The Texas Ranger's Family (10 page)

“I did. He showed no emotion, which isn't surprising.” He eyed her for a moment. “I saw that the Sentra is gone.”

“I took care of it today and donated it to the veterans.”

“That would have been my choice, too. How's Amy?”

“She said your name at breakfast. She was looking for you.”

He'd missed both of them. Kit wasn't supposed to develop attachments, but there were a lot of things that weren't supposed to have happened since he'd met her. Such as putting his arms around her to comfort her. It had felt so right.

“If you're hungry, there's plenty of food in the fridge.”

“I ate on the plane, thanks. Any more hang-up calls?”

“No. It's been quiet. I'm glad you're back safely. I know you have work to do, so I'll say good-night.”

Keep your mind on the case, Saunders.
“See you in the morning.”

After she disappeared, he went to the den and opened his laptop. Another response from the criminal database. Neither of the two guns had been fired recently, and any prints had been wiped clean. The thumbprint on Park's laptop had turned up a mug shot of a female. She'd been arrested for possession of drugs and petit larceny eight years ago in Denver, Colorado.

The same time as Harold Park.

The woman had been charged with a misdemeanor and was jailed for eighteen months.

He scrolled down.

Juanita Morales, alias Myra King, Mara Fletcher, Myrna Foyle. Female, 24, 120 pounds, 5'3”. Blond hair, blue eyes.

Kit's head reared in reaction. He'd hit the jackpot! Juanita had to be the sister or wife of Alonzo Morales, the convict who'd escaped with Harold. Assuming she'd dyed her hair and worn colored lenses eight years ago, this could very well be the woman Colette had seen at the airport with Natalie's husband.

He scanned a copy of the rap sheet and emailed it to Colette. He'd like to hear what she had to say about the mug shot. He also wanted to know the precise location where she'd seen them in the airport parking area. Tomorrow he'd get one of the guys at headquarters to go through the airport security tapes for footage of Harold and his companion.

After he'd sent the message to Colette, he read through his other emails. The rest of the prints from the house and car matched those of Harold Park and Natalie Harris. Nothing surprising there.

He'd suspected all along there was a third party involved in this case. Linking Juanita to Alonzo made the most sense. Juanita was probably the one who'd provided the transportation to drive the two fugitives out of state during their escape. Everything had been planned. Which one of them had ransacked Natalie's home?

Together they'd picked LifeSpan to defraud, but they would have needed all kinds of fake ID and forged documents to make it happen.

With his mind racing ahead, he suddenly realized his cell was ringing. He reached for it and recognized the Arizona number. “Is this Colette?”

“Yes! I saw the image you sent me and didn't want to keep you waiting.
She's
the woman I met! The coloring is different, obviously, and she's lost a little weight since that photo, but I saw her up close and those are her exact features.”

“That's all I needed to hear. Your information is going to help me solve this case.”

“I hope that's true. You asked where I ran into them. It was in the short-term east parking with access to the Jeppesen Terminal on level four, kind of in the middle.”

“That will help us locate the right security cameras. Thank you for calling me back.”

“Of course. I can tell Natalie is in the best of hands. Good luck, Ranger Saunders.”

After he'd hung up he emailed headquarters and asked that a team pull the tapes. He'd take a look at the footage after his return from Kansas.

With that sent, he checked the front door camera, pleased to see that no one had come to the door but the man from the towing service.

Content that all was well for the moment, he locked up the house and got ready for bed. It was a long shot to fly to Leavenworth tomorrow, but he intended to build this case with as much evidence as possible. He'd been supplied with a rap sheet on Barni Esger, and while he might not have any reason to cooperate, Kit had to try.

Before his arrest, the Dane who'd immigrated to Colorado with his father when he was a teen, had been a professional photographer celebrated for his scenes of the Colorado mountains. For years he'd used his studio in Fort Collins, Colorado, to cover up his real work of producing fake credentials for dozens of hardened criminals throughout the country.

Despite what Kit's instincts told him, he had no proof that Esger had been involved. But any information he could get out of the man would be valuable. For Harold to obtain an accounting job with LifeSpan in the first place, he'd have had to reinvent his whole life. He'd fooled so many people for so many years. The Morales duo, too. Had Esger set them up with fake documents, as well?

One of them had killed Harold. Kit was sure of it. Had they discovered he'd double-crossed them? Had they turned on him because that had been their plan in the first place? Who knew the ins and outs of their ménage à trois? He'd like to lock them both up for good.

Kit was looking forward to the day when Natalie was safe and could put all this behind her.

When he climbed into his sleeping bag, he imagined being curled up with her. She always smelled delicious. What a loving heart she had, crying over Rod's grandmother. He admired her immensely for the way she was handling the horror of having been married to a criminal.

Another woman might have fallen apart, but not Natalie. Her strength of character was awesome to witness as she carried on with her life for the sake of her daughter.

Amy was a little angel. He'd never felt an attachment to a child before. How ironic that it would be Harold Park's daughter who pulled at Kit's heart strings with such force. Maybe it was because of Park's criminal background that Kit wanted the very best for that golden-haired little girl and her beautiful mother.

When Kit's father had been killed, he'd thought he'd experienced the very worst thing that could happen to a person. Though his father's killer had been killed, too, Kit hadn't been able to get over the pain. It took years of maturing to teach him that sometimes horrible things happened to the most innocent people. Other people suffered heartache, too. Ridding the world of the people who'd terrorized Natalie with frightening phone calls and break-ins had now become his first priority.

* * *

O
N
F
RIDAY
AT
noon Kit walked into the interrogation room at the Leavenworth prison carrying an envelope. A prison guard stood by the door.

Esger was sitting behind a table with his ankles shackled. The balding man was sixty but looked older. His dark blue eyes studied Kit's star-shaped badge.

