My Sister's Detective

by T. J. Jones

  I pointed my gun at Gary Jeffries. "Is it murder if somebody is already dead?"

  "Hi Eric, long time. You might as well shoot me, I'm as good as dead already."

  "You better hope the cops get here soon. If Rosalyn's boyfriend shows up first, I wouldn't want to be you. Rosalyn Cabello, remember her? Did Frank get in on that too?"

  Gary stared at me for a minute, then shrugged. "He likes the young ones even more than I do. Couple different guys had a turn with her. That whole deal got out of hand, but I couldn't help myself. She was just too damn hot for her own good."

  "Don't try to blame it on her you sick piece of shit. Did you kill Davey? The two of you?"

  "Of course not! He was a pussy, but I liked that kid. He didn't like it when I got mean with the Cabello girl, that was when he started to man up, when he finally figured things out. He liked all those bonus payments he got for finding me young girls, but once he realized those kids weren't going off to be runway models somewhere, he flipped out. Then he just kept sticking his nose in where it didn't belong. When I came back to town, I tried to knock some sense into him, but he wouldn't listen. He would have been alright if he'd just minded his own business."

  "What you were doing, that's everybody's business, Gary. Civilized people don't do that kind of shit." I wanted to tell him that Davey was his nephew, but in that moment, I decided he didn't deserve to know.

  Gary continued. "One of the guys we're dealing with, he's very serious about his privacy. Some of those girls had seen him, and he wasn't happy when they started showing up back in this country. Once he figured out it was Davey bringing those girls back, the kid was as good as dead. He didn't like that Frank took Maria in either, she was just supposed to disappear. That's why Frank went to Jacksonville, it was Maria or his daughters, he was told to make a choice."

  "He left his girlfriend here to be butchered?"

  "He's in over his head, same as me. I didn't want to go along, and that's why Andy tied me up, did me a favor, I guess. I wanted to try to stop them from killing Maria, but they just would have killed me instead. Somebody had to die to teach Frank a lesson. Honestly Eric, it wasn't me that killed Davey. This guy we're dealing with, anybody is expendable if they make too much noise. There is so much money involved, here and overseas. Turned out Sam was working with Davey, which was news to me. When they killed him, Frank and I knew we'd be next if we didn't do as we're told. We go along or we're dead."

  "A name Gary, who is this scumbag that's willing to have a four year old killed, along with his babysitter and mother."

  "I always liked you Eric, so I'm not going to tell you that." I stepped back and leveled the gun at his face. He actually chuckled. "We both know you won't shoot me. Really Eric, if you knew, he'd kill you, probably all of us, including my nieces. I know you think Frank and I are bad guys, and no doubt you're right. But we're boy scouts compared to the man we're talking about. Believe me, there is nothing he won't do, no perversion that's too far, and he has all the money and rich friends he needs to get away with it."

  "How did you do it Gary, how did you get Davey to ever agree to any of this?"

  "Little of it in all of us, Eric. It feels good to have that power over someone else. Davey never had that. He got kicked around in school, and his old man wouldn't even look at him. I just did what his father should have, treated him like a man, then I pushed him to prove it. But he couldn't, pussy, like I said. Didn't like the rough stuff. But all of a sudden, mostly because of the Cabello girl I guess, he grows a set of balls. He was going to the cops and turn me in, but I talked him out of it. He let me disappear instead, and make a run for it. The Feds were closing in on me anyway."

  "Surprised you didn't just kill him."

  "Like I said Eric, I liked that kid. I never killed anyone."

  "Maybe you didn't personally, maybe you didn't squeeze the trigger, but how many people are dead or ruined for life, because of what you were doing? You're going to pay for that Gary."

  I heard a sudden noise. The door was open and my backup stood just inside. "Yeah, my Rosie, she has nightmares and screams in the middle of the night because she remembers you, Diablo." Manny and three of his compadres poured into the room and surrounded us. "You owe her a great debt Senor Diablo, and I am here to collect. Sorry Slater, but it would be better if you don't have to see this." I should have realized what they had in mind, but there were too many of them. There was a blinding flash and a lot of pain, then darkness.

