Chapter Ten
Charli was just walking out of her front door when her phone rang. It was the station. “Sampson.”
“Some lady just got shot at a church in Taylorsville and the perp is headed our way on 417, driving a white Camaro. She’s Latino, wearing a blue tube top and shorts with silver high heels. She’s armed and dangerous. Taylorsville PD is in pursuit and we’re sending both squad cars to intercept.”
“I’m headed that way now.” She snatched up her keys from the table by the door, grabbed her hat from the coat rack, barreled out of the door, and ran smack into a big hard body.
“Shit!” She looked up. “Damn, Grady, what’re you doing here?”
“Where’re you off to in such a hurry?”
“Suspect in a shooting headed this way on 417. Gotta try and cut her off.”
“Her?”
“That’s what I’m told.”
“Come on. I know a way.”
She almost argued, but realized that he knew the area far better than she did, so without argument she handed him her keys and climbed into the passenger seat of her car. “You know I could get fired for involving a civilian in a police matter.”
“If it was anyone but Tom, yeah.”
“Good point.” She buckled up.
“So what’s the skinny on this situation?”
“All I know is that the suspect is driving a white Camaro, is Latino, wearing a blue tube top and shorts with silver high heels, and is armed. Taylorsville PD is in pursuit and both of our squad cars are on the roll to intercept.”
“If she’s on 417, she’s looking to cut across the west side of the county, hit the Interstate, and head for the border.” She held on to the “oh shit” handle above the door as he made a sliding turn onto the hard-surface road.
“We need to cut her off.”
“That’s doable.” Grady grinned and laid on the gas. “So what’re you doing after we catch the bad guy?”
“Going to the station to finish my shift.”
“And after that?”
“Going home.”
“Come to my place.”
“What for?”
“Dinner.”
She looked at him in surprise. “As in sit down and eat what you cook?”
“Generally that’s the way it’s done, yes.”
“Can you?”
“Can I what?”
“Cook?”
“Come to dinner and find out.”
“Help me get this bitch and you’re on.”
“Done.”
Twenty minutes later Charli saw the Interstate. They were running parallel to it. She scanned the southbound lane. “There!” She pointed.
Grady didn’t blink or hesitate. He just ran the car off the road, through grass and rock, dodged a few trees, and skidded onto the Interstate without ever once putting on the brakes.
Charli turned on the light on the dashboard. “Get me beside her. And hit the lights and siren.”
Fifteen seconds later, that’s right where she was, parallel to the white Camaro, racing down the highway like a bat out of hell. “She’s not going to pull over.”
“Then let’s help her.” Grady eased off the gas. The Camaro pulled ahead of them, then he nudged the back end panel of the car just enough to send it into a spin.
It crossed the road and went off the left side, weaving and bouncing down a small embankment. Grady followed and by the time the car ran into a metal divider in the highway median, he was pulling up behind her.
Charli got out of the car with her weapon drawn. “Out of the car!” she shouted. “Slowly.”
The door opened and a young woman climbed out with her hands up.
“Turn around, hands on the car.”
In seconds, she had the young woman cuffed and in the back of her car. She pulled out her phone to call it in and at that moment, three police cars rolled in with lights flashing and sirens blaring. Two were Taylorsville units and the other was a Cotton Creek patrol car.
“We’ll take her.” The officer who was the first to get out of one of the Taylorsville units announced.
“Not your jurisdiction.” The Cotton Creek officer, Rick Maple, who had also gotten out of his car, argued.
“Our case, our collar.” The Taylorsville officer pointed out.
“Her collar.” Rick pointed to Charli.
“You can collect her from the station, but she goes with me.” For a moment, she thought the man would argue, but he didn’t.
“Whatever. We’ll follow you.”
She nodded to Rick and climbed into the car with Grady. “Let’s go.”
Then she looked over the seat at the young woman. “You have anything to say before I turn you over to the Taylorsville officers? Like why you shot that woman?”
“He not supposed to marry her. He supposed to marry me.”
“So you shot her? Why not shoot him?”
“I love him. We are going to run away together.”
“Oh? And when was this supposed to happen?”
“Last night. Ricky supposed to me at hotel on the highway, but he no show. So I go to church and there he is with blonde puta.”
“But instead of shooting him, you shoot the bride. Why?”
“I love him. Robby my life.”
