“Okay, man. I’m down with that. Who is it? I’ll give him up.”
Wise and Medley looked at each other. Both were thinking the same thing. That Shiloh was too quick to offer up his acquaintances. And that meant he was probably full of it.
“We don’t know his name. He’s a white guy. Usually wears a ball cap. Sometimes rides a horse. A Palomino with a black diamond beneath his left eye. We know he’s a friend of yours. Or at least a customer. We want to know who he is and where he is.”
“Okay, man, okay. I told you I’d give him up. Just take the cuffs off, man. I’ve got a bad wrist. It was broke when I was a kid. It hurts like hell when you twist it like that. Take the cuffs off and I’ll take you right to the guy.”
“Do we look stupid, Benjamin? Do you think we don’t know that as soon as the cuffs come off you’ll run like a bat out of hell?
“The cuffs come off when you help us catch our guy. In the meantime, you go everywhere we go. Now, tell us which way we need to go to find this guy.”
Chapter 43
A typical drug dealer isn’t exactly a pillar of the community. He usually doesn’t go to church, normally doesn’t take teddy bears to sick children in the hospitals, and never drops bills into the Salvation Army kettle.
Further, drug dealers are normally the first ones to say “snitches ain’t right… snitches are evil… snitches should be killed.”
Until, that is, the dealer can help his own situation by snitching on someone else.
Drug dealers hate losing paying customers. After all, they spend a lot of time getting them hooked and look forward to their daily fix money.
But if it comes down to going to prison or losing a customer… well, there are lots of other potential customers out there.
“Okay, okay. His name is Joey. I don’t know his last name. Shriver or Shriner or somethin’ like that.
“And he don’t ride the horse no more. He said he was tryin’ to take the saddle off and the horse stepped on his foot. So he got mad and shot it. He’s still limpin’ to this day.”
“Where does he live?”
“Hell, I don’t know, man.”
Wise reached behind Shiloh and tightened his left handcuff another click.
“Ow, ow, ow! Don’t do that, man. It frickin’ hurts.”
“Perhaps you didn’t hear the question. Where does Joey live?”
“I honestly don’t know, man. I don’t go to him. He comes to me. That’s just the way it works. I don’t do no damn delivery service.”
“Not good enough, Benjamin.”
“Look, man, I’m tellin’ you the truth. I don’t know where they live. I swear.”
“They? Who is they?”
“He lives with a girl. Her name is Rachel I think.”
“Is she a doper too?”
“Yeah. Worse than him, actually. She hangs out on the corner of 50th and Slide Road. She does tricks for jewelry.”
Wise and Medley looked at each other. They’d seen her. Even stopped and talked to her once to offer her water and assistance. She was so wasted she tried to drink the water without removing the cap.
“How often does Joey come to see you for dope?”
“I don’t know, man. He don’t keep no regular schedule, if that’s what you mean.”
Wise reached behind him again and was going to tighten the cuffs once more when Shiloh frantically stopped him.
“Wait, wait. Okay, okay. He comes by every three, maybe four days. Whenever he’s out and has enough jewelry or coins to buy more.”
“When’s the last time you saw him?”
“I don’t know, man. Three days ago, I think.”
“So he might come to see you today?”
“Maybe. Like I said, he don’t come on no regular schedule.”
“Where does he go for dope if he comes to see you and you’re not there?”
“Nowhere. I’m the only supplier he’s got. If he knocks on my door and I don’t answer he just sits on my porch until I come back.”
“Same for Rachel?”
“Yeah. Sometimes they come together, sometimes separate. But they come. They got to. They’re both hardcore junkies.”
“Does it ever bother you that you’re poisoning these people, Shiloh?”
“Oh hell, man… if they don’t get it from me they’ll get it from somewhere else. It’s like I’m doing them a service. Yeah, that’s it, man. I’m doing a service to the damn community.”
“Yeah. You’re a real saint, Shiloh. A real saint.”
“What are you gonna do with me, man? Let me go. I told you what you need to know.”
“And we told you you’re staying in cuffs until we catch Joey.”
“Holy crap, man! That might not even be today!”
“Cry me a river Benjamin.”
“Oh, man! Please let me go. My wrists hurt.”
“Who else lives with you, Benjamin?”
“Just my mom. Nobody else.”
“Does she know you deal dope?”
“She knows, man. She knows.”
“Sit down, Benjamin.”
“Why? You’re not gonna shoot me, are you?”
“I might if you don’t sit down and shut up.”
Shiloh sat down and shut up.
Wise and Medley walked about twenty feet away. It was close enough to catch Shiloh if he tried to get up and run. But far enough away to allow them to converse freely in lowered voices.
“What do you think, partner?”
“As I see it, we have three options.”
“Go ahead.”
“We can take him home and set up surveillance in his house.”
“Can we do that without a warrant?”
“Six months ago we couldn’t. Now, nobody really cares.”
“What else?”
