Road to Justice

by Glenn Trust

  They didn’t, and his last screams faded away in the rotor wash as he disappeared into the black. Focused on other matters, Garza never looked up.

  62.

  I Expect You Know About These Things

  The headlights lit up the bloody spectacle on the porch like a spotlight on a stage. Reggie Prince sat on the planks, his back against the wall of the shack, his face buried in one hand while the other rested gently on Sherm’s lifeless chest. He looked up into the light, his eyes glistening with his tears.

  Isabella sat in stunned horror. Sole was out of the truck instantly, the .45 in his hand as he moved to the porch, scanning the area for threats. Satisfied that there were none, he approached Reggie. Isabella exited the pickup and followed.

  “They killed him.” Reggie shook his head as if that might make it not true. “He was like a father to me, and they shot him down.”

  He leaned over and stared at Sherm’s chest, looking, hoping for some sign of life. His hand clenched at the front of the dead man’s shirt. He trembled with anguish.

  “I should have been here,” Reggie said through his tears. “Should have stopped them from hurting him.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Isabella said. “You didn’t know what was happening.”

  Reggie raised his eyes, a puzzled look on his face.

  “But you knew? That’s why you’re here. You came here because you were worried about Sherm,” he said, putting things together in his mind as he spoke. “You figured something was going to happen to him.”

  “We weren’t sure.” Sole shook his head. “But yes, we were worried about him.”

  “Why?” Reggie glared at them. “Did you do something to cause this?”

  Isabella began sobbing again. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “What does that mean?” Reggie shouted. “Who did this?”

  “I have a good idea,” Sole said. “Or at least an idea about who is behind it.” He looked at Isabella. “Tell him.”

  She nodded and recounted the events of the day. When she got to the end, Reggie pounded a fist against the shack’s wall.

  “Krieg! I’ll kill the son of a bitch!”

  “Slow down.” Sole nodded and looked into Reggie’s eyes. “We want the same thing.”

  “No.” Reggie shook his head. “No, we don’t.”

  Sole mounted the step and reached out to touch Reggie on the shoulder. “You should move away from the body. This is a crime scene now. There may be evidence.”

  “Krieg owns the law around here. Krieg is going to pay for this … my way.”

  “He’ll pay. I promise.”

  Reggie looked up. “You’re a cop, aren’t you? Or at least you were.”

  “I’m a man, like you,” Sole replied.

  “I knew it the first time we met. The way you looked at me, saw things with those cop eyes, trying to see what’s underneath, what’s behind everything. And now, talking about this being a crime scene.” Reggie’s face twisted into a sneer. “Yeah, you’re a cop.”

  “Whatever I was before, this is who I am now, Sherm’s friend … and yours if you want a friend.”

  “Sherm liked you.” Reggie pushed himself up straight and ran the back of his arm over his face to wipe away the tears. “He trusted you.” He laughed. “Except that name … Bill Myers … he said you shoulda picked a better name than that.”

  Isabella was on the porch with them now. She reached down and took Reggie’s arm. He stood, and she wrapped her arms around him in an embrace, letting her own tears fall on his shoulder.

  After a minute, she lifted her head and looked at Sole. “We have to tell someone … the sheriff?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “That’s what Sherm said he was going to do, and this is what happened.”

  “So we do nothing?” she asked.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  Reggie was overcoming his shock, anger pushing the pain to the background. His eyes went from one to the other. “I want Krieg dead, not in jail.”

  “If you want justice for Sherm, so do I,” Sole said. “And for all the others.”

  “I don’t care about the others,” Reggie said bluntly.

  “I would have thought that slavery was something you would care about.”

  “Careful what you say, white man, using a word like that to me. You don’t know anything about it?”

  About slavery?” Sole shook his head. “True enough. Never been a slave and none of my ancestors were slaves to my knowledge, but I know it when I see it and those girls, kidnapped, abused, sold off like property he owned … that’s slavery.”

  Reggie was quiet for a moment, then nodded. “Fair enough. So what do we do, Bill the cop?”

  Reggie threw the name at him like a dirty word. Sole looked from Reggie to Isabella. It was time for truth, or at least a part of it.

  “Call me, John.”

  “John,” Reggie said simply. “That’s a start, I suppose.”

  Isabella put a hand on Sole’s arm. “What do we do … John?”

  “Sooner or later, the sheriff will get involved. This is a murder, and they will start looking for suspects among those closest to Sherm.” He paused to let that sink in.

  “You mean us,” Reggie said.

  “That’s where they will start. If they’re any good at investigating, they'll figure things out and move on … unless they’re on Krieg’s payroll.”

  “So we’re back to square one. Who do we trust?” Isabella asked.

  “For now, just us,” Sole said.

  “Told you, I’m not waiting for the law,” Reggie growled. “One thing is sure. I don’t trust any law around here.”

  “Neither do I,” Sole agreed. “But if you want justice for Sherm, we have to move fast and do what has to be done before the law is involved, whether we want them here or not.”

  “So what do we do?” Reggie asked.

  “We find the person Krieg wants, and we’ll find Krieg.”

