Brian felt Danny was being truthful from the way he acted, the ease of his delivery when questioned, and his body language. Brian knew the tapes and video would come into court if and when a trial was held. He wanted the story in detail with everything repeated several times. He kept at it until he got what he thought they needed for a conviction in this case. It took a while.
He offered Danny something to eat or drink. Danny asked for a coke and a sandwich and an aspirin for his headache. Brian stood and headed for the door, promising to be back with food and drink in a few minutes.
He met Sheriff Nolan in the corridor. Nolan watched the interview through the two way mirror. He was pleased. Now all they had to do was pick up the horse where Danny said they’d left him and the case was solved.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Brian Nelson turned things over in his mind. Danny told him where he and Calvin took the horse. He knew that was in Los Angeles County. He knew a little about the area and thought either Acton or Palmdale sheriff’s offices would be where they could locate a deputy to take them to such a remote spot. Since Palmdale was urban, he thought Acton would be a better bet to have someone on their staff that knew the area.
He remembered the Station Fire of a few years ago. It burned almost 125,000 acres up there. It might be difficult to locate a small valley that hadn’t burned. Maybe they should also get in touch with the Federal Fish and Wildlife people. They would know the area as well.
The Sheriff was thinking the same thing. He left to call the LA County Sheriff and enlist his support. He also called the Fish and Wildlife Department with a request for help on standby.
The LA County Sheriff confirmed Detective Nelson’s opinion. He had two officers in Acton with twenty years’ experience there. They knew the area well. He set up a meeting for Detectives Nelson and Bentley to meet with them and one officer from Little Rock at 1:30 in the Acton substation.
Brian Nelson arranged for a sandwich and coke be taken into the interview room for Danny. He knew Becky Howard was fighting for her life in Mission Hospital right now. As far as Danny’s headache was concerned, he wished he’d been the one to give it to him with a push into a building. He could forget it as far as his aspirin was concerned. Brian Nelson couldn’t have cared less. He and Ron had to leave immediately to get to the meeting in Acton. Someone could take Danny to a cell when he finished eating.
Nelson and Bentley hurried to their car and jumped on the freeway. They drove for miles to get to the meeting. They finally pulled off the freeway at the exit they were directed to and arrived at the LA County Sheriff’s substation in Acton with five minutes to spare.
Brian asked the officer at the front desk for coffee when they checked in. “Sure, we have a fresh pot brewing right now. It’s hot and strong. The guys here chip in for Starbucks. Help yourselves. Let me buzz you in. Take this corridor to the first left. That’ll be our lunch room. The coffee and supplies are in there. I’ll let the guys know you’re here.”
Four Deputies joined them in the lunch room and poured coffee for themselves. They introduced themselves and asked why Nelson and Bentley were there. Brian told them. There wasn’t a law enforcement officer in Southern California that hadn’t heard about the horse theft at the Swallows Day Parade. They were all whistling at the value of the horse involved.
“How’s that little girl doing?” one of them asked. Brian told them she was still in a coma. “She’s from a very prominent family and they are the nicest people you’d ever meet. It’s so sad.”
The men adjourned to a conference room. Detective Nelson and Bentley told them what they knew about where the horse went. They repeated the directions Danny gave to them to the LA County officers.
Deputy Ramon Ramirez, from Little Rock, said “I bet I know who you’re talking about. That sounds like it could be Carl Nixon’s place. I’ve never been there, but have heard the stories. Carl’s been up in the mountains for close to twenty years now. It’s a real sad story. He used to have a really good job at Lockheed in Palmdale, a wife and pretty 12-year-old daughter. The daughter had a thing for those Arab horses. His wife was driving her home from a riding lesson when some idiot got in a hurry to pass a truck out on the highway and took them out in a head-on crash. Both died instantly.”
