| General Fiction posted December 5, 2010 | Chapters: |
...12 13 -14- 
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The evidence gathers
A chapter in the book Redemption
Clues
by bhogg
Background: Dax Connor rescued Lael Jackson from an attempted rape, subduing the two assailants, who were later found dead. Dax has been charged to stay in town until the investigation is complete. Lael has invited him to stay with her mom and herself. Dax inadvertently finds himself dropped right in the middle of a complicated drug conspiracy. Characters are listed in author notes.
From previous chapter: Dax, Jimmy, Nikki and Sheriff Bailey worked the crime scene, finding several things to follow up on. Beth and Lael go in to the newspaper office to start the write up for the previous day's mayhem and find out about the current situation.
***************************************************************************
Jorge Morales was used to violence. The nature of the times for drug trafficking gangs in Mexico was how one gang could outdo another in their level of depravity. He'd seen bad things and been around bad people. None were as bad as his current company, Enrique Estaban. In the last two days, Estaban had murdered four people in cold blood. When Estaban suggested he go out and buy some breakfast, he was glad to get out of the room.
Returning back to the motel with biscuits and coffee, he knocked on the door. "Enrique, open up, it's me."
"It's open. Come in."
When he walked into the room, Enrique was waiting for him. A gun was leveled toward him and the doorway. Only when he closed the door, did the gun go down. With an inward sigh of relief, he put the food down and sat in the single chair. It would not have surprised him if the bastard pulled the trigger.
Taking a bite of the biscuit, Enrique asked, "Are you sure you looked everywhere for that spent cartridge?"
"Enrique, you've asked me twenty times already. I told you I looked everywhere. Besides, we heard the explosion. Most likely that warehouse burned to the ground. What's the big deal, anyhow?"
With a malevolent glare, Enrique responded, "You dumb shit, I loaded those rounds myself. My finger print could be on that cartridge."
Jorge leaped up so fast, he knocked the chair down. He closed the distance between himself and Enrique. During that movement, his hand came forward with the distinct clicking sound of a flick knife. Stopping the knife just millimeters from Enrique's right eye, he bellowed, "Go ahead, killer man, call me a dumb shit again."
"Well, well, the little lion roars. I'm glad to see that. Just know that the next time you make a move toward me, you will be dead."
Jorge looked down. The pistol in Enrique's right hand was pressed against his abdomen.
"Yes, little lion, you may blind me, but it will be done with your last breath."
Only when Enrique lowered the gun, did Jorge back away, folding the knife back into his pocket.
"You are right, Jorge. The round is probably not a problem. I just pride myself on perfection. It bothers me it was left behind. Before the two died, we at least found out what we needed to know."
Relaxing only slightly, Jorge asked, "And what is it we learned that cost those two their lives?"
"What we found is that Boudreaux was not buying meth from them. He is buying marijuana from us, but apparently doesn't push meth, cocaine, crack or heroin. As you know, our bosses want to expand in this area. Marijuana is fine, but that's not where the real money is."
Jorge nodded. "Okay, where does that leave us with Boudreaux?"
"Do you remember the line from the God Father, where Vito says, let's make him an offer he can't refuse?"
"Yes, it was one of the great lines in all of cinema."
"Well, Jorge, that's what we are going to do with Boudreaux."
****************************************************
As Beth, Lael and the copy editor, Cindy were splitting up duties, the receptionist brought in two thick folders. "Beth, I copied all the material that you brought in this morning. Here is the original and this is a complete copy."
Beth took the copies. "Would you please take the original over to the Sheriff's office. If Jimmy is there, please hand them to him.
Cindy, I don't think that you heard about this. Paul Boudreaux, broke into the house last night and left this material. It is an expose about the Mexican drug cartels. According to Boudreaux, they are attempting to move in to this area and run the drug trade."
A perplexed Cindy asked, "Doesn't that seem a bit self serving? It's pretty common knowledge on the street that Boudreaux is right in the middle of the drug traffic between Macon and Atlanta."
"It gets even dicier," Beth replied. "It seemed important for Boudreaux to let us know that he did not have anything to do with Lael's abduction. Those two guys, Donny and Jake, worked for him, but he said that all they were supposed to do was hand that folder to Lael. If it hadn't been for Dax, they would have done a lot more than that."
Lael shuddered. "There was no doubt that they were going to rape me. They knew I recognized them, so the fact that they didn't try to hide their faces, led me to believe that they were probably going to kill me."
Beth gave Lael a brief hug. "I'm going to change my mind. You and Cindy have plenty of story to run with. It might make more sense for me to wade through the copies about the cartels. It's possible that there is some material here that can be used, or at least shed light on what's going on. You two write up what you have and I'm going to work on the folder."
