Chapter Fifteen
Charli was surprised when she opened her front door. She’d expected Tom, but not the tall, handsome man in a white Stetson, who stood on her front porch. “Chief,” she greeted Tom as she stepped aside. “Come in, please.”
Tom entered and gestured toward his companion as the man stepped inside. “Deputy Charli Sampson, Ranger Zeb Childress.”
“It’s an honor, sir,” Charli extended her hand.
“Zeb will do and the pleasure is mine, Charli. You don’t mind if I call you Charli?”
“Not at all. I’m a bit surprised. Have there been new developments since I left the station?”
“More like a reorganization,” Tom said. “The Rangers will be heading up the case, and will call upon federal, state, and county assistance as needed. Zeb will be the point man on this.”
“Ten-four.” She gave Zeb a nod. “Am I still on undercover detail?”
“With one small change. I’m going in with you.”
“You are?” Tom asked.
“I am. And let me clarify. I won’t be with Deputy Sampson but I will be in the immediate area.”
“Because you think I need protection or because two sets of eyes beat one?” Charli asked.
Zeb reached up to scratch his chin. “Deputy I’m willing to bet you don’t need protection, so I’ll go with the latter.”
Charli smiled. “I appreciate that, but we all need to know someone has our back. And it goes without saying that I’ve got yours.”
“Indeed.” Zeb smiled. “So, where’s a thrift shop when I can find some different clothes?”
“The church thrift shop on Third Street,” Tom answered.
“Then we’ll swing by. But first, Charli, are you ready?”
“I need to change. Can you give me five minutes?”
“We can.”
She hurried to her room and changed into a pair of worn jeans, a concert T-shirt from a show she’d seen in Chicago a few years ago, old sneakers, and an old leather jacket she’d had since she enlisted.
Charli had a pillowcase filled with clothing—socks and jeans and T-shirts and underwear, along with a couple of books, a hairbrush and toothbrush and a charging cord for her phone, along with a wallet with no ID and twenty-two dollars. There was also a box of ammunition for the gun she had stuffed into the waistband of her pants.
She headed out of her room and slung the pillowcase over her shoulder. “Okay, let’s ride.”
When they were all outside in the car, Charli reached across the back of the seat and handed her keyring to Tom. “Would you hold onto this for me?”
Zeb looked over the seat at her. “You do much undercover work in your law enforcement career, Charli?”
“No, sir.”
“Do I hear a ‘but’ in there?”
“No, sir.”
Zeb looked at Tom. “Something I’m missing here, Chief?”
Tom looked up at the rearview mirror to catch Charli’s gaze. “Yeah, there is. Charli’s ex-Delta.”
Zeb looked back at Charli. “So, you know that if you go in packing, you’re liable to give yourself away?”
“Unless you’re packing an unregistered weapon with the serial numbers filed off and one that’s obviously old.”
“Lemme see.”
She handed him the weapon and Zeb whistled. “Damn, she is old, but a beaut. Where’d you get her?”
“My dad. It was his.”
Zeb nodded and returned the weapon to her. “Then make sure no one takes that from you, hear?”
“Yes, sir.”
Talk turned to operational matters that didn’t involve her so Charli let her gaze turn to watching the passing scenery and her thoughts turn to the man who’d left eighteen days ago, carrying her heart.
Come home, Grady. Please. Come home.
*****
Charli wandered the territory, looking for anything that might be of use and generally just watching. It hadn’t taken her long to see other women who had laid claim to a back room in a derelict building at the end of a block of buildings that had obviously been vacant for some time.
The women had turned a storage room into a dorm of sorts. Charli was impressed at what they had accomplished. There were six twin beds with blow-up air mattresses. Beside each bed were homemade nightstands made of plastic or wooden crates stacked upon one another.
There was a long table fashioned from cobbled together sawbucks and boards for a top that sat on the opposite side of the room and acted as a dining table and a workbench. Some of the women gathered scraps of cloth and old clothing and cut them up to make quilts. They sold what they could and gave away what they couldn’t sell.
Charli admired them. Even in such dismal conditions, they were willing to help others. It reminded her of how much she had and how she had not taken time to give to those less fortunate. She resolved to do better. Starting now.
Since she couldn’t sew, she volunteered to scout for discarded clothing and food. That also gave her an excuse to move around the section of the city that had been taken over by the homeless.
It was surprisingly large, three square blocks. She’d never really dealt much with the homeless and found herself a bit ashamed to have thought less of them. Sure, there were the addicts and alcoholics who just couldn’t hold down a job or keep it together enough to pay rent, but there were also good decent people who were just down on their luck.
Charli had spent the last four days wandering the streets, talking to people, and getting a feel for things. She and Zeb hooked up every evening and already a couple of the women in her building thought she had a crush on the handsome drifter who played the harmonica, had a smile that rivaled the sun, but also a look that could chill a man to the bone.
She let them think what they wanted. If it provided an excuse for her to meet with Zeb and compare notes, it was good enough. Thus far, all they’d been able to determine was that three women had gone missing in the last month. One every ten days.
No one saw it happen and no one had been asking questions. That was about to change. Charli and Zeb agreed they would start questioning everyone they’d connected with and if lucky, maybe they’d get a lead.
She hoped so. Three women were missing and two of them had children who were being cared for by others in the street community. Charli wanted to find those women and get them back to their kids.
And then she wanted to talk to the town council about what could be done to help these people.
