we found the prisoner Roy was transporting." She paused, but not long enough for Sheriff Lovell to speak. "He's the dead man on the road in your phone call. Shot, small caliber, in the base of the skull. Just like Juan del Paso. Why would someone spring him, to kill him a few hours later?"

      

She heard the Sheriff take a long breath, then a few steps.

      

"Sheriff?"

     

"I'm trying to think. Listen Billie, if I hand this to you. What are your plans. I mean, I don't think I can handle this tonight. Understand?"

      

"Completely. You take all the time you need. Right now, I'll call the coroner and have Deputy Montoya wait for him. I was planning to visit Sara Muguara tonight. If I get bogged down tomorrow I might call Under-Sheriff Calhoun. Thought about the State Police, but you want to keep it home-grown. Honestly though Sheriff, I think it is more than a local crime."

       

"Dale Calhoun is a hard man to get along with, but you go ahead. I gotta go. Sit down … But you tell me everything every step of the way."

      

"Sheriff, who called you? How'd they get your home number, or your cell?"

       

A long pause, then, "I'm… don't know."

      ******************************

      Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry

"Coming Home - Pt 6"

     

            

 Howdy Folks,

On April 9, I posted the first installment of "Coming Home" and then followed with Pt 2, on April 10, Pt 3 on April 11,Pt 4 on May 8, and Pt 5 on May 21. You can read Pt 5 here,http://dutchhenry.blogspot.com/2013/05/coming-home-pt-5.html ... and there are links to previous segments … We left Billie at the end of Chapter 2 as she was heading back to town … Enjoy this next installment.

     

                                       Pt 6 Coming Home - Chapter Three

The sun was more than halfway down the sky as they drove over the lonely two lane road back to Barilla. She had sent Sheriff Lovell back hours ago. No need for him to endure the scene anymore than he already had. She and Deputy Montoya, with some credible assistance from Lt. Rusk and Officer Brooks had done a first rate job of crime scene investigation. Of course that stretch of road would be closed a while longer. Roy's cruiser and the dump truck were safely impounded; she'd won that battle too. They were in the Hondo County garage, under lock and key, in a little thought of building used to house a lot of junk no one remembered the county owned anymore.

As Deputy Montoya drove, Billie flipped through her tablet, studying her notes and making more. She'd solved the mystery of how the dump truck could get within ramming distance of Roy's car when she'd walked the lower side of the road and found tire tracks in the sand running parallel to the road about a hundred yards away. She'd sketched a diagram in her tablet. The dump truck must have been following Roy, when he slowed to look at the car in the sand, the truck rammed him. New note - Whoever it was, couldn't risk hitting the prisoner they were there for – so pushing Roy's car off the road had been the plan. Only he fought back. She circled, 'he fought back', because except for the windshield, Roy's car's damage had all come from the dump truck. Whoever fired on him, fired high. Another obvious statement as to the importance of the prisoner.
 

       

Deputy Montoya stopped the car in the street in front of Martha's, behind Billie's Vette. "You want me to wait for you?"

      

Startled, Billie looked at him, "I'll meet you at the office, don't go home. I have a few questions." She closed her tablet, slipped it in her pocket, and grabbed the bag containing her badge and gun. "Do I have an office?"

      

"Don't know." Deputy Montoya nodded then grinned, "Most likely."

       

She looked at her watch. "Six-thirty. Suppose anybody there would know?"

      

 Deputy Montoya shrugged.

      

 "I guess we'll find out when we get there." She carried the brown paper sack with her, slid behind the wheel of her own car, started it. She gave it a second to warm up while she slipped her badge in the vest pocket of her jacket. The side arm she attached to her belt by the clip on its holster. She followed Deputy Montoya the seven blocks to the Hondo/Salado County Sheriff's Department building behind the new Hondo County Courthouse.

       

The Sheriff's Deputy on duty greeted them when they entered. "Evening, Hector." He turned to Billie, "Hell of a way to start a reunion." He offered his hand, "Shane Hardin, you probably don't remember me. I was just starting out when you were packing your things to head out for Quantico."

       

Billie took his hand and sized him up. "Of course I remember you." She thought a second, "Your mother breeds Quarter Horses, and your dad works on oil rigs."

       

Deputy Hardin smiled as if he was proud to be remembered. "That's right, but Dad's retired now. Mom's still selling horses, but as I recall, you and your family like those Walkers."

      

"Is everybody retiring in Hondo County? And you bet, we do like our Walkers." She winked at Hector, then asked Deputy Hardin, "Do I have an office?"

       

"You do, before Sheriff Lovell went home he asked me to make sure you found it. I'll show you."

       

She signaled for Hector to follow and walked with Deputy Hardin around the front counter, down the hall between stacks of faded cardboard boxes to the third, and last, office on the right. Deputy Hardin swung open the door. "Never been used yet. Well other than to store stuff." He nodded at the boxes stacked high in the corner. "I moved as much as I could into the big closet in the conference room, and the hall, but those wouldn't fit."

       

An old wooden desk, an older wooden desk chair, a tall metal file cabinet, missing a drawer, and a leather sofa furnished the room. On the desk sat a lamp and a slightly bent in/out basket. The single window had a newspaper taped over it dated, November 12, 2007.

       

They stood in silence while Billie surveyed her new operations center. "Phone?"

       

Deputy Hardin shrugged, then smiled weakly. "I'll be out front if you need anything else."