The two left. Beth sat at her desk and thumbed through the copies. She and Dax had glanced through the material earlier in the day. She didn't really see anything original. Rather than hard data, it almost seemed like Boudreaux had someone do an in-depth search of current material regarding the cartels. While not original, it was nonetheless, disturbing.
She knew that Mexico had always been a producer and transit route for illegal drugs. What she didn't know was the size of the endeavor, and how deeply it had permeated Mexican society. It was a forty billion dollar business. With that level of financing, the cartels were often better armed than the soldiers and federal police positioned to take them on.
There were several items of particular interest. First was the name of the so called cartel moving into the area, the Sinaloa cartel. Its base of operation was Nuevo Laredo. They were involved with all types of illicit drugs, but probably best known for distributing Columbian Cocaine. Another item of interest was how the Press in Nuevo Laredo handled stories regarding the cartels. The local newspaper was quite clear. Stories that angered cartels led to the death of several journalists. Their decision was to not cover anything, recognizing that the responsibility to report had to be balanced against the responsibility of the safety of employees. The third item of interest, a recent trend of the Sinaloa cartel to recruit U.S. based criminals to broaden their distribution.
Beth sat back, drank some coffee and thought, What have I gotten myself in to? Was the move against Lael a warning?
**************************************************
Dax and Jimmy accompanied Doc Bennett back to the morgue. There seemed to be little doubt of the cause of death, so both wanted to know if the bullets came from the same gun. Normal procedure would have been to do the external examination first, but Bennett had agreed to remove the two bullets first.
Dax had been present with autopsies before. It was never something he looked forward too. Conventional wisdom was to disassociate from the victim. He never found that natural or easy. The two bodies were on different tables. Both were badly burned. Dax heard the "clink" of metal falling into a catch basin. A minute later, he heard a second clink. They had the bullets.
Jimmy brought the two catch basins over to a forensic table that had a dual image microscope. First, he put the bullets in an alcohol bath. He then scoped the two bullets side by side. "No surprise. These two bullets both came from the same gun. The striations have a left handed twist, which would suggest that the gun was a Colt firearm. They are 22 caliber. Since they came from the victim's brain cavity, they aren't too corrupted.
He then took one of the bullets off and one by one, placed a bullet from the previous days murder next to it. "There is no doubt that all the bullets came from the same gun. If we can ever find the gun, the four bullets and the one shell casing will most likely tie a single gun to all four murders. Hopefully, we can find the shooter at the same time."
Dax nodded and then said, "Jimmy, as long as you've got the microscope turned on, how about taking a peak at the shell casing."
Jimmy took the casing and applied a light dusting. "We don't even need the microscope. This baby has a print on it."
Background: Dax Connor rescued Lael Jackson from an attempted rape, subduing the two assailants, who were later found dead. Dax has been charged to stay in town until the investigation is complete. Lael has invited him to stay with her mom and herself. Dax inadvertently finds himself dropped right in the middle of a complicated drug conspiracy. Characters are listed in author notes.
From previous chapter: Dax, Jimmy, Nikki and Sheriff Bailey worked the crime scene, finding several things to follow up on. Beth and Lael go in to the newspaper office to start the write up for the previous day's mayhem and find out about the current situation.
***************************************************************************
Jorge Morales was used to violence. The nature of the times for drug trafficking gangs in Mexico was how one gang could outdo another in their level of depravity. He'd seen bad things and been around bad people. None were as bad as his current company, Enrique Estaban. In the last two days, Estaban had murdered four people in cold blood. When Estaban suggested he go out and buy some breakfast, he was glad to get out of the room.
Returning back to the motel with biscuits and coffee, he knocked on the door. "Enrique, open up, it's me."
"It's open. Come in."
When he walked into the room, Enrique was waiting for him. A gun was leveled toward him and the doorway. Only when he closed the door, did the gun go down. With an inward sigh of relief, he put the food down and sat in the single chair. It would not have surprised him if the bastard pulled the trigger.
Taking a bite of the biscuit, Enrique asked, "Are you sure you looked everywhere for that spent cartridge?"
"Enrique, you've asked me twenty times already. I told you I looked everywhere. Besides, we heard the explosion. Most likely that warehouse burned to the ground. What's the big deal, anyhow?"
With a malevolent glare, Enrique responded, "You dumb shit, I loaded those rounds myself. My finger print could be on that cartridge."