She headed for the abandoned cobbler shop where Zeb was crashing. As she drew near, she saw that someone had started a fire in an old barrel and a few men had wired coat hangers together to fashion a grill. There were chicken legs cooking on the makeshift grill, a big bag of them sitting on a wooden box waiting to be cooked, and people were sitting around in old chairs they’d found, or on the sidewalk, listening to music being played by Zeb on his harmonica, an old man with an equally old banjo, and a woman on a fiddle.
It was amazingly good and she smiled as she walked over and took a seat on the sidewalk beside Zeb. She leaned back against the brick wall of the building and watched the people.
Aside from the condition of their clothing and the overall hygiene, it could have been a family cookout. People were tapping their feet, humming along, smiling and talking.
When the song ended, Zeb accepted a bottle of water a woman offered to him. “Thank you, kindly, ma’am.”
“It’s my pleasure. Now you share some with your pretty lady.”
“I surely will.” Zeb smiled again and when the woman turned away, he looked at Charli. “How’s it going?”
“Another day, another bag of old clothes, two cans of salmon and a half a loaf of bread. Big score.”
“Indeed. And on the information front?”
“People are scared, as you already know. I got a line on a girl named Crissy who another girl, Deeny, claims she saw one of the women get grabbed. She works the corner over by the old liquor store where the drug boys have taken roost. I figured it might be smart to have some backup if I’m going to scout that area after dark.”
“I agree. We’ll head over when it gets dark. I heard something along the same line—that the drug boys might have sold that girl.”
“Sold her?” Charli was sure she would feel her blood pressure rise at the thought.
“Simmer down, killer.” Zeb leaned over and made a show of kissing her on the cheek and then whispered. “I’d like to put a bullet in ‘em too, if it’s true, but we can’t go off half-cocked.”
“I know.” Charli put her arms around him and hugged up to him for a few seconds, then pulled back. “But we need to make some progress. Any word from the Chief?”
Zeb stood and extended his hand. “Walk with me.”
Charli let him pull her to her feet. He kept hold of her hand and started away from the gathering. When they were half a block away, he stopped and pressed her back against the brick of a building.
She understood what he was doing as he leaned in toward her. If anyone was watching, it would appear that they were getting cozy. She looped her arms around his neck. “What’s up?”
“There’s a development.”
“I’m listening.”
“A farmer in North Texas up around Texarkana butchered two hogs he bought at an auction and inside one of them were the bones of a human hand. It scared the farmer so he took the bones to the police. They called the Rangers and the Rangers took possession of the evidence. Turns out, the bones belonged to one of the missing women.”
“In a hog?” Charli tried not to shudder. “Are you telling me that whoever killed that girl fed her to a hog?”
“Appears so. No other bones were found in either hog, and the Rangers traced the sale, but whoever sold the hogs to the farmer did cash business and gave a fake name.”
“But they’re looking into all the hog farms in the area, aren’t they?”
“They are. But that disappearance is a long way from here so there might not be a connection.”
“Or there might. Are they checking the hog farms around here?”
“They are. One by one.”
“Zeb, we have to find these women. I’m scared we’re running out of time.”
“I’m just as eager as you, but I don’t know how to speed things up.”
“I might.”
“Oh, now I’m listening.”
“Get in with the drug boys. Tell them you have something to sell. Someone.”
Zeb drew back a bit, clearly surprised. “Are you serious?”
“I am.”
“Charli, you’re talking about putting yourself—“
“I know what I’m talking about. But I’m not in this alone. If they agree, you can follow, or arrange for someone else to. The point is, it’s been nine days since the last woman disappeared so tomorrow is the day.”
He was quiet for a minute, then gave a short nod. “It’s actually the best move we have now, but I’m still not keen on putting you in harm’s way.”
“It’s what we signed on for, and I sure as hell don’t want some other woman getting grabbed. Look at it this way. If you’re selling me, then chances are, I’m gonna do what you tell me—at least in the eyes of the drug boys. I’ll say, “yes daddy” and get in a car or whatever, expecting to service a john.
“But I’ll know it’s more and I’ll be ready. And you’ll be following. It could work. If we can find out where the victims are being taken, maybe we can find some alive. We have to at least try.”
“Yeah, I agree. Tell you what. Let’s head over to the old ball field a couple of blocks over. People will think we’re going somewhere to get private. We’ll find a nice quiet spot where I can call and talk with our people and we’ll work it out.”
“Sounds good.” Charli removed her arms from around his neck and wrapped one arm around his waist as they started in the direction of the ball field. “So, have you talked with Willa today?”
She’d spent enough time with Zeb to learn that he was married to a woman named Willa who he claimed had been in love with him since she was a child and he never knew until he returned to his home county a few years ago.
He was as crazy about Willa as she’d ever seen a man be. You could tell it by the way his face lit up at the sound of her name and the way he spoke it. Charli found herself wishing she could hear someone speak her name that way. Just once. It was, beyond all doubt, the sound of love.
“Yeah, she’s ready for me to wind this up and get home.”
“No readier than you, I bet.”
“Oh, you have no idea. What about you, Charli? You gonna keep pretending you’re not head over heels for that fella who shipped out?”
“I’m not pretending.”
“No?”
“No. I’m not head over heels for him.”
“Liar.”
She smiled at him. “I don’t do head over heels, but I damn sure am crazy about the man.”
“Ain’t love grand?”
She wasn’t sure how to answer that question. She hadn’t told Grady she loved him and she didn’t know if he was ever coming back, so love might not be grand at all. It might be what finally broke her because if he didn’t come home, she was dead certain all the love she had inside her would dry up and blow away, mingling with the rest of the dust in Texas.