  ***

  "Slater, Slater, wake up, wakey, wakey."

  I struggled to open my eyes as someone slapped me on the cheek. I was sure that if I moved, the pain in my head was going to kill me. It took a full ten seconds to get my eyes to focus. Susan Foster stood over me smiling.

  "I knew that head of yours was too hard to do any serious damage, but you were out for quite a while. You are lucky I like you Sailor, or I'd have you in jail for a very long time. You did manage to save another girl's life, so you get a pass, again. Good thing we had somebody tailing Manny or he would have done something you'd regret. If we'd been a minute later and he had used his knife, you'd all be in prison for quite a few years."

  "Where's Gary?" I muttered.

  "Who's Gary?" She asked as she pulled me to a sitting position and handed me a bag of frozen vegetables she must have taken from the refrigerator.

  "Gary Jeffries, Diablo Blanco? Manny came here to skin him." Manny and his crew were sitting on the floor on the other side of the room. Their hands were handcuffed behind them and two uniformed officers were kneeling down talking to them. Andy and Gary were nowhere to be seen. Susy popped a piece of gum in her mouth then glanced at Manny who was glaring at us coldly.

  "We'll cut them loose, and I'll stick to our deal. Don't worry, I have people watching Rosalyn. Who is this Gary Jeffries?"

  My head hurt and I couldn't understand what she was talking about. "Gary, the Diablo Blanco. He was going to kill Sandy, and Rosalyn."

  "The story I heard was that this Diablo guy was trying to warn them about the assassin that was coming after them. Might even be true. And it might be he knows all the names of all the people I want to know. Gary Jeffries, he's been dead for a few years, hasn't he? Alligator bait, I heard."

  "Alright, I get it, he's your star witness. What about Frank? What about the girls?" I tried to stand up, panicked, but Susy put a hand on my shoulder. I tried to explain. "If they couldn't get Maria they'll go after Angie and Maggie."

  "Relax Eric. Having Gary gives us leverage. My old boss Andy, he might be going into witness protection too. The guy with the real money, the one I really want, he and his bunch are running back to their sand castle for now, and the locals that were involved are too busy trying to cover their own asses to come after Frank."

  "And Davey? Any idea who killed him?"

  "If Gary knows, he's holding out on us until we cut a deal."

  "Alright, what about Frank?"

  "I'm going to let him sweat it out for a while, see who he runs to. Maybe he'll finger Davey's killer if his brother doesn't know."

  "Maria, what about her and the kid?"

  "She'll disappear until everything shakes out with Frank. Far as he knows, they're all dead. The man you shot was a hired gun so nobody will get too excited that he didn't call in. Frank was willing to give her up and let them kill her. Couple of fine brothers, those two."

  "They told Frank it was Maria or his daughters, he'll think she's dead because he chose Angie and Maggie."

  "You make a deal with the Devil, you have to expect to get burned." Susy leaned toward me suddenly, real anger showing in her face. "I know your head hurts Slater, but you listen very closely to what I have to say. Dozens, possibly hundreds of kids from all over this country and plenty of immigrants, some of them young as ten years old, have been kidnapped, raped, and murdered. Two of the people I loved and respected most in the world were extinguished, just so people like Frank and Gary Jeffries could get their nut off." She snappe
d her gum once, then put her face inches from mine.

  "I'm cutting you loose, only because Maria Lopez is still breathing, that's the only reason. But if you give Frank Jeffries any indication of what happened here tonight, if you fuck this investigation up any more than you already have, I will have you in jail every day I can for obstruction and I will be waiting for you when you walk out of prison to make your life a living hell. Do you understand me?"

  I didn't argue. "Yeah, perfectly. Can I go now or am I under arrest? It'll be a long drive home."

  She wasn't quite done. "Not a word to anybody about any of this, that includes Maggie." I nodded and tossed the ice bag in the sink as I walked to the door. A uniformed deputy handed me my gun, and held the door open.

