What's Left is Right: Book two of The Detective Bill Ross Crime Series

by Irving Munro

  Pepe exploded right then, yelling every obscenity imaginable and straining at the chains that secured him to the chair and to the floor.

  “Let me get you a phone and you can call your lawyer.”

  ~

  While Pepe was calling his attorney, Bill Dunwoody was calling the Travis County DA’s Office and spoke with assistant DA Bobby Brown. Bobby arrived 30 minutes later and sat in Bill Dunwoody’s office awaiting the arrival of Pepe’s attorney.

  A couple of hours later, the lawyer arrived. It was Julien Boudreaux of Boudreaux and Simon, one of the very best law firms in town. He typically billed out at $800 an hour. They had rattled the cage of the big money; no way back now.

  “I want to speak to my client. Alone please! I would like a cup of coffee, one sugar, and a glass of sparkling water, no ice,” said the attorney, wiping the seat with his silk handkerchief so as not to soil his ten-thousand-dollar suit.

  “I’ll get you a coffee from the vending machine. I’m afraid the water is a no can do as we have a water conservation policy here in the office and the sparkling water truck broke down on its way here this morning,” said Marie with a smirk.

  “What’s your name, officer? I will see to it that Chief Dunwoody hears about this!”

  “I’ve already heard, Julien,” said Bill Dunwoody as he walked into the room. “Now, don’t be a horse’s ass, just do what you need to do, then we can all get on with the rest of our lives.”

  The door closed and Julien Boudreaux spoke with his client.

  A short time later Julien said that they were ready and that his client would not be answering any questions. Julien wanted to be clear on the charges.

  Bobby Brown now joined them and they all sat down in the interview room, Pepe Vivar now looking like the cat that got the cream and Julien poised over his leather-bound notebook, peering over his half-rim gold-frame reading glasses, his Monte Blanc fountain pen in hand ready to take notes.

  Bill Dunwoody stood in the corner while Bobby Brown read the charges.

  “We have possession of Class A narcotics with intent to distribute and we have possession of cash and firearms. Oh, by the way, Julien, are you representing both Mr. Vivar and Mr. Rodriguez?”

  “Yes, I will be representing both, but I wish to concentrate on Mr. Vivar at this time. I will be insisting on an expedited hearing with the judge and I will be seeking bail as Mr. Vivar is a fine, upstanding member of the community.”

  “Oh, I think that you better keep your powder dry on that one, Julien, as I haven’t finished reading you the charges. We are also charging your client with capital murder!

  “On or about January 15th of this year, a Mr. Mike Muguara, aka Raul Hernandez, was dragged behind a truck, his head was beaten to a pulp with a baseball bat, and his hands were severed.

  “The murder took place in the Whispering Hollow neighborhood of Leander and the body was dumped next to a burning cross. Doubt if the judge will be up for bail on that one, old buddy.

  “I guess you need more time with your client, as he’s suddenly looking a little pale. We can now offer you some water based on the stressful circumstances.”

  To use another Sherlock Holmes quote, “The game was afoot!”

  “What evidence do you have to charge my client with such a horrendous crime?” demanded Julien, with beads of sweat now beginning to form on his forehead.

  “Our evidence is considerable and it will all be made available to you and then presented at trial. We have the jacket of the deceased recovered from your client’s bedroom. We have a solid silver money clip belonging to the deceased, also recovered from your client’s bedroom. We have a Louisville Slugger baseball bat taken from his bedroom that we suspect was used in the crime, which is now in our forensics lab and is providing more fingerprints than a whorehouse doorbell. We have eyewitness testimony, and the list goes on.”

  “I would like a short adjournment while I talk further with my client,” said Julien, the beads of sweat now forming small rivers as they made their way to the attorney’s chin.

  They left the room, and a few minutes later Julien asked to meet with them again.

  “By way of clarification, will you be bringing the same charges against Mr. Rodriguez?” asked Julien.

  “No, we will not. At this time, Mr. Rodriguez will be charged on the drugs with intent to distribute and firearm possession only.”

