What's Left is Right: Book two of The Detective Bill Ross Crime Series (16 page)

The following morning Marie called Shirley Simpson, Gavin McMullen’s campaign manager. It was Shirley Simpson herself who answered the phone.
Probably in her office early before her staff get in
, thought Marie.

“Shirley, this is Detective Marie Mason of Travis County Police Department. Do you own a PO box in Sarasota, Florida?”

“Yes, I do, Detective, what’s this about?”

“Why do you have a PO box, Shirley?”

“Because I live there, Detective, and I prefer my mail going to a PO box and not my home. What is this about, please?”

“Do you know why your PO box would be listed as the mailing address for an Antonella Aguilar regarding a real estate transaction for the sale of her home in Round Rock?”

“There has obviously been some mistake, it’s probably a clerical error and they have the wrong PO box number, that’s all I can think of.”

Marie knew that Shirley was lying, she could hear it in her voice, so she pressed forward.

“So why didn’t you send back the closing documents for the property that were sent to this PO box over three months ago? They must have arrived in your box and you would have realized that they were important papers. Why did you not send them back, Shirley?”

“I don’t remember any papers, Detective. If I had received them in error, I would have sent them back. Again, it must be a clerical breakdown. I wish I could help further, Detective, but I have a meeting with my staff in two minutes.”

“Thanks for your help, Shirley. We may get back with you as our investigation continues.”

The conversation ended and Marie knew that Shirley Simpson and her boss, Gavin McMullen, were both in this up to their eyeballs.

~

While Marie was having her call with Shirley Simpson, Julien Boudreaux had arrived at the holding cell and was meeting privately with his client Jimmy Rodriguez prior to the meeting with the assistant DA.

At nine the meeting started with Julien Boudreaux and Jimmy Rodriguez seated across the table from Bobby Brown and Tommy. Julien again tried to take control.

“I have met with my client this morning. This has gone far enough, Bobby. My client needs to be released. His business is being adversely affected by his absence and he is suffering significant loss of income. We need to get in front of the judge so that my client can get back to his normal life. We will cooperate in every way with your investigation of Mr. Vivar, the real guilty party in all of this.”

“As I said last night, Julien, new information has come to light. We have been continuing the search of the residence at Venture Point and of the limo that was driven by Mr. Vivar. Did you know that your limo was bugged, Jimmy? Some people trying to keep tabs on you, are they? Who might they be?”

The blood drain from Jimmy Rodriguez’s face, and for the first time Julien Boudreaux looked flustered. Jimmy was about to say something but Julien stopped him.

“Please stop posturing, Bobby, and tell us what new information you have,” said Julien.

Bobby Brown looked to Tommy and Tommy laid the micro-recorder on the table.

“Amazing little device this, made in China, of course. It’s total wireless. I can call it on my cell phone and retrieve the contents remotely, just like this.”

Tommy dialed the number of the wireless micro-recorder using his cell and put it on speaker.

So he won’t listen to reason! We’re going to have to make this fucker disappear Pepe. I want it done in the next week I’m tired…”

“Turn it off! Turn the fucking thing off!” yelled Jimmy Rodriguez.

“We need to take a brief recess. I need to talk with my client,” said Julien, desperately trying to do damage control before his client lost it completely.

~

“Well, I think that went well!” said Bobby as they all sat in the conference room, having left Julien with Jimmy Rodriguez.

“Jimmy will be terrified. He won’t want to go down for this alone. He will want to give up the people who ordered the hit so he can save his own skin. Julien will be trying to calm him down,” continued Bobby.

“I think that we should try to keep tabs on Julien after he leaves here today. He knows now that bail will be impossible and that Pepe
and
Jimmy will be charged with the killing. Whoever is calling the shots here will feel completely exposed. Pepe and Jimmy will need to be protected. We need to keep them away from other prisoners,” said Chief Dunwoody.

~

Julien told them that he was ready to meet again.

Bobby Brown read the charges.

“In addition to the previous charges of drug and weapons possession brought against you, Mr. Rodriguez, we are now bringing the additional charge of capital murder—that on or about January 15
th
of this year you ordered the killing of a Mr. Mike Muguara, aka Raul Hernandez, and that you actively participated in that killing.”

Jimmy Rodriguez was returned to the cells. Bobby and Julien had a brief discussion and then Julien left.

“What did Julien say?” asked Tommy.

“He said he would see me in court,” laughed Bobby.

Bill, Tommy and Marie were having a coffee in the break room after the excitement of the morning when Tommy’s cell phone rang.

“Am I speaking with Detective Tommy Ross?” said the female caller without any introduction.

“This is Tommy Ross.”

“Detective Ross, I am calling from the office of the governor-elect, Gavin McMullen. The governor-elect would like to meet with you today if possible. Can you be in our offices here in South Congress at 3 p.m.?”

“I will be there.”

“Who was that?” said Marie, picking up on the strange expression on Tommy’s face.

“Gavin McMullen wants to see me at three o’clock today and you’re coming with me, Marie.”

~

They arrived on time for the meeting with Gavin McMullen. They were offered coffee, which they declined, and were told that Gavin McMullen was finishing up a call and would be ready to see them in a few minutes. Forty-five minutes later they were led into the conference room.

The room was huge, dominated by a long conference table that could seat at least twenty. At the end of the room, through huge bay windows, the dome of the capitol could be seen in the distance. On the sidewall hung the state flag of Texas and the U.S. flag, and a photograph of the current governor, Raymond Shaw.

Gavin McMullen entered the room.

“Good to see you again, Tommy, thanks for coming. You must be Detective Marie Mason I’ve heard so much about!” said the governor-elect.

“Y’all need some coffee or water? I can have Valerie get you what you need.”

“We were both offered coffee, Gavin, thank you, we’re both fine,” replied Tommy.

“Okay, let’s get started. I’d like you to meet a couple of people.”

As if choreographed, the door opened and two women walked in.

“This is Shirley Simpson, my campaign manager, and I would also like you to meet Antonella Aguilar. I think you’ve been trying to locate Antonella, so here she is.”

Tommy looked agitated and annoyed. Marie looked shocked, and it was Tommy who spoke first.

“You’re going to have to explain what’s going on here, Gavin. You were obviously well aware that we were looking for Ms. Aguilar and you’ve been keeping her from us. You’re interfering in the course of a murder investigation,” said Tommy, making sure that Gavin McMullen realized the seriousness of the situation.

“Fully understand, Tommy, but give me a chance to explain and perhaps you will appreciate why I needed to do what I did.”

“As I am sure you are aware, Antonella raised me after my father and mother divorced and when my father prohibited my mother from having any further contact with me. My father was in my life, of course, but his business interests dominated his time and it was Antonella who was primarily responsible for raising me. She is my rock.” Gavin smiled across the room at Antonella and she returned his smile.

“Antonella was very close to my mother before she was banished from the ranch. My father was and still is a very violent man. He built an empire and he didn’t let anyone or anything get in his way. He was never violent with me and was very committed to my education and to my career, but he frequently beat my mother, and Antonella tried to help her deal with her pain.”

“Antonella has told me over the years that things happened in the past that she cannot talk about. She is still very scared of my father, and if he thought for a minute that she might have talked about the past to a stranger, he wouldn’t hesitate in causing her physical harm.”

“She left her job on the ranch a few years ago and bought a little house to be closer to her sister in Round Rock. Her sister has now passed and she was hoping to spend what time she had left living quietly on her own with her three cats. That’s when a man called Raul Hernandez came to visit with her.”

“Raul Hernandez was trying to track down his birth parents, and when he told Antonella that his real name was Mike Muguara, she knew immediately why he had tracked her down. Mike’s father had worked on the ranch and she had known him very well. Mike Muguara was obviously the baby that had been born to my mother, Alyana, and the reason why my father sent her away. Mike Muguara was my half-brother.”

“Alyana told Mike Muguara about his mother and father and the love they had for each other that began as a result of the constant beatings she received at the hands of my father. She knew that my mother’s maiden name was Reyes and that they were from Houston, and she also told him that, contrary to my father’s wishes, she would meet off the ranch with Alyana so that she could see me and let me run around in the park. While my mother was walking with me in the park, Antonella would wait with the baby in the stroller. The baby in the stroller was Mike Muguara.”

“After Mike had visited with her, she knew that he would keep digging until he found the truth, and she became scared for her life. That’s when she called me for help.”

“We agreed that she needed to disappear and we designed a plan to sell her house and have her relocate using a different name. Shirley agreed to help by using her bank account and PO box for communication with the Realtor. A superficial check on the sale of the property would result in a trail of the funds to Florida and the conclusion that Antonella had moved there to be closer to her son, when in reality she was still here, living in Round Rock under a different name.”

“Given the current situation, Antonella wanted to speak with you to tell you
all she knows.
I agreed that I would help make that happen by setting up a meeting with you and your team. The call that Marie made to Shirley was very timely.”

“So that’s the background, that’s why I did what I did. My father is still my father no matter what he’s done, but he is not a nice person and if he is guilty of a crime he must be brought to justice.”

~

So Bill Ross had been right, Gavin was not the bad guy in this; in fact, Gavin McMullen was a good guy, a very good guy!

“I think we should take a break and get some water and coffee. Antonella, you can meet with the officers privately in this room and Shirley and I can go get on with our work,” said Gavin.

For the first time since she had walked into the room, a rather frail Antonella Aguilar spoke.

“I would really like you to stay, Gavin; there are things that I’m going to tell the detectives that I would like you also to hear.”

They got coffee and water. Shirley left and Gavin, Marie and Tommy sat together to hear what Antonella had to say.

~

Antonella was very nervous and when she began to tell her story she made a couple of false starts, and then finally regained her composure after taking a sip of water.

“I started working as a housekeeper at the McMullen Ranch in 1962 when I was just twenty years old. Garrison McMullen’s father had died a few years earlier, and after a long illness his mother passed away in the winter of 1961. He needed help in running the household and he hired me.”

“Back then Garrison McMullen was a wild man. He was a larger-than-life figure and he was going to grab life by the scruff of the neck and build an empire. With him it was always about money and power.”

“He would have wild parties at the ranch and he developed a close friendship with Enrique Rodriguez, who owned the Colinas Verde Ranch in southwest Texas. Enrique had five brothers, and one of them was Jimmy Rodriquez. Enrique and Jimmy would always be at the parties at the ranch.”

“Enrique and Garrison talked about business all the time. Jimmy, on the other hand, was all about partying. When I met him he said he was twenty, but my guess is that he was a lot younger, maybe sixteen or seventeen. Jimmy Rodriguez got drunk at one of the parties and raped me!”

“I wanted to leave, but I guess I was a slave to the money, and if I just closed my eyes to everything that went on and just did my job, life would be okay. Things did get worse, however, when Jimmy Rodriguez moved into the ranch. Garrison built a separate cabin for him and he ran everything, other than the household that I ran. He was always competing for Garrison’s affection and he saw me as competition. He would always talk about the great things he was doing on the ranch, and constantly criticized my work.”

“Jimmy had a real run-in with Garrison one day. Garrison was looking for him and found him in the barn having sex with one of the ranch hands. I guess it didn’t matter to Jimmy, male or female; it was about domination and power. Garrison realized that he now had something he could leverage. He was sure that his brother didn’t know what Jimmy was doing with both men and women, and I used to eavesdrop on some conversations and hear Garrison often say, “Now, you don’t want me to tell your big brother, do you?”

~

“Garrison McMullen met Alyana at a concert in Zilker Park. For him it was love at first sight, for her he was a larger-than-life figure, an owner of one of the largest ranches in Texas. She did love him initially, but not as much as he loved her.”

“The beatings started soon after they were married and I would console her and bathe her to try to ease her pain. She confided in me about her feelings for a particular ranch hand, and it was during this time that I began to have suspicions about her. She was from a very good Hispanic family and her father was very influential in the community, but there was something about her that didn’t seem right. It was the way she moved and the way she talked.”

“It was after one of the beatings when she was in the tub and I was washing her hair and dressing some of her bruises that she told me. The Reyes family had adopted her after her mother and father were killed in a house fire in Houston. The Reyes were the next-door neighbors and they applied to the courts to adopt Alyana and their application was granted. Alyana Reyes’ birth name was Alyana Parker’ the daughter of Aponi and Pallaton Parker, direct descendants of Quanah Parker’ the last great chief of the Comanche. Alyana was not Hispanic’ she was first nation, she was one hundred percent Comanche Indian!”

Tommy looked over at Gavin; he was sheet white. He grabbed the glass of water in front of him on the table and with a quivering hand drained the contents.

“I’m sorry, Gavin, I should have told you when you were young, but I was scared of your father. I’m sure that to this day he never knew,” said Antonella, the tears streaming down her face as she looked across the table at Gavin.

Gavin had won election to be the next governor of Texas primarily by carrying the majority of the state Hispanic vote. He had a Hispanic mother, and this had been a cornerstone of his campaign. How was he going to do damage control on this?

Gavin was still shaking and got up from the table to get another glass of water. When he returned he asked Antonella if that was it or if there was any more that she hadn’t told him. As more tears rolled down her face, she asked Gavin to sit down, that she wasn’t done.

“I had sensed that she was not Hispanic, but I couldn’t have been sure until she confided in me that night.”

“When you were born, Gavin, things got a little better for Alyana. The beatings subsided and Garrison was over the moon about the fact he now had a son and heir. Then he fell off his horse.”

“He almost died. He had been riding down some stray cattle and while riding at full speed his horse stumbled and rolled forward. The immediate injuries he sustained in the fall were not particularly serious, as he had managed to roll rather than go into the ground headfirst. The main damage was done when one of the stray steers ran over the top of him. He suffered major internal organ damage that left him impotent, and from then on he walked with the help of a cane.”

“Nine months later your mother fell pregnant again. I knew who the father was, but Garrison didn’t know and didn’t care. His wife needed to get out of the house, never to return. The father of her child was the ranch hand she had fallen in love with, Achak Muguara.”

“Achak quit his job and he and Alyana lived in Houston, where he got a job in the oil industry. It was heavy manual work with long hours and paid poorly. She still managed to make a trip up to Austin by bus every so often to see you, Gavin, and I would pay for a hotel for her and then she would get the bus back the next day.”

“She told me that she was going to confront Garrison and try to get him to help; after all, she was the mother of his son. She told me that she planned to leave her new baby with Tommy’s parents in Oklahoma until they got back on their feet. It was several weeks later when I heard a telephone conversation between her and Garrison. Hearing his side of the call, I heard him say for them to drive up that weekend and they could talk over it and see how he might be able to help.”

“They arrived in an old Chevy pickup and Garrison let them in. I stayed close by and tried to listen to their conversation because I had a bad feeling about the situation. Knowing Garrison as I did, I knew that he would never help them. Never in a million years!”

“Alyana thanked him for letting them come see him, but when he saw Achak, he flew into a rage. “You!” he screamed at the top of his voice. “You’ll never get a penny from me. You’re nothing but a two-bit whore!” Achak put his arms around Alyana and motioned her to go. Garrison dashed forward, pushed Achak out of the way, and as Alyana was falling to the ground he brought down his heavy walking stick with the solid silver ball top on her head and crushed her skull.”