“We can let him go. Tell him we’re setting up surveillance at a house across the street, or wherever the closest vacant house is with a view of his front door.”
“Do you think he’ll tip Joey off?”
“Not if we tell him ahead of time that if Joey doesn’t get arrested he will.”
“What else?”
“We could let him go and go find Rachel. Make her take us to Joey. Can you think of any other options?”
“Nope.”
“Which one do you like?”
“I don’t like the idea of setting up in Shiloh’s house. His mom’s a nonplayer and could get hurt if Joey’s packing.
“I don’t like rousting Rachel either, for the same reason. If Joey sees us coming with her he might think she sold him out. He might gun her down before we can stop him.
“In my book, the best option is surveillance. But not from inside Shiloh’s house.”
“Yeah. That’s the way I was leaning myself.”
Chapter 44
“Any Ranger in the vicinity of 45th and Vicksburg, can you meet us? Priority two.”
Medley knew he wouldn’t have to wait long for an answer to his radio call.
“Priority two” was the highest non-emergency call he could make.
It meant no one was in immediate danger. There was no shooting going on. No officers in distress. But it did mean something important was in the wind. And for whatever reason its specifics couldn’t be discussed over the radio.
Medley was well aware that every Ranger in the city wanted to help out in their case. Ranger Tom Cohen was a friend to all of them, and one of the nicest men they knew. Every Ranger in Lubbock wanted to help bring his killer to justice.
And every one of them knew that the Cohen shooting was the only case Medley and Wise were assigned.
Logic would dictate, therefore, that whatever the reason for Medley’s assistance request, it had something to do with that case.
And it stood to reason everyone would want in on the action.
After only a couple of seconds the first response came in.
“This is Bennett. I can be there in forty minutes.”
It wa
s followed closely after by a second response.
“This is Castillo. I’m coming your way. Be there in thirty minutes, tops.”
But the winner of the assistance contest was neither Bennett nor Castillo.
“This is Ranger Brown. I’m going down 50th now on the way to my district. ETA ten minutes or so.”
“Ten four, Brown. See you shortly.”
Bennett and Castillo were disappointed they wouldn’t be involved in whatever was going down.
But both tried to be upbeat about it.
Medley’s call meant something was going on in the Cohen case.
And that was cause for optimism.
Brown came down the street at a slow gallop, pulled up reins and dismounted in one fluid motion. He nodded in the direction of Shiloh and asked Medley and Wise, “Is that the son of a bitch?”
“No. He’s the informant who’s gonna help us catch the son of a bitch.”
“Okay. What do you want me to do?”
“Two things. We’re setting up surveillance of 12404 45th. That’s where our guy goes to get his drugs, and he’s about due for a buy.
“If he doesn’t show today we’ll stay there tomorrow. And that’ll mean we’ll miss muster. Lieutenant Davis will understand, but he’ll need to know about it ahead of time. Would you mind finding him and filling him in?”
“Okay. That’s easy. What’s the second thing?”
“Your district borders this one. Tell Davis you need to be excused from muster too so you can provide backup. Then, until we catch this guy, we’d like for you to work the eastern edge of your district. That way you’re only a few blocks away in case we need an extra gun.”
“You got it. How come you just don’t call the lieutenant over the radio?”
“I don’t know who might overhear. We’ve heard rumors that some of the preppers were able to save some ham radios. They might have saved some scanners too. I’m just not comfortable sending out details over the radio without knowing who’s listening in.
“However…”
He smiled.
“Once we get him, we’ll get on the radio and announce it to the world.”
“Good luck, my friends. Go get the bastard.”
“Don’t worry. We will.”
Brown remounted his horse and pulled out his own radio.
“Lt. Davis, this is Brown.”
“Go ahead, Brown.”
“Where can I meet you, sir?”
Chapter 45
Any detective will admit that luck is either his best friend or his worst enemy.
Luck is closely tied to timing. The two often work together. Whether luck is good or bad in many specific cases depends on when it comes along. A man barely making it across the street before an out-of-control bus comes careening through will thank his good luck.
That same man crossing ten seconds later would be crushed beneath the bus’s wheels. His friends would say he was incredibly unlucky to die in such a manner.
In reality, it was the timing, rather than the luck, which determined whether he lived or died.
In this particular case, on this particular day, Medley and Wise’s luck was going to run out. For their timing in cuffing Shiloh and making him a public spectacle was incredibly bad.
While they were on the end of the block, talking to Ranger Brown, a pathetic figure appeared on the other end of the block.
He was still limping on a badly broken foot.
An injury he suffered when the Palomino he stole stepped on him.
It was mere oversight on Medley and Wise’s parts.
They screwed up, pure and simple.
They knew their perp was out there somewhere. That this was the place he came to score his dope. And that he was due for a visit.
They should have known better than to capture his dealer, place him in cuffs, and leave him out in the open for all the world to see.
Joey needed a fix. He was starting to twitch and his head was hurting. He was sweating from head to toe.
But his eyes were working perfectly.
