What's Left is Right: Book two of The Detective Bill Ross Crime Series (17 page)

“Achak threw himself on the floor and cradled his dying wife in his arms. Garrison brought the stick down again on Achak and beat him with it in a frenzy; there was blood everywhere and two people lay dead.”

~

Gavin was now in need of some fresh air. He asked Tommy to walk him outside, which Tommy did. While they were gone, Marie sat down beside Antonella and put her arm around her as she wept. “I had to tell him, I had to!” she sobbed.

“It’s okay, Antonella, you did the right thing, you got it all out now.”

“No, there’s more, Marie, he needs to hear it all.”

Marie went outside and found Tommy and Gavin sharing a cigarette together. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but Antonella isn’t done, there’s more.”

~

Having regained some composure, Gavin returned and sat down. Antonella continued on.

“Garrison sat in his chair and stared at the bodies for what seemed like an eternity. I was frozen to the spot. He then started yelling for Jimmy Rodriguez. Jimmy was not in the house so he came to find me. I had returned to the kitchen, pretending that I hadn’t seen anything, and he screamed at me to get Jimmy and have him come to the house and for me to stay out of the way.”

“I found Rodriguez and told him that Garrison needed him right away, and then I stayed out of the way but managed to position myself so I saw everything that happened next.”

“Garrison brought Jimmy into the room and when Jimmy saw the bodies he threw up. “Well, you’re going to have to clean that up as well!” yelled Garrison.

“I want you to get the two of them back into their truck, the old Chevy in the driveway, and drive it to the cliff at the edge of the lake. Put them in the driver and passenger seats and push it off the cliff into the water. It’s a good 150 feet down; make it look like they lost control at the curve and went over the side. Make sure there are no boats around on the lake before you do it, and then come back here and get this place cleaned up.”

“Jimmy did exactly as he was asked. That truck will still be down there at the bottom of Lake Travis.”

“A week or so later, Garrison called Enrique Rodriguez and told him what he had done and that he needed his help to lay a false trail, as it were. He wanted to create a story that his wife and her lover had been killed in a road accident in Mexico. He wanted Enrique to work with his Mexican police buddies and build the story. Enrique did what Garrison asked, and a couple of weeks later Garrison leaked the story to the
Statesman
, flew down to Mexico to bring back the body of his dead wife, and buried her in the family plot.”

“This is why I was so scared, Gavin. If Mike Muguara had continued to dig and found some connection to the truth, then Garrison would put two and two together, find out that I had met with him, and I would end up sharing the same grave as your long dead mother.”

“Is that it all now, Antonella?” said Gavin, almost pleading that it be over.

“That’s it all, Gavin!”

~

Marie was still sitting next to Antonella and again she put her arm around her, and the seventy-year-old went limp and cried uncontrollably, the burden of secrets that she had carried over the years now lifted from her shoulders.

Gavin sat with Tommy.

“I’ll need to get divers out to the lake, Gavin, and if we find the wreck you know where we go from there,” said Tommy.

“No, Detective! I know where you go from here whether you find the wreck or not! I heard what Antonella said, I will arrange for my people to have her go through it all again on camera just in case by the time a trial rolls around she is either too frail to testify or has passed. You do what you need to do to prepare to arrest my father. I need just a few days to brief my people and my supporters in the party. I know you will not like this term, but we will have to spin this in some way. Garrison McMullen is my father, but I am absolutely not like Garrison McMullen.”

“You are not like your father, Gavin. I have seen that here today and it’s reinforced by the actions you took to try to help and protect Antonella. You have what time you need, and you call me when you are done. I won’t get divers out to the lake until we arrest your father, as that will spook him that we are already on to him.”

“We have Jimmy Rodriguez in custody and charged with the killing of Mike Muguara. I am sure now that Garrison McMullen ordered that killing. If we can get the skeletal remains from the lake then we can match DNA with your mother’s remains and be able to finally identify that the dead man is Mike Muguara.”

“Let me know when you’re ready for us to move.”

~

Tommy went over to the still weeping Antonella Aguilar.

“We have to be on our way, Antonella. You have been very brave here today and your actions will see very bad men brought to justice.”

Antonella managed to get to her feet and Tommy and Marie both hugged her. They shook hands with Gavin McMullen and then left the South Congress office to head back to Hudson Bend. On the way Tommy called the chief.

“We’re on our way back to the office after our meeting with Gavin McMullen. We all need to meet in the conference room tonight. Can you also check if Bobby Brown can join us? What we uncovered today will blow your mind. My dad was right. Gavin had nothing to do with any of this, and I will explain it all when we get there,” said Tommy, and was getting ready to end the call.