Charli cut a look at Grady before turning her attention back to the woman. “Is that right? So how long have you and Robby been together?”
“Six months.”
“How’d you meet?”
“At club. Pussy Cat Club. I work there.”
“Pussy Cat Club? The one on the north end of the county over on 535?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to know if the woman’s still alive?”
“No. I don’t care. All I—“
“We’ve got a tail.” Grady said softly.
Charli turned her attention to the side mirror. “Audi three cars back?” She asked.
“Yep.”
She pulled out her phone. “Chief? Radio our guys. Black Audi three cars behind us. We think it’s a tail. Don’t engage, let’s just see what they want. Thanks.”
She cut a look across her shoulder at the prisoner, whose face was two shades paler than when she’d been put into the car. Charli was starting to think there was far more to this story than a jealous girlfriend, but right now what mattered was getting back to the station intact.
The rest of the drive was uneventful. As they neared the turnoff to Cotton Creek, Charli called one of the other Cotton Creek units following them. “Hey, it’s Charli. Listen, if that black Audi turns with us, fall back and follow them. I want a plate to run and want to know where they go if they don’t follow us to the station.”
“Good move,” Grady commented.
“Standard procedure.”
There was no more conversation. Once they reached the police station, she took the woman in and placed her in a holding cell. Grady was waiting when she returned to the squad room.
“I’m gonna give Kyle a call and see if he’ll come give me a ride home.”
“Take my car.”
“Doesn’t it belong to the department?”
“No. I had it outfitted at my own expense.”
“Why?”
“It’s faster.”
Grady smiled. “I hear you. Are you sure about me taking it?”
“Absolutely. I’ll catch a ride home with one of the guys after my shift.”
“Thanks.”
“You bet. Thank you.”
“For?”
“Driving.”
“It was fun.”
She smiled and watched him leave. Just then Chief Tom Greene entered. “Taylorsville wants her transferred to them today.”
“That’s fine, but I’m not convinced they have the real story.”
Tom nodded toward his office. Once inside, he closed the door and propped on the edge of his desk. “Tell me.”
“First, she referred to her supposed lover by two different names after we put her in the car.”
“She was scared, got confused.”
“About your lover’s name? I don’t think so. And she said they met six months ago at the Pussy Cat Club on 535.”
“It’s not on 535 and that place closed down a year ago.”
“Exactly. She’s screwing up her tale and I think it’s on purpose. She has something to say and I’m asking you to let me talk with her and see if I can get whatever it is from her.”
“Do it.”
Charli nodded and headed back to the holding cell. She stopped in the ladies’ room and grabbed a roll of toilet tissue, then proceeded on to the cell. The woman was sitting on the metal cot attached to the wall. She looked quite miserable and afraid.
“Do you want something to drink?” Charli asked.
“No.”
“A lawyer?”
“No.”
“Okay, so how about you tell me what really went down this morning. Why did you shoot that woman?”
“I already tell you.”
“Yeah, you told me two different names for a guy I’m betting you never met, and you claim to have met him six months ago at a club that closed down a year ago. So, I’m guessing someone put that gun in your hand and gave you a choice. Kill that woman or have something real bad happen to you or someone you care about.”
Charli wasn’t surprised when the woman burst into tears and the tears developed into huge body-wracking sobs. Charli unlocked the cell door and went inside to sit beside the woman. She put her arm around her and the woman turned to her, crying her guts out.
These weren’t crocodile tears. These were the tears of a woman who was terrified and felt she had no way out. She might not, but Charli hoped there was a chance. When the sobs finally subsided and then the hiccups faded, she accepted the roll of toilet paper, blew her nose, and cleaned her face.
“I want to help you.” Charli said. “So tell me who you are and what really happened.”
“Juanita Lopez. I— That man— I never sleep with him. He works for the man who own my town, my home. Carlos Estevez. That gringo, he owes Carlos money. He took Carlos’ cocaine and he no pay what he owes. Carlos says the gringo pay or Carlos make him pay. Gringo sends Carlos a message and says fuck you.
“That makes Carlos mad. He breaks down door in my house. His men take my mother and my son. He say if I want them to live, I come here and shoot that gringa. I have three days or my family gets dead. So, I do it. I not want my family to die. I have to do it.”
