by Sue Hardesty
"Got a home disturbance, Loni. Woman. Said she brought a guy home and when she woke up to go to work at the Whistle Stop, her purse and car was gone."
"Car description?"
"Greenish to grayish to bluish. She said it depended on time of day. Late model Buick."
"License number?"
"She didn't remember, and her registration was..."
"...In her car," Loni finished for Bobby, laughing.
"Here's her name and address." He reeled it off as Loni wrote it down. "I'll call for the license plate when the Phoenix offices open. Meanwhile, get her statement."
"Don't suppose you could send Tully?"
"Only if I don't want it done this year." Loni heard his laugh as he hung up. She had to admit, he laughed at her a lot.
* * *
It was drifting past task force time when she finally got back to the station to sign out. Lola was already on duty with the DNA results from Rene's plane.
"Well, shit! It's a woman. That doesn't make sense." Loni handed Lola the evidence envelope with Billy Joe's hairs. "Got another rape. I think this is the perp's hair. Can you get a priority DNA on it? I really want to pick up this little bastard as soon as I can."
"I'll do my best." Lola sounded upset. "Same MO?"
"Looks like it."
"You got it legal?"
"I'm sure. Dot let me in and gave me the hair. That's his step mom."
"Dorothea Kildare?"
"Yep."
"Didn't you guys have a thing in high school?"
Loni was getting upset. "Who the hell told you that? And no. We didn't have a thing in high school. And before you ask, we're not having a thing now." Loni shrugged as she decided to tease a little. "Not that we couldn't." She grinned at Lola as she gave the desk a knock with her knuckles and followed Tully into the conference room.
Carl turned to Loni before she sat down. "Since you missed yesterday, I'll update you during the reports."
"Sure." Loni opened up her notebook.
"State sent findings from Rene's plane debris. Remember he had removed all the seats from behind the pilot's seat? They found potting soil mixed with drug residue and exotic plant leaves. They think he was delivering drugs with some sort of rare plant shipments he got out of Mexico. He had already dropped them and collected the money when he went down." Carl paused, studying Loni. "I know you think Rene's drugs and the meth are related, but nobody's found it yet." Carl patted Loni on the shoulder reassuringly. "We may have to leave Rene to State and stay with the meth."
"What about who shot at me?"
"Maybe next time he won't miss," Chui blurted out, glowering at Loni.
"Did you ask State if any exotic plants were found anywhere near the meth deaths?" Loni ignored Chui.
"I don’t think anyone checked, but it’s worth a look." Carl turned to Tully. "Call on that."
"And see if they identified the fingerprint yet?" Loni added to Tully's phone call and said sarcastically, "Might help us find my shooter if we knew who killed Rene."
"Looks like somebody got greedy," James said with a worried expression.
"Or is afraid of getting ratted out. I still say it's somebody we already know," Loni added. Everyone stared at her. She knew the shit would hit the fan with that one, but it had to be said.
"Who?" asked James and Tully in unison.
"If I knew, I'd arrest his sorry ass."
"Bullshit!" Chui said, in a nasty voice.
"Chui," Carl interrupted.
"She can't go around accusing one of us, Carl. It ain't right."
"Is that a confession, Chui?" Loni asked, pushing him.
"Chui! Your report!"
"Rosie lawyered up, and somebody must have tipped off the border patrollers I was working with. I can't find them."
"That's what I'm talking about, Chui. Who tipped them?" Loni glared at him as Chui tried to stare her down. He finally dropped his eyes.
"What about their families?" Carl asked.
"They live in Mexico. So far, Mexican police haven't reported."
"Drive down there, Chui. Try to find them." Carl turned to James. "I need you to go to Phoenix and interview the meth dealers. They obviously know who they're buying from. Ask them about exotic plants. Get State to deal."
"Sure, Carl," James agreed as he reached over and took Loni's pen and notebook, writing a note on the bottom of her notes. Daring her to object, he stared at her as he ripped out the page and dropped her notebook in the middle of the table.
Carl turned to Tully. "You keep checking Rene's list. Maybe he's got a meth dealer on it we can pick up. Also get long-distance phone calls to Phoenix. See if anybody here called them. Access anything you need.
"But I've done what I can, Carl."
"Then do it again. Maybe State will give you something. Ask. We need to find a trail to the source." Carl turned back to Loni. "Chief wants you to go check out a report from a rancher. Says he found dead illegals. Thinks they had drugs with them. Find out if the drugs are related to this case. Lola can give you directions."
"Can I ask something here?"
"Yes," Carl cautiously answered.
"The man that was knifed. Didn't he have a cell phone?"
"No." Carl picked up his papers with quick jerks. "That's it for today.
Loni waited for Carl outside. "About the two dead on the butte. Did you get a blood sample from the victims?"
"Yeah. Sent it to the lab already."
"Did you send the drinking glasses with the debris?"
