Sky High Stakes (Pacheco & Chino Mysteries Book 2)

by Ted Clifton

  Lisa had worked in the human resources area of her dad’s trucking company for the last several years. She enjoyed it, and she knew that her presence created a much friendlier work environment than when her dad was left unchecked. As far as she knew, the trucking business was legitimate and a huge success—if some portion of that success had to do with her dad’s murky past she wasn’t aware of it. She just knew that she was proud to work there and proud to be his daughter. It was this job that led to her knowing where Martin was. The company had received a request for a background check on Martin in relation to his job as a deputy sheriff in Lincoln County, New Mexico. When she saw it she almost laughed out loud—who could be so dumb as to hire that thug to be a deputy sheriff?

  Now that she knew where Martin was, she began to create a plan to confront the scumbag and get her things back—and if he wouldn’t give them to her, she’d make him pay a steep price.

  Lisa flew into Albuquerque and took a shuttle to Santa Fe. She’d talked to Kate the day before, giving her a rundown of her travel plans. She was going to be staying at the La Fonda on the Plaza. Lisa hadn’t been to Santa Fe before and she was excited to see the sights and try some of the wonderful food. On the other hand she was somewhat apprehensive about seeing her half-sister.

  Lisa had talked to Kate over the years maybe a couple of dozen times. Their contact was polite, but not warm, and they’d never met. Kate was much older than Lisa, and had grown up living with her wealthy father in New England. It was Lisa’s impression that Kate was something of a snob, and reluctant to have anything to do with her lower status half-sister. But to Kate’s credit, when Lisa called and said she was going to be in Santa Fe and would like to meet, Kate readily agreed.

  The shuttle ride from the Albuquerque airport took about an hour, delivering her straight to the La Fonda entrance on the famous Santa Fe Plaza. Lisa was struck by the colors and the feeling of joy that seemed to permeate the lobby—it reminded her in a way of some of the small hotels in Miami. The smells, colors, and festive music created a cheerful atmosphere, and she liked the place immediately. Contributing to the feeling of activity was the number of people milling about. There was a sense of things happening and people headed towards some exciting activity. Lisa thought she remembered reading that the population of metro Santa Fe was about 100,000, but that on any given day there could be 100,000 or more visitors as well, which creates a vibrant, big city feeling in the space of a small town, especially since so much activity is centered on the historical plaza.

  She had a few hours before meeting her sister in the lobby bar, so Lisa decided to lie down for just a minute and release some of the travel tension. She went to sleep quickly and dreamed of wonderful colors, beautiful music, and ringing—ringing? She woke quickly and realized that she’d been asleep for some time.

  “Hello.”

  “Lisa, this is Kate, did I get the time wrong?”

  “Oh, Kate I’m so embarrassed. I was just going to close my eyes for a minute and I went to sleep. Give me ten minutes and I’ll be there.”

  “Don’t worry, Lisa. I’m sure it was a tiring day. I’ll just get a drink and find a quiet place for us to talk. No hurry. Take your time.”

  Lisa couldn’t believe it. Maybe scheduling a meeting right after you arrive from an airplane ride of many hours and a shuttle van ride for over an hour wasn’t the smartest thing to have done. She quickly pushed her hair into place. She thought about redoing her make-up, but decided what the fuck, after all it was her sister—sort of. She headed to the lobby.

  As Lisa entered the lobby, she looked around for someone who might be Kate—and immediately she knew. Kate looked just like their mother. She was taller, but there was no question about who she was. Lisa’s memory of her mother was based mostly on photos, but she had been the most beautiful woman Lisa had ever seen. Now Kate was standing in front of Lisa, even more beautiful than their mother had been.

  “Kate, I’d know you anywhere. You look just like mom.”

  Kate smiled and gave Lisa a small hug. She returned to the table and smiled sweetly as Lisa sat down.

  “We share a family resemblance. I’d think most people would say we look like sisters—but of course, we are sisters. I’m sorry this is the first time we’ve ever met—there’s no excuse for that. Time and distance just worked against us. So, what brings you to Santa Fe?”

