AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What makes you think Parker’s involved?” I ask.
Carlos explains that after the recent armored-truck robbery, he started poring through evidence on all the cases of the XYZ Bandits. He scrutinized the bank footage prior to all the robberies and recognized Parker Longbaugh going into one of the banks to meet with someone. Last Carlos had heard, Parker was still living in Snakebite, Texas, in Hamilton County, only about ninety minutes from Redbud. But Parker was in a bank another two hours north in Stephens County—a week before it was robbed.
“I showed the image to the bank manager and asked if he could remember why the guy came in,” Carlos says. “He had to check his calendar, but once he did, he said Parker had come in inquiring about a loan to buy some land. But Parker didn’t follow up. The guy never heard from him again.”
“That’s a pretty flimsy reason to think the guy robbed the bank,” I say.
Carlos nods. “Yeah, but I found him in the footage of two other banks. Both of them were also robbed.”
“Has it occurred to you that maybe he’s just looking to buy some property?” I say. “Maybe he wants to build a hunting cabin somewhere. Maybe he wants to get his family the hell out of Snakebite. Did you ask him?”
“I can’t show my cards yet,” Carlos says. “I need more information. If he gets any idea that I’m onto him, he’ll disappear.”
One thing Carlos did do was look into Parker’s credit report.
“When you apply for loans, that stuff shows up in your records,” Carlos says. “He hasn’t looked into getting a loan from any other banks. No other banks in Texas. No national banks. No credit unions.”
I shrug. “Could be a coincidence.”
“You’ve been a Texas Ranger long enough to know there’s no such thing as coincidence.”
I feel flustered. Part of me is frustrated with Carlos for pushing this theory with so little to go on. But the other part of me knows that if he were talking about any other suspect—besides a man I know to be upstanding and lawful—I’d say the whole thing was suspicious enough that it should at least be pursued. As an investigator, I believe in following every lead. Everyone’s a suspect until you can rule them out.
“Suppose I agree to help you,” I say, “what is it you want me to do?”
Carlos gives me a look that suggests if I didn’t like what he’s had to say so far, I’m not going to like what’s coming next.
CHAPTER 5
“I NEED YOU to get close to him,” Carlos says. “Pretend to be his friend.”
“Iamhis friend.”
“All the better,” Carlos says. “Don’t let on like you’re looking into him as a suspect but see what you can learn. I’d call it undercover, but you’re not lying about who you are.”
“I’m just lying about my motivations,” I say.
I don’t like the sound of this at all. I remember when I was a rookie in the Rangers, fresh off my stint with the Texas Highway Patrol. Some Rangers have the attitude that new guys are either going to sink or swim and making it in the job is something they need to do on their own. Other Rangers think they should lend a hand and make sure the new guys succeed. Parker was the latter.
In fact, I might not have made it through that first year without him. If I was confused about procedure, I knew I could call Parker. If I had a question about dealing with red tape or state government bureaucracy, I called Parker. When I was feeling stressed out by the emotional weight of the job, what did I do?
You guessed it.
Called Parker.
And now Carlos wants me to spy on him.
“What am I supposed to do?” I say. “Just show up and say, ‘Hey, long time no see’? ‘You happen to have a motorcycle and a submachine gun lying around?’”
“I’ve got a plan,” Carlos says. “Remember why he quit the Rangers?”
I do.
There’d been a suspected serial killer preying on migrant workers throughout Central Texas. The press dubbed the guy the “Cereal Killer” because the crops the victims worked on were all grains like wheat, oats, and millet. Parker, the lead Ranger working the case with local jurisdictions, thought the flippant moniker trivialized the seriousness of the crimes and was disrespectful to the victims. After a few months on the case, he figured out who was responsible: a guy named Jackson Clarke who happened to operate a grain elevator right in the town of Snakebite, where Parker lived. But there was debate among other agencies over whether they had enough evidence to arrest the guy. Parker couldn’t stand the idea that the killer might strike again, so he went ahead and made the arrest. It turned out the DA in Hamilton County wouldn’t prosecute and they dropped the charges.
Jackson Clarke went into hiding, never to be captured.
Parker was livid. He resigned immediately. He said he just couldn’t do the job anymore knowing that justice wasn’t served and a murderer was free to continue preying on victims in some other part of the country.
