Bad Country: A Novel (34 page)

I believe it is actually a little more complex than that, said the lawyer.

She’s doing a deal with somebody major criminal, isn’t she, said Rodeo. Some narcos, probably someone you lawyer for, helped her set up the hits to get rid of Sheriff Ray and then they take a big cut of her inheritance.

Even more complex than that, Chief.

Rodeo scratched at the dried blood on his face. With Ray gone Los Jarros County will be even more the Wild West, won’t it, said Rodeo. And then Federation Cartel will have even more direct access to Arizona’s southernmost county than they already have once Ray, who was actually a pretty good lawman, is gone and they got a puppet sheriff like Deputy Buenjose Contreras in place. And you have those cartel contacts, Jarred? Through defending local drug lords?

I don’t care what anybody else says about you, Chief. You are just not as dumb as you look.

I appreciate that, Jarred. Coming from you.

Nothing personal in this, Tonto.

So you helped set me up?

No. What has happened to you is collateral damage. Jarred held up a pledging hand. I just made some introductions between established and potential business clients for her, the lawyer said. That’s it. As I understood it, Chief, you were not included in this package deal. She pulled you in on her own for reasons of her own.

But you knew Sirena was going to kill her daddy? asked Rodeo.

One might assume that has been in that girl’s plans from the beginning of her life, Willis Jarred said. And frankly some people weren’t going to live much longer anyway. Ray was in an unhealthy state and probably would have been derelicting his official duties to an even more egregious level shortly and then wasting away in Margaritaville, just losing more and more money from his sizable estate of which I am executor …

But you approved her plan, said Rodeo.

It’s not my job to approve or disapprove anybody’s plans, Chief, said the lawyer. I’m just a businessman whose job is to make profit off current conditions. Just like you, Rodeo. Just like you.

I know it’s like that with you, Jarred, said Rodeo. So I really can’t even hold it against you, can I?

The lawyer shrugged. How you think of me is up to you, Chief. I just recognized that if you put two mean wildcats in one small cage, one of them is going to die in that cage. And if you are betting on cats then you probably ought to bet on the younger and stronger cat and not the older and weaker one, if you get my drift.

You’re approaching this all very philosophically, Jarred.

Like I said, Chief, I’m just a businessman. My conscience is clear.

It probably is. Rodeo smiled slightly. Your ass is probably totally covered in this and your conscience is probably totally clear. Your mother would be proud.

My mother has Alzheimer’s and yours is dead by suicide and neither of us has any kids we claim, Chief, so I don’t really give a shit. I’m just a pragmatist. Again, just like you. So don’t try to judge me.

I see your point, Jarred.

My point is go fuck yourself. Jarred Willis said this in a level tone. I’m a lawyer. That’s what I am. The lawyer wiped a bit of beer spillage from his silk shirt with his silk tie. I just do what lawyers do. And if you think you are going to make me feel guilty, go fuck yourself is my point.

Why did Sirena send the hitmen to Twin Arrows?

I don’t know, Chief. She’s still pissed at you maybe and she never did like your butt buddy Luis, so …

I don’t know anything that would stand up in court, said Rodeo. There’s no real proof of anything against her.

So it was a nice plan, wasn’t it?

She is pretty smart, said Rodeo.

Smart is who gets away with it, Chief. Simple as that.

But why was I involved at all, Jarred? asked Rodeo. What was the point in that?

You’d have to ask her why she used you as an alibi for the time Ray was whacked. She could have picked just about any man in town. She could have picked an off-duty cop, a judge, a fucking priest. The Pope would fuck her probably. I don’t know why she picked you. Maybe she likes your big swinging dick. Maybe it’s just like that.

And the body on my property line?

No idea about that either, Chief. Jarred Willis held up his open hands. When you called me after you found that dead man near your gates … Shit, I was your lawyer at that time and I gave you good lawyerly advice on your last retainer nickel. I told you to stay out of it. I told you too, Chief. I even suggested you extend your vacation this year. Willis shook his head. But of course you did not listen to your lawyer.

Did you fuck her too, Jarred?

The lawyer stood and walked to the heavy closed doors.

I’ll claim lawyer-client privilege on that one, Chief. Jarred unlocked and opened the door, beckoned his visitor to leave. But membership does have its privileges.

