“And if he doesn’t come back we’ve wasted all our time.”
“Nope.”
“Nope? What do you mean, nope?”
“If he goes away for trial, we’ll finish filling up the warehouse. Once it’s filled we’ll keep bringing stuff in until we have enough to stock all the shelves in the market.
“Once the shelves are stocked, we’ll open the market ourselves.
“We’ll do the same thing Savage was gonna do, only we’ll be the bosses. It’ll be our store, not his. We’ll just cut him out and keep all the money ourselves.”
“But most of the townsfolk don’t have any money.”
“Then we’ll trade for other things. Silverware. Jewelry. There’s a couple of pretty girls who might trade us some time alone with them if they’re hungry enough.
“We can even extend credit, and let some of the people we like pay their bills later on if the world gets sane again. That way word will get around we’re reasonable men. Then they won’t be inclined to get angry with us and try to run us out of town like they want to do to Savage.
“And they’re less likely to pitch a fit when we take over Savage’s house.”
“What? You can’t be serious.”
“Hell yes I can be. We can lay claim to it. We can say we never got paid for all the cargo we brought in. That we were gonna square up with Savage after we filled the warehouse. And that he owes us a lot of money.
“If Savage goes off to Austin to stand trial, he’ll likely never come back. He won’t be around to dispute our claims. We’ll just tell the town we’re taking over his house as payment for what he owes us.
“They won’t argue. They don’t want it for themselves. It would remind them too much of Savage. And nobody likes Savage. Nobody. If his own mother was still alive she probably wouldn’t like him either.”
“But why do you want Savage’s house?”
“Because it’s better than the dump we’re currently living in. Plus, I’ve always fancied it. It’s the only three story house in town. With a full basement too. I’ve heard rumors the basement’s full of booze. And even if it isn’t, it’s still a nice house.
“We can grow old sitting on the third floor deck, rocking back and forth and watching the rest of the world go by.”
“Hey… I’ve always wanted to get a peek inside that big old house. Wanna go over there and break in and look around?”
“Nah. If there’s a Ranger in town doing an investigation I’d hate to be in the middle of checking out the place when he walked in. If they take him to Austin to stand trial we’ll find out what it looks like soon enough.”
“The naked guy said Savage shot two men inside the bank. Who do you think they were?”
“Probably Gomez and that other guy… the bolillo, whatever his name was. I’m pretty sure they’re the only ones who’ve been sneaking in after dark to see him since Sloan and Luna left town.”
“Why do you think he shot them?”
“Who knows? And who cares? It doesn’t concern us at all.”
-13-
In room 201 at Mrs. Montgomery’s boarding house Ranger Randy Maloney was putting on his boots.
There was a knock on the door.
“Who is it?”
“Lester Booker. The judge said you wanted to see me.”
Randy opened the door to see a rail-thin man almost seven feet tall.
He wore a black t-shirt which read:
NO, I DON’T PLAY BASKETBALL
“I told the judge I’d come by the library this morning to see you.”
“I know. He told me that. But I was headed here for coffee anyway and thought I’d save you a trip.”
“Come in, Lester. I’m Randy.”
“I know. The judge told me.”
“Sounds like the judge told you all kinds of stuff. What else did he tell you?”
“He said you needed a fingerprint kit so you could print Mr. Savage. I went by the jail and got it for you. There’s only one jailer there. And no inmates. He said he just sits around there every day on the off-chance he’s needed. But so far he hasn’t been. He said to keep the kit as long as you need it. He sent some fingerprint cards too.
“I also know you need some help guarding Mr. Savage. He told me that too. Asked me if I wanted to be deputized to assist you. I told him sure I would.”
“Have you been sworn in, Lester?”
“Yes, sir. I have. Judge said he didn’t have a badge to give me, though. He said he’d look around and see if he could find one.”
“How old are you, Lester?”
“What day is this?”
“Tuesday the twelfth. Why?”
“Then I’m eighteen. My birthday was the tenth. I wasn’t sure what day it was, because I kinda lost track.”
That the judge sent him a deputy who was just barely a man should have surprised Randy but it didn’t.
These days you took the help where you could find it. And Judge Moore obviously saw some qualities in Lester which led him to believe he could do the job.
But Randy was a bit curious.
“Lester, if you don’t mind me asking, why did the judge recommend you?”
“I don’t understand.”
“I mean, do you have an interest in law enforcement? Were you a police cadet? Have you taken classes in criminal justice?”
“No… none of that. I’m a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do and a yellow belt in Karate. So I can control Mr. Savage if he tries to get away.
“And I’m the judge’s son-in-law.”
“Oh.”
Life in small town America.
Randy opened up the fingerprint kit. It was pretty basic stuff.
He’d learned how to lift latent prints while at the Ranger Academy. It required a keen eye and a steady hand, but wasn’t rocket science.
He turned to see John Savage, sitting on the bed in the next room, staring intently at them through the open door which connected the two rooms.