  Julien Boudreaux looked relieved but Pepe Vivar looked terrified; he was being hung out to dry. Old Sparky would have only one new customer. As it happens, in Texas execution is by lethal injection, not by the electric chair, but for Pepe it didn’t much matter as he was going to die. In the end it doesn’t matter which door you use to leave; the destination is the same.

  “Okay, Bobby, I will be in touch in due course. I would like to see my other client now.”

  ~

  As Pepe Vivar was being led back to the cells, he was shaking like a leaf and twice his legs went out from under him. Thankfully, however, he stayed in control of his bowels.

  After conferring with Jimmy Rodriguez, Julien Boudreaux told Bobby Brown that he and his client were now ready to meet with him. They all sat together in the interview room that an hour earlier had been used to present the charges to Pepe Vivar. After Bobby Brown had read out the formal charges regarding the drugs and firearms, Julien responded on behalf of his client.

  “Mr. Rodriguez had no knowledge that the illicit drugs and weapons were in his home. As Mr. Pepe Vivar is his nephew, Mr. Rodriquez has allowed him to rent rooms in his house and has also provided him with a job as his driver. Mr. Vivar has had trouble getting his life together since coming to the U.S. from Honduras and has had several run-ins with law enforcement, but he is family all the same. Mr. Rodriguez felt an obligation to try to help in any way he could, and unfortunately it would appear that he has strayed from the straight and narrow yet again.

  “I request a hearing with the judge as soon as possible, at which time I will request that all charges against Mr. Rodriguez be dropped.”

  “Good try, Julien. Your position is that your client is the salt of the earth. I understand; let’s see if the judge agrees. I will work on getting the hearing set up and get back to you ASAP,” responded the assistant DA.

  ~

  They were all back in the conference room after the events of the morning.

  “Latisha Williams is chomping at the bit to get the story of the arrest into tomorrow’s edition of the Statesman,” said Marie.

  “She can do that but she still needs to stick to her agreement with us. This is just the beginning, the first step in getting to the truth. She cannot divulge any of the other suspicions we have. She can simply report on the arrests made and that Pepe Vivar has been charged with the murder—that he was arrested in a dawn raid on the home where he lived in Venture Point,” said Tommy.

  “I think it’s likely that Rodriguez will walk,” said Bobby Brown.

  “Julien is a smart SOB and he will make Jimmy Rodriguez look like a saint for trying to help his brother’s kid. Vivar is truly screwed; they will let him go down for this and, in doing so, make sure that there is no connection to the person who ordered the hit. My guess is that Julien will even help us with a motive, saying that new information has come to his attention about a previous altercation between his client and Mike Muguara. He will try to get the death penalty off the table. That’s unlikely, but in my opinion that’s what he will try to do, because that’s what I would do,” continued the assistant DA.

  “So let’s assume that it unfolds in this way. We can play along. Jimmy Rodriguez gets to walk and he thinks he’s dodged a bullet. He will relax and we can use this to our advantage,” said Bill.

  “We need to start building a case to go after Jimmy Rodriguez and the way to do that is to work on Pepe Vivar. We need to have Pepe understand that he is being set up to take the fall on this and that his attorney is constructing an argument to protect Rodriguez. If we can begin to drive a wed
ge between him and Jimmy and assure him that we think that he is just the fall guy, we might be able to get him to talk. We might need to offer to take the death penalty off the table. Is that something that your boss the DA would go along with, Bobby?”

  “Not sure, Bill. Let me get back to you on that. I do think that your approach is the right one, however, so let’s start to drip water on Pepe Vivar and in the meantime I will talk to the DA.”

  Chapter 25: Antonella Aguilar

  Every year in Austin there are violent swings in temperature as fall gives way to the onset of winter. One day it might be 80 degrees and humid and the next day 50 degrees and windy. Trees that a few days earlier were covered in fall colors were now laid bare by the buffeting winds.