  Lisa sensed a coolness. Her instincts told her that this person was almost always standoffish. She needed to go slow and get to know her a little before she jumped into her need to track down her scumbag ex-husband.

  “I just love this hotel. It feels exotic but very comfortable. How long have you lived in Santa Fe?”

  “Yes, the La Fonda is very nice—it’s incredibly old. Not sure, but maybe a hundred years old. We’ve been in Santa Fe about five years now. My husband was a county attorney in southern New Mexico when the AG resigned to take a private job. Tony, my husband, was appointed by the Governor to finish out the remainder of the term. Then he ran for the office and won, which was about two years ago. We’re still considered newcomers at this point. Tony enjoys his work and has a great reputation, so I think he’ll run again—if he wins, I guess we’ll be around for a while. You haven’t told me why you’re in Santa Fe.”

  “Kate, I was going to try and avoid that until we had some more time to get to know one another, but I get the feeling that you’re a no-nonsense kind of person so I’ll just spit it out. I’m looking for some help getting back some things my ex-husband took from me. They’re things with sentimental value that my paternal grandmother gave me before she died. My ex is a useless, rotten SOB who took them just to hurt me—for all I know he threw them away a long time ago. I only just found out that they were missing in the last few months, but he took them some years ago so this could be a wild goose chase. I’m here because he’s working in Ruidoso. Anyway, I thought it’d be a good time to stop by and meet you and also to see if there was any way you could help.”

  “Well, I’m sorry to hear about your stuff. At the same time, though, I’m glad that it brought us together. About help from my husband, I’m not sure there’s much he can do. He’s basically the state’s attorney and handles legal matters where the state has to take a position in court. There are other duties, but none of them directly involve him in law enforcement. The best thing would be to contact the law enforcement agency in the town where your husband lives.”

  “Yeah, but that’s part of the problem. Apparently he’s working at the sheriff’s department in Lincoln County as a deputy. It probably wouldn’t get much of a response if his ex-wife called from Florida saying that her jerk of an ex-husband stole some useless sentimental items from her years ago and she wants him shot.”

  “Especially that shooting part.” Kate had a playful smile that softened her words and gave Lisa hope. “Let me talk to Tony and see if he can help in some way. How long are you going to be in Santa Fe?”

  “I was planning on just a couple of days. But I’d like to see you again and maybe meet your husband—if you’ve got the time.”

  “Sure. I’ll call you tomorrow and we’ll make plans. By the way what’s your ex-husband’s name?”

  “Martin Marino.”

  Field Work

  Present Day, 1989—Ruidoso, New Mexico

  Sue and Big Jack arrived a little after one. They went to the Inn first, where Sue was escorted to Ray’s room and took a little time to freshen up. Big Jack was shown to the room Ray had arranged for him. He glanced around the room, deposited his bags, and headed to the bar, where he was enjoying a cold beer when Sue arrived.

  “Let me guess, that’s lunch?”

  “It was a long drive and I’m thirsty. It’s just this kind of attitude that caused me problems with both my wives.”

  Sue smiled and ordered a glass of iced tea. It definitely had been a long, hot drive from T or C, and she sympathized with Big Jack’s desire for a cold beer. She looked around, admiring the resort.
She’d heard of the Inn of the Mountain Gods, but had never been there before.

  “Guess we might as well head out and see if we can find your husband. I never signed up for field work, and I need to get back to my business before Chester runs it into the ground.”

  The business in question was “Jack’s Bait, Boats & Beer.” Chester was Tyee’s cousin, who’d started working for Big Jack recently and had turned the business into a smoothly run enterprise, making more money than Jack could have imagined before Chester had signed on. Jack’s idea of running the business was drinking beer with the customers and sleeping on the dock in the afternoon—Chester, meanwhile, was something of a merchandising genius. Having Jack out of Chester’s way for a while would double the store’s operational efficiency, but the place wasn’t the same without Big Jack around.