He was still handcuffed to one of the bedposts and didn’t appear very happy.
In Mrs. Montgomery’s boarding house the men were roomed upstairs, the ladies downstairs.
Each floor had separate bathroom and shower facilities at the end of each hallway. Only one of the rooms downstairs, besides Mrs. Montgomery’s room, was equipped with a private bathroom.
Randy had told Savage after they checked in he’d be on the honor system. That he’d remain uncuffed as long as he behaved himself.
Two hours later Randy heard stirring in the next room and caught Savage tiptoeing out the door and into the hallway.
Caught red-handed and red-faced, he claimed he was only going to the bathroom.
But he was carrying his boots.
He’d been handcuffed to the bed ever since.
There was another knock on the door.
“Who is it?”
“Rachel. Mrs. Montgomery asked me to bring up breakfast for you and the beast.”
Randy smiled.
He said to Lester, “Nobody in town likes Savage very much, do they?”
“No, sir. Not really.”
Randy handed the young man his handcuff key.
“I’ll get the door. Go unlock our prisoner and let him eat his breakfast. Tell him I said if he gives you any problems he’ll go right back in the cuffs and I’ll send his breakfast back downstairs.”
“Yes sir.”
To his credit, Savage didn’t complain too much about the way he was being treated. In a different time, in the old world, he’d have been screaming at the top of his lungs, threatening to sue the Texas Rangers and the whole By-God State of Texas.
But he was equal parts exhausted from having lost so much sleep the night before and sheepish for being caught trying to sneak away in the early morning hours.
He’d pretty much given up and was as compliant as a newborn kitten.
Until he finished his breakfast and Randy told Lester not to recuff him.
“Not just yet. I ne
ed to take his prints.”
Then Savage decided to balk.
“Why in hell do you need my fingerprints? I am an officer of the law! How dare you ask me to subject to such an assault on my dignity!”
-14-
Randy seldom lost his cool.
In a calm voice he answered the fat man.
“First of all, you’re only a man of the law because you coerced the city council to appoint you to the position.”
The look on Savage’s face was priceless.
“Yes,” Randy continued. “I’ve been told how you became police chief.
“Secondly, you’re the primary suspect in a double homicide. That trumps any claims you might have of being indignant.
“Third, I can ask Lester to throw you to the ground and hold you still while I do the prints if you don’t want to give them up willingly.
“Either way, I’m going to get the comparative prints I need. I don’t care if you don’t like it, and I don’t care if you get indignant about it.
“Your choice, Savage. Make it quick, because I haven’t had my breakfast yet and I’m getting mighty hungry.”
Savage stood in front of the dresser and allowed Randy to apply fingerprint ink to each of his fingers, then to roll them onto a print card.
Then they printed full frontal hand prints and a side print from each hand.
Randy examined the cards to ensure none of the prints were smudged, then gave Savage two small packets containing hand wipes.
Savage was only half engaged in the process, following instructions but being much more interested in Randy’s breakfast on the night table.
“How come you got more bacon than I did?”
Randy smiled.
“I don’t know. Maybe she likes me better than you. Go figure.”
The fat man had a stab of indigestion and a thought suddenly struck him.
“What if she poisoned mine? She’s an evil wench, that Mrs. Montgomery.”
“Actually, she struck me as a very kind and decent woman. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t disparage her in my presence again.”
Savage started to make a smart-aleck remark, then thought better of it.
It didn’t last long, though. After a brief period of blessed silence, he started up again.
“How do I know that evil woman didn’t poison my food?”
“She sent two identical breakfasts. She didn’t know which one you were going to eat.”
“What if she spit in it?”
“Same answer.”
“What if…”
“One more word out of you and I’ll stuff my dirty sock into your mouth.”
Savage paused, no doubt to wonder whether the Ranger would make good on his threat.
He wisely decided to shut up.
Lester took the prisoner down the hall to the bathroom and stood guard outside the door while he showered and dressed.
He had to put the same clothes back on, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Lester half hoped he’d make a run for it so he could tackle him, but the big man disappointed him by more or less behaving himself through the process.
Once the pair disappeared down the hallway Randy ate his own breakfast and pondered his case.
The prints were critically important. Whether they matched any prints on the weapons was pretty much all he had to the case against Savage. If there were no matches, he’d have no choice but to let the man go.
Guilty or not.
He only ate half his breakfast. He had work to do.
From his backpack he carefully removed the handguns he’d taken from the crime scene.
The ones which once belonged to Gomez and Duncan.
He knew he wouldn’t get any decent prints from the hand grips, because of their texture.
He was hoping there would be usable prints from the barrels which would match Savage’s.
Savage, despite his bluster, wasn’t worried about the Ranger finding a match.
For when he’d locked the bank’s doors so he could stage his crime scene, he was very careful to handle the weapons only from the very rough pistol grips.
He knew they wouldn’t hold a print.
Randy examined the pistols, lifted several prints from them, and then compared them to the fingerprint card.
