“Oh well, I’ll make this good later, but no time now.” she said, leaning against the vehicle. Laying the shiny plastic down on the truck window Maude silently apologized to the absent owner and then continued on her way. The white van is in the shadows, the body of it covered with bird crap and dirt, not the van of an assassin. But then on the other hand, what better way to hide a vehicle.
Her small notebook was in easy reach, a pen attached to it for convenience. Maude wrote the numbers down, catching her breath before she eased her way to the van’s windshield. The inspection and registration stickers were faded, but she managed to get some of the information down before glancing up to find that the door to the motel office was opening. She moved back, keeping her head down until she was behind the van and could escape by using another vehicle for cover.
Jesus was right. Leroy Thomas was very large, with wide shoulders and steroid-driven muscles lining his arms and neck. He was bald, his head shiny in the sun, a turn-on to many women, but usually a cover-up by younger men for an early receding hairline. The man’s expression was dogged, his determination to succeed in the current errand obvious to onlookers. Maude hoped he wasn’t suspicious of the motel owner.
Leroy Thomas had been a big guy since he was twelve, learning at an early age that he could bully his way through many life circumstances, getting what he wanted by force without expending a large amount of energy. Now he took his time, never seeing the detective who was standing nearby in the cover of an oleander bush. He was mighty pissed at the scrawny, half-breed who had kept him waiting to go mess around with some old lady’s truck. It if happens again, he said to himself, he’s gone from this world.
Priding himself for being smart, even a genius, Leroy often missed seeing the forest for the trees. Had he seen Maude nearby, he might have figured out that his van was targeted. He could have easily acquired another vehicle or blown away the old lady detective.
To Maude’s relief, the bald man was involved with an inner struggle and passed her by, not seeing her departing shadow as she scooted away behind another vehicle. She silently gave herself a point and the big man zero. She hoped her good fortune remained until he had driven away.
As fate often jumps in and changes luck, the big man climbed behind the wheel of the van and saw Maude out of the corner of his eye as she was bent over near the front door of the beige Mazda sports car next to him. He met her eyes for a moment and realized danger lay there, but the genius within Leroy Thompson was sleeping, and the idiot that was awake saw an older woman with a bent back, trying to get in her car. He smirked and gave her the bird, the traditional three-fingered salute that nasty people sling at nice guys. Maude straightened, stared at the big man’s departing back and thought, some people seek an early death, and that bald fellow looks like a man who is ready to go. She thought she might oblige him if she didn’t have the shield and star in her pocket.
Later, she called Joe and asked, “Want a beer? I’m buying. Over at the Water Dog, that big fellow is holding court with the local folks, and I’m standing at the bar, keeping my eyes on him.”
“Maude, if he’s part of the crew that killed those two people, he’s a dangerous man.”
“That’s why I called my partner instead of my boyfriend to keep me company.”
“I’ll be right there Maude. Ernest can drop me off.”
The vacation she had hoped to take had been interrupted by Lilly Ann’s request for a favor, but originally, the idea of going fishing had prompted Maude to add to her traveling wardrobe. She now wore a large brimmed cap with a Seagram’s Gin logo, a button up oversized flannel shirt, and some sweat pants with paint across the front.
Tucking her hair under the cap was the piece de resistance, compelling her to look into the bar mirror and see herself as others did.
“Lord, what an ugly, skinny man,” she said, shrugging her flannel-clad shoulders. “But if it works, what the heck; it’s all for the glory of the job.”
“Excuse me, sir, but have you seen a good-looking woman with long legs and a bad attitude around here?” Joe asked, his eyes twinkling.
“None here but geezers and polecats,” she said slinging back a gin and tonic. “I’m about to light one of my two remaining cigarettes. Why don’t you find us a table?”
“Where is he?” Joe asked, turning toward an empty table near the wall.
“That’s him over there in the corner, sitting with two working girls. He’s spending a lot of cash.”
“And by the looks of the company he keeps he’s about to spend a lot more.” Joe added, sitting down with his back to a wall.