“Carl stuck around about two weeks after the funeral. He cleaned out his bank accounts, took his retirement savings, maybe sixty grand all together, and just disappeared. The neighbors with a key checked on his house when nobody had seen him for a month and they found the house empty but neat as a pin. Clothes still in closets and dressers. Looked like someone was coming home any minute.”
“It was months before anyone saw him again. He showed up in Little Rock for supplies looking like a mountain man. Now he comes into town in an old rust bucket pick-up truck and buys supplies and hay for his horses every few weeks. He don’t talk much. Says he does a little prospecting up there and brings a few flakes of gold to some pawn broker over in Palmdale for cash money to keep him going.”
“You said he buys hay for his horses?” asked Brian Nelson.
“That’s what I hear. The boy at the feed store says he doesn’t say much. But I guess he keeps a couple of pack horses up at his place. The boy told me he bought grain and some brushes and curry combs this week. He thought that was strange. The old man doesn’t buy things like that.”
“Can you get us up there? We need to talk to Carl Nixon and see if he has the horse we’re looking for.” Ron Bentley asked.
“Look, you’re probably driving a Crown Vic or a Taurus. That road isn’t meant for one of those. You’ll break something and get yourself stranded on the mountain, and then we’ll have to bring in search and rescue to find you. Why don’t we take my four-wheel drive? That road ain’t pretty.” Deputy Ramirez chuckled.
“What are we waiting for?” asked Brian Nelson.
One of the Acton Deputies joined them. Ramirez drove them to Little Rock and turned off the main highway heading south into the mountains. They had paved roads for the first few miles and then dropped onto dirt roads. The ride was very uncomfortable. The tension built the closer they got. Nelson and Bentley hoped they would find Prince Ali and get that part of the case closed.
Carl Nixon’s place was actually ten and a half miles off pavement as the crow flies. But the road twisted and turned, sometimes meeting itself coming around a corner. Driving time was close to two hours. When they finally saw the little valley with the tumbledown shack and makeshift horse corral, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Deputy Ramirez stopped his vehicle in front of the cabin.
An old man who looked to be in his seventies came out of the cabin with a shotgun pointed toward the ground. The guys all got out of the four-wheel drive vehicle and approached him.
“You guys here about a horse?” Carl Nixon asked. “If so, you’re about a day late. The horse escaped last night. No telling where he’s at now. He could be a meal for a cougar by this time if he was unlucky.”
“You wouldn’t be Carl Nixon would you?” asked Deputy Ramirez. Carl nodded his head. “Mr. Nixon, would you mind telling us all about it?”
“Sure. And you can call me Carl.” Carl said walking back to the cabin and placing the shotgun just inside the door.
Carl filled them in on the Hix brothers’ arrival at his place, wanting to sell him a two hundred dollar pack horse. He told them when the horse came out of the trailer he knew he wasn’t a two hundred dollar pack horse. But he was the prettiest Arab horse he’d ever seen in his life. He told them his daughter had been partial to Arab horses.
He told them about the horse going after Danny. He’d assumed Danny had done something mean to him. He didn’t know about Becky. He told the officers he’d been rolling it around in his head for several days wondering why such a nice horse was here for just a few hundred dollars. He had a suspicion the horse might have been stolen or there was more to the story than he was told by the Hix brothers.
He said he woke up Sunday
convinced he needed to go to the Sheriff’s Department in Little Rock and make inquiries, but the horse was gone when he went outside to feed. He told them how attached he’d gotten to the horse in such a short time. They noticed tears welling in his eyes as he spoke.
“I rode all over the area this morning looking for him and couldn’t find a trace of him.” Carl told them. “The only thing I did find is an old blue and white trailer. Looks like the one the guys that brought him used. It’s about a mile and a half down the mountain in a thicket of trees. I’d be happy to show it to you. It wasn’t there before they showed up with that horse, I’ll guarantee it.”
Despite his appearance, Carl Nixon was articulate and educated. And they could tell he was genuinely upset over losing the horse. He referred to him as “Buddy” when he spoke. And he was very concerned about Buddy’s well-being.
