by Trace Conger
"Here in Texas? Why so close? I figured he'd be on the other side of the country."
"You both had the same handler. The marshal we just spoke with. Guess she wanted to keep you close."
"I don't remember speaking to any marshals."
"Guess she was behind the scenes. Dallas is a big city. She could keep an eye on both of you and there was little chance you two would bump into each other."
"I wouldn't even know what he looks like." He paused. "What was his name? Since going under?"
"Jake Polling. He ran a daycare."
"You met him?"
"Yes.
"Did you tell him about Josh's father too?"
I didn't answer, but Turner interpreted my silence for what it was.
"He's dead isn't he?"
"Yeah. He is."
"Why didn't you give me up then?"
"At first, I was going to." I lowered my voice again. "But then I saw what you'd become, what you did to help those kids, and I didn't think you needed your skull crushed with a hammer. The day you showed me those photos in your office, that's when I decided I wasn't going to throw you to the wolves. I'm not saying it makes up for what you did to Josh Baker, but I guess it's worth a reprieve."
"Who is Josh?" asked one of his daughters.
"Someone daddy knew a long time ago," he said.
"I hope that haunts you forever," I said.
"It's why I get out of bed every morning."
He exhaled a deep breath, leaned back in the seat and guided me to the park.
Thirty
WE ARRIVED AT RED OAK Park a few minutes before Little Freddie's deadline. Children littered the playground. They climbed on the giant dinosaur, kicked balls in an open field and dashed beneath several large oak trees that formed a long tunnel in the field.
Little Freddie's silver SUV was at the far end of the parking lot. It backed up against a steep berm that formed the rear boundary of the park.
I pulled to a stop about one hundred yards from the SUV. I scanned the park grounds looking for Valerie or anyone who might be working with her. Nothing. I watched in the rearview mirror as Turner hugged his daughters and whispered something into their ears, but I couldn't make it out. He glanced up at me.
"What are we supposed to do now?" he asked.
"Sit here for a long as we can and hope the marshal comes through."
The phone rang.
"Tell him to walk over to my car," said Freddie. "I let his wife walk as soon as he gets here."
I stepped outside the SUV so the girls wouldn't hear me. "I've got Turner's daughters in the backseat. How do I know you won't off him and his wife?"
"I have no interest in orphaning those kids, Finn. The wife walks as soon as Turner steps to the car. You've got my word."
I checked my watch. "Okay, but give the guy a few minutes. He knows it's the last time he'll see his kids."
"He's got two minutes. That's it."
I hung up the phone and scanned the parking lot again. No Valerie. No team. No cowboy hats.
Goddamn it. Where are you?
Two minutes passed and the phone rang.
"Now!" said Little Freddie.
Turner opened the rear car door and hugged his daughters again. I didn't know what he said to them, but it was obvious they had no idea what was happening. He peered at me but didn't say anything. He didn't have to. I'd seen that expression before. He looked like a man who knew he was about to die.
"All right," I said, then hung up the phone.
Turner closed the door and I stared at him over the roof.
"Walk slow. Real slow."
TURNER WAS HALFWAY TO THE silver SUV when the first marshal came over the berm. Within seconds four others, including Valerie, had surrounded the car. One approached the driver's door with his weapon raised. He yelled something, but I couldn't make it out. A moment later he fired four bursts through the driver's window. At the same time, someone on the other side of the SUV yanked the rear door open with one hand while training a weapon in the backseat with the other. He pulled a woman, who I assumed was Turner's wife, out of the vehicle as Valerie looked on a few feet away. The marshal who had fired at Little Freddie gave an all-clear signal and the remaining marshals holstered their firearms and helped Christina off the ground. It was over in less than ten seconds.
Turner sprinted across the parking lot and wrapped his arms around his wife. Valerie walked to him, patted Turner on the shoulder and waved me over.
The marshals cleared the playground of people as I slowly drove over to the silver SUV.
"Get out of the car," said Valerie. She didn't have to repeat herself. She pointed to the SUV. "Do you know who that was?"
"No."
"No? All this bullshit and you don't even know who you were up against?"
"Like I said, I was hired to find him. That's all."
"By whom?"
I didn't say anything.
"I'll spare your conscience and just assume it was Willie Baker." She squinted at me. "What am I going to find when I leave here and go to Flower Mound?"
"Nothing good," I said.
"And you had nothing to do with it? I find that hard to believe."
"It's the truth. I was hired to find Vance and Turner. Nothing more." I pointed to the silver SUV. "I didn't know he was following me."
"So you led him right to them?"
"I guess so."
"You must have been a really shitty PI." She shook her head. "Don't think you're walking away from this unscathed. I'm still holding you responsible. There will be an investigation."
"One thing your investigator might want to look into is the video camera tucked inside the smoke detector in the boys’ bathroom at Vance's daycare center. I'd check the girls’ bathroom too. Check his computer and you'll probably find what he's been recording. Oh, and there's this." I opened the rear door of my car and sensed Valerie's hand go to her hip. She relaxed when the two girls jumped out and ran to their parents.
