Sky High Stakes (Pacheco & Chino Mysteries Book 2)

by Ted Clifton

  “Love makes us do strange things.”

  “It does. Well, that was in our past until a few months ago. When things started happening in Ruidoso, I made a call to talk to Rodriguez, but I was told Marino was in charge so I talked to him. Once I introduced myself, he started laughing. Turns out Marino had a connection with Houston. He was a thug there, just like he’d been his entire life. He claimed that he was the one who disposed of the body of Kate’s—my wife’s—fiancé’s body. Said he was his drug supplier and that he’d been directed by his bosses to get rid of the body so that it wouldn’t point back to their drug operation. While he’s cleaning up the mess, according to him, he finds Kate’s bags. Coming from the airport directly to her fiancé’s apartment, she had her carry-on with her. When she panicked and ran, she left the bag. Marino claims he had the bag and evidence that she was at the apartment when the fiancé died. Of course I got angry and told the bastard that I’d have him arrested that day for all of the shit he was doing in Ruidoso and also for trying to blackmail me and my wife. Once again, he just laughed. That’s when he told me that Desk Sergeant Nelson would be more than willing to testify that I’d covered up my wife’s involvement in her fiancé’s murder.”

  “My god, are you talking about the Police Chief?”

  “Afraid so. And Nelson was there, and would definitely be able to make quite a case against me and my wife. It’d all be lies, but it’d destroy my career and hurt my wife more than you can imagine.”

  “So what happened then?”

  “Nothing. He said I’d be hearing from him, but in the meantime I should do nothing about Ruidoso. So that’s what I did—nothing. I waited to hear what he and Nelson wanted. Somewhere in there I called you and asked you to look into Ruidoso. I thought that might be a way to stop him without him knowing that I was the one who did it. And then, of course, he was killed. I never heard from Nelson, so I don’t know if Marino just made that part up or not. But there’s no question it’s the same Nelson as the Houston sergeant, and without question he and Marino knew one another in Houston.”

  “Is that it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Don’t see why you’re quitting.”

  “I may not have broken the law, but there’s no question I violated my ethics. I let that hood blackmail me into keeping quiet while he strong-armed a bunch of people. Even if I could rationalize what I did in some way, it doesn’t change the fact that I’ve lied about a lot regarding my wife and what had happened in Houston. I’ve lied to the people, I’ve lied to the governor. The only way out of the problem is to resign. I haven’t committed a crime, but I’ve violated my oath of office and I have to leave. Nothing will come along later to embarrass the governor.”

  “What happens now for you?”

  “I’ve made a few calls and it looks like we’re headed to Boston. That’s where my wife is from and she has lots of connections there. I’ve even had a call from a Boston law firm about an interview once we get there and get settled in. I’m sorry this has been such a mess—I’m sure I could have handled it better.”

  “I just hope it all works out for you, Tony. I’ll talk to the governor and encourage him to let it go. It can’t be in his interest to start something with you when he’s not sure what actually happened. I’m sure I can get him to calm down for now. Let me know if I can help in some other way. It’s been a pleasure knowing you.”

  “Thanks, Ray. You’re a good man.”

  They shook hands and left the bar. Tony waved as he headed down the street. Ray wanted to believe him, but something still smelled wrong.

  Ray contacted the governor and went over what Tony had told him. The governor said he’d accept what Tony had said for now, but wanted Ray to continue to investigate what had gone on in Ruidoso and find out who killed “that asshole Marino and the dumb fuck sheriff.” Ray knew the governor wasn’t considered politically correct by anyone’s standards, but he liked the way the old fart talked.

  Chief Nelson

  Ray and Tyee got an early start out of Santa Fe and expected to be in T or C around noon. They had gone over most everything the day before, so the drive so far had been quiet and thoughtful.

  “Guess the next move might be to talk to the Police Chief.”

  “Yeah. Kind of hard to believe all of the connections back to Houston. I’ve known Nelson for some time, but he never mentioned his background. Kind of figured he was from some place around here—never would have guessed he was part of the Houston police department.”

  “Starting to sound like he was the connection to Marino that maybe got Marino a job in the sheriff’s department in the first place.”

  “Well, if they were both in Houston at the same time—which is what we’re hearing—a policeman knowing a crook isn’t that strange. Cops hang out with crooks, in a way. It just seems so different from what I was imagining. Now we need to rethink everything. Did Nelson help Marino get his job? Was Nelson involved in the drug trafficking? When we first went to Ruidoso and I went to see Nelson, he said Marino was evil and should be dead. So I guess the biggest question is--did Nelson kill Marino? Or—if Nelson was involved in the drug trade—did he just say that to throw us off his trail, so he would sound like everyone else who hated Marino?”

  “And the other part is whether Nelson knew Marino was threatening Tony and implicating Nelson in some kind of blackmail scheme.” Tyee made a good point.

  “Tyee, if we’re going to spend this much time on the road, I may have to upgrade our vehicle. I love my old Jeep, but it may be time for something a little bit more comfortable.”

  “Amen!”

