Six Cut Kill

by David R Lewis

  Charlene smiled at him. “I mean it. It gave me another idea.”

  “God help,” Crockett said.

  “When Jack agrees to leasing our group the land, in addition to the horses and such, I think a Pit Bull rescue center might be a good idea. There are a lot more unwanted Pits than space to rehab them. I have contacts all over the country. A hundred dogs could be housed nicely on a couple of acres inside a ten-acre fenced compound and have plenty of exercise area. The dogs that were re-habilitated to the level of behavior that Rufus displays could not only be placed in good homes, they’d be good therapy for some of the children, too.”

  “You’re really serious about this?

  “Sure. My horses, except for Pokey, should bring in several hundred thousand dollars. I’ll sell ‘em to help finance things.”

  “How is ol’ Pokey?” Crockett asked.

  “Living in a double stall with his goat pal. We ride three or four times a week now, and he follows me wherever I go. I did what you said to do and everything worked out wonderfully. Thank you.”

  “Horses and dogs,” Crockett said. “Lot of responsibility.”

  “Places like we’re talking about usually have a list of volunteers that are willing to donate time, but I’ll still have to acquire a small staff. I couldn’t possibly do everything myself. That wouldn’t be fair to the animals or the people.”

  “How ‘bout an on-site vet-tech?” Crockett asked, noticing Nudge appear at the sliding glass door.

  “That would be wonderful! Do you know somebody that might be interested?”

  “Possibly,” Crockett said, ignoring Satin’s grin. “This individual is particularly good with animals. Even hostile ones.”

  “Hostile?” Charlene asked.

  Crockett got up and opened the door. Nudge sauntered in, peered balefully at Charlene for a beat, and strolled into the kitchen.

  “Good God,” she said.

  “I watched that cat shred four layers of towels and a vet’s arm a few years ago. The vet-tech in question cleaned his infected ears with a cue tip on the very couch where you sit, and he purred through the entire procedure.”

  “Could we get him?”

  “Her,” Crockett said.

  “Her?”

  Crockett nodded at Satin. “My daughter, Danni,” Satin said. “She’ll be certified this fall. I think she’d jump at the chance. I know she and Lucy would like to live in this area.”

  “Lucy? Oh, she has a partner.”

  Satin smiled. “She has a daughter. Just pre-school age.”

  “You’re a grandmother?”

  “For five years. I’m older than I look.”

  “Where’s your daughter now?”

  “Over in the boot heel finishing her training. She’d love to live near us.”

  “Can I meet her?”

  “Of course. She’ll be over next month for our lake’s inaugural fish fry. You are hereby invited to attend.”

  “I’d love to. On your recommendation, I don’t see why I wouldn’t approve her. If she’d like the job, we’d just put up a small bungalow or something for her and her daughter, and she could live there rent-free. That way, there would be somebody on hand for the dogs and horses around the clock in case of emergencies. Of course, I’d give her free rain in handling her end of the business, choosing a regular vet and such. It would be comforting to know somebody that could be trusted would be available in-house.”

  “You think you’re husband’ll go for all this?”

  “It will enhance his image. That will be hard for him to resist. I’ll talk with him when he gets back.”

  “He’s not home?”

  “No. He’s gone most of the time, actually.”

  “I thought he was retired,” Crockett said.

  Charlene shook her head. “He says he is, now that he sold out his interest in the mines, but he still has business interests.”

  “Oh?” Crockett said.

  Charlene bit her lip, then plunged ahead. “What the hell,” she said, “I’m among friends. Jack has to make money. He doesn’t need to, he has to. He bases his entire self-worth on his bottom line. He deals in mining equipment all over the world. That’s why he’s gone so much.”

  “I’m sorry,” Satin said.

