“If you cooperate, don’t interfere, and if the place is clean, we’ll be on our way,” the agent said. “If not, well, people are going to jail today.” The agent entered the house without saying another word.
“Joey, come on back,” Tony said with shock over the walkie-talkie.
Joey snatched the walkie-talkie from his belt. “Yeah, Tony.”
“There are a bunch of agents down here saying that they have a warrant to search the stables and the barns. What the hell is going on?” Tony asked with stress in his voice.
“They got a warrant. Let them do their job,” Joey said. “Cooperate and there won’t be any trouble - or should I say any more trouble.”
“This… this is ridiculous,” Faith stuttered. She was absolutely floored. There was no way Adrian, Steve, and Joey were drug traffickers. Right?
“I gotta go get Steve and Adrian,” Joey said. “They don’t have their walkie-talkies with them.”
“I’m sorry, Joey, but I can’t let you leave my sight,” the sheriff said solemnly.
“Why not?” Joey asked with confusion.
Sheriff Langford sucked in a breath. “I have to place you under arrest, son,” he whispered.
Joey’s eyes widened. He was absolutely shocked.
“For what?” Faith asked with astonishment.
“I’m sorry, Joey,” Sheriff Langford said. “I don’t have a choice. If it wasn’t for the DEA getting involved, I would have just talked to you about it before I would have done this. But, with the trafficking accusations and…I can’t cover for ya. Not this time.”
“Joseph Alexander Matthews, you are under arrest for breaking and entering into the Elliot Sheriff’s Department, obstruction of justice, and launching a cyber-attack of a law enforcement facility and the Wichita County Courthouse,” the deputy announced.
Joey’s entire body stiffened. His lips went thin. He closed his eyes.
Faith looked at Joey’s body language. Oh my God, he did all that. He looks guilty.
“Jesus wept!” Aunt Bea cried out as she lowered herself onto a light brown wicker chair on the porch.
“Place your hands behind your back and turn around,” the deputy ordered.
Joey handed Faith the DEA search warrant, and then complied with the deputy’s instructions.
Sheriff Langford didn’t look at anyone. He acted like he was ashamed to be there.
As the deputy cuffed Joey, he read him his rights.
Faith tried to comfort Aunt Bea as she cried in an embroidered handkerchief.
The deputy and Sheriff Langford were escorting Joey to a cruiser when Adrian’s truck barreled into the driveway. Steve and Adrian leaped out of the vehicle. They were awestruck at the scene on their ranch.
“What the hell is going on?” Adrian shouted as he and Steve approached Sheriff Langford. They both looked around.
Faith went out into the yard, and Aunt Bea trailed behind her.
Sheriff Langford handed Adrian a copy of Joey’s arrest warrant. “I gotta take him in. With the DEA investigation and this….I have to take him,” the sheriff said sadly. He couldn’t even look at Adrian.
“DEA investigation!” Adrian exclaimed. For a man that was naturally tan, he turned pale real quick.
“The DEA agent said that they got three anonymous tips that you guys run drugs through the ranch,” Faith said. “They have a search warrant.” She handed Adrian the search warrant.
Steve was speechless.
Sheriff Langford walked away from them.
Adrian’s mouth opened, but nothing came out. It was like he couldn’t believe what was happening.
“When will we be able to bail him out?” Faith asked the cops.
“It’ll be at least a day,” the deputy said. “We have to take him to the Wichita County Jail.” The deputy put Joey in the back of the cruiser.
“Shit,” Steve mumbled. “It could take two days to get a bail hearing out there.”
“Joey, don’t say anything until we call our lawyer,” Adrian yelled.
Joey nodded, and then the deputy closed the door.
Aunt Bea broke down crying again. Steve went to her and held her.
The agents had made Steve, Aunt Bea, Faith, Adrian, and the ranch hands stay on the front porch as they tore through the ranch. The DEA agents spent four hours searching the Lone Wolf Ranch. They even brought in two veterinarians to do cavity searches on the horses, the Border Collie puppies Adrian bought Faith at the fair, and some of the cattle. In the end, they didn’t find a thing.