I handed Valerie Vance's laptop and the yellow USB drive from Memphis.
"What's this?"
"Vance was involved in some child porn ring. Your friends in the FBI will cream their Men's Wearhouse slacks when you turn this over. Apparently they've been looking for the guy behind this operation for a long time. This will help them find him. In Parkersburg."
She smirked.
"Oh, and have fun explaining why someone under your protection was shooting and distributing child pornography under your nose. That won't look too good."
"Technically Vance was no longer under my watch. He opted out of protection ten years ago. I checked in on him from time to time as a favor to my boss, but he wasn't my responsibility."
"But Turner was?"
"Turner was terrified someone would come after him. He followed every rule we gave him. Television stations hounded him for interviews about the missing kids his organization helped find, but he refused every one because he didn't want his face out there. He really tried to do it right. Turned his life around. I like to think he started the charity to make up for the Baker kid." She stopped herself. "To make up for what he did to Josh."
A black minivan with blue-and-white government license plates parked next to my SUV. Two men in blue-and-yellow US Marshal jackets stepped out of the back, ushered Turner, his wife and two daughters into the van and drove away.
"I think Turner did all right given his past," I said. "But how did the Feds get roped into protecting him and Vance anyway? Doesn't seem like a good use of taxpayer resources."
"Of course it isn't a good use of resources. I don't know how it happened. That was all before my time. I just lucked into the detail. And by luck I mean got shit on. But thanks to your shitty PI work, I can put all this behind me."
"What do you mean?"
"The Marshals will relocate Turner and his family. Far away from here. It's protocol. But I'll stay put. He can be someone else's problem and I can get back to more important things, like protecting people w
ho really deserve it." She shook her head. "I'm with you on this one. They should never have gotten the protection, but they did. And somehow I ended up running it." She poked me in the chest with a bright red fingernail. "I can't make up my mind about you."
"How's that?"
"Can't tell if those are angels or demons on your shoulder."
"Don't we all have a few of each?"
She shrugged.
"Speaking of demons, did you order a bag over my head?"
She smiled. "I don't know what you're talking about."
An ambulance pulled into the park, its red lights flashing to the wide eyes of the crowd gathered around the perimeter of the park.
"I think we're done here," she said. "Go back to Ohio. Hug that little girl of yours."
"So what about that investigation?"
"I wouldn't be too worried about that."
I nodded and turned toward my car. As I passed the silver SUV I looked through the open driver's door. There, slumped across the front seat was a thirty-something, bald, white male with four holes in his chest and what looked like a Glock in his right hand.
It wasn't Little Freddie.
Thirty One
I COULDN'T WAIT TO GET out of Dallas. I checked out of the Travelodge in Flower Mound over the telephone and hit I-30 east twenty minutes after leaving Valerie Cheatham in Red Oak Park. I drove until sleep wouldn't let me go any farther and pulled into a rest stop north of Nashville around 11 p.m. that night. I fell asleep before I could even get my seatbelt off. I hoped Josh Baker would visit me in my dreams again, but he had something more important to do. A semi popped its airbrakes behind me and the hiss nearly sent me through the window. When I woke up, all I could think about was Becca.
Vance and Turner snuffed Josh Baker from this world in the blink of an eye. Josh's mother turned her back for a moment and countless lives changed. Josh Baker lost his life, the Bakers lost their son, Vance and Turner lost their minds, and a town lost its innocence. I'd never know why Vance and Turner did what they did. I'd never know why they picked that day, that mall or that little boy. But that's how evil works. That's how monsters live.
I made up my mind before I had a chance to wipe the drool from the side of my mouth. Becca was too important to me to let anything happen to her. I knew I couldn't protect her forever and that one day she would be somewhere my watchful eyes couldn't reach. But until then I could do everything I could do to make sure any monsters that crossed her path kept on walking. Willie Baker wanted vengeance for the ultimate loss. I wanted to never know what that felt like.
FIVE HOURS LATER I PULLED into my apartment building's parking lot. Albert was watching television when I walked into our apartment. He jumped me like a swarm of mosquitos.
"You back for good this time?" he asked, wrapping an arm around me.
"I think so."
He nodded. "You know, that beard is kind of growing on me. I think I like it."
"You shitting me?"
He smiled. "Of course I'm shitting you. It looks terrible." He moved a hand across my back, as if checking for bullet holes or knife wounds. I jerked my arm to the side when he brushed my right collarbone.
"War wound?"
"Aluminum baseball bat."
"Been there."
I knew he wasn't joking.
"How was Texas?"
"I'd rather not talk about it." I saw the disappointment in his face. "Maybe later."
He walked back to the sofa, sat down and smacked the spot next to him. "Have a seat, son. Unless you got something else to do."
"Can't think of anything."
Albert clicked the remote and Jack Klugman came to life on the screen.
I sat down. "What happened to Columbo?"
"Finished the series. On to Quincy now." He looked over to me. "You should have been a doctor."
"He's not a doctor, he's a medical examiner. There's a difference, Dad."
