Stillborn Armadillos (John Lee Quarrels Book 1) (16 page)

Chapter 31

For ten long days the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Somerton County Sheriff's Department carried out an intense, fruitless investigation into the murder of Deputy Raymond Watkins. They looked at every case Ray Ray had been involved in since he was a rookie, from issuing a simple traffic ticket to arresting drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or any other infraction. They came up with nothing.

They delved into his personal life, looking for anything there, but there was nothing to be found. No illicit affairs, no disputes with neighbors, no arguments over something as trivial as a barking dog. As much as they hated to, they even looked at his family life. He and his wife got along wonderfully, she was the girl of his dreams who had always looked past the stuttering to see the man he really was, and he always put her on a pedestal. There was no large life insurance policy to be garnered. He was a devoted father, well loved by everybody who knew him, from his family to his neighbors and coworkers.

In the end, they were not able to find one thing that would offer even a hint of why someone would want the friendly, dependable family man dead.

"Early on there was talk that maybe the shooter was just some kind of crank, out for thrills," Donny Ray Mayhew said, at a meeting to discuss the case and bounce ideas off each other. "Is that what this all comes down to? Somebody shooting at deputies for kicks?"

"People have been killed for less," said Adam Levy, one of the state investigators assigned to the case.

"Well, there hasn't been another shootin' since Ray Ray was killed. So either the shooter accomplished what he set out to do, or else maybe it
was
some kind of a nutcase out gettin' his jollies at our expense. John Lee, you said early on that you didn't think he was tryin' to hit anybody out there at the construction site, and Donny Ray, you said the same thing after Carson's car was shot up," D.W. said.

"This sounds terrible, but I almost wish the bastard would try it again," John Lee said. "Don't get me wrong, I don't want anybody else hurt, but if he's crawled back under whatever rock he came out from, we might never find him."

"Oh, I want to find him, all right," said Rick Pye, a former Marine who had served in Afghanistan.

There were murmurs from other deputies, all of whom were frustrated at the lack of progress on the case, and all of whom wanted to avenge Ray Ray in some way. And while he wanted to see the killer brought to justice, John Lee couldn't help but think that it was probably just as well that the shooter had not resurfaced. Not just for officer safety, but because he would have hated to see one of his fellow deputies step over the line and do something out of frustration and anger that could ruin their career and their life.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation had been brought in, in the hope that the FBI might shine some light on the case, but even that astute law enforcement agency, with all of its resources, drew a blank. It would seem that whoever the sniper was who had been shooting at Somerton County deputies, he had gone deep under cover and was not coming out anytime soon.

FBI agents compared the attacks with sniper incidents and attacks on police officers nationwide, looking for some connection. And while violence between police and citizens seemed to be all over the news lately, there was nothing locally that would indicate the incidents were hate crimes or had any relationship to things happening outside of the area.

"There's been a lot of problems with niggers and white cops all over the country lately," Flag said. "I wonder if some of our local jigaboos have been watchin' too much TV and decided to join in the fun."

"Really, Fig? You're the second highest law enforcement officer in the county, and that's the way you talk?"

"The day I need you correctin' me in public, John Lee, that's the day one of us needs to start considerin' a new career."

"I think you're right. Have you ever thought about the fast food industry, Fig? I bet with enough practice you can learn to ask, 'do you want fries with that?'"

There were snickers from several of the deputies in the room, and Flag started to get up from his chair, but D.W. interrupted.

"That's enough of that kind of talk, Flag. This department and the local African-American community ain't had any problems like that. So let's just drop it and move on, okay?"

Flag didn't like it, but the looks on the faces of the state and federal investigators told him that he had stepped over the line. There was a time when all that politically correct bullshit didn't matter, but he knew that if he was ever going to be sheriff, he was going to have to learn to play the game, no matter how he really felt about things.

"So what else do we know?" Adam Levy asked.

"We've checked with gun shops as far away as Macon, Georgia and east all the way to Mobile," an FBI agent named Angela Waterbury said. "The .308 is a very common rifle round, but it's pretty much for big game. Except for feral hogs, I don't know what people would use it on around here. But that's not to say there aren't a lot of them around. It also has the military designation of 7.62 and was the standard for small arms among NATO countries since the 1950s. Here in this country, it was used in the M-14 rifle and M-60 machine gun. The M-14 was phased out when the M-16 came along, but the Army and other services still use sniper rifles chambered for it."

"Wait a minute," D.W. said. "You're tellin' me this is a sniper round?"