“Well, we didn’t find anything, but that doesn’t mean this is over,” Agent Witherspoon said to them. “We’ll be watching you.” He turned and got into one of the SUVs.
“Prick,” Steve mumbled under his breath.
“You boys should go back to the stables and check on the cattle that are close,” Adrian said in a low tone. “Make sure they didn’t upset the horses.”
The ranch hands walked off to carrying out the order without saying a word.
Aunt Bea, Faith, Steve, and Adrian walked into the house.
Adrian and Steve called the family attorney while Aunt Bea and Faith cleaned the place. The agents had rummaged all over the house. They even unmade the beds in all the bedrooms including Adrian’s parents’ old bedroom. Aunt Bea had said no one has been in there since the week after Arn’s funeral – until today. They had gone through every drawer that could be opened. Some of their clothes were thrown in the floor, no doubt for the drug dogs to sniff.
They even went through the guest house. Some of Faith’s clothes were on the floor, and her dresser drawers were open.
They all felt violated.
Once Adrian and Steve finished talking to the lawyer, they pitched in to help clean up the house. It took them two hours to put the house back into its former condition. Of course, there was extra laundry to do since the clothes that were on the floor had dog drool on them.
It was 9:30 at night when they all reconvened in the den. Steve quietly and angrily made bourbon and branch for everyone. Faith had never drunk bourbon and branch before. Then again, she’s never had her home searched for drugs before. There was a first time for everything.
Steve quietly passed around the drinks. Then, he broke the silence. “I have something to tell ya’ll,” he said in a low tone.
No one responded. They waited for Steve to say what he had to say.
“A few days ago, I found a bag of coke in the stables. A big bag of coke,” Steve announced.
“What?” Adrian said with a furrowed brow.
“I thought it belonged to one of the boys,” Steve said. “Hell, I don’t care what they do on their personal time, but I didn’t want the crap here. I held a meeting, and I showed it to them and said that it wasn’t cool to keep their stash here. I told them I didn’t know who it belonged to and I didn’t care as long as the shit didn’t end up here anymore. No one fessed up to it being theirs, but I wasn’t expecting them to. I flushed it down the toilet and went on about my day.”
“Why didn’t you tell us about it?” Adrian asked angrily.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal,” Steve said. “Besides, I know how you are, Adrian. You would have had us out there all night waiting for someone to fess up that it was theirs. Then, we would have lost a perfectly good ranch hand because he did a little recreation on his own free time.”
“If whoever it was is doing it on his own free time, he wouldn’t have stashed it here,” Adrian sneered. “What if they had found that crap? All of us would have gone to prison forever. Whoever owned it is involved in something, and it damn near took us down.”
“Adrian, I didn’t think it would lead to our place being raided by the damn DEA,” Steve said. “Or that Joey would get arrested for it.”
“Drugs was the only thing that they didn’t charge him with,” Faith said and sipped her drink. The concoction was a little too strong for her, but it was what the occasion called for.
The Border
Collie pups, Hager and Chop, were lying down at Faith’s feet.
“Whoever it belonged to, they got the message,” Aunt Bea in a soft voice. “If they kept stashing it here, the agents would have found it.”
“Maybe one of them kept it here so their wife or girlfriend wouldn’t find it,” Steve said. “Hell, I don’t know.”
Faith didn’t think it was that simple. All this happened at once. “Call me paranoid, but something isn’t right. It is too much of a coincidence that Joey gets arrested on a completely separate matter and the place is raided for drugs on the same day. Do you have enemies that want to see you ruined?”
They were quiet for a moment. “No,” Adrian said. “Not unless lover boy over there has pissed off a lady.”
Steve gave Adrian a nasty look.
“This isn’t the time for you two to start turning on each other,” Aunt Bea said. “Faith has a point. All this didn’t happen for the heck of it.”
“Oh hell,” Steve said as realization registered in his eyes. “Rosita Rodriguez. She did this.”
“What?” All of them said at once.