The detectives filled Carl in on the horse and the little girl lying in a hospital bed. That really affected him. He broke down and choked back tears. It was too close to home for him. Only his little girl didn’t make it. He promised to keep searching for the horse and would let them know if he spotted him, alive or dead. Then he drove them to where the trailer was parked.
Deputy Ramirez happened to have a hitch and ball on his four-wheel drive vehicle that matched the hitch on the trailer. With Carl’s help, they hooked it up. They thanked Carl for his help and cooperation and promised Deputy Ramirez would let him know if the horse was ever found. Deputy Ramirez gave him his card and asked that Carl contact him if he found evidence of the horse on the mountain.
“I’ll keep looking for him and hoping I never find what’s left of him.” Carl told them.
Detective Nelson told Carl the Department of Fish and Wildlife had also been notified. They had people who worked in the area and knew it well so they’d also be searching. Carl said he’d be on the lookout for them.
The officers left hauling the trailer to the substation to be logged in as evidence. Now LA County had charges to pile on for the Hix brothers.
Detectives Nelson and Bentley finally got back in their car in Acton close to 8:00 that night and made the long trip home, missing dinner again.
Sheriffs Tishman and Nolan held a joint press conference and announced a break in the case of the injured girl and the stolen horse. They had two suspects in custody. They promised more details as they had them. They took few questions. They didn’t have all the answers yet.
At 2:00 that afternoon, a representative of the Orange County Sheriff had called Walter on his cell phone and told him about the arrest. He didn’t have more information but promised to contact Walter when they knew more.
“Did they find our boy Ali?” Walter wanted to know.
“I don’t have that information yet. I know the Detectives are working on it. We’ll call you when we have more information,” the officer told him.
Walter told Caroline. They both made a flurry of phone calls. They started to have hope again. It was the first good news they’d had for days.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
On their way from Acton to Orange County, Detective Brian Nelson called Walter Howard. He knew the Howards were anxious about Prince Ali.
“I’ve got some news for you.” Detective Nelson said to Walter. “You knew we busted the guys that stole your horse? We chased down the leads we got from them and did get to talk to the old man who bought the horse from them. In fact we’re on our way back from there right now.”
“You mean you found Ali?” Walter said hopefully.
“Well, not exactly. Let me give you the whole story. The old man who bought the horse from them is Carl Nixon. He prospects in the Angeles National Forest up by where the Station Fire was a couple of years back. He was looking for a pack horse. He contacted a horse broker about it.”
“I see.” Walter said.
“From what we learned, the horse broker was going to buy the horse from the thieves. But when he learned about your horse being stolen, he put two and two together and told the creeps no deal. Apparently they were anxious to unload the horse and he told them about Carl Nixon.”
“The old prospector?” asked Walter.
“Yes. They took the horse to Nixon. Nixon bought the horse for about four hundred bucks. But he had a suspicion there was something wrong. The horse was too nice. That nagged at him for a few days. So he was planning to go to the Sheriff’s office in Little Rock to ask about it this morning. When he woke up and went out to feed his horses, Ali was missing. He said it looked like he forgot to latch the gate on their corral.”
“So what you’re telling me is Ali isn’t there?” Walter asked.
“That’s what I’m telling you. Ali walked away. He’s somewhere up in the Angeles National Forest. I’ve notified the Federal Fish and Wildlife people. They are on the lookout for him. Carl Nixon does have another horse and he’s out looking for him too. I don’t know what to tell you, Mr. Howard. There are mountain lions, bears, and a lot of hazards for a horse like that up there. We’re doing the best we can.” Detective Nelson offered.
“Would it help if we put up reward money for him?” asked Walter.
“It wouldn’t hurt. The area he walked away from is wilderness country. There aren’t many people up there. I think Carl Nixon and the Fish and Wildlife people are our best hope. But a reward might bring in a few more eyes to look for him if he’s still alive up there. I can certainly help you get the word out.”