“You're excellent at what you do, Esger, I have to admit. Your forgeries fooled the very best for years. The inmates at Atwater sing your praises.”

“Of course, but a Texas Ranger didn't come here to compliment me.”

Kit took his time. “You're aging in here, Barni. I'm prepared to slice two years off your twelve-year sentence if you'll help me out on a particular case.”

The prisoner stared at Kit for a long time. “What do you want to know?”

“Eight years ago Jimmy Salter and Harold Park made contact with you. I've got it on record that they came armed with a small fortune for you to transform their lives. ”
Unfortunately those testimonials came from the inmates who knew Salter and were nothing more than hearsay.
“Now I'm here to find out if you made documents for their friends Juanita and Alonzo Morales, the husband and wife team working with them.”

“They were brother and sister,” Esger muttered before looking away. Kit was elated by that vital slip of information.

“That's it, Barni. That's all I want to know.”

The forger cocked his head to the side. “So all I have to do is tell you that information and my sentence will be reduced by two years?”

“That's the deal. Your confession will be signed and notarized by the warden.”

“How do you know I won't lie to you?”

“I don't. But if I find out later that you
did
lie—and I
will
find out—then I'll have your sentence extended for ten more years on the grounds of perjury before a federal officer of the United States.

“You've already served three years of your sentence. Doesn't it sound good to know two more years can be lopped off simply by telling the truth? You'd only have to serve seven more and be out of here by the time you're sixty-seven. There'd still be a lot of life to live, pictures to take of the Colorado mountains. Interested?”

Kit pulled a document out of the envelope and set it in front of the prisoner along with a pen. “Go ahead and read it. Nothing will happen to you if you don't sign it. I'll walk out of here and you'll go on serving your original sentence.”

Esger picked up the piece of paper and began to read. “This says I supplied documents to all four of them.”

“That's right. If it's not true, then I'm wasting your time and mine.”

His eyes narrowed on Kit. “Before I do anything, I want to talk to my attorney.”

Kit nodded to the guard who opened the door. Esger's attorney entered the room, accompanied by a second guard. Kit stepped out to chat with the warden. After a few minutes Kit and the warden were allowed back inside.

“Well, Esger?” the warden asked.

The forger looked skeptical. “If I sign this, is it true I'll be out of here in seven years?”

“It is. But if you lie, that paper also states that ten years will be added to your original sentence. To make it legal and binding, I'll sign my name below yours. Your attorney will sign it and the guards will witness it. Won't it feel good to do something helpful for a change?”

Esger hesitated a moment longer and then signed the document. His attorney, the warden and the two witnesses followed suit.

Barni Esger's signature helped tie the loose ends together, making a solid case against three killers wanted by the FBI, one of whom was already dead. Kit had yet to learn what crimes Juanita had committed since her release from jail. But for now he couldn't have been happier.

He went to the warden's office and had a copy made of the signed confession before he left the prison with it and headed to the airport twenty-five miles away in Kansas City. He would have to hurry; his US Airways flight would be leaving at 4:00 p.m. That would put him in Austin around seven-thirty.

It was close to eight when he phoned TJ from his car in the airport parking lot to tell him the outcome of his visit to Leavenworth. “They're all involved in the LifeSpan embezzlement scheme. I'm waiting for a few more bits of information and then we can begin a manhunt for the Morales duo.”

“That's fine work despite your unorthodox methods. Using the prison warden—that's a new one. I see you've logged a lot of flying miles in less than a week. Take a day off before you burn out. That's an order.”

“In that case, I have a rodeo event I'd like to attend this Saturday and I'll need an officer to stay at the Harris home while I'm gone.”

“I'll arrange it. Don't get stomped on.”

“No, sir.” With a laugh Kit hung up and started changing into his clerical shirt when his phone rang. He looked at the screen and took the call.

“Hey, Brandon—”

“Boy, am I glad you answered. I need your help in the worst way, bro.”

“You mean you haven't found a hazer yet?”

“Yeah, I have. Corky Tibbs.”

“I remember Corky. He's a great choice.”

“I know. He said he'd haze for me until Scott is back, but he can't start for two weeks. I still haven't found anyone to ride for me in San Antonio tomorrow night.”

Kit sucked in his breath. He'd thought he'd try to get there to watch his brother tomorrow night, but not to be part of the show. He'd turned him down once. Maybe he could help him out tomorrow night. But it all depended on Natalie, because he wasn't going to leave her unattended with Alonzo and Juanita still on the loose.

“Tell you what. Give me an hour and I'll phone you back if I can do it. That's the best I can offer.”

“I knew I could count on you.”

“Brandon—I only said if, so don't—”

His brother clicked off before Kit could finish the sentence.

After he hung up he finished putting on the shirt and took off for Natalie's house. En route he phoned Luckey. Kit had no idea if his friend would be available. He could be deep into a case or he might already have plans. But it was worth a try to find out.

“Well, if it isn't Father Segal,” Luckey teased when the call connected.

Kit chuckled. “Tonight it's just plain Kit, even if I'm wearing a collar. I'm glad I could reach a live voice.”

“Don't tell me you don't have anything to do on a Friday night because none of the guys would believe you. What's up?”

“My brother needs me to haze for him tomorrow night in San Antonio. Are you working a case or could you guard Natalie for me?”

“You mean at her house?”

“No. She says she likes the rodeo so I thought I'd take her and Amy with me so she can watch. I'd need your services during the event. Here's why.”

He spent the next few minutes filling his friend in on the case. “One or both of the Moraleses is after the money and the guns. None of those items are in the house, and I'm convinced they'll come after Natalie when they break in again and realize that fact. She's not safe until they're caught.”

“Sure I'll help. It'll be fun to watch you in the saddle.”