Jorge leaped up so fast, he knocked the chair down. He closed the distance between himself and Enrique. During that movement, his hand came forward with the distinct clicking sound of a flick knife. Stopping the knife just millimeters from Enrique's right eye, he bellowed, "Go ahead, killer man, call me a dumb shit again."
"Well, well, the little lion roars. I'm glad to see that. Just know that the next time you make a move toward me, you will be dead."
Jorge looked down. The pistol in Enrique's right hand was pressed against his abdomen.
"Yes, little lion, you may blind me, but it will be done with your last breath."
Only when Enrique lowered the gun, did Jorge back away, folding the knife back into his pocket.
"You are right, Jorge. The round is probably not a problem. I just pride myself on perfection. It bothers me it was left behind. Before the two died, we at least found out what we needed to know."
Relaxing only slightly, Jorge asked, "And what is it we learned that cost those two their lives?"
"What we found is that Boudreaux was not buying meth from them. He is buying marijuana from us, but apparently doesn't push meth, cocaine, crack or heroin. As you know, our bosses want to expand in this area. Marijuana is fine, but that's not where the real money is."
Jorge nodded. "Okay, where does that leave us with Boudreaux?"
"Do you remember the line from the God Father, where Vito says, let's make him an offer he can't refuse?"
"Yes, it was one of the great lines in all of cinema."
"Well, Jorge, that's what we are going to do with Boudreaux."
****************************************************
As Beth, Lael and the copy editor, Cindy were splitting up duties, the receptionist brought in two thick folders. "Beth, I copied all the material that you brought in this morning. Here is the original and this is a complete copy."
Beth took the copies. "Would you please take the original over to the Sheriff's office. If Jimmy is there, please hand them to him.
Cindy, I don't think that you heard about this. Paul Boudreaux, broke into the house last night and left this material. It is an expose about the Mexican drug cartels. According to Boudreaux, they are attempting to move in to this area and run the drug trade."
A perplexed Cindy asked, "Doesn't that seem a bit self serving? It's pretty common knowledge on the street that Boudreaux is right in the middle of the drug traffic between Macon and Atlanta."
"It gets even dicier," Beth replied. "It seemed important for Boudreaux to let us know that he did not have anything to do with Lael's abduction. Those two guys, Donny and Jake, worked for him, but he said that all they were supposed to do was hand that folder to Lael. If it hadn't been for Dax, they would have done a lot more than that."
Lael shuddered. "There was no doubt that they were going to rape me. They knew I recognized them, so the fact that they didn't try to hide their faces, led me to believe that they were probably going to kill me."
Beth gave Lael a brief hug. "I'm going to change my mind. You and Cindy have plenty of story to run with. It might make more sense for me to wade through the copies about the cartels. It's possible that there is some material here that can be used, or at least shed light on what's going on. You two write up what you have and I'm going to work on the folder."
The two left. Beth sat at her desk and thumbed through the copies. She and Dax had glanced through the material earlier in the day. She didn't really see anything original. Rather than hard data, it almost seemed like Boudreaux had someone do an in-depth search of current material regarding the cartels. While not original, it was nonetheless, disturbing.
She knew that Mexico had always been a producer and transit route for illegal drugs. What she didn't know was the size of the endeavor, and how deeply it had permeated Mexican society. It was a forty billion dollar business. With that level of financing, the cartels were often better armed than the soldiers and federal police positioned to take them on.
There were several items of particular interest. First was the name of the so called cartel moving into the area, the Sinaloa cartel. Its base of operation was Nuevo Laredo. They were involved with all types of illicit drugs, but probably best known for distributing Columbian Cocaine. Another item of interest was how the Press in Nuevo Laredo handled stories regarding the cartels. The local newspaper was quite clear. Stories that angered cartels led to the death of several journalists. Their decision was to not cover anything, recognizing that the responsibility to report had to be balanced against the responsibility of the safety of employees. The third item of interest, a recent trend of the Sinaloa cartel to recruit U.S. based criminals to broaden their distribution.
Beth sat back, drank some coffee and thought, What have I gotten myself in to? Was the move against Lael a warning?
**************************************************
Dax and Jimmy accompanied Doc Bennett back to the morgue. There seemed to be little doubt of the cause of death, so both wanted to know if the bullets came from the same gun. Normal procedure would have been to do the external examination first, but Bennett had agreed to remove the two bullets first.
Dax had been present with autopsies before. It was never something he looked forward too. Conventional wisdom was to disassociate from the victim. He never found that natural or easy. The two bodies were on different tables. Both were badly burned. Dax heard the "clink" of metal falling into a catch basin. A minute later, he heard a second clink. They had the bullets.
