Caliber Detective Agency - Box Set - Case Files 1-6 (7 page)

“As tempting as she is, don’t worry. This is my first case, I’m not about to screw up.”

“Good, and oh, one more thing, Smith had drinks with someone, and it wasn’t pleasant. I’m sending you a picture of them together; see if Mira knows who the man is?”

“All right, anything else?”

“No, but remember, leave in ten minutes, and keep your eyes open,”

“Right, see you later,”

Mira returned with the coffee, and a question.

“Was that about Reuben?”

“Yes, he’s almost here. We’ll give it a few minutes and then go down to my car, also, there’s a picture I want you to look at.”

Chris brought the picture of Reuben Smith and the unknown man up on his phone and handed it to Mira.

“That’s Reuben and Gary, Gary Rollins; Gary is Reuben’s best friend.”

“Best friends? I was told that they were arguing?”

“Oh, it was probably just a tiff over some sports thing; they sometimes root for different teams.”

“How do you two get along?”

“Okay I guess, but of course I’m persona non grata now that Reuben and I are broken up.”

“That’s too bad,”

“It’s his loss. Who were you talking to before, your brother?”

“Actually, it was Velma,”

“The blonde? Are you and she...?”

“No,”

“Is she dating your brother? Is that why they’re together while you’re up here?”

“No... they’re not dating,”

Mira grinned.

“You don’t sound too sure about that, or happy about it, if it’s true.”

Chris leaned back in his chair with a furrowed brow and Mira headed back into the kitchen.

“Let me make sure the coffee pot is turned off and then we’ll go.”

“Right,” Chris said, as he became lost in thought.

A few moments later, he heard a sound behind him, and as he turned his head to look, the world went black.

***

R
ueben Smith came to a screeching halt in front of Mira’s building, before jumping out of his car and running toward the entrance.

Jake came to a sliding stop behind Smith’s car and then he and Velma followed Smith into the building’s lobby. There were two elevators and one was on the rise. It had just passed the second floor and was still going; Mira’s apartment was on the sixth floor. Velma and Jake got into the other car and Jake started mashing the number six button impatiently; after what seemed an eternity, the doors closed and the elevator began its ascent.

“He’s not answering his phone.” Velma said, after dialing Chris’s number.

“Keep trying,” Jake said.

Finally, they reached the sixth floor and as they exited the elevator car, they both stared at the display above the other elevator; it read number five.

“Someone on the fifth floor must have wanted the elevator.” Jake said.

Velma was checking apartment numbers and found Mira’s just two doors down.

“Let’s get inside before he sees us.” She said, next, she raised her hand to knock.

The three shots coincided with her knocking, three shots coming from inside the apartment.

A second later, they both held guns and Jake nodded at Velma.

“Cover me!” He said, as he stepped back to the opposite wall, before flinging himself at the door.

The door flew open with a loud
CRACK!
and Jake landed on the floor, gun at the ready. Velma walked in behind him, sideways, while swinging her gun arm back and forth in an arc, ready to defend them; it was she who spotted Chris.

“Chris!”

He was lying facedown on the floor, the back of his head, bloody. Velma laid two fingers against the side of his neck and smiled.

“He’s alive, a nice strong heartbeat,” She rolled him over gently and his eyes flickered open.

“Ahh, what happened?” He moaned.

A sound came then, the sound of crying, and Jake whispered for Velma to stay with Chris while he investigated.

He found her on the floor of the bedroom. Her legs were splayed out before her, hiking her dress up about her hips, revealing her shapely legs, and her blouse was ripped open, showcasing her silky lace bra and ample bosom. However, Jake was not enticed by the sight. The glazed look of fear and sorrow on Mira’s tear-stained face competed for his gaze along with the spreading puddle of blood beneath the dead man on the floor.

As he reached her, he leaned over and carefully eased the gun from her hand; next, he took his foot and shoved a similar gun away from the fallen man, just in case.

As he bent over the man to make a positive I.D., Chris and Velma appeared in the doorway.

“Is that...?” Velma said.

