BULLETS (26 page)

“You got very lucky,” Javier said. “You can’t count on luck to save you every time. Take a break and let me clean up the mess here.”

Slick saw that Javier badly wanted to glance at Camilla, but controlled himself. The fed took a deep breath and stared Slick right in the eye. “Once we got everything straightened out then you can come back.”

Slick thought about that and finally nodded.

C
amilla walked out
with Slick but didn’t speak and he stayed quiet, waiting her out. They left Javier in the office with George, walked down the hall and took the elevator, the whole time she didn’t speak or glance at him. Slick felt it coming, however, and set the satchel with his bail money in the back seat.

When they got outside and into her car, she put the keys into the ignition but didn’t start the engine. Just sat there and stared forward. Slick waited.

“Did you use me?” she finally asked.

“Use you how?”

“As an alibi? Did you plan this, plan to get me to provide you with—”

“You know I didn’t kill Ted, so who—”

“Your friend Thumper could have. Or someone he knows. He’s mixed up in organized crime. Javier showed us pictures of him consorting with known criminals—”

“Christ. He runs a BOXING gym in Chicago. Boxing. In Chicago. You can’t work the fight game in that town and NOT meet gangsters. It’s impossible not to run into them. The fact that he’s had some pictures taken means nothing, they also get their pictures taken with all sorts of celebrities and athletes. Gangsters love to have their picture taken. And Thumper’s in training camp right now anyway, you can verify it.”

“Javier showed me pictures of you with criminals, too.”

“I’m a professional gambler, I spend a lot of time in casinos. Again, it’s inevitable that one will run into people like that. They’re just pictures, nothing more or less.”

“What about the gun? I don’t buy that bullshit story you gave them—”

“Yeah, I did take the gun off of that redneck, he was pointing it at me and I didn’t like it. I took it and broke his jaw and wrist and walked away. That gun was stashed in my motel room in a vent. I forgot about it. Someone broke in and took it to set me up. Camilla, look at me.”

She turned to him.

“You invited me to your place, that was your choice,” Slick said. “I didn’t use you, I had no control over what you were going to do or not do. You asked me to stay that night, remember? You were going to take me back to my motel and changed your mind. If you hadn’t done that, I’d be in jail or dead right now. Ted was going to jail, you know that. I wanted to see it. I didn’t want the man dead, I wanted his ass publicly humiliated and in prison. Someone set me up and it’s only because of you that I’m a free man right now. I didn’t use you. I’d never do that.”

Camilla stared at him, her eyes filling, until finally she smiled. She started the car.

“I knew that, in my heart, I did,” she said. “But Javier—”

“Is very hurt and pissed off about you and me and everything. Are you in the weeds with your boss because of this situation, because of me?”

“I’m a grown woman, I can take home who I please.” She put the car into gear and pulled out into traffic. “But George, while he’s not saying anything, clearly disapproves. And Javier isn’t really speaking to me. He showed the pictures to George while I was there, but, just as you pointed out, there was no way you could have known that I’d decide to take you home and keep you there. I didn’t know myself, at least until you told me about Pedro being at the park.”

“If I was going to arrange it, I for sure wouldn’t leave a weapon with my prints at the scene. So what’s their operating theory on who did it?”

“They have no idea. Javier suspects Angel Martinez, and George likes that because it takes pressure off the sheriff’s department—”

“Bullshit.”

“Yes, I agree. But I do agree with them on one thing. You must leave town.”

“You want me to go?”

“Jon, you very nearly ended up on death row. Someone murdered our sheriff and targeted you for it. This will be in the headlines for months. I’m taking you to the airport now. You have to leave.”

“What about Roger Carlson? What’s their take on that, now that Pedro’s out of the picture?”

She sighed. “They have a tip about Pedro’s friend Sergio, they think maybe he’s responsible.”

“Again, bullshit. Bullshit squared.”

“I know, but—”

“This all hinges on Roger, whoever killed him used Ted to set it up, and then when Ted became vulnerable because of the video evidence we found, they killed him. Otherwise, he might talk to get a deal. That’s why he’s dead. And they set me up as the murderer because I’m here, convenient and poking around.”