“We need to talk about something else in the briefing tonight, Tommy,” said the chief. “Governor Shaw has been to see me and he wants to make sure that none of this shit going down is going to stick to him. Latisha Williams is better connected in the governor’s office than we thought, and she’s been shooting her mouth off. The long and the short of it is that the governor wants this wrapped up and Rodriguez and Vivar taken down for the killing, and he wants it to end there. Latisha has spilled the beans that we may have some evidence that connects Garrison McMullen in some way. McMullen has backed Shaw with significant funding for his run for the White House and he doesn’t want McMullen tied into this thing.”

“Well, sir, that might not be possible. I will explain when we meet. Latisha has let me down and gone back on our deal. This might backfire on her also. See you later tonight, chief,” and Tommy ended the call.

They were all there in the conference room and it was just after six in the evening. Tommy Ross presented his report on the meeting with Gavin McMullen and Antonella Aguilar. Bobby Brown was typing on his laptop as fast as he could and every so often shaking his head with incredulity.

“This will have an impact of seismic proportions across the political spectrum,” said the assistant DA. “Here we have one of the biggest shakers and movers in the business world in Texas, if not the entire nation, soon to be arrested for multiple murders. His son is the governor-elect of Texas and some say is on a path to the White House. I need to make a call to the DA right away,” said Bobby, and he left the room to make the call.

“I will need to call Governor Shaw,” said Bill Dunwoody. “The shit he was trying to avoid is rolling downhill fast in his direction. He will want his spin-doctors working on this throughout the night. This might impact Gavin McMullen’s future White House expectations, but it will certainly impact Raymond Shaw’s current White House bid. He will need to distance himself from Garrison McMullen. I need to go call him right now.”

“Marie, we need to get hold of Latisha. Let’s go to my office and we can call her from there. Do you want to join us, Dad?” said Tommy.

“Yes, I’ll tag along. We need to think through what we are going to say to her and I have some ideas,” said Bill.

~

They sat down together in Tommy’s office. “Okay, Dad, how do you think we should handle this with Latisha?”

“When we tell her what we know she will have egg on her face. She will know that she has pulled the trigger too quickly and tried to leverage her governor’s office connections to endear herself to Governor Shaw. She has done this in a calculated way. She may think that being the eyes and ears of a future President inside the press might advance her career. She might also be angling for the press secretary role. Who knows? One thing is certain; she didn’t spill the beans to Raymond Shaw out of the goodness of her heart.”

“We need to take the approach that she has put herself in the shit and we can help her climb out. We can say that we are now briefing the governor on the truth and that she was not in full possession of that latest information. We can tell her that we will tell the governor her actions were with the best intent. We then get something in return; we don’t need to be specific about what that is, simply that she owes us one,” concluded Bill.

“Holy crap, Dad, you should have been a politician!”

“No. I need to be able to sleep at night with a clear conscious, son.”

~

They called Latisha and adopted Bill’s approach. It worked perfectly. Latisha Williams was forever in their debt; at least that’s what she said.

Assistant DA Bobby Brown returned thirty minutes later.

“The DA wants to have us conference him in; let’s get back to the conference room,” said Bobby.

All of them, including the chief, assembled in the conference room.

“We’re all here now, sir,” said Bobby, kicking off the call.

“Hey, everyone, this is Tom Morton here,” said the DA. “Bobby has kept me up to date every step of the way on this and has briefed me on the latest developments of today. Chief Dunwoody, I have to congratulate you and your team for their exceptional work in getting this to this stage. We now need to work together very closely as a team to take it over the finish line and see that all guilty parties get their just desserts. I’m sure that you would agree, Governor Shaw.”

The DA had already linked the governor into the conversation.

“I completely agree,” said Raymond Shaw.

“I also took the liberty of bringing the governor-elect into the call this evening, and although he was very appreciative of the consideration that Detective Ross offered him today, after discussing the issue with Tom and me he is in agreement that we need to move now and arrest his father with all due haste. Would you like to say a few words, Gavin?”

“Thanks, Raymond. Yes, I agree with everything being said and I do want to say here for the record that Detective Sergeant Tommy Ross was in no way out of line today, and that it was I who asked for the delay in taking action. I now realize that the public good would be best served by making the arrest now and that I will need to deal with political fallout as best I can.”

Bill Ross sat in awe at the speed with which these politicians and senior elected officials moved to circle the wagons and protect themselves. In what was in effect less than an hour they all were on the same page. Each could claim that their actions tonight were collectively designed for the public good. It was impressive!

