Two Bits Four Bits (22 page)

* * * *

CHAPTER
FORTY-ONE

I met John Donnelly at
Kandy’s house and toured the damage inside while he stood on the
porch outside talking to Kandy on his cell phone. She had been
planning on staying in Dallas another week, but Donnelly was
advising her that the police might want to talk to her about the
break-in to determine if there could be a connection to Russell’s
murder.

Whoever had broken in was
looking for something, although there was no way of knowing if
they’d been successful in finding it. They had pulled out all of
the drawers in the bedroom and dumped the contents on the bed. And
then done the same for drawers located in the kitchen and den. But,
Kandy’s jewelry cabinet, while a little askew, didn’t seem to have
been a target. My thoughts on what the break-in might have been
about were confirmed when I noticed an expensive oriental cabinet
in a corner of the den that had its door jimmied open. Inside the
cabinet were shelves containing a wide assortment of adult
videotapes and DVD’s. Several opened videotape boxes lay on the
floor next to the cabinet.

“Any idea who it could
have been?” Donnelly asked, coming into the den.

“Hard to say,” I answered.
“Might have been some kids looking to vandalize the place, since a
real thief wouldn’t have passed up so many items that are so easy
to fence.”

“What’s this?” he asked,
nodding toward the video collection.

“Well, I’m not sure,” I
answered. “But it looks to me like the pursuit of happiness you
mentioned the other day may be televised.”

* * * *

CHAPTER
FORTY-TWO

I parked in the alley
behind Doyle Finance and watched as the employees left for the day
one by one until the only vehicle left in the parking lot was the
black Cadillac Escalade that I’d seen tailing me on my run a few
days earlier. I figured some of the same guys I’d seen riding in it
might be inside with Sandy, but was surprised to see him walk out
the side door of the building alone. I drove into the lot, stopping
directly behind the Escalade, which was parked nose-in against the
building. Sandy watched as I approached, squinting into my
headlights, with a mild look of annoyance.

I killed my lights and
stepped out of the pickup, carrying one of the empty videotape
cases I’d brought from Kandy’s house.

“I thought you agreed to
give me a few days to try to recover what you were missing,” I
said, holding up the videotape case, with the flap open. I had no
idea if it was the same case that had once contained the tape of G.
Travis Kirkland and a sixteen-year-old Eva Trout, but it served as
a good prop.

Sandy Doyle looked at the
videotape case and shrugged.

“What the hell are you
talking about?” he asked.

“Somebody broke into Kandy
Chilton’s house and went through Russell’s adult tape
collection.”

“And, you think I sent
someone to do that?” he asked. “That wouldn’t be very smart would
it? Send somebody to break into the house where somebody’s just
been whacked?”

I couldn’t believe he’d
just used the word whacked. Maybe he really was a fan of The
Sopranos.

“Well, when you put it
like that it really doesn’t sound very smart, does it?” I
admitted.

“Listen. I already told
you I’d give you some time to work on this. My people are leaving
it alone for the time being. But, from the looks of things, you’re
not having a hell of a lot of luck, are you? I hope you’re not
going to make me regret giving you a chance.”

“But,” I said. “You do
understand that if I figure out that you’re involved in the murder
of Russell Chilton then all bets are off.”

“I’ve told you, I’m just a
businessman. I got no control over what somebody working for me
does. If they go off and do something on their own, and I don’t
even know about it, how am I supposed to stop them?”

“Are you saying that one
of your people may have shot Russell Chilton?”

“I ain’t saying anything
of the kind. I’m just saying I can’t follow everybody around
watching what they’re doing like some kind of damn babysitter. I
hope you don’t think that I control everything these people do.
Sometimes they get big ideas and decide to go off and do things on
their own.”

“So, somebody came up with
a plan of their own for the tape of G. Travis Kirkland?” I asked.
“I mean with e-mail, the internet and YouTube, his political career
could be over within a few days if that fell into the wrong
hands.”

“So, what’re you doing
standing around here waving that empty tape box at me? Get the hell
out of here and go use your detective skills to fix this.
Otherwise, Eva can forget about ever walking the streets during
daylight again, and after that things may get unpleasant for Kandy
Chilton. I can’t believe she wasn’t up to her well-heeled ass in
this too.”

With that, Doyle opened
the door to the Escalade and climbed in. I barely had time to move
my pickup out of the way before he backed away from the building
and roared off into the darkening streets of Odessa.

* * * *

CHAPTER
FORTY-THREE

On the drive back to
Elmore, I called Eva using the cell phone number she had given me
when we’d met a few days earlier. The call went to voicemail, but
she called me back almost immediately. She was probably screening
her calls since Clemmer and Reese had probably tried to call her
using the number they’d gotten from Kandy.

“How many people know
about the videotape that Russell had?” I asked.

“I don’t know who Russell
told, but the only person I told about it was Jimmy.”

“Tell me about your
relationship with Jimmy,” I said.

She was quiet for a few
seconds, as if she had to think about how to explain it.

“He’s an old boyfriend.
Somebody who knows all about my past and doesn’t look at me funny
because of it. We were involved at one time, but he’s more like an
older brother to me now.”

“What did you tell him
about the tape?”

“Just that Russell had
gotten hold of it and that it was filmed when I was
sixteen.”

“He doesn’t know who’s on
the tape with you?”

“No. I don’t think he
would know who Kirkland is anyway. Jimmy’s life revolves around his
motorcycle and the guys he rides with.”

“Do you think he would try
to get that tape back if he knew where to find it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. It
really bothered him what Sandy did to me and Monica, taking
advantage of us when we were so young. What’s this all
about?”