Jimmy brought the two catch basins over to a forensic table that had a dual image microscope. First, he put the bullets in an alcohol bath. He then scoped the two bullets side by side. "No surprise. These two bullets both came from the same gun. The striations have a left handed twist, which would suggest that the gun was a Colt firearm. They are 22 caliber. Since they came from the victim's brain cavity, they aren't too corrupted.
He then took one of the bullets off and one by one, placed a bullet from the previous days murder next to it. "There is no doubt that all the bullets came from the same gun. If we can ever find the gun, the four bullets and the one shell casing will most likely tie a single gun to all four murders. Hopefully, we can find the shooter at the same time."
Dax nodded and then said, "Jimmy, as long as you've got the microscope turned on, how about taking a peak at the shell casing."
Jimmy took the casing and applied a light dusting. "We don't even need the microscope. This baby has a print on it."
From previous chapter: Dax, Jimmy, Nikki and Sheriff Bailey worked the crime scene, finding several things to follow up on. Beth and Lael go in to the newspaper office to start the write up for the previous day's mayhem and find out about the current situation.
***************************************************************************
Jorge Morales was used to violence. The nature of the times for drug trafficking gangs in Mexico was how one gang could outdo another in their level of depravity. He'd seen bad things and been around bad people. None were as bad as his current company, Enrique Estaban. In the last two days, Estaban had murdered four people in cold blood. When Estaban suggested he go out and buy some breakfast, he was glad to get out of the room.
Returning back to the motel with biscuits and coffee, he knocked on the door. "Enrique, open up, it's me."
"It's open. Come in."
When he walked into the room, Enrique was waiting for him. A gun was leveled toward him and the doorway. Only when he closed the door, did the gun go down. With an inward sigh of relief, he put the food down and sat in the single chair. It would not have surprised him if the bastard pulled the trigger.
Taking a bite of the biscuit, Enrique asked, "Are you sure you looked everywhere for that spent cartridge?"
"Enrique, you've asked me twenty times already. I told you I looked everywhere. Besides, we heard the explosion. Most likely that warehouse burned to the ground. What's the big deal, anyhow?"
With a malevolent glare, Enrique responded, "You dumb shit, I loaded those rounds myself. My finger print could be on that cartridge."
Jorge leaped up so fast, he knocked the chair down. He closed the distance between himself and Enrique. During that movement, his hand came forward with the distinct clicking sound of a flick knife. Stopping the knife just millimeters from Enrique's right eye, he bellowed, "Go ahead, killer man, call me a dumb shit again."
"Well, well, the little lion roars. I'm glad to see that. Just know that the next time you make a move toward me, you will be dead."
Jorge looked down. The pistol in Enrique's right hand was pressed against his abdomen.
"Yes, little lion, you may blind me, but it will be done with your last breath."
Only when Enrique lowered the gun, did Jorge back away, folding the knife back into his pocket.
"You are right, Jorge. The round is probably not a problem. I just pride myself on perfection. It bothers me it was left behind. Before the two died, we at least found out what we needed to know."
Relaxing only slightly, Jorge asked, "And what is it we learned that cost those two their lives?"
"What we found is that Boudreaux was not buying meth from them. He is buying marijuana from us, but apparently doesn't push meth, cocaine, crack or heroin. As you know, our bosses want to expand in this area. Marijuana is fine, but that's not where the real money is."
Jorge nodded. "Okay, where does that leave us with Boudreaux?"
"Do you remember the line from the God Father, where Vito says, let's make him an offer he can't refuse?"
"Yes, it was one of the great lines in all of cinema."
"Well, Jorge, that's what we are going to do with Boudreaux."
****************************************************
As Beth, Lael and the copy editor, Cindy were splitting up duties, the receptionist brought in two thick folders. "Beth, I copied all the material that you brought in this morning. Here is the original and this is a complete copy."
Beth took the copies. "Would you please take the original over to the Sheriff's office. If Jimmy is there, please hand them to him.
Cindy, I don't think that you heard about this. Paul Boudreaux, broke into the house last night and left this material. It is an expose about the Mexican drug cartels. According to Boudreaux, they are attempting to move in to this area and run the drug trade."
A perplexed Cindy asked, "Doesn't that seem a bit self serving? It's pretty common knowledge on the street that Boudreaux is right in the middle of the drug traffic between Macon and Atlanta."
"It gets even dicier," Beth replied. "It seemed important for Boudreaux to let us know that he did not have anything to do with Lael's abduction. Those two guys, Donny and Jake, worked for him, but he said that all they were supposed to do was hand that folder to Lael. If it hadn't been for Dax, they would have done a lot more than that."