  Charlene shook her head. “I knew what I was getting into when we got married. I’m part of that bottom line. I’m presentable, I’m known in some philanthropic circles, I enhance his image. That’s my job. In return he gives me freedom, more money than I could possibly need, more house than I could possibly want, and indulges me in things like Kid Country, the horses, and other projects. I’m sure he’ll go for this, especially if I get some funding from outside. It’s not like he couldn’t easily afford to do it all himself, but it looks better if his wife is affiliated with organizations like the Triumph Trust. Appearance is everything.”

  “So the two of you basically lead separate lives,” Satin said.

  “Almost totally. I have no illusions. In a few years, age will begin to catch up with me and I wouldn’t be surprised if Jack pays me off to go away. He’s already paid me off, he just doesn’t know it. I have enough stashed away to be as comfortable as I care to be for the rest of my life. I don’t worry about my bottom line.”

  “You take care of yourself, sister.”

  Charlene smiled. “Oh, I am. I’ve been thinking about that square mile of land. I think Jack should just donate it to our project. Great tax write-off, very good for his image, and the final chunk of security for me.”

  “Speaking of security,” Crockett said, “does he leave the security guys with you when he travels?”

  “Preston stays at the house. He has a small apartment over the garage.”

  “Preston. That’s the blond?”

  “Yes. Clark is the one with the shaved head. He goes with Jack. He goes everywhere with Jack. He’s, like, a bodyguard. He gives me the creeps.”

  “Yeah. Serious man.”

  “I’ve known him for about five years. I don’t think we’ve exchanged more than ten words in the whole time.”

  “Where’d Jack find them? Do you know?”

  “Preston has been around since before I knew Jack. Clark came back from China with Jack.”

  “China?”

  “Uh-huh. He was part of a private security force Jack hired at a mine where he was installing equipment in Shanxi Province. That’s just south of Inner Mongolia. Jack stayed in Yangquan for about three months on that trip. When he came back, Clark was with him.”

  “He’s got equipment in China?”

  “Coal mining is big in that area of the country. Horrible pollution, about twenty thousand mining deaths a year. The Chinese, as you know, aren’t real big on supporting the human condition.”

  “Jesus.”

  “He’s also got clients in Russia, well, Kazakhstan actually. Big coal mining there, but bad quality coal. Russia and China have huge resources. He goes to South Africa now and then, too.”

  “They mine coal in South Africa?”

  “Yes. When he’s there, he stays in East Rand. That’s part of the Johannesburg Metroplex.”

  “China, Russia, and South Africa.”

  “There are probably more that I don’t know anything about.”

  Crockett smiled. “Seems to me you know a lot.”

  “More than Jack’s aware of. I try to keep up.”

  “So, you’re more than just another pretty face.”

  Charlene beamed. “Pretty faces are a dime a dozen,” she said. “I’m worth at least a buck and a half.”

  “Your husband dirty?”

  “He’s ruthless, I know that much. He screwed over his other partners in the mines when he sold out. Usually, if somebody is that ruthless, there’s almost nothing they aren’t capable of.”

  “Your husband dirty?” Crockett asked again.

  “Probably. You going after him?”

  “Would it make a difference to you?”

  “Not t
o me personally, but perhaps to what Satin and I are planning.”

  “I may make a call or two and poke around a little, but without your help or involvement. You need to stay out of it. I don’t want to put you at risk. What’s his company name?”

  “Masterworx Mining Machinery and Supply. Masterworx with an X.”

  “With an X. Got it.”

  “The government took an interest in his business dealings a few years ago, but nothing came of it. He’s got attorneys all over the place, boatloads of money; and he’s slick. I have a request.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Just don’t make anything fall apart before we get our new project in place, okay?”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it. Things like this don’t happen fast, anyway.”

  “Thanks. You going to talk to Jack about his business interests?”

  “Me? I’m just a small county cop. What the hell would I know about international skullduggery? Where’s somebody like me gonna get the resources for something like that?”

  Charlene smiled and turned to Satin. “Give me one word to describe your husband,” she said.

  “Resourceful,” Satin replied.

  “Give me one more.”

  It was Satin’s turn to smile. “Ruthless,” she said, “but in a good way.”