  They discussed logistics and decided that it’d be foolish to delay seeing Nelson. So they’d stop in T or C for the night and head out first thing in the morning for Ruidoso. Ray knew Sue would be pissed, but it couldn’t be helped. He just hoped things were calmer at home.

  “Ray, are you deliberately staying away because of this crap with Beverly?”

  “Sue, of course not. Look, I don’t want to drive to Ruidoso to avoid Beverly or anyone else—matter of fact I’m sick and tired of driving to Ruidoso. What I’d like to do is stay home and be with you.”

  Sometimes Ray was just lucky and he’d say the right thing—this was one of those times. He and Sue held each other for a long time, realizing how much they’d missed their time together—alone.

  The next day was gloomy. It was cloudy, with a fine drizzle falling. Not your typical New Mexico desert weather. Ray had been outside playing with Happy and was a little damp. Happy liked the cool weather and was the only member of the household who seemed to be in a good mood.

  Ray sat at the kitchen table and had another cup of coffee. He wasn’t eager to get back in the Jeep. Kay and Tom were preoccupied with some sort of board game and had given Ray wide berth—probably based on instructions from Sue. Ray thought the kids were okay, but he didn’t appreciate them being left there while their mother was off doing who knew what. He hadn’t seen Beverly since he’d got home the previous evening. He and Sue had avoided the subject of Beverly, both sensing it wasn’t a good subject—due mostly to the fact that neither one had any idea of what was going to happen. Sue came into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee.

  “Guess we’re headed out. Take care, and if you need anything give me a call. We’ll be staying at the same place downtown.”

  “Be careful Ray.” Sue seemed weepy and Ray felt bad. He wasn’t looking forward to the work ahead of him in Ruidoso, but he’d take that over Sue’s problems with Beverly any day. He gave her a hug and left.

  “Don’t say giddyup.”

  “I wasn’t going to say giddyup.”

  “Sure you were, until I told you not to.”

  “Nope. I never say giddyup this early in the morning.”

  “What does the morning have to do with giddyup?”

  “Ray, you’d make one piss poor Apache scout.”

  Ray was pretty sure that was a meaningless response
, using the Indian angle to deflect him, and decided it was time to ignore Tyee Chino for at least fifty road miles.

  By midmorning the clouds had broken up and it turned into a sunny day. The drive to Ruidoso was becoming very familiar—and not very interesting. As they entered town, they both felt a sense of dread—as if things were going to happen and they’d need to be alert.

  “I think we should go see Sheriff James before we check in to the hotel. We need to make sure he’s up to speed on what’s going on and what we’re planning on doing.”

  “Yeah, we may need some back-up on this trip.”

  The Sheriff was in his office and seemed genuinely pleased to see Ray and Tyee.

  “The police chief?” Ray had just told Sheriff James about what they’d learned from Tony.

  “I know. It’s not what I was expecting either. And of course at this point we still don’t know what’s true.”

  “What’s your plan, Ray?”

  “Well we sure don’t have any evidence that the police chief was involved in anything, so there are no grounds to arrest him. The statement by Marino involving Nelson could have been complete bullshit—again, there’s no actual evidence that what Marino said was true. So I think the best approach is a low-key, non-confrontational interview to see how Nelson reacts. My plan is to go to his office after we leave here. Tyee will stay outside while I go in and talk to the chief. Not sure how I’ll start that conversation, but I’ll have to let him know that he’s now a suspect in the murder of Marino—then see what happens.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I guess just be available if this blows up in my face.”

  Ray and Tyee headed back towards the center of town, parking in front of the police station. Ray gave Tyee a glance and a nod of the head and went into the office. The Chief was definitely in, all three-hundred-plus pounds of him, asleep in his chair.

  “Chief. Chief. It’s Ray Pacheco.” The chief stirred.

  “Oh, fuck. Guess I fell asleep Ray. Come on in. What are you doing back in my town?”

  “Just trying to close some things out Chief. The Governor wants to make sure we do all we can to find out who killed Marino and the sheriff. He’s asked me to continue the investigation. Something kind of strange came up in a conversation I had with Tony Garcia—he said he knew you when you worked at the police department in Houston.”

  “Really. Well yeah, I worked in Houston. Tony was an assistant DA there at the same time.”

  “Little surprised you had never mentioned you were a policeman in Houston.”

  “Why’s that Ray? We’re not exactly asshole buddies—are we?”

  “Yeah, guess that’s true. The other thing Tony said was that Marino was also from Houston. Did you know Marino in Houston?”

  “Fuck. I knew that would eventually bite me in the ass. Yeah, I knew the little shit. Look Ray, you know the world is a big place, but in lots of ways it’s also small. Who’d ever guess that I’d bump into Marino in Ruidoso?”

  “Yeah. That’s a strange coincidence. So you just saw him in town one day?”

  “Yeah. Just like that. I was doing a walking patrol and there he was standing in front of me. Like I said, I knew him in Houston because he was always in some kind of trouble with the law—he was a thug. You know how police work is—you spend most of your time around criminals. So anyway, he was always around being charged on one thing or another. I’d have figured the little shit would have been dead by now, but there he was standing in front of me. He said he had moved in with his cousin or something and was lookin’ for a job. Told me all of this bullshit about going straight and how he wanted to get into law enforcement. Well shit, I don’t know I guess I believed him. Anyway, before I knew it I had told him that I’d ask the sheriff if he needed any help. The guy was always a good salesman—he went over to the sheriff’s department and before I even had time to think about it, he had a job. I was shocked that Rodriguez would hire him without checking him out. But hell, it wasn’t my problem.”