He cursed under his breath, finished his breakfast and looked at Lester, who’d just returned to the room with their prisoner.
He shook his head, almost imperceptibly.
Even if Lester didn’t understand the gesture, there was no denying the look of disappointment on Randy’s face.
“I’ll be back in a couple of hours,” he said. “Don’t let him out unless it’s to use the restroom. And escort him to and from.”
“But where are you going?”
“To talk to the judge and to Red Poston.”
-15-
“I need to talk to you about John Savage.”
“And what if I don’t want to talk to you?”
“Then I won’t be able to put him away for murder.”
Red wanted to rail at the Ranger who stood on her porch, hat in hand.
She wanted to scream at him, “I told you I don’t want your help! I told you I have this thing under control! I told you you’re not wanted here. There’s a great big State of Texas out there, and a lot of other people who want you to help them. This isn’t one of those places. Put your hat back on your head, get on your horse and ride out of here.”
But she bit her tongue.
She listened to him.
Red had had a long talk with Lilly the night before.
They, like most of the other townsfolk, had left their homes and gone to Main Street to find out what was behind the gunshots.
Red was conflicted to hear that Savage was being held as a suspect in a double murder. Although she’d never met either Gomez or Duncan, word was going around they’d been hired to murder her, and had died because they’d failed.
That wasn’t the case, but to the citizens of Blanco who were desperate to explain the unexplainable, it made as much sense as anything else.
Red was conflicted because if Savage went to prison or was hanged, at least his boot would be removed from the throat of her friends and neighbors.
Part of her knew that would make her happy.
But another part would be disappointed. For she’d be denied the satisfaction of watching him die.
Lilly had screamed at her, tried to talk some sense into her.
“Red, honey, this has gone on for far too long. It’s eaten at you. It’s possessed you. It’s taken the wonderful girl I grew up with, my very best friend, and has turned her into a vigilante.”
“I have a right to avenge them,” Red meekly countered.
It was a weak argument. But it was all she had.
“Look, Red. You know I love you. You know I want only what’s best for you. But you’ve been so blinded by hatred and your need for revenge that you can’t even see what’s best for yourself anymore.”
“You don’t understand. They were all I had. Now I have nobody.”
“No. You’re wrong. You have me. You’ve always had me. And now you have Jacob, and you have Beth. You’ll never get your own family back, Red. But you have a new family now. One who loves you and doesn’t want this thing to kill you from within.”
“What do you want me to do, Lilly? What could possibly fix this mess?”
“You have a Texas Ranger here in town to help out. A real, honest to goodness lawman. Not a fake policeman, like Savage is. But a real lawman. Someone who can rid Blanco of Savage forever. He wants to help you, Red. Help him help you.
“Help him help all of us. Because if you continue to go up against Savage and whatever cronies he hires to gun you down, you might lose the battle.
“Think of that. Think beyond yourself. Think of us, the family and friends you claim to love. What happens if you don’t survive? Then we’ll be left behind to suffer your death, to hurt just as much as yo
u’re hurting over your family. Only Savage will still be here. And he’ll find ways of taking your efforts out on us.
“On all of us. On the town. On me. On Beth. And you won’t be around to protect us any more.”
Red hadn’t wanted to, but she owed it to Lilly to consider her words.
And she had.
She was stubborn. As stubborn as her mother before her and her grandmother before that. She wasn’t easily swayed. But she’d hold her tongue and listen to what the Ranger had to say.
She owed Lilly that much.
“Okay, Ranger. I’m listening.”
Randy was caught just a bit off-guard. He hadn’t expected Red to come around to his way of thinking. To be honest, he was expecting the door to be slammed in his face.
Here she was, though, suddenly willing to listen to him.
It wasn’t much. But it was more than he’d expected to get.
“Look,” Randy said. “I hoped to take this thing out of your hands. When I found Savage was involved in a double shooting I hoped to find evidence of his guilt. Then I would have taken him away to stand trial for double murder and there wouldn’t have been a darned thing you could have done about it.”
She raised an eyebrow. She was starting to get peeved.
“Red, I know of no other way to do this than to be honest with you. That was my plan. To take him away from here to diffuse the situation and to take away his power over the city of Blanco.
“The problem is there’s no evidence to refute his story.
“For the record, I don’t believe his version of what happened. I don’t think he’d go up against two experienced gunmen and come out on top. It just makes no sense to me. People like Savage don’t do things like that unless they’re in fear of their own life or desperate for another reason.”
“So you think he got the drop on them and then made it look like self-defense.”
“Exactly. The problem is I can’t prove it. The hand grips on both guns were heavily textured. They wouldn’t hold handprints. Neither one of them. And he didn’t touch any of the smooth parts of the guns. Unless I miss my guess he caught them by surprise and shot them down, then removed the guns from their holsters either wearing gloves or by touching only the grips. So despite my suspicions, I don’t have any hard evidence to hold him.”
No Help From Austin: Red: Book 5 Page 5