“Kandy’s house was broken
into and it looks like somebody may have been looking for the
videotape. I need to find it, and I need to talk to Jimmy to see
who he might have told about the tape or if he knows anything about
the break-in. Have you seen him in the last few days?”

“No, he gets a little too
possessive when we’re around each other very long, so I had to
split. I’ve been staying—well, let’s just say I found another safe
place to stay.”

“I think it’s a good idea
for you to stay put for now. I need to talk to Jimmy, so if you
hear from him, let me know. I also need you to think about what you
want me to do with the videotape if I can locate it.”

“What do you
mean?”

“Sandy Doyle wants it
back. And, I think he may know something about who killed Russell
Chilton, which would help take the heat off of Kandy. But, on the
other hand, that tape is evidence of child prostitution, sexual
assault and indecency with a child at the very least. If I were
still in law enforcement I wouldn’t have any choice but to arrest
both Sandy Doyle and G. Travis Kirkland.”

“And ruin their lives over
something that happened over twenty years ago?”

“Ruin their lives? You
were the victim here, Eva.”

“And my life will be
ruined just as much as theirs if you go to the police. If Sandy
wants it and the tape can get you information to help clear Kandy,
give it to him.”

“Even though you’re the
one on that tape? Even though Sandy will still be able to do
anything he wants with it at any time in the future?”

“Listen. The girl on that
videotape isn’t me. She doesn’t exist anymore. I left her behind
when I left that lifestyle and grew up. Besides, if Sandy taped me
with that Kirkland guy, I’m sure he taped me with every other john
I slept with. And, I’m pretty sure that the tape Russell borrowed
from Darrell Swain’s safe deposit box was only a copy. The original
tapes are probably in a vault in Sandy’s house on Lake LBJ or
someplace like that.”

“Okay, so you don’t want
me to go to the police with it. But, what about the other
sixteen-year-old girls out there who might be in the same situation
right now?”

“Sandy’s not even running
whores anymore. And Monica and I were the only ones Sandy ever used
who were that young. Sandy’s been more like a father to me more
than anyone has. I know there are kids being abused out there, but
locking Sandy up for this isn’t going to help them.”

“Have you thought anymore
about why Darrell may have had a copy of the tape?”

“Darrell? Who knows,” she
said, laughing.

I got Eva to give me a
list of places I might find Jimmy before she hung up. It was too
late to go looking for him, so I decided to start fresh in the
morning. I needed to come up with the tape as soon as possible if
there was any chance of getting Sandy Doyle to help me clear Kandy
of her husband’s murder.

* * * *

CHAPTER
FORTY-FOUR

The next morning I had
breakfast with Ray Garcia at Lita’s before we walked across the
dining room to my office entrance. Ray had been unusually quiet
during breakfast and barely responded to my attempts to verbally
spar with him. Once inside my office door, he headed straight for
the old leather couch I had picked up at a local furniture store
that seemed to be having a perpetual ‘Closing Business’ sale. He
stretched out on the couch and threw an arm over his
eyes.

“Don’t mind me,” he said.
“I just stayed up a little too long playing poker online last
night.”

“Was Jack Daniels sitting
in on the game?” I asked.

“Now that you mention it,
I think he might have been.”

“You gonna call in tired
today?”

“That’s not a bad idea,
homie. One of the great things about being self-employed. And, one
of the bad things too. No boss to be afraid of at the
office.”

“Just at home,
huh?”

“Ha, you said it. That’s
the only thing that gets me out of the house every weekday; Melba’s
dirty looks if I act like I might take a day off.”

“Well, I’ve got to get out
of here soon, but you’re welcome to sleep it off so long as you
don’t answer the door if anybody knocks.”

“Where are you off
to?”

“Pecos. Gotta find a guy
who might know something about the break-in at Kandy’s.”

Ray sat up, suddenly awake
and alert.

“Can I go? I’ll tell the
girls at the office that I’m meeting with a client all
day.”

“What about Melba? What if
she finds out?”

“Shit, I’ll have my cell
phone with me. She can get hold of me if she needs to. I’ll tell
her you’ve got a friend in Pecos that needs some estate planning
help.”

“Estate planning? Think
that will work?”

“Estate planning always
works. Anytime Melba asks for details I just start rattling off
Internal Revenue Code sections and Proposed Regulation numbers and
she drops it.”

“Sounds like you’ve got
this figured out.”

“Well, hey. A guy can’t
keep his nose to the grindstone all the time. He’ll end up with a
flat nose.”

I looked at him and shook
my head.

“Maybe you could just
grind it down enough so that you looked normal,” I said.

“Dude, you got any
aspirin?”

* * * *

CHAPTER
FORTY-FIVE

When Ray and I got to
Pecos our first stop was Jimmy Do-Rag’s trailer, which sat in a
mobile home park just outside the city limits. Nobody answered the
door and an elderly lady sitting in a lawn chair at the trailer
next to Jimmy’s told us she hadn’t seen him in several days. Empty
beer bottles and motorcycle parts littered a wooden picnic table
next to Jimmy’s trailer, but there wasn’t a complete motorcycle in
sight.

We drove into Pecos and
stopped at a tire shop where Jimmy sometimes worked, but struck out
there too. The manager of the shop said Jimmy hadn’t been in to
work in over a week, but acted as if that wasn’t
unusual.

I had Jimmy’s cell phone
number, but didn’t want to use it unless I had to. I didn’t want to
spook him if he really had been involved in the break-in, at least
not until I could spook him in person. I hoped having Ray with me
might work to my advantage. I had been coaching him on the drive
over from Elmore on the art of appearing menacing by remaining
silent. I doubted Ray would be able to remain silent for more than
a few seconds, but I figured it was worth a try. I intended to
school him on the use of serious facial expressions too, but we ran
out of driving time.