Dog Gone Lies (Pacheco & Chino Mysteries Book 1) (30 page)

“I left that night, went to a hotel. The next day I contacted the doctor’s office where I was working and told them I had a personal emergency and would have to quit. Well, they weren’t happy. They had some knowledge of my husband’s drinking problems and no doubt guessed at what was really going on, so they were understanding. I called Ken and told him I was leaving. That was early in the morning but he had obviously already been drinking. He yelled at me accusing me of being with my lover and that I had left because he was a complete loser. It hurt so much to hear the things he said to me. In hindsight I should’ve gone home or called someone to go see him, but I didn’t. I hung up.”

“I didn’t know about it for a few days, but that night he killed himself. When I found out, I went into a tailspin. I just left—all of my friends and my family—just walked away. I drifted from town to town for years. Usually I got jobs in the medical field. Sometimes as a PA or as a nurse—but many times I worked as a waitress or a shop clerk. I just kept heading south, and eventually ended up in Florida. I got a job with a large group practice as a PA. They also had the county contract for forensics, so that’s where I learned about crime scenes. After a while I started dating one of the doctors. He was very nice, and it scared me. Emotionally I was still fragile even after all of those years. I quit and hit the road to nowhere in particular. Just started running like I had before. It’s been more than eleven years since Ken killed himself, and you’re the first man I’ve been with. It’s taken me a long time to feel anything, and I thought I would never feel love again—but now I do. I love you, Ray.”

Ray was stunned. He knew that there had to be history to explain why such a smart, lovely woman was hiding in a diner in New Mexico—but it still surprised him. Ray hugged Sue and told her that she was the most wonderful person he’d ever known. They held each other for a long time.

They talked for hours. Ray became more convinced than ever that Sue was the person he wanted to marry. They both felt a new level of passion and commitment to each other.

The next day the weather was a little less pleasant—it was one of those cloudy, cool days, with falling mist that fishermen love. Ray knew he must not be a true fishermen because he hated this weather, but he kept his mouth shut. Tyee, on the other hand, was all excited. He told Ray this was the weather he had planned for, and today everything was going to go very well. Ray nodded his head, and wondered for the hundredth time how he’d gotten involved in this in the first place.

Per Tyee’s directions, Ray went to a different spot. It looked more or less the same to Ray, but Tyee had been insistent that Ray had to get to this cove and not move. Ray wasn’t going to argue with his mentor. Within the first hour Ray caught what looked to him like the biggest fish ever caught in the lake. It was huge and Ray was pretty sure it was a striped bass. Had to be almost three feet long. Ray had no idea how much it weighed, but it was a lot, and it had taken everything he had to get it into the boat. Ray leaned back and realized he was exhausted. Looking at his watch, he saw that the whole process had taken almost thirty minutes from the time of the first hit. He gave a fist pump and smiled.

Ray decided to return to the dock. Tyee would have said to stay out there and try for a bigger one, but Ray was done. He couldn’t believe how big the fish was, and it was plenty big enough for him. It didn’t matter if he won, he had the victory that mattered: catching the biggest fish he’d ever seen. Tyee was at the dock and helped him get the boat tied up. Ray held up the fish. Tyee started laughing and jumping up and down like a little kid. This was fun.

Big Jack and his helpers came over and took the official pictures. They helped Ray move the fish to the measuring area, where Ray had more pictures taken holding the fish. Now they just had to wait to see if Ray had won. The afternoon dragged on, but around three most everyone had reported in. There were two other fish close to Ray’s in size, but Ray was still number one. The last fisherman to pull in was the previous year’s champ, and his look said it all. Ray was the champion. Big Jack came up and made it official. He gave Ray his trophy. Nobody remembers ever seeing Ray smile so broadly.

Everyone was invited to the cabin for a celebration, including the other fisherman. The out-of-towners declined due to the long drive home, but even without them there were probably twenty or so people at Ray and Sue’s cabin. Sue fixed enchiladas for everyone, and Ray realized that his wife-to-be was a great cook. With plenty of beer and Mexican food, the evening was a hit.

Some Time Later

Ray and Sue loved being married. Their lives were full of joy, with great friends and a thriving business. They were very busy and very happy. Sue had moments when she cried. That worried Ray, but she told him it was just something that happened occasionally.

Tyee moved into the office building even before it was completely finished. They purchased upgraded equipment, and it was beginning to look like a state-of-the-art computer center. Tyee had a satellite dish installed and was getting very fast access to the expanding world wide web.

Clayton became sheriff, winning by a landslide—since he was unopposed. Big Jack had become the de facto mayor. He began looking a little taller when people started addressing him as Mr. Mayor. Of course, he still had an election to win, but the final filing date was coming up and so far no one was running against him.

Sheriff Clayton had made some changes. A couple of the deputies who were Martinez’s flunkies were fired. Clayton hired two new deputies who had worked in Dona Ana County back when Ray was sheriff. He’d asked Ray about them, and Ray had given both strong recommendations.

And Clayton was in the process of implementing the changes he’d talked about during the campaign to improve service for the lake residents. The sheriff’s department took over the storeroom that Tyee had been using at Big Jack’s and set up an annex station. The department rented the small space from Big Jack, and stationed a deputy there most days. This improved response times by up to thirty minutes over dispatching from the T or C office and was a big hit with the residents. It also pleased Big Jack. Nothing improved security more than a sheriff’s station right on your property.