Tears sprang from her eyes as she talked and she wiped them away with a wad of tissue. “I no want to kill that woman. I not want to kill anyone. I just want my son and my mama to be safe.”
Charli nodded. “I understand and I’m going to do everything I can to help you, but the police in Taylorsville are going to want to take you back there and charge you.”
“Those men no want to help.”
“I don’t know if they do or not, so I’m going to do what I can to stall your transfer. I think I can put them off until at least Wednesday.”
“I so thank you.” Juanita grasped Charli’s hands. “I promise I no bad woman. I just want my baby and mama safe, Miss Charli.”
“I know. Now, I’m going to have someone bring you something to eat and drink and you’re going to have to change out of that dress and into a jumpsuit, but I’ll come back and help you with that. Until then, just try and be calm, okay?”
“Yes, yes, I try.”
“Good.” Charli let herself out of the cell, returned to Tom’s office, and told him what Juanita had said. He dismissed her and by the time she left his office, he was already on the phone.
Charli turned her attention to getting Juanita into the shower. While Juanita washed, Charli bagged her clothing for evidence. When Juanita stepped from the shower with a towel around her, Charli was waiting with a jumpsuit, socks, slippers and an ankle tracker.
“What's that for?” Juanita pointed to the tracker.
“Just so I know you’re safe and where you’re supposed to be. Those Taylorsville boys were a bit too eager to get you in their jail. If I see the location change on their tracker, I’ll come for you.”
“You promise?”
“I do.”
“Then put it on.”
Charli put the tracker on Juanita’s ankle. “Pull your sock up over it. The jumpsuit will be long on you, so it’ll provide more cover.”
Juanita did as Charli instructed and once she was dressed, Charli returned her to her cell. After that, she logged in the evidence and started on the incident report.
She was very thorough, even about Grady being involved. When she finished, she reread it twice, then printed two copies, signed both, delivered one to the file clerk, then the second to Tom’s office.
He was sitting at his desk, staring at his monitor. Charli knocked and waited for him to grant her permission to enter.
“My report, sir.” She placed it on her desk.
Tom scanned it and looked up. “Do you believe her?”
“I do, Tom. And I don’t want to turn her over to the Taylorsville boys. They’re on a headhunt and they’ll never listen to her. I’m afraid for her well-being.”
“So, what is it you want, Charli?”
“I want to prove that she’s telling the truth.”
“How?”
“By going to Mexico.”
“To Mexico?”
“Yeah. I need to find this Estevez guy and her family. If we can prove she acted out of duress, then maybe we can keep her here to serve whatever sentence she gets, and not get her deported back to Mexico, because you know if that happens Estevez will kill her.”
“I do know that, and I know you’re not going to want to hear this, but the Mexican government is already demanding that we return her. Taylorsville is arguing that she entered this country illegally and committed a murder and so should stand trial here, and I tend to agree, but the State AG just called and said it’s going to open one big nasty can of worms if we try and press that, so he wants her returned.”
“To be killed.”
“Maybe not. After all, she fulfilled her job. Maybe Estevez will let her live.”
“Or maybe he will kill her, her mother, and her child.”
“Well, my hands are tied, Charli, so what do you want from me?”
Charli considered it for just a moment and made up her mind. “Let me take her back.”
“And do what?”
“It doesn’t matter. What happens in Mexico isn’t your jurisdiction or responsibility. Just let me take her, Tom.”
“Why do I get the feeling that I’m about to make a huge mistake?”
She shrugged and waited. After a moment, he sighed. “Fine. I’ll call the AG and will let you know when I have it set up. But for now, you’ve got a few days off, so get outta here.
“Thanks, Tom.”
He nodded and so she turned and headed for the door. Just as she reached it, he spoke up. “Charli?”
“Yeah?” She turned to look at him.
“Just remember. When you go − come home alive.”
“I intend to, sir.”
She walked out, checked to make sure meals had been arranged for Juanita’s lunch and dinner, and then asked one of the other deputies to give her a ride home.
The first thing she did when she got out of the cruiser was pull out her phone and call Grady.
“I’m home and am going to shower and change and then I’ll ride over to your place. What’s the address?”
He gave it to her and asked. “What’s up?”
“I’ll tell you when I get there. You still cooking?”
“I am.”
“Can I bring anything?”
“Just yourself.”
“Okay. See you in an hour.”
“See you then.”