“Think about it,” Steve said. “She’s the only one that hates us enough to pull this. She was furious when we kicked her off the ranch during the BBQ.”
“Yeah, but she’s back in California, isn’t she?” Faith said.
“Well, they do have phones in Cali,” Steve said.
“The agent said they got three anonymous calls,” Adrian said. “They would know if it was the same person.”
“Not necessarily,” Steve said. “She could have gotten a friend or two to call.”
“For the sake of argument, let’s say you’re right,” Faith said. “What about Joey getting arrested? Obstruction of justice? Cyber-attacks on county facilities? How would Rosita know about that and what is it all about? I didn’t know Joey could turn on a computer much less hack one.”
“It must be some sort of frame-up,” Steve said. “Joey isn’t a computer guy. He doesn’t even like carrying a cell phone.”
“What did the lawyer say?” Aunt Bea asked. “Will we be able to get him out of county tomorrow?”
“Mike hopes so,” Adrian said. “It was too late to call a judge tonight, but Mike promised he would call one first thing in the morning.”
“It is late,” Aunt Bea said. “Let’s figure all this out in the morning.”
Chapter 33
The next day, Faith, Steve, and Adrian drove to the Wichita County Courthouse. It was an hour drive from Elliot. Mike Scully, the Matthews’ family attorney, was able to get Joey a bail hearing at noon.
“Case number 3872,” a bailiff announced. “The state versus Joseph A. Matthews.”
Mike stepped forward, exchanged a quick handshake with the defense attorney from the last bail hearing, and then stood at the defendants’ table.
Another bailiff escorted Joey into the courtroom. He walked Joey to the defendant’s table where Mike stood. Joey’s light brown hair was combed, but he was in a short-sleeved orange jumpsuit. His ankles and wrists were chained like he was a danger to society.
Thank God Aunt Bea stayed at home. She would have fainted at the sight of Joey dressed like this, Adrian thought.
Steve blew out when he saw Joey.
Joey gave his family a quick nod of acknowledgment.
Steve and Adrian nodded back at them.
The judge opened the folder that the court clerk gave him. He quickly skimmed it and looked at the assistant district attorney. “All right, it says here that the defendant has been arrested for breaking and entering into the Elliot Sheriff’s Department to steal files which leads to the obstruction of justice charge. It also says here that the defendant is responsible for hacking the computer system at the Elliot Sheriff’s Department and the Wichita County Courthouse. All crimes were committed four years ago,” the judge said.
Adrian’s head rocked back. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. No. Joey couldn’t have….
“That’s correct, your honor,” the ADA said as he stood up.
“Bail recommendations?” the judge asked.
“The DA’s office recommends that Mr. Matthews be held until trial,” the ADA said.
Adrian’s eyes bugged out.
Faith’s mouth dropped open.
Mike quickly stood up. “Your honor, what my client is being accused of are non-violent crimes. Holding him without bail is extreme.”
“Mr. Matthews is a flight risk,” the ADA said. “His family has several million dollars at their disposable. Mr. Matthews could disappear overnight.”
“Over crimes that will only carry a two-year sentence altogether? I highly doubt it, your honor,” Mike said. “My client has family ties in Elliot and he helps run the family business in Elliot. He has lived in the town for most of his life. He is not a flight risk.”
“Mr. Matthews is a crafty individual. He launched an attack that broke into this very courthouse’s computer records to erase evidence of a crime that one of his brothers committed four years ago.”
Adrian’s eyes closed as guilt wretched his gut. Oh God, what did you do, Joey?
“Allegedly launched an attack, your honor,” Mike corrected. “My client doesn’t even own a cell phone. The charges are ridiculous. He’s a rancher, not a computer programmer.”
“Which leads to the DEA matter,” the ADA said quickly. “Just yesterday, Mr. Matthews’ ranch, which he co-owns with his brothers, was raided by the DEA for suspicion of drug trafficking.”
Adrian scratched the back of his head. He couldn’t believe this was happening to his kid brother – to his family.