  Charlene nodded. “Jack’s in for some trouble, isn’t he?”

  “Anything’s possible,” Satin said.

  “Good,” Charlene went on. “Fuck him.”

  After Charlene left, Satin joined Crockett and the dogs on the deck for a Guinness. She handed Crockett a bottle and scooched down on the swing beside him.

  “Am I wrong in assuming that Charlene is less than head over heels for her husband?” Crockett asked.

  “The signs are subtle,” Satin replied, “but my superior powers of observation are such that I believe the bloom may be off the rose.”

  “I ask you about a relationship and you talk about flowers? What’s wrong with you?”

  “You may never know, Davy.”

  “Think she’s got something going with the blond security guy?”

  “Preston?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Nah. He’s been by Kid Country a time or two. I’ve talked to him a little. He’s gay.”

  “What?”

  “Yep.”

  “He’s gay?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You just know that kinda thing, do ya?”

  “Sure. I noticed when he checked me out.”

  Crockett bristled a little. “Oh, yeah?”

  “Settle down, Spanky,” Satin replied. “Men always check me out. Even Stitch. It’s a woman’s burden. I hate it. A little. Sometimes.”

  Crockett took a sip of his Guinness. “Well,” he said, “you are eminently checkable.”

  “The difference is how Preston checked me out. He was much more interested in what I was wearing than the sultry delights my wardrobe concealed. Often, that’s how we girls can spot the little dears so much more efficiently than you manly types. Unless they whisper in your ear, pat your butt, or confess to once having been in a chorus line or worked as an interior decorator, you knuckle draggers are pretty much oblivious.”

  “Are you saying I’m insensitive?”

  “No. Just unconscious.”

  Crockett let that one float and lit a Sherman. His lighter flared in the growing dark and crickets started up in rhythm with the frogs peeping down at the lake.

  “So,” Satin went on, “you gonna find out about Jack Bryant?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Bullshit. You can’t leave something like that alone. Not you.”

  “You think I shouldn’t?”

  “I think that you are going to do whatever it is that you need to do. Tilting at windmills is in your nature. It’s just one of the things I love about you.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yep.”

  “What’s the other one?”

  Satin grinned into the dark. “I’ll tell you after I finish this Guinness,” she said.

  “Good. Don’t waste the booze.”

  “Oh, and do me a favor?”

  “Probably.”

  “When you phone Cletus in the morning about Jack Bryant, see if he’ll ask Ivy to give me a call.”

  “What makes you think I’m gonna call Clete?” Crockett asked.

  Satin drained the last three swallows of her Guinness and patted him on the thigh.

  “Silly boy,” she said.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Well, hell, son! I ain’t the head a Interpol, ya know.”

  Crockett took a sip of coffee and grinned. “Take it easy, Clete,” he said, resisting the urge to chuckle at the Texican’s early morning outburst. “With your experience and contacts in the world of dastardly doings and dark arts, I just thought I might prevail upon your better nature to poke around a little bit.”

  “This here is a damn long way from a little pokin’ around! This here is turnin’ over big rocks! They’s lotsa things livin’ under big rocks, Crockett, an’ most of ‘em is poisonous. Franklin Delano, son. China and Russia?”

  “Kazakhstan, actually.”

  “That’s Russia, goddammit! Always has been, still is. You think the KGB took a dirt nap when the USSR went broke? You think that whole bunch a nasty-assed bastards all opened ice cream shops and poodle parlors when Mamma Russia went tits up? Son, them fellers make the Italian Mafia look like a bunch a baby Baptist bathin’ beauties. An’ them heathen China motherfuckers was sailin’ boats an’ cuttin’ throats when the Ruskies was standing outside in the snow wonderin’ why the sun god had forsaken their smelly asses. The gene pool from that Mongol part a the planet is plumb mean right down to ever little-bitty chromosome, ya one-legged dumbass. Jesus Christ!”