“Yeah, it’s Reuben Smith; he’s dead.” Jake looked over at his brother. “Sorry kid, but your date just got cancelled.”

***

G
ail Caliber rushed into Chris’s hospital room with the old man following. Chris was sitting up in bed with a bandage on the back of his head and a small bruise on his chin, from the impact of his face hitting the floor. Standing beside his bed, were Jake and Velma.

Gail gazed at him as if he were a broken doll.

“Oh my poor baby, who did this to you?”

“If you’re looking for revenge mother, you’re too late; the guy that hit me is dead.”

The old man walked over and took a good look at him.

“You scared your mother boy, try to duck next time.”

“There shouldn’t be a next time.” Gail said. “This wouldn’t happen if you became a lawyer.”

Chris groaned.

“Not that conversation again mother; I’m in enough pain already.”

“I’ll drop it for now, but you know I’m right.”

Jake reached out and gripped his little brother’s shoulder.

“This is my fault; I should have stuck closer to Smith.”

“But we were close, Jake,” Velma said. “We had no way of knowing that he would take the back staircase and sprint up six floors, anyone else would have taken the elevator.”

“Is that how he slipped by you?” The old man said.

Velma nodded.

“Mira is sedated right now, and she was a mess when we found her, but the first cop on the scene got her story. She said that when she went into the kitchen she saw that the back door was ajar, a moment later she heard Chris let out a grunt, and the next thing she knew, her ex was dragging her into the bedroom at gunpoint.”

“How did she get the better of him if he was armed?” Gail said.

“After the “muggings” began, she bought guns for protection, and kept one in her nightstand.”

Jake looked over at his grandfather and raised an eyebrow.

“I know that look; you think that something’s not kosher, right?”

“Maybe, but I need more info before I make that call. Now, let’s all of us skedaddle and let the kid get his rest.”

“I’ll be in the office by noon; they’re just keeping me overnight for observation.” Chris said.

Gail leaned over and gave him a kiss.

“Goodnight baby, I’ll come back in the morning,”

Velma was the last to leave, and at the doorway, she turned around.

“You scared me to death you know, when we found you, I thought that you had been shot.”

“It’s nice to know that you care.”

“Get some rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight Velma,”

Velma sent him a little wave, and then she was gone.

***

O
ne floor below, Mira Asher was preparing for bed as a nurse walked in. The nurse was a middle-aged Asian woman whose nametag read, Sue.

“How are you feeling, Ms. Asher?”

“I’m still a little woozy, that mild sedative isn’t really that mild, is it?”

“Well you had quite a trauma, and the doctor wants you to get plenty of rest, why don’t you climb into bed now, hmm?”

“In a minute, but first I want to brush my teeth,”

“All right, and if you need anything just press that button.”

“I will, thank you,”

After the nurse left, Mira walked into the bathroom and turned on the water, and then she stood there, just staring into the mirror as she recalled the shooting, while grinning like a Cheshire cat.

D
allas, Texas, 1884

Deputy Jake Caliber walked along with Sheriff Bob Carter as they made their rounds along the busy city streets. When he agreed to become a lawman, Jake had been shocked to learn that Carter had fourteen other deputies.

Carter explained to him that Dallas was growing at an incredible rate and needed yet more officers. The city’s population had lately passed the ten thousand mark and the crime rate was growing along with it.

Squabbling neighbors, horse thievery and other robberies were happening all the time and the newly named, Police Department of Dallas, had to grow along with it.

As they walked along, Jake asked his boss a question.

“If you got so many deputies why were you alone the other night?”

“That’s a good question. Timmons was supposed to be on duty, but he sent word that he was ill, and before I could get anyone to take his place, those four men arrived.”

“Do you trust Timmons?”

“I did, but I’ll tell you somethin’, I’m not sure I still do. The men who robbed that bank got away with over sixty-thousand dollars from the railway’s payroll. That kind of money can buy a lot of friends.”

“Those men will be back. I know that you think that Bo Clayton might be their leader, but even so, I’d expect varmints like bank robbers to leave him to rot.”