Faith reached over and placed her hand over Adrian’s.
“And the DEA agents didn’t find a thing,” Mike argued.
“Yes, but they are still investigating. They are certain that Mr. Matthews and his family are dealing drugs. With the current charges and the DEA investigation, the pressure is on the defendant. He is a flight risk.”
“My client has no priors and his living family members don’t have any priors,” Mike said.
Mike was about to say something else, but the ADA interrupted him. “We wouldn’t know if they did have priors since Mr. Matthews can go in and out of the law enforcement and court computer systems whenever he wants.”
The judge slammed down his gavel. “Mr. Novak, you know better,” the judge said sternly.
“I apologize to the court,” the ADA said quickly.
“Continue, Mr. Scully,” the judge said.
“As I was saying, my client is not a criminal or a hacker. The charges were brought up by an acquaintance that my client met years ago. An acquaintance that is desperate for money. My theory is that he remembered meeting Mr. Matthews years ago and is trying to cash in,” Mike said.
“Your honor, we have the computer disk evidence of the hacking,” the ADA said. “The so-called acquaintance turned it over to us. We have a signed statement. If you let Mr. Matthews out on bail, he could tamper with evidence or intimidate the witness.”
“That is an outrageous accusation,” Mike said. “My client-”
“All right,” the judge said. “I’ve heard all I need to hear. Mr. Scully, does your client have a passport?”
“No, your honor,” Mike answered.
“Taking into consideration the nature of the crimes and the DEA investigation, I’m setting bail at $100,000. The defendant must wear an ankle monitor that won’t allow him to leave his property. Court is adjourned for one hour for lunch,” the judge said and banged his gavel. He stood up.
Everyone in the courtroom stood up. No one moved until the judge left the courtroom. The bailiff came for Joey.
Adrian and Steve rushed to the front of the courtroom. They didn’t get to talk to Joey before the bail hearing. Faith trailed behind them.
“Wait, please,” Steve said in a half-pleading tone. “Can you give us a minute before you take him?”
The bailiff nodded. “Just a few minutes,” the b
ailiff said and walked away from the defense table.
“Are you all right?” Adrian asked.
“Yeah,” Joey said flatly.
“Adrian, do you have the-” Mike began to ask.
Adrian knew what he was going to ask. “I got the cash. As long as they’ll take a check, he can be back home today.”
“Good,” Mike said. “I’ll walk with you to start the process. Then, you guys can go back home. Since Joey has to wear an ankle monitor, law enforcement isn’t going to let him out of their sight whether the bail is paid or not. They’ll drive him back to the ranch and put the monitor on him there. I’ll be with him every step of the way.”
“You won’t be the only one,” Adrian said.
“Yeah, we’re not leaving this place until Joey does,” Steve said with conviction. “I don’t care who’s driving him.”
“It will take at least two hours to process him and then the hour drive back to Elliot, Steve,” Mike said. “Ya’ll go home, we’ll meet you there.”
“We’re not leaving this town without him,” Adrian said.
“All right,” Mike said.
Joey looked at Adrian. “Everything is going to be all right.”
Adrian scoffed. “I’m supposed to be the one that tells you that.”
Joey gave him a half smile.
Adrian hugged Joey. His brother couldn’t hug him back because of the damn cuffs. Adrian released him.
Faith gave Joey a little hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Joey smiled at her. “You keep taking care of him,” he said to her as he nodded at Adrian.
“I will,” Faith whispered and rubbed Joey’s shoulder.
Unbelievable. Joey was the one in hot water, and he was worried about Adrian.
Steve practically pulled Joey in his muscled arms. He gave Joey two hard pants on the back as he hugged him. “Keep being strong, hard ass,” Steve said.
Chapter 34
After Adrian had paid Joey’s bail, Steve, Adrian, and Faith grabbed lunch at a fast food joint. Adrian had called Aunt Bea on his cell phone to let her know that Joey had been granted bail, but he had to wear an ankle monitor. Aunt Bea didn’t care as long as Joey got back home.
The Rancher Page 15