Lael shuddered. "There was no doubt that they were going to rape me. They knew I recognized them, so the fact that they didn't try to hide their faces, led me to believe that they were probably going to kill me."
Beth gave Lael a brief hug. "I'm going to change my mind. You and Cindy have plenty of story to run with. It might make more sense for me to wade through the copies about the cartels. It's possible that there is some material here that can be used, or at least shed light on what's going on. You two write up what you have and I'm going to work on the folder."
The two left. Beth sat at her desk and thumbed through the copies. She and Dax had glanced through the material earlier in the day. She didn't really see anything original. Rather than hard data, it almost seemed like Boudreaux had someone do an in-depth search of current material regarding the cartels. While not original, it was nonetheless, disturbing.
She knew that Mexico had always been a producer and transit route for illegal drugs. What she didn't know was the size of the endeavor, and how deeply it had permeated Mexican society. It was a forty billion dollar business. With that level of financing, the cartels were often better armed than the soldiers and federal police positioned to take them on.
There were several items of particular interest. First was the name of the so called cartel moving into the area, the Sinaloa cartel. Its base of operation was Nuevo Laredo. They were involved with all types of illicit drugs, but probably best known for distributing Columbian Cocaine. Another item of interest was how the Press in Nuevo Laredo handled stories regarding the cartels. The local newspaper was quite clear. Stories that angered cartels led to the death of several journalists. Their decision was to not cover anything, recognizing that the responsibility to report had to be balanced against the responsibility of the safety of employees. The third item of interest, a recent trend of the Sinaloa cartel to recruit U.S. based criminals to broaden their distribution.
Beth sat back, drank some coffee and thought, What have I gotten myself in to? Was the move against Lael a warning?
**************************************************
Dax and Jimmy accompanied Doc Bennett back to the morgue. There seemed to be little doubt of the cause of death, so both wanted to know if the bullets came from the same gun. Normal procedure would have been to do the external examination first, but Bennett had agreed to remove the two bullets first.
Dax had been present with autopsies before. It was never something he looked forward too. Conventional wisdom was to disassociate from the victim. He never found that natural or easy. The two bodies were on different tables. Both were badly burned. Dax heard the "clink" of metal falling into a catch basin. A minute later, he heard a second clink. They had the bullets.
Jimmy brought the two catch basins over to a forensic table that had a dual image microscope. First, he put the bullets in an alcohol bath. He then scoped the two bullets side by side. "No surprise. These two bullets both came from the same gun. The striations have a left handed twist, which would suggest that the gun was a Colt firearm. They are 22 caliber. Since they came from the victim's brain cavity, they aren't too corrupted.
He then took one of the bullets off and one by one, placed a bullet from the previous days murder next to it. "There is no doubt that all the bullets came from the same gun. If we can ever find the gun, the four bullets and the one shell casing will most likely tie a single gun to all four murders. Hopefully, we can find the shooter at the same time."
Dax nodded and then said, "Jimmy, as long as you've got the microscope turned on, how about taking a peak at the shell casing."
Jimmy took the casing and applied a light dusting. "We don't even need the microscope. This baby has a print on it."
 Recognized |
|
List of Characters:
Dax Connor - medically retired from Secret Service
Lael Jackson - 20 year old lady that Dax rescued
Jimmy Dent - Deputy
Sheriff Bailey - Sheriff with some questionable background
Stanley Tate - Deputy
Doc Bennett - County Coroner
Boudreaux - Local drug kingpin
Beth Jackson - Lael's mother
Alden Bishop - Boudreaux henchmen
Nikki James - Female sheriff deputy
Scott Bunn - deputy
Terry Bunn - deputy (no relation to Scott)
Enrique Estaban - Mexican Cartel member
Jorge Morales - Mexican Cartel member
Cindy Townsend - Newspaper page designer, Assistant Editor
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. Dax Connor - medically retired from Secret Service
Lael Jackson - 20 year old lady that Dax rescued
Jimmy Dent - Deputy
Sheriff Bailey - Sheriff with some questionable background
Stanley Tate - Deputy
Doc Bennett - County Coroner
Boudreaux - Local drug kingpin
Beth Jackson - Lael's mother
Alden Bishop - Boudreaux henchmen
Nikki James - Female sheriff deputy
Scott Bunn - deputy
Terry Bunn - deputy (no relation to Scott)
Enrique Estaban - Mexican Cartel member
Jorge Morales - Mexican Cartel member
Cindy Townsend - Newspaper page designer, Assistant Editor
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