Chester was improving everything at the store. Without a complaint from Big Jack, he had almost completely taken over operations. He brought in new merchandise and cleaned out some of the old stuff. He offered specials for the slow times of day and had added an entire section with basic grocery items that was a big hit with the locals. Big Jack said Chester was a godsend and that hiring him had been the smartest thing he’d ever done—everyone just nodded as if that was what had really happened.

They decided to stick with
Pacheco and Chino, Private Investigations
as the business name. Big Jack thought maybe it wasn’t wise to push things too far in relation to his new identity, and in a lot of ways it seemed like he was more comfortable behind the scenes anyway. Which is why Ray was surprised when Big Jack became interested in the mayor’s job—but there was still a lot Ray didn’t know about Big Jack.

Tyee was scheduled to spend a week in a training program with the FBI in Washington D. C. on computer technologies and accessing FBI files online. Crawford had been the one to get that going, and he was very complimentary about the few things they’d done for the FBI since they’d signed the contract.

So far, the work they’d done for the FBI was mostly research, and Tyee was becoming very adept at gathering all kinds of information using his computer skills.

Sorrow entered Ray’s world when he learned that Mike Jackson had died. Of course it wasn’t a surprise, but it still made him sad. He and Sue attended the memorial service in Albuquerque. They’d seen Monica not long before when she’d attended their wedding. Monica was upset by Mike’s death, but she also said it was for the best—he’d been ready for it. Ray and Sue cared for Monica and told her so. They invited her to spend some time with them anytime she could get away, and she said she would.

Ray was sitting on the porch of his cabin when the phone rang. Sue was in town on errands, so Ray got up and went in to answer.

“Hello.”

“Ray, this is Tony. Hope this is the right number—I have several for you and I wasn’t sure which one was the business.”

“It’s fine, Tony. This is my house number, but you can call me here anytime. Sorry you couldn’t make the wedding—we really wanted to see you and your wife.” Ray had never met Tony’s wife even when they both lived in Las Cruces. The rumor was that she was incredibly beautiful, but not the most pleasant person in the world. Ray had always felt sorry for Tony, whom he considered one of the nicest guys he’d ever met.

“Yeah. We wanted to come, but you know how it is. Ray, I wanted to talk to you about doing some work for us. I’d hoped to have this to you sooner, but there’ve been some disruptions in the office I’ve had to handle. Anyway, I’d like for you to look into some things in Lincoln County for me. This is about the sheriff’s department. Sheriff Rodriguez took ill about two months ago and hasn’t gotten better. He’s currently in the hospital in Ruidoso. I’ve received some reports, or more like rumors, that the deputy who took over the department during Rodriguez’s absence may be strong-arming some of the merchants. Don’t know what’s going on—maybe nothing. Ruidoso has a police department, but a really weak chief, so the sheriff’s department is the major force in the area. This came to me directly from the governor. He wants us to move quickly on this if we can, but he also wants to keep it quiet and he doesn’t want to be involved. What I need from you is reliable information. I need to know if there’s something going on, and if not, why there are rumors. Is this something you can help us with?”

“Sure, Tony. Give me a few days and I’ll get you some information. Let me know if you learn anything new—good to talk to you, Tony.” Ray hung up.

Ray thought Tony sounded strangely distant, as if he wasn’t telling Ray everything. Much colder than their last meeting. Maybe it was just his active imagination.

Ray hadn’t been sure what their assignments from the AG’s office would look like, but here was the first one—time to get to work.

Late Evening

The phone rang. Ray looked at it as if he could make it stop just by scowling—he wasn’t successful.

“Hello.”

“Mr. Pacheco?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry to bother you at this hour, but Agent Crawford asked me to call. My name is Agent James with the FBI in Los Angeles.”

“What can I do for you, Agent James?”

“Sir, Agent Crawford asked me to give you some information. This comes from a classified, internal FBI report, but he said he thought you should have all the facts that we have. At the same time he can’t give you a copy of the report, so he asked me to relay the information to you. Is this a good time to do that sir?”

Hell no, it is not a good time! I am tired and grumpy!
“Sure go ahead.”

“This report covers matters that go back to the 1950s. Some of this I’ll be reading—if you have any questions just let me know. It began with a man named Jim Emerson. He was employed by an Oklahoma bootlegger who was in charge of smuggling booze out of Mexico into Texas and Oklahoma. He was apparently responsible for moving large quantities of illegal liquor for his boss, the bootlegger. The report indicates that one day the bootlegger decided to quit and shut down his business. Emerson wasn’t ready to quit and decided he could transfer his bootlegging skills to drug running.”

Of course Ray knew Jim Emerson, the richest man in Dona Ana County. He’d always thought that there was more evil to Jim than met the eye, but drug trafficking—that was surprising.

“Emerson didn’t have the connections that the bootlegger did to sell liquor in areas that were still dry long after probation ended in most places, so with the bootlegger gone he couldn’t continue. But he realized that he could use the same skills he’d developed running booze to smuggle drugs—and the demand for illegal drugs was everywhere. Over the years this developed into a large operation. He made an effort to keep all of the pieces of the business separate so that no one person knew much about any other part of the structure. The first major piece he added to the business was the sheriff in Sierra County. Sheriff Hermes wasn’t very bright, but he was eager to supplement his small sheriff’s wages with illegal drug money. The sheriff recruited his even dumber deputy, Martinez, to handle most of the actual work. Also working for Emerson was Max Johnson, whose father had once owned a cabin in a remote part of Elephant Butte Lake. They were receiving the drugs from a group of people out of El Paso and moving them to outbuildings located on the same property as the cabin in T or C. Then they would fly them out to Albuquerque and Denver from a small strip close to the lake.”