Quickly Maude brought him up on the latest about the big man. She found her partner to be a fast responder to new information. He didn’t waste time asking unnecessary questions.
“Maude,” Joe said, “you ran the plates. What did you find out?”
“Plates belongs to B&G Transport Service in Houston, a large import/export company; lots of money, power, influence. The van our boy is driving was recently sold by B&G to a contractor, along with five other older model vans. The Texas Highway Department knows nothing of the sale, so the tags haven’t been changed, but B&G have no dog in the hunt. Nothing we can use to arrest the big man. We haven’t been able to get in touch with the contractor to determine anything about the drivers of the vans. She’s out of town at a business conference.
“Driver’s name is Leroy Thomas, served time in the Harris County jail for assault, but the victims dropped the charges. They said in the beginning that Thomas was abusive, had slapped them around in bed. Later, they let him off. Maybe he scared them quiet.”
“So we have to do this the hard way.” Joe had his mouth full of beer but his brain was working overtime. “Sooner or later, he’ll slip up,” he said, swallowing, “we just have to be there to catch him.”
At about 11:00 o’clock, the bar was jumping, and Maude was getting weary. The bald guy was getting drunker by the minute, and the women who sat at his table took full advantage of his generosity with drinks. It was easy pickings for the two, and they came through like champs.
The two detectives had about decided to leave, and drive by later, when the bald man made his move and rose from the table, signaling for the tab. Both women got up to leave with the big man, but he pushed one back, refusing her company. Maude became alerted to the stranger’s roughness with the woman at the table, but the working girl only laughed. She knew she had made a killing on the drinks.
The other woman was blonde and pretty in a petite, baby doll way, and kept her shoulder under Baldy’s arm to support him. They moved on outside, toward the van. The drunken man hailed a cab and left the parking lot, leaving the van behind.
“Joe, I hope he’s going back to the motel where we can keep up with him. Too bad he didn’t get in the van and start the engine. We could have taken him to jail.” Maude was thankful she had quit drinking after the first gin and tonic. Driving sober was a necessity, even when following a criminal.
“I wish those lab reports would come back on the victims,” she said, off-handedly.
“Oh, I almost forgot. They did. Haven’t see them, but they’re at the sheriff’s office. Sometimes hard to know who should be taking charge of evidence with us down here, visiting, but needing to know when the new stuff comes in. Don’t feel right taking over.”
Maude nodded, understanding the dilemma Joe was having. She had it too, but it was easier for her, because barriers had never meant much unless they were holding back water. When a report came in to the Rhodes County Sheriff, Maude claimed it, making sure it went to Jack Fuller after she read it. If the information had nothing to do with the recent murders, she backed off and left it all for the deputies to sort out.
“Do you see that cab, Joe?”
“No, sorry. I lost it back there.” he said, pointing behind them.
“Darn, keep your eyes open. Did you get the cab number?”
“Yeah, number 339. I’ll call the company, and
see where the driver posted his drop-off.”
Revving her truck, Maude began a faster pace, searching the streets for cab 339, believing the man inside was trying to lose them, possibly compromising the driver into cooperating.
“Cab dispatch reports that the driver of the cab hasn’t been in touch after leaving the bar. Their GPS shows the car is in the 500 block of Jones Road, and it isn’t moving.”
“Let’s see if we can sneak up on Leroy Thomas before he gets away.” Maude was getting really pissed off having to chase the big man. She felt like such a fool, believing him drunk when all the time he must have been aware he was under surveillance. Maybe he wasn’t as big an idiot as he acted.
The cab was upside down, the door and window glass splintered or broken out of the frames and smoke was coming off the motor. Water poured from the radiator, indicating it had been hit. Maude looked for movement from the car, but there was none that she could see in the darkness.
“Joe you got a flashlight?” She whispered.
“No Maude, I don’t carry one on my blue jeans off duty. Lucky I have my weapon.”