  "Hey Slater!" I turned around and Susy Foster gave me the slightest smile. "Nice shooting."

  Chapter Twenty

  It was a long drive back to Jacksonville. I had to stop at a convenience store and buy a bag of frozen peas to hold on my head as I drove. I swear, thinking made it hurt more, but I couldn't help that.

  All things considered, it could have gone worse. Not much, but I had managed to keep Maria Lopez and the kids alive, so that was a win. Gary Jeffries was in custody, and that was a good thing too. He'd cut some kind of deal, probably be a protected witness and get another new life. We should have called him El Gato. My guess was that his brother was burning up his phone trying to find out what had happened. It was a tossup between the two which brother I hated more at that point.

  All along I had thought that Gary had been the one to pull Frank into everything, but now I wasn't so sure. It might have gone the other way. They both seemed to have a pathological need to dominate and I wasn't about to try to analyze where that came from. One night at the dinner table with Frank spoke volumes about his personality. He was the one that had supported his brother in hiding, and the one that had fooled his family all those years. I could begrudgingly give him credit for wanting to save his daughters, but that didn't begin to make up for the horrors Rosalyn Cabello and countless other girls had gone through. Susy Foster was right, he didn't deserve a word of warning from me. I would protect his daughters as best I could, but Frank Jeffries could go to hell.

  ***

  I got home at four in the morning and took another handful of Ibuprofen. I didn't bother reading the label, kidney damage seemed worth it if my headache would go away. I got in bed and tried to fall asleep, but the throbbing got worse, so I got up and wandered around the house for a while with an ice pack. Standing seemed the least painful and moving around helped. By six the pain had subsided some and I contemplated the fact that it was Monday morning. Maybe a walk would help.

  Luis and the crew started at eight, but I had mentioned that I might be out of town, so he wouldn't be counting on me to show up. Maggie would be expecting me to run with her at seven. I decided to walk over to her place and attempt to go with her. Walking in the cool air felt pretty good, maybe a run wouldn't be too bad.

  I was wondering what Frank had said the night before, and if he was still talking divorce. As far as he knew Maria Lopez was lying dead in Angela's house. Maybe he planned to play it off as a burglary, act shocked when he heard the news and continue on as if he weren't the monster I knew him to be. Davey's death was still unexplained, and at some point, Frank Jeffries and I were going to talk about that. Maybe Susy Foster would give me another pass and if not the food in jail wasn't that bad.

  It wasn't a long walk to Point Road and I jogged a couple times to warm up and make sure my skull would take the bouncing. I made it to the end of Maggie's driveway half an hour early, so I decided to walk back to the Templeton's and say good morning to Edith. There was something I wanted to talk to her about anyway. It was getting light, but the kitchen lights were glowing in the window when I walked up.

  Edith Templeton swung the screen door open and stood there in her housecoat smiling at me. "Well Eric, going for a run with Maggie this morning? I told you, she's the one you need to be chasing."

  "Morning Edith. I'm too early, so I've got a few minutes. Any coffee?"

  "Sure, come on in."

  I sat down and started awkwardly. "I want to talk to you about Davey's money." I explained what Davey had been doing with the money, how he had been helping some of the girls, and how Rosalyn Cabello was living in poverty. "Maybe it isn't my place to say Edith, but I know it would have made Davey happy to give some of that money to Rosalyn and the girls like her."

  "It sounds like a great way to honor his memory Eric. We can sit down together and figure out how to do it, you and I. I'm sure Eddy will be fine with it, we can do without that money. It was Davey's money, not ours. Eddy and I are trying to work things out between us. We both made a lot of mistakes over the years, and we're going to try to get beyond that." Edith had left the front door open to let in the cool morning air and I heard a sudden shout, then another. Edith stood quickly. "Eddy went back to the barn, and he took his gun."

  I opened the screen door and turned back to her. "Wait here, I'll see what's going on." Funny how sometimes you just know things.

  The big door of the barn was standing open and Eddy Templeton stood in the opening with a shotgun dangling from his hand. He heard me coming and turned slowly, then motioned into the barn.