  “Hey, it’s really great to see you.” Ray gave Sue a hug. It had only been a day, but he’d missed her—their marriage was still new and exciting. He was glad to see Big Jack, too, but shook his hand rather than hugging him.

  They spent the next hour laying out a plan of action for Sue and Big Jack. Sue would coordinate the forensics and lab work to make sure all of the evidence was properly documented. Big Jack would visit with the owner of the bar where Martin had been found. Big Jack liked bars.

  Jack’s “real” name was Jack Parker, at least that was the one he now had courtesy of the FBI. Prior to that he’d been Philip Duncan, a successful defense attorney in L.A., but he’d gotten into some trouble with the Mexican Mafia and had had to disappear. He also had a couple of ex-wives looking for him. While traveling through New Mexico avoiding most hot spots, he’d stumbled upon Jack’s Bait, Boats & Beer, right next to Elephant Butte Lake, and had bought it from the original Big Jack, thus becoming the new Big Jack. At about 300 pounds, the name was in sync with his stature, but it also suited his outsized personality. Big Jack was an equal partner in Pacheco & Chino, PIs, but chose to remain a silent partner.

  “Tito Annoya, what can I do for you?”

  “My name’s Jack Parker. I’m helping Ray Pacheco look into the shooting of Martin Marino. Did you or any of your customers hear any shots that night?”

  “Nah. This place is usually pretty loud. If somebody heard something, they didn’t say anything to me. Probably a good thing. Lots of people carry arms around here—if they knew that little shit was being shot they might have joined in.”

  “Not a popular guy, Marino?”

  “The only people who didn’t hate the bastard were people who didn’t know him. I’ll tell you right now that two nights before he was shot I threatened to kill him in front of a bunch of witnesses. He was robbing me every week with his protection fees. I was done with that shit. When he came in to collect I told him to fuck off and said that if I saw him in my club again I’d shoot the bastard.”

  “Did you shoot him?”

  “No.”

  “Where were you when he was shot?”

  “Well I don’t know when he was shot, but I was in my office in the back of the club all night until the cops showed up and started questioning my customers about it.”

  “What do you think he was doing in front of your club that night?”

  “Beats the hell out of me. I can’t believe he’d be coming in here after our discussion—unless he had a small fucking army. I think he understood that I was done with his nonsense and that if he wanted to go to war, I was ready. Maybe the little dirtbag was waiting on me to leave so he could ambush me or something. All I can tell you for sure is that I’m happy as hell that he’s dead and so are a lot of other people.”

  “Thanks for your information Mr. Annoya. Why don’t I settle in at your bar and sample one of your beers while I ponder what you’ve said.”

  “Smart move big man.”

  Big Jack always enjoyed beer, and free beer was especially delicious. He was a born cop.

  “You know, Ray, I think the biggest question here is why Martin Marino was hired in the first place to be a deputy. What I’m getting from people is that he reeked of badness, like a terrible cologne—I can’t imagine someone in law enforcement not knowing immediately that this guy was bad news.”

  Ray and Big Jack were sitting on a sofa in the waiting area at the Sheriff’s department. “Good point. No way they could have run a background check on him and still hired him. I think maybe we need to see how Sheriff Rodriguez is doing. If he can talk, he should be able to tell us why Marino was hired.”

  Ray found Happy asleep in the small alcove where the receptionist, who doubled as the dispatcher, sat. This was the attractive young woman Ray had seen before. Happy seemed to be attracted to nice-looking women—after all, he was a smart dog.

  They headed to the hospital, a small, two-story building located close to the center of town, to see the sheriff. Ray made sure Happy was comfortable, then he and Big Jack entered the building. At the receptionist’s desk he asked to see Rodriguez.

  “I’m sorry, sir. He left this morning.”

  “I thought he was deathly ill or something?”

  “You’ll have to talk to a doctor for any patient information. All I can tell you is that he checked out this morning.”

  “Is a doctor available?”

  “No, sir. If you’d like to leave your name and a contact number I’ll have someone call you.”

  “Thanks.” Ray gave her the information, leaving the number at the sheriff’s department.