“Thank you both for taking the time to be on the call tonight. I think that Bobby and I should now work through the details on next steps with Chief Dunwoody and his team. Thanks again.”

The governor and the governor-elect left the call.

~

The DA was now calling the shots. He moved the conversation to the next phase.

“It’s now eight-thirty and I am at a Make-a-Wish Foundation dinner at the Four Seasons. I believe that we should make the arrest tonight,” said the DA.

“Do we have any idea where Garrison McMullen is? It may take us some time to organize the team needed to make the arrest,” said Bill Dunwoody.

“Garrison is about 200 feet to my left. He’s at the same event as I am. We should make the arrest when he exits the event and is picked up by his driver,” said Tom Morton.

~

Now it all made sense to Bill, the need for speed. The DA saw the opportunity for a photo op. Based on the “who’s who” attendee list at the Make-A-Wish Foundation fund raiser, the press would be crawling all over the place. It would be on all national news channels in a micro-second.

The sheriff made the call. Tommy Ross would make the arrest with Marie Mason by his side and supported by several deputies. Chief Dunwoody, the assistant DA and the DA would make themselves available for the media to answer questions after the arrest was made and the suspect was secure.

Everyone went off to ready themselves for the event, and Tommy and Marie went off to make another call.

~

“Latisha, we need to talk with you again. There have been some further developments,” said Marie, kicking off the call.

“Marie, there is no need to rub it in. I fucked up. Please stop gloating. As I said in the call a few minutes ago, I owe you one,” replied Latisha.

“Latisha, this is Tommy, you need to shut up and listen. Get your ass down to the Four Seasons as fast as possible. Get all support you need to get what will happen there out in the public domain. You can get the drop on this, Latisha, and this is further evidence of our good faith and willingness to continue working together. In about forty minutes Garrison McMullen will be arrested outside the Four Seasons.”

The phone went dead. The Rottweiler was on her way!

~

Exiting the fundraiser, Garrison McMullen was surrounded by his normal supporting entourage. Following on behind were the guests from the table for ten that Venture Point Holdings had purchased. They included Enrique Rodriguez, Finlay Robertson of Robertson Richards and his wife, Eddie Tang and his wife, and Charles Haywood of the Venture Point Investment Fund and his wife.

The limos pulled up to the curb and the driver jumped out of the lead limo and opened the door for Garrison McMullen. He stepped from the door of the hotel and then did a 180 to say goodbye to his friends and business associates and wave to the press. When he turned back around to move to the car, Tommy and Marie stood in his way.

“Garrison McMullen, I am arresting you in connection with the murders of Alyana Reyes and Achak Muguara. When we reach the police office, more detailed charges will be made and you will be Mirandized. I strongly suggest that you simply step this way and not create the need for us to arrest you forcibly in front of the national press,” said Tommy.

Garrison McMullen did as they asked, but as he walked with them to the waiting cruiser he whispered in Tommy’s ear. “Your life as you know it is over you son of a bitch!” Tommy looked him in the eye smiled and winked and said, “I think you got it the wrong way around, you arrogant asshole!”

~

There was total chaos at the entrance to the Four Seasons. Garrison McMullen’s guests and business partners scurried across the parking lot looking for their limos to
exit stage left
out of the melee. Reporters, there to cover the fundraising event, were on their cell phones with their bosses trying to get instructions on what to do to leverage the coverage of the chaos for their news outlet. It was pandemonium.

Off to the side of the main entrance two men stood with a mobile news team from KXAN, the NBC affiliate in Austin. The cameras rolled, transmitting a live stream to the local Austin community and to NBC New York, which had been given a 25-minute warning that a huge news story was breaking in Austin and to be ready for the feed.

The Travis County District Attorney, Tom Morton, with Sheriff Bill Dunwoody and Bobby Brown at his side, made a brief statement.

“This evening officers from the Travis County Police Department, led by Detective Sargent Tommy Ross, the head of the cold case unit, arrested Mr. Garrison McMullen in connection with the death of his ex-wife, Alyana Reyes, and her partner, Mr. Achak Muguara. Due to the lateness of the hour, Chief Dunwoody and I will give a more detailed statement tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. Central time. Thank you.”

The throng of reporters was now firing questions at them, but no answers were forthcoming. They made no further statement and left.

Standing in the parking lot of the hotel, Bill Ross watched all of this go down. He was humming a tune, remembering the words of the song “Dirty Laundry” by Don Henley:

I make my living off the evening news

Just give me something-something I can use

People love it when you lose,

They love dirty laundry

Kick 'em when they're up

Kick 'em when they're down

Kick 'em when they're up

Kick 'em all around