Rodeo exited the office and stopped on the steps but didn’t turn to look at Jarred Willis, Esq.

Sirena’s going to get away with it, isn’t she, Jarred? Rodeo asked.

Might do, Chief, said the lawyer. She’s got a good lawyer.

*   *   *

The next morning Rodeo arose even earlier than usual, took a sink bath and dressed in his hiking clothes. He packed his camping gear and the dog’s food and medications into the truck, but he left all his guns in the safe. He cleaned his house thoroughly, made a pot of strong cowboy coffee, then sat at his kitchen table and composed the note to Ronald Rocha.

Rodeo printed in block letters: CARLOS MONJANO, TOHONO O’ODHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT, TUCSON, ARIZONA, BIOLOGICAL FATHER OF FARRAH KATHERINE ROCHA, THOUGHT SAMUEL KILLED FARRAH IN A HIT-AND-RUN SO HE SHOT SAMUEL OFF STARR PASS ROAD BRIDGE IN A DRIVE-BY. Rodeo folded the note into his shirt pocket, filled a blanket-sided canteen with tap water and then sat on the concrete steps of his house until false dawn, when he started walking to La Entrada.

*   *   *

Rodeo’s cell phone buzzed in his shirt pocket as he was on his way to pick up his dog at Tucson Famous Pets and Aquarium Design Center. TPDS showed as the caller.

Mr. Garnet, this is Jethro Haynes.

What can I do for you, Detective Haynes?

Border Patrol took Carlos Monjano into custody about four a.m. today while he was attempting a crossing north to south. We think Monjano was on his way to Chihuahua, where apparently he has relatives who are involved with the Federation Drug Cartel. Just thought you’d like to know that.

Why would that interest me?

88CRIME got an anonymous tip which indicated that Carlos Monjano was the person who shot Samuel Rocha in a drive-by and I know you were investigating Samuel Rocha’s death.

Did Monjano confess to shooting Samuel Rocha?

No. But he had his gun with him. Fired a few shots and one hit a Border Patrol. Not smart. We probably wouldn’t have had anything on him substantial, just the tip off the hotline, but since he shot a cop we got him in custody for as long as we like and we can sweat him. And of course if we can find a slug in the riverbed then we have his gun and if they match up we’ll probably have him for the death of Samuel Rocha as well.

Hard for a man to get rid of his guns, said Rodeo. And hard not to use them when he has them. That’s the trouble with guns, idn’t it?

I don’t see any trouble with guns, said the police detective.

Anything else, Detective Haynes?

I’ve taken over the investigation of Samuel Rocha’s death and have got a new CSI team coming in from Phoenix, said the TPD detective. And they think that with new intelligence and a computer model they can better project the slug flight after they reconstruct the drive-by scene on the Starr Pass Road bridge, so I’m putting men in the Santa Cruz riverbed with metal detectors.

What about the car Monjano might have been using for the drive-by?

The tipster directed us to a garage in Bisbee, so I’ve got people over there combing a green 1967 Impala and we have an eyewitness now who will testify under oath, a young mechanic named Jesse Storm, that Monjano did at least drive the car out of the garage on the day Samuel Rocha was shot. In fact, when we retracked on Detective Overman’s original investigation into the death of Samuel Rocha we found quite a few gaps.

Clint’s been under terrible pressure these last several years, said Rodeo. Go easy on him.

Not to criticize a fellow police officer, said Haynes. But a man has to do his job or quit it. Simple as that, Mr. Garnet. The detective did not wait for comment on his statement. I just cannot work out how Carlos Monjano was certain that Samuel Rocha killed the little girl in a hit-and-run.

I’m not sure Monjano was certain that Samuel did kill Farrah, said Rodeo. But I think he was going to make someone responsible for the death of his biological child and Samuel was the best bet for having been responsible for that hit-and-run. I guess when he thought someone was on to him and he ran for Mexico when he got flushed that proves he killed Samuel enough for me.

But do you think Samuel Rocha did run over and kill his own sister?

Rodeo did not answer that question. I just followed the leads, Mr. Haynes, he said. I found a man who saw a lowrider car in the vicinity of the Starr Pass Road bridge around the time of Sam’s death. I found that car in Bisbee at an auto body shop that had also probably repaired damage to the car Sam Rocha often drove, front end damage of the sort that would occur if the car had run into or over something or someone. Shortly after little Farrah’s death, her brother Samuel starts attending sweat lodge, probably because he felt guilty about something and needed his spirit cleansed. What would you assume?