“All the more reason you should get out of town, at least for now. I’m going to leave, too.”

“You are?”

“Yes, I can’t leave today, I have to reassign my case files and some other busywork, but George convinced me to take a leave until everything here is sorted out. By tomorrow afternoon, I’ll be on a plane as well.”

“Really. Where are you going?”

She glanced over at him. “I’ve heard New York City is a nice place to visit.”

“It surely is.”

“Can I come visit you?”

“That would be my absolute pleasure.”

Slick thought about that as Camilla drove. Spending a week in New York with Camilla promised to be all sorts of fun times. Walk away and get out while the getting is good, that was the smart play. But the situation still tickled at him.

“We’ll go to your motel and get your things,” she said.

“No need, just leave them. It’s only clothes and the room is probably trashed. You speak to Doris about Roger’s letters?”

“Yes. Doris had a break-in and, well, the computer was stolen.”

“Convenient. That’s been going around, hasn’t it?”

“She said she’s not selling the farm, not right away. She sounded very angry.”

“I’ll bet.”

“It bothers you, doesn’t it?” she said. “Leaving it undone.”

“It’s the smart play, leaving, but yeah, it’s bothersome. And there’s something else, too.”

“What?”

“My moms used to watch game shows back when I was a kid, you know? She was big on them. One of her favorites was this show called Name That Tune, you know it?”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Basically, they’d have contestants bet money that they could name a song based on a small number of notes that they’d play for them. I can name that tune in five notes, and so on. The fewer the notes, the harder it is to figure out what the song is, right? And I kind of feel that way right now, we got some notes that fit together, and it feels familiar and I’m sure I know the song, but I can’t quite figure out what the exact tune is. A lettuce farm with an owner who won’t sell. Fifty thousand per annum. The farmer, something of a known conspiracy crank, says he’ll expose them. What could it be, what would he be exposing and why would they need his place?”

“Drugs? They wanted to use his place for drugs?”

“Why, if you’re a drug dealer, would you do that when you have this entire desert to play in? No, that’s not it. It’s the ‘per’ part that’s tripping me. It feels… Wait. Okay. Can we go to the county clerk’s office?”

“What? Why? I don’t…”

“I just had an idea I want to check out, it’s out there, and I can catch a plane right afterwards, but you can get us in, right?”

Camilla looked at him a moment then immediately turned her car around.

“S
o what are
we looking for?”

“Land sales, focus on the area around the Carlson place, dated the past two years if not longer. Doesn’t matter who bought what or why, just the sales.”

Camilla nodded and tapped into the computer. The staff at the county clerk’s office didn’t say a word when she flashed her ID, just showed her to a spare office and a desktop computer to work on. Slick roamed until he found what he was looking for, a pull down map of the entire county on a wall. It squeaked as he brought it down and stared at it until he found the Carlson ranch. Camilla exhaled suddenly.

“Oh. Wow.”

“There’s a few, I’ll bet, right?” Slick said.

“Yes. Nearly every tract of land northwest of the ranch has been purchased, going back the last three years. Different companies. I’ll print them out.”

Slick studied the map as Camilla picked up the printed pages from the front office and handed a copy to Slick when she returned. “The purchasers are all different companies.”

“We’ll Google them in a minute, first let’s take a look at the big picture.” Slick picked up a pencil from a nearby desk, glanced around and then began marking the county map. Northwest of the Carlson ranch, which Slick had circled, the recently purchased land, when added up together, formed a near rectangle.

“This is nearly the entire northwest corner of the county. That’s a lot of land. Missing a chunk on each bottom side. Here on the Carlson ranch and here, on the other side, near the river,” Slick said.

“Oh my God, I know that spot, that was big in the news last year,” Camilla said. “It was undeveloped public land, but when the county tried to lease it to someone, the Navajo tribe sued to get it back on the basis that it covered part of their reservation. The court awarded it back to them.”

“Do you remember who they were going to lease it to?”

“I don’t, that wasn’t really the main hook of the story, it was a battle between the local government and the tribe, a huge fight. The county maintained it was their land and there was talk of an energy company, but no one knew for sure. I’ll have to look.”