The first thing he saw as he rounded the corner at the opposite end of the block was a riderless horse.
Three men stood beside it.
Three men he’d never seen before.
The man sitting on the ground between them, though, was all too familiar.
It was Shiloh. The man who undoubtedly had Joey’s next fix in his pocket.
“Crap.”
There was something that seemed unnatural about Shiloh. Joey’s drug-addled brain prevented him from figuring out what it was, but there was something…
Then it dawned on him.
As he sat in the front yard of somebody’s house while the two men towered over him, he never pulled his hands from behind his back.
Joey had been arrested enough times to understand that wasn’t a comfortable way to sit. And it was decidedly painful too after awhile.
Shiloh was in cuffs. And that meant the three were cops.
Joey felt a wave of nausea sweep over him. For if Shiloh was busted, he probably wouldn’t get out for awhile.
And Joey needed that fix badly.
But lucky for Joey he knew other dealers.
He preferred not to use them. For they lived a bit farther away. And on a broken foot it would be considerably more painful than it used to be to get to them.
But once he had his fix and had that sweet heroin coursing through his veins the pain would go away. At least for awhile.
A smarter man, or one with a clearer head, might have put two and two together.
The man he’d shot and killed at the Walmart several weeks before had had a horse.
The three men down the street had at least one horse.
Maybe other horses as well, close by but hidden where Joey couldn’t see them.
Joey had heard rumors that the Texas Rangers had come to Lubbock and were on horseback. So were the Lubbock Country sheriff’s deputies.
And as far as he knew nobody other than law enforcement officers were riding horses in the city limits.
A smarter man might have reasoned there was a connection between the men he saw with Shiloh and the one he’d shot that day at Walmart’s jewelry counter.
A man with a clear head might have reasoned the men weren’t there looking for Shiloh. That they were actually there looking for Joey.
Looking for Joey to pin a murder rap on him.
A smarter man would have seen the writing on the wall and headed quickly for the hills.
Or as quickly as one could with a broken foot.
Joey wasn’t a very smart man.
Joey didn’t make the connection. Didn’t feel the urgency. Didn’t even see the need to get out of the area.
Joey was too concerned with getting his fix.
He crouched low and snuck back around the corner, then disappeared down the nearest alley.
He’d check back in a week or two, and if Shiloh managed to get out of jail he’d start using him again.
Shiloh’s stuff was primo. Far better than average. And his rates were reasonable.
The stuff he’d have to use in the meantime was a lesser quality, and was frequently cut.
But it would do for a while.
Joey licked his dry lips and cursed his bad luck as he limped away.
At that very same instant Wise and Medley were having trouble containing themselves.
They were certain that Lady Luck was with them, rooting them on.
And she had been, for a while. They wouldn’t have found Shiloh without her help.
But Lady Luck is fickle, and tends to turn on those who make the mistake of trusting her.
The two Rangers scouted out the houses across the street from Shiloh’s mom’s place.
The one directly across was occupied. So was the one next door to it.
The one on the other side of it, though, was abandoned but fully furnished.
It would make a comfortable surveillance nest for the day or two
they thought it would take for Joey to wander along and to be taken into custody.
They could almost smell and taste their success.
It seemed that close.
Chapter 46
“Hey, Cowboy! How are you doing this beautiful west Texas day?”
“I couldn’t be better if there was two of me,” Randy responded. “The sun is shining, the birds are singing, it’s shaping up to be a gorgeous day.”
“And you were off yesterday.”
“Yeah. How’d you know?”
“Love is a wonderful thing, Randy. You can’t hide it, no matter how hard you try. It permeates your soul. It gives you a completely different outlook on life, and makes you look and act differently.
“I could tell when you rode up, before you ever said a word, that you were off yesterday and spent the day with Sarah.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“As obvious as the nose on your face or the Stetson upon your head, my friend. Did y’all do anything special?”
“Not really. Her friend Karen fried a chicken. I traded a watch to a farmer I know for it. We packed some of it in a picnic basket and walked to a local park for a good old fashioned picnic. We spent most of the afternoon and into the evening just talking, watching the clouds roll by and then the stars.”
“And now we had to spoil your fun by making you come back to work today.”
“Yeah, pretty much. But I don’t mind. I have fun with you guys too. So much so that I look forward to my rotation with you every few days.”
“Yeah, see, Randy, that surprises me.”
“How so?”
“I know you’re very dedicated to your job. I had a chance to meet with Major Shultz before he died. When he rode over here to talk to Jake about rotating out our horses with yours, so yours didn’t get worn down. Did you know that?”
“That you met with Major Shultz? No, I didn’t.”
“He struck me as a nice man. Anyway, he told me you were a ‘Ranger’s Ranger.’ That’s how he described you. He said you were very dedicated to your job. That you didn’t have seniority over most of the others. That they still viewed you as a youngster because you’ve only been on the job a short time.
Death Comes Calling (Ranger Book 3) Page 14