"Among other things, in the military version, the 7.62. But again, it's also used by civilians all over the place for big game hunting. And the casings you found were stamped .308, so they were from civilian ammunition."

"But the ammo's interchangeable, right?"

"To a certain extent," she said. "The 7.62 actually has higher pressure than a lot of the civilian .308 rounds. So over a period of time, it would possibly damage some civilian rifles. What are you getting at, Sheriff? Do you by any chance have any survivalist types running around here?"

"Not that I know of. How about any of you guys?"

"Oh we've got a few lunatics who think the sky's falling and the government will be taking over any day," John Lee said. "But they've all been accounted for and we haven't been able to find out anything that would indicate any of them were involved in this."

"So we're right back where we started," Flag said bitterly.

"I wish I had more to tell you," Special Agent Waterbury said. "Our profilers are trying to work up something on it, but we don't have one thing to go on."

The meeting ended with nothing accomplished except more frustration on everyone's part. John Lee was going out the back door of the Sheriff's Department when Flag accosted him.

"Listen to me, you limp dick. If you ever mouth off to me like that again in front of anybody, I'm gonna break you in two. I'll kick your ass so bad even your Mama won't recognize you."

"I'll tell you what," John Lee said, "Why don't we just settle this right here and right now, Fig? You keep telling me about what you're going to do, but you're beginning to sound just like a used car salesman. Lots of bullshit promises and nothing behind them. I see you've got the bandage off your hand, so why don't we send your ass back to the ER and they can put some new ones on you? Hopefully around your mouth, because I'm getting damn tired of listening to it."

The Chief Deputy's face had gone from red to purple and he was shaking with rage. John Lee, for his part, had an insolent smile on his face. Fearing that they were about to come to blows, Sheila Sharp tried to intervene.

"Umm... Flag, John Lee, y'all both need to calm down. We got citizens walking around here, listenin' to you two."

"Mind your own business, Sheila," Flag said, never taking his eyes off John Lee.

"How 'bout I make it my business?"

Neither man had seen D.W. approach. He pushed himself between them and said, "Flag, I'm on my way to a meetin' of the County Supervisors to bring them up to date on everything that's goin' on with this investigation. I'd hate to have to tell them that I just relieved you from duty for threatenin' a subordinate in public and using racial slurs in a staff meetin'. And I'd sure hate to have to tell my wife about why her brother's out of a job. But I'll do it. Don't think I won't. That way you'll have a lot of time to plan your campaign against me, come next election. And I'll make sure that my own campaign will let folks around here know that you were fired from this department, and why. Now what's it goin' to be?"

Flag was seething, but he knew anything he said would only make matters worse for him. But the time was coming. Oh yeah, the time was coming. And when it did, people were going to know what happened when you crossed Flag Newton. Yeah, people were going to know all right. And these two were going to be the first to know!

Chapter 32

The ringing telephone woke John Lee up and he fumbled for it on the nightstand next to the bed, managing to knock it to the floor in the process. He cursed and rolled over to reach it and pushed the button to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"Good morning, John Lee. It's Shania."

He had been up late the night before and not been able to sleep well. His brain was still foggy. "Who?"

"Shania Jones. Am I that easy to forget?"

"Oh, no. Of course not. I'm sorry, I'm still half asleep."

"I'm sorry, I can call back another time."

"No, this is a good time."

He sat up and looked at the bedside clock. 9:15 AM.

"What's up, Shania?"

"I was just calling to check in with you since I hadn't heard anything from you."

"Yeah, sorry about that. It's been pretty crazy over here."

"I know, it's been all over the news. I didn't want to call too soon because I knew you were busy, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm so sorry for the loss of your friend."

"Thank you."

"So how are you doing? I can't imagine what that must feel like."

"It's kind of like losing a brother. So yeah, I think maybe you can imagine."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment, and then she said, "For what it's worth, John Lee, eventually it gets easier to live with. It still hurts, and you never forget, but you learn to put it in a compartment so you can get on with your life. I think if you don't, it would eventually eat you alive."

John Lee thought of Richard and Alice Westfall, and how each had been affected by losing Dan, so long ago. In one way or another, their son's death had indeed eaten both of his parents alive. Maddy, for her part, seemed to have been able to compartmentalize her brother's loss.

Thinking about her, he couldn't help but remember the night they had spent together following Ray Ray's funeral. The next morning both had been subdued, and he didn't know if it was because of what had happened to Ray Ray, or what had not happened between the two of them. Maddy had dressed and bent over to kiss his cheek as he still lay in bed.