“Odds are it’ll be a name you’ve never heard of, just like every single one of the other companies on this list. They’re all shell companies, I’ll bet. And look at the timeline, here. Most of this land was bought two years ago. They had most of it and then they hit a snag.”

“When the tribe sued to stop the sale of land they think belongs to them.”

“Yeah, and the tribe wins and whoever it happens to be is screwed, they needed a certain size of land and they lost a big chunk. The only available nearby land is a lettuce farm but it’s owned by a bleeding heart liberal conspiracy theorist who wants to know exactly what you’re going to do with it before he’ll sell, and even then he’ll probably say no.”

Slick looked at her. “I’ve been an idiot. I only looked at it from the angle of what does someone want a lettuce farm for? They don’t want a farm, they want the land as part of a bigger piece of a pie. They needed a certain size of land and when the county lost the court battle for a significant chunk that was supposed to be sold to them, Roger’s place was the only one nearby that fit.”

“Needed it for what?”

“Something that netted fifty grand per annum.”

“Per what?”

Slick didn’t answer, just stared at the map, deep in thought.

Camilla gathered up her things. “I’ll get a subpoena and find out who those shell companies belong to right away.”

“It won’t do any good. Most likely each one is a PO Box in Costa Rica, it’ll take forever and a day to even get a non-answer.”

“What else can we do?”

“Who brokered these sales? It’s not on this printout.”

Camilla went back to the computer and tapped away. She stopped when she found it and looked up at Slick.

“Same name for every single sale,” she said.

“Del Martin?”

“Yes. But that doesn’t mean he—”

“That he knew? How could he not know?”

“We have to go.” Camilla stood. “I have to take this to George and Javier right away. We’ll get a warrant for Del’s office, we’ll subpoena his records, everything.”

Slick again didn’t answer, just stepped closer to the map.

“Jon?”

“Just a second.”

Slick stared hard until he felt something click in his head and an unconscious smile spread across his face as he stepped back.

“I think I know what the fifty thousand per annum is,” he said. “But I need to borrow your tablet first, to check something. I’ll do it on the way.”

“B
oth you and
Joe Stormcloud have mentioned federal money coming into the county for different projects, I mean that’s how the cameras in the park got set up, right?” Slick asked as he typed into Camilla’s computer tablet.

“Yes, but that’s hardly abnormal, all counties do,” Camilla said. She drove fast, heading back toward her office. “What does that have to do with—”

“I’ll bet your county’s arrest numbers have skyrocketed in the past three years, too. And your conviction rates as well. Brower told me they have the best arrest-conviction rate in the state.”

“I don’t know the exact numbers, but we’re certainly busier and, yes, our arrest-conviction rate is one of the highest in the state. Both George and Ted ran for office on platforms that emphasized being tough on crime.”

“That’s the thing though,” Slick said. “You look at national numbers on crime, you’ll see that violent crime has actually gone down across the board. Yet everyone’s afraid of crime, and all the politicos promise greater and greater punishments for those caught and to keep their promise, they have to keep arresting people. Did you know that Arizona is number three in terms of incarcerated people, just behind Texas and California? Even though population-wise it’s far smaller, it holds a greater percentage of prisoners than nearly anywhere else, according to numbers online.”

“So?”

“So what do you think that land is for? It’s for a prison, a big one. Seeing it on the map, that’s what clicked for me. I named that damn tune.”

“It can’t be, if it was to be a state or federal prison, they could just appropriate the land, they wouldn’t need to go through Del—”

“Not if it’s privately run. Prisons aren’t built by the government anymore, they’re now privately owned and operated—for profit. That’s what the fifty thousand per annum that Roger was screaming about stood for. That’s what he meant by a factory for profit. You go the private prison route, it can cost the country fifty grand per prisoner.”

“Oh my God.”

“It’s the only thing that fits, and it’s a good scam. They convince the average taxpayer that private businesses are the only way to run something like a prison in the most efficient way, and since most people distrust the government, they buy into that bullshit. They get state or federal contracts to do so and it actually ends up costing the taxpayer more money per prisoner than it would if it was run by the state.”