  "I walked out in the hayfield, to see if I could jump some Quail. I was on my way back and I just now found him."

  Frank Jeffries hung from the same high railing where they had found his son two months earlier. It seemed likely he had done it himself. He must have known one belt wasn't enough because he had tied three of them together and stepped off one of the old chairs. He hadn't even bothered kicking it away.

  I walked over to him with Eddy a step behind. I lifted him high enough for Eddy to stand on a chair and loosen the makeshift noose, then lowered him to the ground. I didn't need to wonder if he was dead, he was stiff and his skin was an ugly bluish grey. He must have walked over in the middle of the night. Eddy was shaking and started to cry as I rolled him over.

  "Son of a bitch didn't even give me the satisfaction of beating his ass for what he did to Davey."

  "What do you mean, what he did to Davey?"

  "Davey knew I wasn't his biological father, and he told Frank. The bastard told Davey no son of his would be a queer. If I'd known he was going to do this, I'd have come to watch." He spit in Franks general direction and then turned and started walking away.

  "Eddy, Davey told me you were always the man he considered his father, he said he loved you." It was a lie, but one he needed to hear.

  "Really? I didn't deserve that, but that was Davey. Thank you for telling me that Eric."

  "I'll call the cops. Can you bring back a blanket so I can cover him?"

  When we were getting him down, I had noticed a note protruding from his pocket with Angela's name on it. Even in death he had managed to discount his youngest daughter, and I was damned if I was going to let him get away with that. I pulled the note out and read it.

  "Sorry Angie, for everything I did, and the things I can't undo. This will end

  it, they won't come after any more of the people I love. Daddy."

  To hell with Frank Jeffries. He didn't get to hurt Maggie like that and still play the hero. I crumpled the note up and pushed it into the pocket of my shorts. Edith came out with a blanket, handed it to me and walked away without a word. I walked to the end of the driveway and waited for the ambulance to come and haul Frank Jeffries out of our lives forever. I heard the wail of the siren and could see the lights flashing as Maggie came trotting down her driveway. She looked down the road, then at me, then lunged into my arms sobbing.

  ***

  I went with Maggie and Rita to tell Angela. I've never seen anyone grieve like that. By the time you're nearly forty most people have experienced death, be it grandparents, parents, or for the unlucky few, loved ones younger than themselves. The slow onslaught of cancer, difficult as that is, gives loved ones a chance
to adapt to the reality of a life without, Grandpa, Uncle Jim, or as was my case, Mom. Having a person ripped from your lives in the space of a sentence, "Thank you for your son's service Mrs. Johnson, we are sorry to inform you…" I had to stand beside a Chaplin on a few occasions when they delivered that message. They always knew, when they opened their door and saw a Naval Chaplin and Master Sergeant standing there in his dress blues. They knew before we said anything that their child wouldn't ever be coming home again.

  Angela had that look when she saw the three of us together and Maggie's tear-stained face. She was still in bed, but awake and sitting up. Before anyone spoke she slid away from us, falling to the floor and spider crawling backwards into the corner of her room, her beautiful blue eyes jumping from one to the other of us, then casting furtive glances to the left and right as if she were a small animal trapped by a predator, searching for a place to hide from the inevitable reality she knew was coming. Then she dropped her head between her knees, took a deep breath, and started screaming, wailing so hard and continuously that she wasn't able to breath and passed out.

  Maggie slid onto the floor with her, wrapped her in an embrace, and pulled her onto her lap, rocking her like a small child as the moans settled into soft whimpers. She looked up at me forlornly and I pantomimed a call and silently asked if we should call a doctor. She shook her head and motioned us from the room as Angela buried her head in her sister's hair and started screaming again. Much as I wanted to help, there was nothing to do but go downstairs and leave the two of them to their grief.

  Before I had reached the bottom of the steps, Rita had gone to her room and slammed her door. I sat on the couch, feeling useless and wondering what to do next when Rosa came in. She already knew and shared a hug, then started cooking. Living people needed food she said. I went outside and called Jasmine Thatcher first, then dialed Susy Foster.