"I need to get home and check on Mama."

"All right."

She got to the door of the bedroom and John Lee had called her name. "Maddy? Are we okay?"

Maddy had nodded, and said, "Yeah, John Lee. We're okay."

She had turned away and then stopped and turned back to him. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being you. For being my friend every time I've needed you there. For last night, for not wanting more or expecting more, or...."

"I'll always be here for you Maddy. You know that."

"Yeah, I know that."

"Are you there, John Lee?"

Shania's voice on the telephone brought him back to the present.

"Sorry, I guess I drifted off there for a minute."

"Listen, I'll call you back another time."

"No, I'm sorry, Shania. I didn't get much sleep last night. It's been really crazy here."

"I understand. Like I said, I just wanted to check in with you."

"I appreciate that, I really do."

"Have you been making any headway in finding out who killed your friend?"

"Not yet. Between our people and the state investigators, and the FBI, we haven't found out a damned thing. I've got to be honest with you, Shania. I don't know if we ever will."

"That's got to be so frustrating."

"It is."

"Do you think... do you think whoever did it will start up again?"

"I don't know. I hope not. But on the other hand, I almost wish something
would
happen to move things along. I mean, not anyone getting hurt or anything like that, but at least if he resurfaces maybe we'll have a chance of getting him."

"Please be careful, John Lee."

"I will."

"I imagine all of this has put the investigation into those three skeletons on the back burner."

"Yeah, it has. But I don't know. We're not getting anywhere on Ray Ray's murder, and there have been so many people looking at it from every direction that we're almost stumbling over each other. I think maybe I might ask my boss about getting back on that, at least until something develops with Ray Ray's case."

"Well, you stay in touch, John Lee. And if you get back over this way, give me a call, okay?"

"I'll do it," he promised.

He got out of bed, let Magic out, then filled the dog's bowls with food and fresh water before he got in the shower. He felt guilty for not touching base with Shania before then, but he really had been swamped, putting in long hours day after day without taking any time off since Ray Ray had been killed. Maybe he was right, maybe it was time to talk to D.W. about getting back to work on the case of the skeletons they had found out on Turpentine Highway.

***

D.W. didn't like that idea at all. "Those men been dead a long time, John Lee. And whoever killed them has probably been dead almost as long. I doubt you'll find out anything. And meanwhile, we got us a cop killer runnin' loose around here."

"I know that D.W., but it's not like we're getting anywhere on Ray Ray's case."

"Were not just goin' to forget it!"

"Of course not! All I'm saying is that we've got so many people looking at the same things over and over again, and all we do is keep butting our heads against a wall."

"That's how you solve these things, John Lee. You just keep at it and keep at it and keep at it."

"I know that. But so far we're not accomplishing anything. Meanwhile, think about this, D.W. Sooner or later the news folks are going to ask you about those skeletons. And we both know that Fig is always looking for any way he can to make you look bad."

"Fig can kiss my wrinkled white ass for all I care!"

"Yeah, but what if he decides to tell those reporters that you're ignoring the murders of three black men completely and are focusing every resource we have on the death of a white deputy."

"The two ain't the same at all. You know that."

"I know it, and you know it. That's not the point. Those reporters are always looking for a new story or a new angle. All Fig has to do is plant a seed in their minds about how three dead black men are not as important as one dead white man is, here in Somerton County. You know that one of them is going to take that and run with it. And as soon as one does, the rest are gonna jump right on the story, too. The next thing you know, Ray Ray's murder is completely forgotten and they're all trying to crucify you. Calling you just another bigoted white small town southern sheriff."

He could tell that the message hit home when D.W. shoved back his chair and got up and paced back and forth across his office, muttering to himself. After a moment he stopped and said, "You're right, that salad eatin' Frenchman would do somethin' just like that to throw me under the bus. And those reporters? They don't give a tinker's damn 'bout me, I know that. All they're lookin' for is the next story. Damn, why didn't I see this comin'?"

"There's been too much going on to focus on everything, D.W."

"Oh yeah? Well as of right now, you start focusin' on those skeletons. Losin' Ray Ray is a tragedy, and we're goin' to catch the cotton picker that did it and we're gonna put him away forever. But in the meantime, you keep trying to figure out what happened to those three men out there on Turpentine Highway. And try to find somethin' fast, before Fig and those reporters put their heads together and find some way to try to stick it to me!"