  “Sandy,” Isabella said, and her eyes widened with concern. “And the girl, Jacinta. You think they’re in danger.” She shook her head. “I was hoping if they got away, they’d be safe.”

  “They won’t be safe until Krieg is gone.”

  “Gone? You mean …” She looked from Sole to Reggie.

  Their eyes said it all. It wasn’t just Reggie. Neither was inclined to see Tom Krieg make it to prison.

  She wondered what that said about the man who had come into her life so unexpectedly. She nodded, accepting their sense of justice as her own and wondered what that said about her.

  “Did Sandy have money?” Sole asked Isabella.

  “A little. A few hundred dollars in cash, maybe.”

  “That won’t get them far. Can he get more?”

  “Yes.” Isabella nodded. Her son did not do things halfway and did not act rashly. He would think things through and make a plan. “There is more money.”

  “Where?” Sole and Reggie spoke in unison.

  “In a bank in Laredo.” She paused and shook her head. “There wouldn’t have been enough time for him to get there to make a withdrawal today.”

  “That means they’re holed up somewhere, a place they feel safe.” Sole looked out into the night. “Big country … any idea where they might go … someplace Sandy knows.”

  “It could be anywhere,” Isabella shook her head. “He knows this country like the back of his hand, every nook and cranny. If he wants to hide, he’d have no problem staying out of sight.”

  “But he has Jacinta with him. He might be more selective about his hiding place with her to take care of.”

  “There’s a place,” Reggie interjected. “It’s where he used to go sometimes with Sherm. I was there with them a few times. A little hunt cabin in the backcountry.” He looked from one to the other and nodded. “It’s a place with good memories. If I was hiding out, it’s where I would go.”

  “How far?” Sole asked.

  “Couple of hours,” Reggie said.r />
  “Let’s go.” Sole looked at Isabella. “You come with us. You’re not safe with Krieg on a rampage.”

  “I had no intention of letting you leave without me.” She brushed past him moving toward the pickup. “That’s my son out there.”

  “What about Sherm?” Reggie asked, looking down at the old man’s mangled body.

  “Leave him where he is.” Sole put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s hard, but we can’t move him. If we try, there will be signs. It’ll look like we were involved in his death, trying to cover it up in some way. It’s best to leave him and let someone else discover the body.”

  “Alright, John-the-cop,” Reggie said. “I expect you know about these things.”

  “I do.”

  63.

  Time to Go

  Sunrise was hours away when Sandy stirred and sat up. He moved slowly, gently taking his arm from under Jacinta’s head and looked down at her sleeping form. After the horrors she had experienced, she seemed at peace in her dreams.

  Could he really do this—take her away, escape Tom Krieg and his money and influence? In his anger the day before, everything seemed possible. Now, he felt far less sure of himself.

  Jacinta turned, and her eyes fluttered open. A smile crossed her face, and she lifted a hand to touch his face.

  “You’re still here,” she said, her fingers running along his cheek. “I was afraid it was a dream … that I would wake and you would be gone, and I would still be back in that house.”

  She shuddered. He leaned down and let his lips brush against her cheek. “I’m here.”

  And like that, his courage and confidence returned. He pushed himself up and stretched, arching his back and lifting his arms high over his head, finishing with a giant yawn and a shake of his head.

  Jacinta laughed. “You look like a shaggy monkey when you do that.”

  “And you look beautiful,” he said, smiling down at her.

  “I don’t feel beautiful, only dirty and bruised.”

  “I’ll get you some water to wash,” he said, reaching for the pail again to empty one of the water jugs into it. “We’ll be leaving soon.”

  “So soon?” She squinted into the dark toward the crack around the door. “It’s still night outside.”

  “Yes, I’m sorry, but we can’t stay here long. We have another three-hour drive to Laredo where the bank is. That’s where I can get money. I have an account there. I’ve been saving for years, and my mother put money in too. I’ll take my share, and we’ll have all we need, at least for a while, but I want to be there when the bank opens so we can get away as soon as possible.”

  He lit the lantern and then filled the pail as he spoke, placing it in front of her. “Here, let me help you up.”

  She washed using a piece of a bar of soap he gave her and drying with a towel. He turned away to give her privacy.

  “Are you always going to do that? Turn away?”

  “I just thought …”

  “That I am a shy school girl?” She laughed. “No, there is no school girl here. Not anymore. I want you to see me as I am.”

  He turned, and his heart leaped into his throat. Her clothes lay on the floor. The marks of the beating Krieg had given her were visible, but they could not dim the vision before him.

  “You are beautiful, Jacinta.”

  She smiled and extended her hand to him. He stepped forward into her arms. She stroked the side of his face with her fingertips as they kissed, and he thought his knees might buckle under him.

  After a minute, she broke away and lowered herself onto the blankets. She held a hand up to him.

  “We don’t have to,” he managed to croak out, breathless at the vision before him. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t. I know you’ll be gentle.” She took his hand and pulled him down to her.

  He wasn’t sure what to do. She pulled him closer on the blankets, their lips touching, her body warm and full against him.