He laughed. "I'm glad you made it back in time for Dewey's tonight," he said without taking his eyes off the screen. "Becca kept asking if you'd be there."
"Wouldn't miss it." I hadn't even realized it was Friday. "Brooke joining us again?"
"She is if you want her to."
"I'd like that." I crossed my legs. "You have any problem with her still being here in the morning?"
He shook his head and turned up the volume.
Thirty Two
TWO WEEKS LATER I FOUND myself drinking Yirgacheffe coffee and eating a banana nut muffin at Winans Coffee on the corner of Eighth and Walnut in downtown Cincinnati. As I sipped from my paper cup I thought about Ray Turner and wondered what city he called home now. I wondered what would become of the Asher Foundation, all the people who volunteered there, and the good work they did. Would Turner set up a new organization in his new town under his new name? I hoped his unrelenting passion to overcome what he did in Parkersburg so long ago still motivated him to get children out of the shitty situations they fell into. Maybe in the end it would all even out for him.
I was wiping the muffin crumbs from the dark brown table when I heard a familiar voice.
"Thought I'd find you here."
"I thought I'd find you peppered with bullet holes behind that SUV steering wheel."
"Hired help. I know when to handle things from a distance."
"He the kind of hired help someone is going to miss? Start asking questions about?"
"Nope."
I kicked a chair out and Little Freddie sat down. He placed a newspaper under his arm and set my cell phone and a piece of paper on the table.
"Thanks. I was beginning to think I'd have to get a new one." I turned the piece of paper over. It was a cashier's check for $100,000.
"Willie Baker paid me up front. That's your fee for finding Vance. I'm not paying you for Turner because I never got a chance to put a hammer through his skull."
I folded the check and slipped it inside my pocket. "I don't usually accept checks," I said.
"Sorry, it's all I got. It's secure."
I curled the muffin wrapper between my thumb and index finger and tossed it into a nearby garbage can. "I feel bad taking Willie's money. Figure he needs it more than me. Especially if he has to mount a legal defense."
"Don't let the prison guard uniform fool you. He's got plenty of money. He cashed out big when his wife died. A lot of zeros on her life insurance policy check. And I wouldn't worry about the law coming after him."
"It's not him I'm worried about. If they start asking questions he could lead them to me."
"He isn't going to implicate you. Besides, you didn't do anything illegal. Technically the only crime you committed was endangering the lives of everyone on the highway by driving around in that piece of shit you call a car. I saw it in the lot. You're still a bumper short."
"Haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. How do you know they won't come looking for you? To link you to Vance or Turner?"
"Because I covered my tracks on Vance and they already got the guy who went after Turner. Shot him dead in a rented SUV. You saw it." He paused. "Course if you said something about me, I don't know, maybe to your marshal friend, that could cause some problems for me."
"Never came up."
"Why not?"
I took a sip of my lukewarm coffee and leaned forward. "Because I guess we both wanted the same thing. Justice for a kid who never got to grow up. Besides, I'd rather you owe me a favor for not ratting you out than have to look over my shoulder all the time for turning you in."
"Speaking of justice, I've got something else for you." He handed me the newspaper.
"What's this?"
"Just give it a read."
I scanned the page.
Former Council Member Indicted in Child Pornography Ring
Parkersburg—Thomas Vance, 64, is facing felony charges for manufacturing and possessing child pornography after federal agents raided his home as part of an ongoing investigation.
Investigators say Vance was the lea
der of a sophisticated operation that trafficked illicit images of minors, some as young as five years old.
The investigation began when authorities received evidence that led to the arrest of Robert Billings, 53, of Memphis. Billings led authorities to Vance.
As a result of the raid on Vance's Parkersburg home, investigators found thousands of images of minors in sexually explicit poses, as well as hundreds of explicit videos.
Investigators also found information on more than 700 accounts to the "Devil's Den" website, a private network where users traded sexually explicit images and videos. Authorities are analyzing that information in hopes of identifying the website members, which could lead to even more arrests.
In an interesting twist, authorities also implicated Jacob Vance, 41, Thomas Vance's son, in the ring. Jacob Vance, along with Raymond Turner, was found guilty of murdering four-year-old Josh Baker in 1984. Jacob Vance had been living in Flower Mound, Texas, under the name Jacob Polling.
Polling was recently found murdered in what investigators believe was a home invasion, but do not suspect any connection between his murder and his role in the child pornography ring. That investigation is still ongoing.
Thomas Vance served as a council member in Parkersburg in the early 1980s before joining the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia and then the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. He returned to Parkersburg when he retired four years ago.
If convicted, Thomas Vance faces up to 50 years in prison.
- Nell Richards, Special to the Parkersburg Sentinel
I tossed the newspaper back to Little Freddie. "Hope it sticks," I said. "Figured you'd be pissed that I fucked up your hit on Turner. That you didn't get him."
"Just because I didn't get to him in Dallas doesn't mean I won't get him somewhere else."
"You won't have my help. I'm out." I yanked the envelope Valerie had given me from my jacket pocket. "This is my ticket out of the shadows. The Marshals reinstated my PI license."