There was a pause on the TPD end of the line. Rodeo waited.

Sometimes things work out unexpectedly well, don’t they, Mr. Garnet?

Not so’s I’ve ever noticed, Mr. Haynes.

*   *   *

He’s been whining for you since before daylight, Summer Skye said. She smiled. He knew you were coming. He knows something is up.

This old dog loves to travel, said Rodeo. He can smell it when we are about the hit the road and we are about to hit the road right now.

Rodeo had the dog in his arms and the dog was licking the man’s bruised face without cease.

The vet hung her skinny arms over the sidewall of Rodeo’s pickup. She did not even ask about Rodeo’s face.

How is he, Doc? Rodeo asked.

His flesh wound will heal up fine, she said. And he seems to be recovered from the shock. She paused. But eventually, if you want him to live much longer he’ll need some real professional help.

Rodeo nodded.

I just never have the money, he said.

Well, he’s a happy dog, said Summer Skye. That’s the important thing. She drummed her fingers on a tent bag in the bed of the truck. Where are you two going with all this camping stuff?

Rodeo loaded the dog into his familiar depression on the shotgun seat and as excited as the dog was to begin with from seeing his master, once back home on the bench seat he was asleep in seconds. Rodeo slammed the door shut and walked around to his side, got in the truck and spoke through the open window. Summer moved away from the truck.

We’re running some errands around town, he said. Tying up a loose end over on the Res and then out to the Foothills to deliver a package and try and make some real money. Maybe enough to pay for some canine chemo. He started the truck. And then we are going to El Paso to deliver an old letter if we can find out who to deliver it to. Rodeo looked through the cracked and dirty front windscreen. And then I think we’re headed to Far West Texas, maybe Hudspeth County or up into the Panhandle, maybe out to where the big windmill farms grow.

You got family over there?

Maybe I do, Rodeo said. I’m not too sure anymore. He held out his hand and Summer Skye shook it hard and let it go quick.

Thanks, Doc, Rodeo said. I appreciate you a lot.

Just stay safe, Summer Skye said. I’m sending out positive vibrations for you two.

Rodeo smiled and nodded as the vet backed away from his truck and lifted her hand. Rodeo and his dog headed to the Res.

*   *   *

Rodeo left the dog sleeping in the truck and let himself in through the gate of Katherine Rocha’s place, knocking on her screen door hard enough to make it rattle. The old woman took some time to answer but eventually she opened the wood door and peered out through her Mexican screen door and then unlocked it. Rodeo passed inside and followed her as she went straight to the kitchen where she poured four fingers of Christian Brothers Brandy into a tumbler and took a spasmodic gulp. She turned her soured face at Rodeo, who had followed her silently.

Did you bring me my money back you stole?

Rodeo shook his head but said nothing.

I heard they arrested Carlos Monjano for killing the kid so I guess you didn’t amount to much did you? said Katherine Rocha.

Rodeo stared at the woman as sweat began to form on his brow. Katherine Rocha’s hand shook liquor onto the floor. She stared down at the sweet brandy stain on her linoleum.

How did you hear this about Carlos Monjano? Rodeo asked.

I heard it, the old woman said. My ears still work, don’t they.

The police did not say anything like that about Officer Carlos Monjano, said Rodeo. They didn’t say this Tribe cop, Monjano, had killed your grandson. You might have heard on the News that Carlos Monjano has been arrested but I know for a fact that you did not hear from the News why Farrah’s biological father has been arrested.

The jelly jar shattered on the floor as the old woman wobbled against the sink.

I think you ought to have a seat, Mrs. Rocha.

I can stand on my own two feet in my own kitchen without some half-breed telling me what to do, the old woman said. Her voice was brittle and frail but still mean.

Rodeo pulled out a kitchen chair and waited. The old woman sat down hard and kneaded her eyeball sockets with swollen knuckles. Rodeo backed away to the doorjamb and leaned slightly there to keep his knees from shaking. He wiped his face with his hand.

What I couldn’t figure out was why you hired me in the first place, Rodeo said.

I told you why. I wanted you to do some work, to find who killed the boy. But you failed at that didn’t you.