  “So you steered this known thug to the sheriff, who hired him as a deputy without running a background check.”

  “Yeah. Unbelievable isn’t it?”

  “Tony mentioned something about his wife being in trouble in Houston. Do you know about that?”

  “Hell yes, I know. I was the one who called Tony and told him about that woman. My god, she was one good lookin’ woman. I can sure see why Tony did what he did.”

  “What did Tony do?”

  “Didn’t he tell you?”

  “He said he may have stepped over the line to help her.”

  “Well that’s putting it pretty fucking mildly.”

  “So what did he do?”

  “Look Ray, if he didn’t tell you I’m not going to tell you. What the hell are you doing here anyway?”

  “Do you have an alibi for the night Marino was shot?”

  “Fuck. I get it. The governor needs a scapegoat. Tony Garcia needs a scapegoat. So why not the useless old police chief. Let’s hang him by the balls. Is that it Ray?”

  “You didn’t answer my question?”

  “Fuck you. If you’re not going to arrest me, then get the fuck out of here, now!” Ray left.

  Ray and Tyee got into the Jeep and headed towards the hotel.

  “How did it go?”

  “Well, he’s been alerted and he acted like a trapped animal. He attacked me—but just verbally. But he took the offensive—didn’t seem surprised that it was happening. Now I guess we just wait and see what he does next.”

  They checked in and agreed to meet in about thirty minutes for a drink before dinner.

  “Had a return message from my FBI contact. He ran all the names and what information they found more or less matches up with what we know. Tony is from Oklahoma, graduated from OU and landed a job in Houston. Reports seem to indicate he might have been fired, but their information wasn’t specific. He married Kate and they moved to Las Cruces. His wife, Kate, is from Boston and was raised by her father, who is a multimillionaire involved in international currency trading. No known criminal charges on either one. The sister, Lisa, was also raised by her father after her mother—also Kate’s mother, obviously—was killed in an auto accident—police suspected that drugs were involved in the crash. Lisa’s father has had connections with organized crime, but the FBI thinks it’s been incidental and mostly the associations he had were with people from his old neighborhood in Miami. The FBI isn’t sure about the dad, but said he was a very tough businessman and had on occasion been suspected of heavy-handed dealings with customers, suppliers, and employees. They said any dealings with him should be done with caution.”

  “Well Kate’s rich father sure explains Tony’s lack of concern about leaving his job here. Good to have millions somewhere to fall back on.”

  “Yeah, should make the transition to Boston painless.”

  “Not sure what I was looking for in their backgrounds, but that wasn’t it. Lisa’s father’s Miami association with organized crime types could explain how Marino got into their lives, but it still seems odd that the daughter marries such a loser and that the father allowed it.”

  “I sometimes get the odd feeling that we’re the only ones who don’t know what’s really going on.”

  At that very moment, Deputy Samson came into the restaurant and looked around the room. Once he spotted Ray and Tyee, he headed their way.

  “Sorry to interrupt Sheriff, but Sheriff James thinks you should get over to the hospital as quickly as you can.”

  “Why? What’s happened?”

  “Someone tried to kill Tito Annoya. Shot him with what we think was a .30-30 rifle while he was leaving his cabin. Hit him in his shoulder. The doc says he should survive, but he lost a lot of blood by the time someone notified nine-one-one and an ambulance could get back to that cabin. He’s going in and out of consciousness. The sheriff thought you might want to be there if he’s alert enough to question.”

  �
�Absolutely, deputy. We’ll be on our way right now.”

  The hospital in Ruidoso was located in a small building on the edge of town. They entered and immediately saw Sheriff James.

  “Ray, he’s not awake right now. He keeps going in and out. When he was awake the last time he was rambling on about the bastards that were going to kill him, but never named anyone. Is this just another coincidence or is this the result of challenging the chief?”

  “Not real sure what anything’s about. I always thought Tito was involved with some kind of drug operation, but how this fits together is beyond me right now.”

  “I’ll tell you one thing, within the last month or so the drugs in Ruidoso have dried up. We actually had a known drug user come into the office and complain that there were no drugs on the street—first time I ever had that happen.”

  “Sort of looks like our little drug dealers are closing up shop and getting rid of evidence and accomplices.”

  “Sheriff, your prisoner is awake and demanding to be released—I’d say he’s better.”

  They followed the doctor down the hall to the room where Tito was. Amazing—one minute he’s almost dead, the next he’s raising hell because he wants to be released.

  “Tito, I’m going to read you your rights. The doctor here is going to note that you are awake and aware of what is happening.” Sheriff James started reading from a laminated card.

  “Wait a goddamn minute—are you arresting me?”

  Sheriff James started reading from the card again, and this time finished without interruption.

  “Do you understand these rights Tito?”

  “Yeah. Get on with it.”

  “Do you know who shot you?”