       

She motioned for Hector to take the desk chair, Billie had designs on the leather couch. She called down the hall for Deputy Hardin to bring everything he could get his hands on about the prisoner Roy was transporting from Salado County, then collapsed on the couch. The day was beginning to take a toll. She'd been up for thirty-six hours, fast highway driving for too many of them, then sworn in, sort of, as a Detective in her home town, so she could start the investigation of a lifelong friend's killing.

       

She turned so she could see Hector, "That was, Juan del Paso, killed out there today wasn't it?"

       

Hector nodded.

**********************

Gitty Up ~ Dutch

"Coming Home"- Pt-4

Howdy Folks,

On April 9, I posted the first installment of "Coming Home" and then followed with Pt 2, on April 10 and Pt 3 on April 11 … I had a few requests for a little more and I'm thrilled you enjoy it so, here you go ... We left Billie with Sheriff Lovell speeding to a crime scene, her first as detective in the Sheriff's department, having just been sworn in as they sped along. Sheriff Lovell had pleaded with her, "Use all the training the FBI gave you." He looked at her. "And listen to me. You talk to me. Only me. There's something home-grown about this. The state Police'll try to mess this up. You keep it home-grown."

You can find Pt 1 here http://dutchhenry.blogspot.com/2013/04/coming-home-short-story.html

Pt 2 here http://dutchhenry.blogspot.com/2013/04/coming-home-pt-2.html

Pt 3 here http://dutchhenry.blogspot.com/2013/04/coming-home-pt-3.html

I hope you enjoy Pt 4 …
                                               Coming Home – Pt 4

Looking down on the wreckage and bodies from the vantage point she'd selected on the highest rise, of the flat land that bordered the county two lane road, to get her first feel for the incident, Billie wished she could find a way to be FBI again, and in charge of this crime. Sheriff Ethan Lovell deserved it. She owed him that. For twenty-two years he'd served her father. When the time came for her to join the Hondo County Sheriff's department, fresh out of college, he was like a second father to her. Would she be the investigator she was now without those few years apprenticing under Ethan Lovell's steady hand? Not likely. The team of Ty Weston and Ethan Lovell had shaped a very analytical mind.

First question, how could the dump truck have gotten close enough to ram Roy's cruiser?

Billie squatted, sat on her heels, and studied the flat land on the far side of the road. Sheriff Lovell's loud protest distracted her a second. She looked down at the bodies, then back to the flat land on the far side of the rode. The Dawson County coroner's car pulled up. That's alright; nobody was moving anything until she had her chance to study the bodies, and the immediate area.

Pulling a small notebook from her shirt pocket, she flipped it open. First note,

- How rammed? – Distraction.

Another Hondo County Sheriff's Department car pulled up behind Sheriff Lovell's Suburban. A white Tahoe. Billie recognized its driver as Sheriff's Deputy, Hector Montoya. She hadn't seen him in a few years either, but like Sheriff Lovell, he hadn't changed. Most likely the Stetson on his head was the same one he'd been wearing the last time they'd talked. Deputy Montoya, she remembered, was a man of thrift. With his money, and his words.

The flat land on the far side of the rode kept calling her back. She stood, drew a line in the sand with the toe of her boot where she'd been squatting, and marched down to the wrecked cruiser and truck. As she walked she watched Sheriff Lovell, who was leaning against his Suburban, looking away from the scene. She knew he wasn't looking at anything in particular. He was just looking away.

Hector met her halfway and removed his hat. "I'd heard today was going to be your first day back." He waved his hat over his shoulder behind him, indicating the scene. "Some day."

They shook hands. Billie nodded toward the State Troopers. "Know them?"

"Yea. The big gringo is Lieutenant Rusk. He'll want to be in charge. He's not from around here. Not easy to get along with."

Billie nodded, pulled her tablet, and jotted, - Gringo State Cop - Lt. Rusk, - Hard case?

Deputy Montoya continued, "The black guy is alright. Grew up in Dawson. New cop, but a good guy. Officer Brooks."

Billie noted on the same page, - Officer Brooks - from Dawson - alright.

"Okay then. Let's go meet Lt. Rusk."

Deputy Montoya fell in line behind her and followed. "Hector find a camera and go to where I was sitting. I drew a line in the sand, take pictures. Every possible angle. Make sure you get some of the other side of the road, but keep the vehicles in the frame." She grabbed his arm. "After you introduce me to Lt. Rusk."

"I have a camera." Deputy Montoya said.

Billie caught Lt. Rusk watching her as they approached and gave him a come-to-me wave. She heard Hector chuckle and saw Lt. Rusk stiffen, then start her way.

"Sheriff Lovell claims you're to be in charge of this investigation, but listen here young lady, this is more than a County situation. I'm taking charge."

Shaking his hand, but disregarding his proclamation, Billie signaled Hector he was up.

"Lt. Rusk, this is Detective Billie Weston, Hondo County's Sheriff's Department." He pulled his hat and scratched his head, "I guess I should say Hondo/Salado Sheriff's Department."

"Relation to Ty Weston?" Lt. Rusk asked his voice less commanding.

Billie smiled. "My father. You've met him?"

"He was just about to retire when I moved to this jurisdiction, but yea, I've met him. Doesn't have anything to do with how this investigation will be handled. Sorry."

"We'll see. While I agree with that, I must point out I take my orders from Sheriff Lovell. He told me to handle this." She pointed to the Coroner's car. "That's my Coroner. He'll do as I say." She started away then turned back, "Lieutenant, I'm sure you've got your own paperwork to do, why not get a head start on it while I examine the scene." She signaled Hector away and went to Roy. 

*******
To continue you can read Pt 5 here - http://dutchhenry.blogspot.com/2013/05/coming-home-pt-5.html

Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry