Anacacho, An Allie Armington Mystery (12 page)

The pantry, once crammed with cans and boxes and
bottles and jars—bare as a bone. Suddenly cold, I shiver from it.
In less than twelve hours, the entire first floor of the ranch
house has been completely evacuated.

I no longer care about sound and my heels click on
the tiles as I race toward the stairs to the second floor, then
down the long hall to the master suite.

Reena’s closet. Empty. Paul’s is a carbon copy. I
cast caution aside and begin pulling open the built-in drawers,
first Reena’s, then Paul’s. All empty. Then, remembering what Paul
told me about the combination to the safe in the stable, I pull out
the upper left-hand dresser drawer and feel beneath it. I’m
trembling so, I barely manage to peel the tape from the wood and
stuff it in the pocket of my slacks.

My throat constricts. Deep in my gut I know Paul
will never see his beloved Anacacho again.

I turn and run down the hall, down the stairs, out
the door. I step onto the wide slate squares of the front porch and
check about me for any signs of life. I hear nothing but the wind.
No whinnies, no lowing cattle. Nothing.

The stables are empty. I open the door to Paul’s
office. The tall safe that once so intrigued Reena has been removed
along with the rest of his furniture. I feel for the combination in
my pocket and pull it out. The numbers are written in Paul’s
distinctive hand. My birthday. Everything he said last night
replays. Now, certain I will never see him again, I lean against
the wall and sob.

It takes a while to get myself under control. Then,
I remember the tack room filled with priceless saddles and bridles
and hurry there. Empty. Everything not nailed down has vanished.
It’s like some giant vacuum cleaner has sucked Anacacho dry of all
its possessions. Only Paul’s Mercedes remains parked in front of
the main house.

A gate creaks, sending a fresh trail of ice down my
spine. When it bangs on the boards of the fence, I realize the wind
is my only companion.

I know I have to call the sheriff, but I can’t make
myself go back to that house. Then I remember the phone in Paul’s
office and hurry to the darkened room. It’s gone.

I race down the row of doors to the end office and
smile. Miguel stepped through that door only the day before, a
receiver in his hand.

The wall phone is still attached. It’s an
old-fashioned model—black, with a dial—probably one of the first
ever made after World War Two. I lift the heavy receiver from the
hook. A dial tone. Pay dirt. I search my other pocket for the scrap
of paper with Cotton’s cell on it and struggle to drag the sluggish
rotary dial from number to number.

I’m sitting in one of the many rockers on the porch
of the main house waiting for Cotton to return. He’s planted me
here and told me not to move. Since then, it seems as if every
policeman, trooper, and patrolman in Texas has descended on Paul’s
ranch.

A uniformed man runs out the front door toward yet
another arriving patrol car, then directs it toward the stables.
That’s where the sheriff is now. The house has already been
searched as have all the buildings on the ranch. There’s not a soul
to be found. Not a single pet. Not even a feather from a chicken in
the once-crowded coop behind Miguel’s house.

Just a few minutes ago, one of the patrolmen
standing by the driveway said to his buddy, “Aliens, you
suppose?”

The other man shrugged, then a voice crackled on his
walkie-talkie and they headed toward the stables.

The cattle guard rattles and I look up expecting to
see another blue-and-white, but it’s Del’s truck and Susie is with
him. I wait until they make the porch, then rise to greet them. The
three of us huddle together.

“
Thank the Lord you weren’t here,
Del. I think they’ve all been kidnapped.”

“
I haven’t been over here since
last Friday, but Susie and I heard several helicopters about six
this morning. We thought it was the Border Patrol.”

Were Miguel and Adelena, and all the rest of the
ranch personnel, herded into those giant front-loading maws, then
flown to heaven-knows-where?

I point to the house and then the stables.
“Everything is gone. And I mean everything. Even the
livestock.”

The sheriff appears out of nowhere. “They phoned to
say the jet’s still in the hangar. That’s good news. There’s also a
small Piper Cub. Know anything about that?”

Susie’s face drains. She looks at Del, then at the
sheriff and stammers, “I—I know something about that little
plane.”

She grabs my hand. “I was going to tell you about
this yesterday, but...” Her voice trails.

The sheriff bends forward, notebook in hand, pen
poised.

Her hand trembles in mine as she begins. “I started
taking walks as soon as I could after Little Allie was born.” She
glances at Del, then says, “Dad paid for a teenager to come in
every afternoon for a few hours, so I could get back in shape. By
the middle of last month, I was walking almost a mile—half a mile
down the road that runs between our property and Paul’s to the end
of the Anacacho airstrip and then back home.”

Del tenses but remains silent.

“
I was just past our barns when I
saw Paul’s jet take off. I knew Del wouldn’t be home for dinner, so
I phoned home to say I’d be a little later than usual. From there
it was a little more than half a mile to Reena’s. I thought I could
make that easy and be back by dark.”

Now, Del’s face is not only strained, but red as he
realizes what Susie’s mission was. His voice is sharp when he asks,
“Just how did you phone home from the middle of the pasture?”

“
Dad gave me a cell when the baby
was born so I wouldn’t be out of touch.” She gives him a sly smirk.
“Now, we both have one.”

The sheriff clears his throat to get their
attention. “Never mind about that. What happened next?”

“
I came in sight of the Anacacho
barns when I saw a lot of people going in and out of that long
metal shed. They were loading something in white sacks into the
back of one of the trucks.”

“
You mean feed sacks?”

“
No.” Susie makes a smaller square
with her hands. “About as big as a piece of notebook paper, but
really fat.”

I don’t need to hear any more. It’s cocaine. Is that
what Paul regretted? His words echo: There’s been a lot going on in
my life. A lot I’m not very proud of.

The sheriff barks into his walkie-talkie, “Get a lab
team down to the long metal building behind the stables and another
one to sweep the Piper. We’re talking cocaine.”

Del breaks in. “Hey honey. Remember those
helicopters we heard early this morning? They sounded louder than
usual. Had to be big ones—two-rotor jobbies.”

Cotton hits his forehead. “Well, I’ll be damned.
That’s what happened. There are no towns between here and the
border except El Indio.”

He snaps his notebook shut. “Got some checking to
do.”

Susie looks up at Del. “You were lucky. You could
have been here. I’m glad you were in Uvalde this morning.”

“
I haven’t been here since last
Friday when I quit.”

“
Quit? You quit? Delman Darden,
you never said a word.”

He ignores the sting in her voice. “I guess I just
forgot to tell you. I’ve been real busy down at the
courthouse.”

“
Just forgot? You just forgot to
tell me there won’t be any more paychecks coming in?” Susie’s fists
are jammed into her hips, her face crammed with anger. “And what
the hell have you been doing at the damn courthouse when you should
be out looking for work? Have you forgotten you have seven mouths
to feed?”

Del whispers something to Susie and her squeal
pierces my ears. “The property is ours? Oh, Del.” She throws her
arms around her husband’s neck and plants a kiss on his lips. When
it becomes obvious that the kiss means more than just a kiss, I
look away. Susie deserves a few rainbows in her life.

The three of us stand there grinning and silent,
then Susie says, “It’s time to feed Little Allie. I’ve got to get
home.”

Del starts to go but I catch him and turn to Susie.
“Would you mind letting Del stay with me for a while? I have the
Anacacho wagon with me and can drop him off.”

Susie looks at Del, then offers an unwilling, “Well,
sure, but—”

“
I promise not to keep him too
long. Sheriff Cotton wants me to wait until he’s done. I sure could
use some company since things are so weird around here.”

Susie smiles. “No problem. Don’t be too long, we
have big plans to make.”

After the dust from the Darden truck fades, I settle
into one of the rockers.

Del grabs another and drags it close to mine.
“Thanks for asking me to stay. If you didn’t, I would have gotten
back with you this afternoon.”

“
About?”

“
I just might need your help.” He
hunches toward me. “I may be operating a little outside the law
since I didn’t come forward with this information
sooner.”

“
Let’s hear what you have to say,
then I’ll tell you whether you need my help.”

“
For starters, Paul hasn’t really
been up on his businesses since I’ve been foreman. A trader in
Houston handles the oil spots and a CPA in Laredo handles his
taxes. Paul just deposits the checks.”

“
That’s not the Paul I remember.
What do you suppose changed him?”

“
Mister Snow can take credit for
that.”

Paul’s obvious weight loss, his abrupt mood swings,
and his total lack of interest in what he once cared so much about.
I can’t avoid the truth any longer. “You’re telling me Paul’s into
cocaine?” “Big time. Reena said she could take it or leave it, but
Paul needed more and more.”

My stomach wrenches. An addict. “What about those
people Susie saw? Is Paul working with them?”

“
I don’t know. But Luke Hansen has
been up to no good from the minute he stepped on the
ranch.”

Luke Hansen. The ugly cowboy. The man Reena sent to
spy on Paul and me. “When was that?”

“
About the time I split with Reena
last summer. She was real mad and said she’d tell Susie about us,
but I threatened to tell Paul she was filching money out of the
ranch account and that shut her up. She’s been taking funds ever
since she offered to do the books.” “Paul let her handle the books?
What’s with the CPA?”

Del gives a rueful laugh. “C’mon, Allie. The CPA’s a
man. You know Reena and men.”

How could I forget? “Maybe Reena was the one
involved with the trafficking. She seemed very friendly with that
cowboy when I was here in January.”

“
Reena knew Paul was seeing Fanny
and was terrified he would dump her without a cent. She told me she
had no money of her own.”

The January lunch at Rudi’s replays and I remember
Reena’s tear-filled eyes when she told me about the pre-nup. “Reena
told me Paul made her sign a pre-nup before he would marry
her.”

Del gave me a crooked smile. “Oh, yeah. The one she
signed left her with something like a quarter of a million. Guess
that sounded huge back then. Peanuts.”

“
So, it is possible she could have
been in collusion with Luke?” “You’d like to think that, wouldn’t
you? Still a little soft on Paul?”

“
Just cutting him a little slack
for old time’s sake, I guess.” “Yeah. That’s what I did for a
while. It didn’t pay off.” “Then who hired Luke?”

“
Not me, that’s for sure. When I
finally complained about Luke not attending to his chores, Paul
said he was reporting directly to him and to lay off.”

“
So you quit?”

“
I couldn’t afford to quit. Not
until last week. That’s when I told Paul I had all the proof I
needed to get the oil property back and was planning to hire a
lawyer if he wanted a fight. You know, he didn’t even flinch. He
said I deserved the property. Then we shook hands and I
left.”

Del leans forward. “Paul and I may be on the outs,
but we go back a long way. I hate to think what’s going to happen
to him now that the oil property is gone.”

“
And that’s the last time you were
at Anacacho?”

“
Yeah, but that’s not the end of
the story. I ran into Reena just as I was about to climb in my
truck. She looked awful and you know Reena never looked awful. She
grabbed me. Told me she was in deep shit. Said she had a monster by
the tail and couldn’t let it go. Then she begged me to drive her to
Uvalde so she could catch a bus.”

I can’t help but snort at that news.

Del smiles. “Yeah, I know. Reena on a bus. No way.
As a matter of fact, I was just about to offer her my truck when
Luke Hansen appeared out of nowhere, and said she had a phone call.
They walked toward the stables, but it looked more like he was
forcing Reena to go with him. I started to follow, then decided not
to mess with that bastard since he packs a gun.” “Wise move.”

“
I hate that snake. I’m almost
positive he’s the one who brought the drugs to
Anacacho.”

“
Are you admitting Reena was in on
it?”

“
Don’t put words in my mouth. But
what other explanation is there? Reena needed big money and drugs
is about the fastest way to get it.”

Things begin to fall into place. Anacacho has the
perfect setup. A remote ranch with precious little between it and
the border. A landing strip. A jet. A Piper Cub. Plus an owner into
drugs. Perfect on paper, but something must have gone horribly
wrong. I think back to the photos and the gaping slit beneath
Reena’s chin. A necktie killing. Professional. Was Reena in too
deep to get out?