"No. Why?" Carl was curious.
"I think one of them had rohypnol in it. I'd like to know who put it there."
"Interesting."
"Did you send the bed sheets to the lab?"
"No. Why?" Carl asked again.
"Girl claims to have been raped there. Is it okay if I collect the glasses and sheets and send them in?"
"Sure. After your assignment."
Loni looked up to see Chief walk into his office. Seconds later he came roaring out. "Goddammit! Who's the jokester? It ain't funny!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Carl grabbed him as Chief tried to push by. "What's wrong?"
"Somebody robbed me!"
"What do you mean robbed you?"
"What the fuck do you think I mean," Chief spat at him. Loni saw a mix of fear and anger flushing his face. "My god. I'm gonna be the goddamn laughing stock of this town. Do something, Carl!"
"Okay." Carl said calmly. "Tell me what they took."
Chief jerked away to confront Loni. "If you had anything to do with this, your ass is grass!"
Carl focused on Loni, a questioning frown on his face.
Loni shook her head. "I know absolutely nothing. Honest to god!"
Carl turned to Lola. "Anybody been in Chief's office you see?"
"Nobody gets by me. Check graveyard."
"Okay Chief, what's missing?"
Chief kept his eyes on Loni. "My gun. It was on a hook by the door. My taser and keys to the cruiser. They were on my desk."
"Anything else?"
"Ain't that enough?"
"When did you leave your office?" Carl calmly steadied Chief.
"I got here early and went over to Whistle Stop for breakfast."
"Lola, put out a BOLO. Make some calls." Carl moved into Chief's space.
"Why don't we go back and search? Maybe try fingerprinting some areas?" Carl kept talking quietly as he slowly led the loudly protesting Chief back into his office.
Lola covered her broad grin with her hand.
"Maybe you should call the garage. Make sure no one took his cruiser. Time for me to get out of here," Loni said. "I'm in enough trouble."
* * *
Trading the SUV for her truck, Loni sped down to Milepost 72 and stopped behind the coroner's SUV. The flashing white-box ambulance was parked in front of it. She left her motor running and the refrigeration on for Coco as she scrambled down into a wash and scrunched her way up to a stand of mesquite trees. Eve
n though Carl told her it was too late to help anyone, she didn't want to keep anyone waiting in this heat. Loni hurried up to the scene. "Find any drugs?"
Both EMTs and Doc Benjamin sadly shook their heads. The bodies were covered. They were waiting for Loni to release the scene.
"How many, Doc?"
"Three adults and two kids this time."
Loni followed the tracks a short way, checking the direction they came from. They must have been carrying the children.
She returned to take her photos and search the victims, the toddler first. Blisters covered his nose and cheeks. Loni looked over at Doc Benjamin leaning back against a mesquite tree. He wore a white cotton shirt with lightweight dark blue pants. His bald head and face were shiny from sweat, and he shook his head as he fanned himself with his wide brimmed hat. "Been dead almost a day," he said. "Most are near full rigor." He looked up with sad eyes. "So close to the highway, but afraid to stop anyone for help."
Nodding for the EMTs to take one of the children, she knelt beside the tarp over two of the adults and uncovered the bodies. The man's shoes were old cut up tires held onto his feet with leather thongs threaded through holes and wrapped around his ankles. They matched the trail she had followed. He had an undershirt on and faded Levis, his head was turned toward her, and his cloudy eyes seemed to stare at her in reproach. Quickly searching him, she found a hand stitched cloth billfold with nine American five-dollar bills and three green cards. "Not very good forgeries," she said, showing them to the doc.
"Bet they spent everything they had to buy them." Doc Benjamin nodded at the money in the billfold. "They didn't have enough to pay a coyote."
Loni walked around to the woman curled up against the man. Dressed for the desert, she wore a large floppy straw hat, full white cotton blouse with long sleeves and a full brown skirt that allowed air to circulate and cool the sweat. She found nothing on her.
"Where are their water jugs and food bags?" Loni checked around.
Doc Benjamin barely shook his head.
Loni released the two bodies to the EMTs and moved to the last body. When she uncovered it, she fell to her knees and stopped breathing. The girl was the spitting image of Maria when Loni met her at the Police Academy ten years earlier.
"Oh god, not again." It seemed a long time before Loni heard a voice in her ear. Someone was shaking her, and she wanted it to stop. An acrid smell of the dead's evacuation hit her nose, jerking her out of a deep hole.
"Are you all right?" she heard Doc Benjamin repeating.
Loni forced herself back into reality and stood up stiffly. She gently pulled the rigid baby from the young woman's arms and waited while the EMTs carried the woman up to the ambulance. Loni and the doc followed them back to the highway.
* * *
Loni felt empty all the way back to the loft. After she hugged Coco for awhile and cried in her soft, brown wool, she made herself eat a bowl of vegetable soup while she read more of her grandmother Wagner's notebook.