  “Reynaldo, I have been taken by men.” She shook her head. “But I have never been loved by a man. I want you to love me … to make love to me, Reynaldo.”

  They lay together with the lantern light casting their flickering shadows against the wall. Their lovemaking had a dreamlike quality to it. Every touch, every caress bound them together, not just for the moment, but for the future, whatever that might bring.

  As their passion ebbed, they lay side by side, her head nestled against his chest. Sandy—Reynaldo—wondered about that future. In a few minutes, they would leave this place. As shabby as the cabin was, it was a home for them, but they couldn’t stay. They had no supplies, and it was just a matter of time before Krieg found them.

  He pondered where they should go and what to do next. There were so many questions. Yes, he had money in the bank, but eventually, they would have to settle down somewhere. What would he do to support them? How would they get Jacinta into the country legally?

  Then, there was his mother. She had kept a terrible secret from him, but already, his anger was fading. Whatever else she was, whatever else she had done, she had brought him into the world and loved him and provided for him in the best way she could. If she was flawed, so was he. Would she be safe with them on the run, or would Krieg threaten her, harm her in some way as a weapon to draw them home?

  He had no answers. Jacinta murmured as she dozed and he held her closer. He was sure about only one thing. They had to get moving and keep moving until they were somewhere where Krieg would never find them. After that, there would be time to come up with answers to the other questions.

  He stirred and touched Jacinta’s face with his fingers. Her eyes opened, and she smiled.

  “It’s time to go,” he said as he helped her up to face the day.

  64.

  More Important Business

  “Any idea where we’re going?” Isabella stared out into the dark through the passenger window.

  “No,” Sole said. “Following Reggie to Sherm’s cabin. I take it you were never there.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “Sandy would go with him during hunting season. It was their man-time.” She smiled at the memory of her son coming back excited and full of stories about the cabin and hunting and sneaking his first beer without Mom around. “Male bonding. I was never invited. Sherm looked after Sandy.”

  “He was a good man.” Sole nodded.

  “Yes, the kind of man Sandy needed in his life,” she agreed. “If I could only have been as good a mother.”

  “Stop blaming yourself.” He reached out to put his hand over hers. “Sandy is a fine young man. He’s that way because of you, not because of the asshole sperm donor who got you pregnant.”

  “I lied to him.” She shook her head and turned back to the window. “All those years, I lied to him.”

  “You protected him. Look at me, Isabella.”

  She turned her head toward him. The dashboard lights revealed the tears in her eyes.

  “You are the victim, Isabella.”

  “You keep saying that.” She shook her head. “I’m not so sure.”

  “Well, I am. I have some experience in dealing with victims, people who have been bullied and controlled by others. Many never realize they are victims until some traumatic event crashes into their lives.”

  “Experience.” She said the word slowly and looked at him. “So, Reggie is right. You were a cop … a police officer … weren’t you, John.”

  He hesitated for a second but realized there was no reason to deny the truth. He nodded. “Yes.”

  “But you’re not one now, right?”

  “Right.”

  ”Mind if I ask why?”

  “Personal reasons.” It was a shitty answer, and he knew it. She deserved to know more, but knowing more was dangerous. The truth was he might never be able to explain everything or that he would even be alive to share his past with her.

  She remained silent for a long while. Finally, she said, “Okay, John. I won’t
pry. I’m smart enough to see that there was someone else once and that your reasons for keeping things to yourself have something to do with her. I suppose I can live with that for now.” She laughed wryly. “Seems I have no choice.”

  He felt like an ass, but telling her more would only put her in danger. Putting other people in danger seemed to be his area of expertise, and he was determined that this time the person he cared about would not be hurt.

  “One more question,” she said, turning to him.

  “Yes?”

  “Is John your real name?”

  He laughed. “It is.”

  Up ahead, the tail lights of Reggie’s truck turned and disappeared off the dirt trail they had been following for an hour. Sole followed and pulled up in a small clearing. Reggie was already out, advancing toward a small cabin. Sole and Isabella followed.

  “This is it,” Reggie said, pulling the door open.

  They followed him into the dark interior. He fumbled with something by the door and a moment later light from a lantern cast a glow around the two small rooms. Reggie moved through to the next room.

  “They’ve been here.” He lifted a galvanized pail. “It’s still damp inside. They poured water into it.” He pointed at a corner. “There are the empty water jugs Sherm kept here.”

  Isabella held up a plastic bag. “Sandy was definitely here. Potato chip and snack cake wrappers in the bag.”

  “How long do you think they’ve been gone?” Sole asked.

  “Hard to say,” Reggie said. “They must have been in a hurry to move on to leave in the middle of the night.

  “Trying to put as much distance between them and Krieg.” Sole nodded. “Smart, staying off the roads in daylight and moving at night.” He looked at Isabella. “What about that bank, in Laredo?”

  “They’ll need money. I think that’s where he would head.”

  “Alright then, let’s get on the road.”

  He led the way from the cabin, and a minute later, they were backtracking along the trail to the main county road. As they drove, Sole’s cell phone chimed. He recognized the number.