“Okay, you take the left side of the car, and I’ll come up behind on the opposite side.”
“Right Maude, got it.”
Weapons readied, the detectives used the darkness to approach the cab, l and looked inside the front and the back. The cab driver lay still on the ceiling, his neck apparently broken The seatbelt was undone, hanging from the seat. There were no signs of passengers in the back of the cab.
“Joe, we’ve been had. Thomas and the woman got out of the vehicle some time ago. I wonder what happened to wreck the cab.”
“Looks like he might have been asleep, went off the road, flipped the car.”
“Stinking scumbag might have helped the driver into dreamland just to have a little fun with the cops.”
“Maude, he keeps coming up from the piles of crap smelling like a rose. Without the coroner’s report on the cabbie, we have nothing on Leroy Thomas, other than he’s an ass. I hope that girl knew what she was getting into with him.”
“I figure she learned pretty quickly, but he wouldn’t let her get away. She may have had some mysterious accident too.”
“I’m beginning to wonder why he ran,” Joe said. “We had nothing on him, unless he was afraid we might find something at the Spillars that would lead back to him.
“Dangdest thing, this cabbie dying,” Maude said thoughtfully. “Poor man, he was just doing a job.” Maude felt badly for him; it never made sense how evil people could stir such havoc for the rest.
“Guess the devil started it all when he decided he was too pretty to be a regular angel. Been killing and maiming the innocent ever since,” she added.
Chapter 17
Emergency personnel came quickly and claimed the body of the cab driver after the coroner had ruled him dead. A couple of crime scene technicians were at the scene, gathering information about the crash, and Maude recognized them from the Spillar’s murders scene. They nodded their hellos, but none stayed long after determining the crash was straightforward. There was nothing to report except the slick roads from the evening’s mist had caused the driver to lose control of his car.
Maude and Joe loaded up in her truck once more, and headed for the sheriff’s office. She wasn’t content to wait until morning to see the lab findings on the semen in the girl, and the lead and casings from the Spillar’s house. First, she examined the one that mattered most-the reports on the female victim. The findings were consistent with the DNA testing that had been done earlier on Wojo. They matched. It seemed to be proof-positive that not only did the maintenance man steal from the victims, he also raped, and killed the girl. The news should have been great, but it was a blow to the two detectives investigating the murders.
Maude was exhausted and told Joe she was headed to the motel and if he wanted to go, he could, but otherwise, he could get a ride back on his own. Joe asked if she was going to stop and eat. Maude thought about the last time she saw food. The bowl of popcorn at the Water Dog was all she had tasted since breakfast. It was almost 1:30 A.M., too late for dinner, too early for breakfast.
“No, I may get some of those chocolate donuts from the office vending machine, but I don’t want to eat anything heavy this late. Besides, my stomach is messed up from all this murder and violence. Makes me wonder how I got into this line of work anyway. Women are supposed to be the gentler sex, raising kids and being a wife. Seems all I do is raise hell and stay married to a job. Danged Wojo. He had me fooled.”
“Me too, partner, and I spent some years profiling criminals. Wojo doesn’t fit the pattern. Besides I thought you said Spillar didn’t recognize him?”
“Yeah. That’s what I said. You staying or going? I have to get out of this truck, and into a bed.”
“Drop me at the Water Dog. Nothing here to keep me interested. Say Maude, would you mind if I spent a little time with your niece? She seemed to trust me after that incident, and it makes me feel good to have a woman believe in me. My wife used to trust me, and then she quit. Said I was welded to the job. Mostly, I think she never loved me.”
“Joe,” Maude said yawning, “Lilly Ann is a lucky girl to have you interested in her. No, I don’t mind a bit, but understand, I won’t be your gossip girl, or go-between. You have to make it on your own.”