When old man Reed hung up his spurs and moved to town, he turned his two pet saddle horses loose on the desert. With feed and water and their old familiar stomping ground, it would seem horse heaven for the two old pals. They weren't entirely happy. They missed people, petting, and the old gunny grain sack. Every time we made camp, and night fell, the fires going and the good smells of coffee and food, we would hear a soft nicker, and here they'd come, sure of their welcome. Santa Claus and Dime. Santa was a little bay with black points. Dime was a roly-poly gray dappled. Both small, about 14 hands and gentle as dogs. How they knew where camp would be was one of the mysteries, as we made camp at so many wells, Old Cut, Volcanic, Surprise, Willow and red Tank. That covers a lot of desert, but they always showed up. If we were short of mounts, we'd use them until we gathered and then a big feed of grain and bid them farewell. Just parted like friends who expected to meet again soon.
Loni remembered the windmills her grandmother wrote about. Most were gone, Uncle Herm had said. In others, the water level had dropped so far that they no longer turned. Of course, Billy Bains had destroyed three of them. She thought about the times they had camped at two of those same wells. Seemed strange to think she had repeated the same things her grandmother did. Breaking off dead mesquite branches for fire, using the same cast iron skillets to cook in, closing the same gates, listening to the same windmill sounds. So many things stretch across the years. A smile on her face, Loni finished her grandmother's story.
One night, out of the shadows came Dime, alone. We knew Santa must have gone to the Big Range as they never separated. We never found his body, tho we looked. Dime was with us three more years. One day we found him standing in the water at Old Cut. His front legs were swollen and the screw worms had done their work. Some rope hobbles on him told the tale. We tried, but it was hopeless, so little Dime got the mercy shot. Later on we heard that he had stopped at a sheep camp. The herders, not knowing he wouldn't leave, had hobbled him and left him like that. Why they didn't release him we never knew, but decided it was just low mentality. Shortly after that, a band of sheep camped at Winters Well. They had reported to the deputy in that district that two wild cow men had broken up their camp, ran the burros off, disrobed the sheepmen down to their underwear and took their shoes and rifle, and destroyed their food. I believe this to be true, as I heard the story with much laughter and some grimness. I never asked the names of those "ruffians." I thought it was better to not know. But I seemed to see a white cloud floating above in the starlight and it looked mighty, like a horse head uplifted, the mane flying back, and I seemed to hear a horse laugh. Could have been my beloved Dime.
She couldn't read anymore. Dime reminded her of all the coyotes and the evil they had done. Loni replaced the notebook and closed the box. Beyond hope, she pushed the box to the back of the table and pulled her computer forward, opening the lid.
FROM: Loni Wagner
TO: [email protected]
DATE: July 14
SUBJECT: Still here
I saw Maria today. And again, I couldn't save her. A coyote left five illegals on the desert to die. One of them looked just like Maria when we met. She had a baby in her arms. I carried the baby to the ambulance and told them to take her to the mortuary. I called to make arrangements. The service is tomorrow.
I know this happens in Third World countries. But not in my country. Have we no humanity? I have to change the subject or I'll start crying again.
About the case. I've been asking questions and getting nowhere. When will the boys be interviewed? Or what's happening with the stabbing? Why didn't James track the valve? Does Tully have anything on ricin production in the area? Why didn't State tell us about the drug traffickers? Who's covering the airports and small strips? What has Border Patrol found? No one shares information and I'm tired of waiting. No one lets me do anything. I feel invisible. Maybe I'll go out to see for myself.
Enough. Be safe.
Love to you et al.
Loni
Loni tossed and turned until she fell into a restless sleep. Again she dreamed of moving limbs so intertwined, she could not tell where Maria began and she ended. Skin on skin, they moved all over each other, tasting everywhere until Maria's sweet juices turned into the taste of blood. Loni woke calling Maria's name. She sat up and grabbed the edge of the sheet, wiping the sweat from her face and body.
Unable to sleep anymore, she got up and wrote on sticky notes, slapping them all over the loft. "I want Maria." "It should have been me." "The wrong one died." When her alarm rang, she peeled them off and stuffed them in the trash so that Daniel wouldn't find them.
In an oppressive fog she got ready for work.
CHAPTER 15
July 15, 2:23 a.m.
IT WAS ANOTHER QUIET night with just three speeders and no drunks. Loni was making her usual twice-a-night circle around the town square when a female apparition appeared in front of her SUV. For an instant, Loni thought she was seeing Maria's ghost. Long black h
air flowed around a full white gown that swayed in front of the headlights.
As Loni hit the brake, the SUV twisted so suddenly that it almost flipped over. It ran on two tires for a few seconds before it dropped and skidded to a stop. Her heart pounded out of her chest, and Loni couldn't move, her mind scattering like fifty baby scorpions off their dead mama's decimated back.