“Well, let’s do it then. I’m willing to put up Fifty Thousand. Can you work that out for me and get the information to the media? My little girl is going to be devastated when she wakes up. I’d really like to find him first so I don’t have to tell her he’s gone. She loves that horse!”
“You bet, Mr. Howard. I’ll call it in to my supervisor right now and we’ll get our Public Information Officer working with the media. How is your daughter today? Has she shown any improvement yet?” Detective Nelson asked.
“Not so far. Her vital signs are good and she’s off the critical list, but she’s still in a coma . We’re hanging in there and hoping for something soon,” a dejected Walter Howard told the detective.
“Look, Detective Nelson, I don’t know how I’m going to tell my wife about Ali, much less my daughter when she wakes up. If you think I need to make the reward higher, please let me know. Ali is very special to my family. We’d do just about anything to get him back. Let me know what we can do, will you?”
“We’ve got good people out looking for him. I promise you we’ll do the best we can. Carl Nixon is very familiar with the area since he lives up there. He got pretty attached to the horse too. He’s going to be out there looking for him until he finds something that tells him there’s no reason to continue the search.”
“Okay. I just feel so helpless here. There’s not much I can do but wait and worry. That’s not a very good feeling.” Walter confessed.
“I know,” Detective Nelson said. “But you are where you need to be right now. We’ll do the best we can. We do have the two creeps that did this in jail and they will spend a long time there I assure you. We’re still figuring out the charges for them and the DA is working on the case now. I know that doesn’t bring back your horse or heal your daughter, but you will get justice for this.”
“Justice feels pretty hollow right now. Like you said, it won’t bring back Ali or make Becky well again.” Walter answered.
“I appreciate that. I don’t know how I would feel. I have a 14-year-old daughter of my own. Just hang in there with us and let us do what we do. Think positive. Okay?”
“I’ll try. We’ll try. And thank you. We, Caroline and I, really do appreciate your work on this case.”
“No thanks are necessary.” Detective Nelson told him. “That’s why I became a cop in the first place. I like helping people.
Carl Nixon saddled Max after the Deputies left his place. He took water and his shotgun with him and headed out in the forest. He thought he knew the approximate area t
he mountain lion called her territory. He was going to start there. He’d heard her several times that week, snarling in the night. He hoped he would find nothing of Ali.
When Carl got to the center of the lion’s territory, he started circling. He looked for horse dung, hoof prints, piles of leaves that didn’t belong, scratched up soil, anything that looked a little out of place. For the longest time he found nothing. Then he saw the bone.
He dismounted and walked over to a pile of leaves with disturbed earth in front of them. He could see the lion’s claw prints. She’d obviously scratched the leaves into this pile to cover something up. Carl poked into the pile and then began to uncover it with a stick he found nearby. There was a carcass here. All that was left was white bones, mostly scattered and disjointed.
He finally found the skull. The bones all looked fairly small and the skull confirmed his suspicion. This was a small deer. He breathed a sigh of relief. Not Ali. This was an old carcass. What the cat didn’t consume, the other creatures of the forest had. When he backed up and looked around, he noticed bones had been dragged from under the leaf pile and scattered around for quite a ways.
He walked back to Max and mounted up, increasing his circle slightly. He spent the last hours of daylight searching the area. When he decided it was time to go back home, he left a pile of rocks where he ended his search. He would return in the morning and continue.
Carl spent Monday and Tuesday in his search. He covered the territory he thought was the mountain lion’s and the black bear’s, which overlapped slightly. He found several old carcasses in the lion’s territory, none of which were large enough or new enough to be Ali. He found gnawed shoots, overturned dead fall where the bear clawed open the trees looking for worms and grubs, and he found a fawn that had been taken recently, but nothing large enough to be a horse.
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