  “South Africa isn’t so bad,” Crockett said.

  “What? Apartheid mean anything to you? Them ol’ boys make the Klan look like Cub Scouts. That whole racial set-up didn’t just disappear ‘cause somebody changed the rules. Them South African bad boys is like a bunch a neo-Nazis and Ku Kluxers rolled together and are born an’ bred from some of the best fighters and meanest motherfuckers that ever drew a goddam breath. You know where the term Commando comes from?”

  “Have we had our breakfast yet, sweetie? You seem a little testy this morning.”

  “Goody’s gettin’ the scones out of the oven now. I’ll be better in a minute. There a woman behind this new adventure?”

  “Sorta.”

  “Thank Jesus you ain’t changed your ways none. Savin’ another damsel in distress, huh?”

  “Not exactly. This lady has some very nice plans that could mean a lot for Satin and Danni. I just want to make sure that everything goes well, so I’m checking up on her husband. Guy could be legit. I’d just like to know.”

  “This that Bryant fella I looked into a few months ago?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Didn’t find nothin’ except he’s got more money than the Vatican after sellin’ out his interest in a bunch a mines and property rights. Thought he’d retired.”

  “Nope. Has a company called Masterworx Mining Machinery and Supply. That’s Masterworx with an X.”

  “And he does business with South Africa, China, and Russia?”

  “Kazakhstan.”

  “Same thing, goddammit.”

  “Check into it for me, will ya?”

  “I’ll poke around a little and see if anything shines. Crockett, if I come up with a bunch a snakes there ain’t a lot I’ll be able to do. This overseas shit is a foot or two above my pay grade.”

  “Yes, but you have low friends in high places.”

  “I’ll tell Ivy you said that.”

  Crockett smiled. “Tell Goody, too. He’ll like it.”

  Clete chuckled. “Yeah, he will.”

  “One more thing.”

  “I don’t doubt that a little bit.”

  “Next month, we’re gonna have a get together for a fish
fry to celebrate our lake. You are cordially invited to attend. Stitch and Danni will be here, and probably the lady in question, Jack Bryant’s wife. Her name is Charlene. You might like her.”

  “I might, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You openin’ a dating service?”

  “She’s the one who started all this. She want’s to put in a Pit Bull rescue facility and a stable with riding trails and rental horses to help defray costs for a center where disadvantaged kids can get outside and ride, and mentally and physically disabled children can use horses as part of their therapy. She’s planning to offer Danni a job when she is a certified Vet-tech to oversee the animals and provide her and Lucy somewhere to live on-site. Satin’s already got Ivy interested in the program through some group she’s a part of called the Triumph Trust.”

  “Ha!” Clete said.

  “Ha?”

  “That explains some shit,” Crockett. “Ivy is the Triumph Trust, son. I just finished settin’ the whole thing up through one a her lawyers. It didn’t exist until Satin called her. The Triumph Trust is now fully funded and secured for the next two or three decades. That sumbitch’ll produce at least a million a year and never get near the principal.”

  “No shit?”

  “Feces free, Crockett.”

  “Damn. That’s our Ivy.”

  “This is getting’ interestin’, son. I may have to make that fish fry. Be good to see the wild bunch again. Lemme know what’s what. Meanwhile, I’ll look into this Masterworx with an X thing. It could take some time. Months maybe.”

  “Thanks, Texican. I appreciate you.”

  “Yeah. Say hey to the hippie for me. I’d send Satin my best, but I don’t wanna make you look bad. See ya.”

  Satin walked in as Crockett folded up the satellite phone.

  “Clete?” she asked.

  “Yeah. He’s gonna look into Masterworx with an X and probably come down for the big fish fry.”

  “Good. Be nice to see him.”

  “He also divulged that the Triumph Trust is Ivy. He just set the thing up for her. Thou shalt be fully funded.”

  “That’s wonderful! Did he send me his best?”

  “No.”

  Satin smiled. “Just as well. He probably didn’t want to make you look bad.”