“No problem.” He was happy at the thought of seeing Lilly Ann. Her helplessness after being abducted had really made an impression on him. She had turned to him, leaning on him for strength. He had dated another girl in Madison for a while, but one thing led to another, and they lost contact. Nobody’s fault, really. But he was lonely, and needed someone in his life again. Maybe it wouldn’t be Lilly Ann, but maybe it would. Anyway, Joe was content with a dating opportunity. She lived a long way from Madison, but maybe when her schooling was over, they could find some time for one another.
Maude drove the truck toward home, watching for the bald polecat. She knew he had played her, and he must have really enjoyed doing it. She wouldn’t underestimate him again. She drove by the Water Dog, but the parking lot was empty. The van was long gone.
Joe looked across the parking lot of the bar, remembering where the big man had parked the van. The empty slot made him mad, really mad. They had let the big man get away. He looked across the truck at Maude and said, “What do you bet he’s left town?”
“If it was a bet, I’d say a buck on him still being here. He isn’t scared of us.”
“You don’t believe Wojo is the killer, do you?”
“I don’t know. The DNA evidence against him doesn’t lie, but my gut tells me one of our killers is that big man named Leroy Thomas, and he’s not working alone in his strategy. Maybe he and Wojo are part of the same killing crew. If we can get in that van, we might find something to use against him. As things go now, he has a record, but we have no evidence against him and can’t legally search his vehicle.”
“Aren’t there statutes that insist new owners of vehicles must register them in their own name?”
“There are, Joe, there are. Also, because the alleged owner is out of town, we can legally protect a citizen’s property rights. We can ask Leroy Thomas to let us see the owner’s authorization to drivers of the van. If he doesn’t have it, we can search the van as a possible stolen vehicle. Sounds like a job for Ernest Garrison. We need to call Sheriff Jack in the morning and get his agreement.”
Joe changed his mind about partying and went to his room. As they drove in to the lot, they spied the parked, white van. Its outside was unchanged by traffic mishaps. A good drunk driver crash would have been too much to ask.
“Right now, Joe,” Maude said sleepily, “I’m going to call Jack and then my bed is going to feel my backside. Bring me coffee when you come to the door, or don’t come over.”
“Okay, Maude.” Joe said in the middle of a yawn. “Good night.”
Morning came too quickly. She awoke feeling stiff and sore, her knees ach
ing from the activities of the night before, the pain in random joints a reminder of her age. Each time the notion hit her to retire before being eligible for Social Security and her pension from the City of Madison, the thought of working elsewhere became depressing. She didn’t know anything else, and she was good at her job. Thank God for ibuprofen, and other over-the-counter pain killers.
A phone call later, Jack agreed with sending Ernest to approach the van driver. He added that Ray Black could ride along since the driver was such a big man and a known misdemeanant. The sheriff was going to be in the office most of the day, and could take care of the phone calls and requests from citizens. He assured Maude he would be there if anything went down.
She checked her cell phone for missed calls and found two. One was from her friend Alice in the communications section at work, and the other was from Lieutenant Patterson, wanting to know when she and Joe would be back. He said that two or three days were all he could give them and then they had to return. Maude grimaced, understanding, but not liking the pressure. She figured to wait and tell Jack the next day, giving him an extra day of rest.
Calling Alice served two purposes. She missed seeing her friend, and her friend could bring her up to speed on the recent events. The woman in dispatch who answered the phone told Maude that Alice was off for the day with a newborn grandchild, but would be back the next day. Maude sighed and ended the call, planning to call again the next day.
The abduction of Lilly Ann was heavy on her mind. There was just no sense of purpose in it. The girl wasn’t injured, or sexually assaulted, nor was she particularly hard to find. The whole kidnapping seemed more like an adolescent’s or child’s prank to get attention. A small rumbling had begun in Maude’s lower tract, the reaction to anxiety not full upon her yet, just tickling the edges of her awareness. She quickly dismissed the thoughts that had begun, refusing to anticipate more trouble. Lilly Ann had wondered if maybe one of her old boyfriends who carried a torch had arranged the whole incident. Maude’s stomach settled as she decided to believe as her niece did.
The Maude Rogers Murder Collection Page 44