  “What does that mean?”

  “No idea. Some kind of miracle recovery, maybe. Or maybe with Marino dead the sheriff had no further need to be ill.”

  “This thing is smelling worse all the time. Reminds me of some of the stuff I saw in L.A.”

  Ray suggested that they needed to contact Sue and Tyee about meeting up at the Inn for a few drinks and a debriefing. Big Jack thought that was an excellent idea. They headed back to the sheriff’s department to find Sue and Tyee.

  “Ray, before we go back to the Inn I want you to meet Officer James. He’s with the state police and has been running things today with a lot of skill. I think he’s a guy you can give some authority to without him letting you down. He’s waiting for us in the Sheriff’s office.” Tyee liked having the title of Chief Deputy, but wasn’t interested in handling the day-to-day bullshit that went on in a law enforcement agency.

  “Hello, Officer James. Tyee says you’ve done some good work today. Thanks—we sure need the help at the moment.”

  “Well, I was just trying to keep things running. The biggest issue to resolve is who’s going to be let go or put on leave and who can be used in patrols. We have some of my men, a couple of guys from the Apache police, and two teams from the sheriff’s office in Dona Ana, but it’s going to be hard to schedule until we know who we can use among the local officers.”

  “Of course. I’ll conduct interviews tomorrow. Maybe you could help by setting those up. Let’s start around eight in the morning and schedule each deputy for about fifteen minutes. If you could have someone pull their personnel files and leave them in that small conference room, I’ll go through them fairly quick. Based on what Tyee has said and talking to you now, I’d like to appoint you as my assistant—that okay with you?”

  “I’ll do whatever’s needed.”

  “Good. I’ll make sure the AG and the Governor are made aware of your contribution.”

  “That isn’t necessary, but good reports are always welcome.”

  Ray liked the guy immediately. He seemed to be focused on what needed to be done without any dramatics—a let’s-just-get-the-job-done approach. Ray shook his hand and they agreed they’d make some decisions by the next afternoon so the department could get back into a routine.

  “Before leaving, I wanted to let you know that Sheriff Rodriguez checked out of the hospital this morning. Until I can meet with Rodriguez, I want to make it clear he has no authority in this department.”

  The team loaded up and headed back to the Inn. They all went to their ro
oms to freshen up a little—except Big Jack, who said he was fresh enough and headed to the bar. They agreed to meet in a while for drinks and discussion before dinner.

  Once Sue and Ray got to their room, other priorities surfaced. They were going to be a little late for the drinks and discussion.

  “Sorry I’m late. Sue’ll be down in a minute.” Ray took a seat and ordered a beer.

  Big Jack and Tyee just grinned.

  “I guess at this point, Tyee, you’ve got this all wrapped up?”

  “Half of the county sheriffs in New Mexico are crooks and half aren’t. My guess is that Rodriguez is in the bad half and hired Marino because he was a thug and he needed him to run roughshod over somebody. Then, somewhere along the way, Marino got out of control and started doing very stupid things. I’m sure we’ll find out that Marino has always done some very stupid things—it’s his nature.”

  “Well, Tyee, I agree with you. There has to be some reason to hire a thug to be a deputy, so it starts with Rodriguez, and if I was guessing, I’d say he’s disappeared. So we need to look for connections to Rodriguez that can help us discover why he hired Marino.”

  “Got to be drugs, Ray. What else has that kind of power over people? There’s just too much money involved.”

  “Yeah. Almost has to be. What a curse on this part of the country. Good people tempted by all that easy money. Well, I think we have a good idea of how to start. Maybe it turns out to be something else, but the logical answer is illegal drugs.”

  Big Jack jumped in to the conversation. “Another thing, Ray, some of those deputies had to have been on board with this stuff. Probably some were intimated by Marino and just didn’t do anything to stop him, but I think some of them almost have to be dirty.”

  “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. This is going to hurt a lot of people before we get it cleaned up. I’m going to go call the AG and see if he’ll sit in on those interviews tomorrow. Be back in a minute.” He left to find a house phone.