  Bill sat in the heavy traffic on FM360 in the late evening as he made his way home, the normal rush-hour congestion made even worse than normal by shoppers heading to the mall to hand over their hard-earned cash for overpriced gifts for Christmas. They would stand in line so their kids could tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas, and have their photograph taken with an overweight guy in a red suite who smelled and a couple of weeks earlier had been out of work and living under a bridge.

  Elaine was hard at work changing the décor of their home when Bill walked in. Every year Elaine would decorate with orange and black for Halloween, then transition to red, yellow and gold for Thanksgiving, and finally to the crimson red and white for Christmas. This was her annual ritual each year, hauling each batch of decorations down from the loft, only to return them back to storage a couple of weeks later as one holiday transitioned into the next.

  It was a tradition in the Ross home that at Christmas time, when the tree was to be set up and decorated, the family worked as a team, each in turn choosing just the right colored ball or garland to place on the tree while Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby sang “Deck the Halls” or “White Christmas” in the background.

  So it was to be that night. Tommy was on his way over with Claire, and Elaine had baked her famous Scottish shortbread, ready for their arrival. Claire would have hot chocolate, Elaine a glass of sherry, Tommy a Coke as he was driving back home, and Bill his Glenmorangie as they ate the shortbread, sang along with Nat and Bing and got the Christmas season kicked off in the traditional manner.

  “One wrong move and we could blow this thing,” said Bill as he and Tommy sat in his office after the tree decorating had been completed.

  “You’re right, Dad, and we’re going to have to think two and three steps ahead.”

  “If it was Garrison McMullen who ordered the hit, which I suspect it was, he will be nervous about the arrests and will be calling the shots with Julien Boudreaux. His biggest risk will be if Pepe Vivar starts to talk, and he will know that. They could just take Pepe out—have someone get to him while he’s in the holding cell. We need to ensure that Bobby Brown is sensitive to this possibility and that he gets the DA to go along with our plan to take the death penalty off the table. If we get Pepe to talk, then we will have to protect him.

  “We also need to expect that Garrison McMullen might call in markers from those he has helped along the way. We know he is a shaker and mover in the Republican Party and that his son is the governor-elect. The governor’s office might put some undue pressure on the DA or on the chief. If McMullen is smart, which I’m sure he is, he will not want to show his hand completely. For example, if he gets the governor involved on his side, he will show his hand and he will know that he has shown us that he is the guy pulling the strings. It will have to be subtle, but we should expect it and be ready for it,” said Bill.

  ~

  The following morning, they were in the office early. Marie was at her desk reading the editorial in the Statesman written by Latisha Williams. She had done what was asked of her and limited the editorial to the arrest in the slaying of Mike Muguara. She had done a really good job on the backdrop to support the piece, describing Mike Muguara as a war hero whose life had been extinguished by a two-bit hoodlum.

  “Marie, can you take the assignment to try to track down Antonella Aguilar, the retired housekeeper from the McMullen Ranch? We need to find out what she knows,” said Tommy.

  “Will do, Boss.”

  “Dad, let’s you and I go over to the holding cells and see if we can get Pepe to talk without his attorney being there.”

  ~

  Pepe was in his cell, head in his hands, when they arrived.

  “Sleep well last night?” asked Tommy.

  Pepe barely raised his head, but as he did so he let out a low-pitched growl and bared his teeth just like the caged animal he was. However, also like every animal when cornered, he was looking for a way out, an escape route, to be able to live to fight another day. Bill and Tommy began to sow a seed of hope. They hoped Pepe would recognize that it was his only real chance for survival.

  “You’re being thrown to the wolves, Pepe. Your boyfriend Jimmy is going to ensure that he comes out of this squeaky clean, and to do that he needs to give you up. The drugs, the money and the guns all belong to you and you killed Mike Muguara on your own. He had nothing to do with it. While you’re sitting there with your head in your hands, why don’t you stick your head through your legs and kiss your ass goodbye. You’re dead, Pepe, you just don’t know it yet.”

  “Go fuck yourself!” yelled Pepe. “Jimmy would never do that to me.”