“They’re probably afraid he’ll start talkin’ and tell us their names.”

“Then why not simply kill him and shut him up? They’re capable of it; they killed the bank teller and a customer during the robbery, didn’t they?”

“Yup, that’s true, so why do you think they want to break him out?”

“Maybe he’s more than a leader to them; maybe he’s kin, at least to one of them.”

The sheriff stopped walking and stared at Jake.

“You got a knack for this work boy. Now, come to think of it, Clayton does have two brothers, they’re known to be honest men, ranchers, but maybe they’re in the gang too.”

“It’s somethin’ to think about.” Jake said.

***

W
hen they got back to the jail, they found three of the other deputies there. They looked worried and passed around a piece of paper.

“What you boys got there?” Sheriff Carter said.

One of the deputies, a tall man with deep-set eyes named Jim Harrow, handed Carter the paper, and Jake watched as Carter fell back into his chair.

“What is it?” Jake said.

“They took Emma.” Carter said. “Clayton’s gang took my wife.”

“You’ll get her back in one piece if you let me go.” Bo Clayton cried out from his cell. “Just open this door and they’ll set her free.”

The tall deputy spoke again, as he gestured at Jake.

“Tell him the rest, sheriff,”

Sheriff Carter looked up at Jake with sorrowful eyes.

“It’s Eva, Jake, she was visitin’ Emma when they came; they took her too.”

Jake blinked several times. “What?”

“My boys got your girl.” Clayton said. “Now let me go and I promise that you’ll see her again, otherwise...”

Jake spoke to Sheriff Carter.

“We have to go and get them back, or we’ll never see them again.”

“We don’t know where they are son.”

Jake tossed his head toward the cells. “He does.”

Carter stared at Jake for long seconds, and then he took out his pocket watch and looked at the picture of his wife that he kept in it. A moment later, he looked up at the other three deputies as he held up the note.

“Where’d this come from?”

“It was in his cell,” Harrow said. “Someone passed it through the bars on the window.”

“But that window is twelve feet off the ground.”

“Yeah, but the roof of the haberdashery is right behind it; they probably tossed it in from there.”

Carter looked over at Jake.

“What you were sayin’ before, I think you’re right. If all they wanted was to keep him quiet, they could have shot him through the window, instead of passin’ this note through.”

“We need to make him talk, and we need to make him talk now.” Jake said.

The sheriff spoke to the other men.

“You boys listen good, I want you to round up the rest of the deputies and meet us in front of the tradin’ post. We’re going after this gang.”

One of the other deputies looked back and forth between Carter and Jake.

“You boys can’t do this; we’re lawmen.”

“He took our women, Joe. What would you do if they had Sue Ellen?” The sheriff said.

Joe nodded his head.

“We’ll meet you at the trading post.”

***

A
fter the other deputies left, Carter opened the cell door. Jake handed him his gun belt and then walked over to Clayton. Clayton was as tall as Jake, but older and a good thirty pounds heavier.

“This can be easy or hard, but mister, when I leave this cell, I’m gonna know where my girl is.”

Clayton smirked.

“You don’t look so tough to me boy. Now back off before I—”

Jake hit him in the gut and Clayton clutched his middle and fell backwards against the wall. When Jake moved in to strike him again, Clayton put up his hands.

“Whoa boy! Don’t hit me again. I’ll tell you where they are.”

Jake took a step back, cocked his head, and stared at Clayton through squinted eyes.

“Where are they?”

***

C
layton told them that they could find his gang at a spot on the Trinity River where they had set up camp. When they were through with him, the sheriff locked him back in his cell and Jake asked to speak to the sheriff outside.

“We’ll go as soon as the boys get back with the other men.” The sheriff said.

“That would be a mistake.” Jake said.

“What d’ya mean?”

“Clayton, I hit him hard, but it was only one time and then he started jabberin’. I think we’re being played for fools.”

The sheriff thought it over for a few seconds.

“Hmm, if we’re right about his brothers being part of the gang, then yeah, I would think it’d take more than one punch to make him rat them out, even a varmint like him. So what do you reckon their play is?”