  As they left the cell with these words ringing in their ears, Tommy and Bill knew that Pepe Vivar was trying hard to convince himself that this was true. They also knew that he wasn’t succeeding.

  ~

  Marie Mason had arrived at the Round Rock address, the last known location for Antonella Aguilar. She talked with neighbors but no one had any idea where Antonella had gone after she moved out of the small three-bedroom home she had owned for the past ten years. Some of the neighbors expressed surprise at the speed of her departure; one day she was there and the next day she was gone. The house was then put on the market and a moving company came and took all of her stuff away. The house sold fast as it was listed at a price well below fair market value.

  The neighbors gave Marie the name of the Realtor who sold the property and she headed off to find her office.

  “I’m looking for Dawn Summers,” said Marie as she walked into the Keller Williams agency on East Main Street in Round Rock.

  Dawn Summers looked like a poster child for the real estate industry. She was tall and slim with long blond hair. Her makeup was perfect. She moved like a top class model on the runway, gliding rather than walking across the floor.

  “Dawn Summers,” said the Realtor, extending her hand to Marie, holding it in place for just a microsecond to ensure that Marie saw the diamond and sapphire ring and matching tennis bracelet. “How might I help you today?”

  “I’m Detective Marie Mason of the Travis County Police Department. Is there somewhere we can talk privately? I need to get some details on a home you sold recently.”

  “Travis County Police Department,” said Dawn with some trepidation. “I hope there wasn’t a dead body buried in the garden,” joked the Realtor.

  Marie was not impressed by the joke.

  “A place where we could talk, please!”

  Dawn led Marie to the conference room at the rear of the office. They passed by the scoreboard on the wall. Every Realtor company has a scoreboard in full view with the sales for each agent displayed. Being number one on that board was what they lived for. The money was great, but being the top dog on that board was what really gave them their jollies. It was no surprise to Marie that Dawn Summers was number one on the board. She also saw the notation on the board for the sale of Antonella Aguilar’s property on Brushy Creek.

  “You were the listing agent for the Aguilar property on Brushy Creek, is that correct?” said Marie.

  “Oh yes, three-bedroom, two-bath, 2200 square feet. Real nice little property. Got a sixteen-day close on that one, then the title company screwed around with the disburs
ement of funds.”

  “What was the reason for the sale?”

  “Not sure, something about wanting to be closer to her son in Florida.”

  Marie found that confusing, but didn’t share her thoughts with the Realtor.

  Antonella Aguilar didn’t have a son!

  “Do you know her son’s name and also do you have a copy of the closing documents? I’d like the information on the bank account used to receive the proceeds of the sale.”

  “Not sure that I am allowed to give you that information,” said the Realtor, now feeling that she was out of her depth. She was in shark-infested waters and needed to get help.

  “I think you need to talk with the owner of our agency. His name is Bill Mitchell; let me go get him, if you don’t mind.”

  A few minutes later, she was back with Bill Mitchell. Marie explained what she needed and why she needed it, and the owner of the agency understood and instructed Dawn to provide the information from the file.

  “Okay, I have it here. The son’s name is Gavin and the bank account is with the First Bank of Sarasota, Sarasota, Florida.”

  “Do you have a forwarding address?” asked Marie.

  “Yes, it’s a PO Box 2722, Martin Luther King Way in Sarasota.”

  Later, in her car in the parking lot of the Realtor agency, Marie concluded that someone wanted Antonella Aguilar out of the way. She had no son, but her fictitious son had the same first name as the boy she raised when his mother was banished from the McMullen Ranch. Had Antonella run, or was she pushed? Was Gavin McMullen also wrapped up in all of this?

  Chapter 26: Spill the beans

  “He wants to see you, Tommy.”

  It was the deputy from the holding cell on the phone. “Pepe Vivar wants to see you.”

  Marie was still out at Round Rock, so Tommy and Bill went to the holding cell to meet with Pepe Vivar.

  “What can I do for you, Pepe?” said Tommy as he entered the cell. It looked like Pepe Vivar hadn’t moved since the last time they saw him. He was still sitting at the back of his cell with his head in his hands.