Page 20 of Shelter for Sharla

They sat and chatted as they waited, mostly about Sam’s two-year-old twin boys. It hurt Carter a little to hear about their antics. If he’d had a different job, or found someone when he was younger, or… There went thatif onlyberatement again. Those years were lost and they weren’t coming back. Might as well enjoy hearing about somebody else’s little family.

There were ten minutes left in their wait when Fletcher and Talbert stepped into the room. Along with them came a man Carter didn’t recognize, but all the KSP personnel seemed to know him. As the last one in, Bud closed the door behind himself and turned to the men. “Everyone stand and introduce yourself.”

One by one, they stood and gave their name and position. The unknown man’s name was MarlonWaters, and he was a deputy state medical examiner, which made sense to Carter. As soon as they were finished with the introductions, they launched into the meeting.

Carter was surprised to find they really had very little information. Most surprising was how little Duffy and Atkins had managed to scare up on campus. They had nothing more than Carter had already heard.

Sam actually had some new information in the form of the tattoo artists who’d produced the tattoos, but unfortunately, it seemed every one of them generated no leads. They were college students doing internships with tattoo parlors, or long-time residents of the area who had no ties to campus whatsoever. “What did they say about the design?” Carter asked.

“That the kids brought them drawings of it. All they had to do was ink it on. They all wondered about it, especially when more kids came in wanting it, but they all said the same thing?the only questions they ask are about age for legal purposes. Otherwise, it’s the client’s body and the client’s choice.”

“So they have no idea what the tattoo is about?” Griffin asked.

Sam shook his head. “Nope.”

Then it was Carter’s turn. He pulled out the transcripts of the notes from his questioning of Chelsea and Lionel and watched Griffin’s eyebrows shoot up.No doubt he’s surprised I’m so professional, Carter thought, mentally rolling his eyes. The state police and KDCI often treated local sheriffs as though they were BarneyFife clones, but most of the sheriffs, sheriff’s deputies, and sheriff’s department detectives he knew were highly-trained, skilled, hard-working men and women who knew their jobs. “Take a look at that one section there, the one that’s highlighted,” Carter said, pointing to the paper. “According to the kids, the organization is called something like tanner delupo. They have no idea what that means.” Oddly, about the time the words came out of his mouth, he felt something under the table. Had Sam just kicked him? What the hell? He took a chance and glanced at the county detective, watching one of the man’s eyebrows hike ever so slightly. Sam knew something, something he didn’t want to share in the group. Suddenly, Carter couldn’t wait for the meeting to be over so he could talk to Sam alone. “Ran it through five translation engines and got a mish mash of stuff, none of which made any sense. Anybody hear this from anybody else? Know what it means?” he asked aloud, half to see if he got an answer and half to smokescreen his connection with Sam. Everyone shrugged or shook their head. “Okay, then. I’m going to follow it, if that’s okay with everybody else.”

“Go for it,” Bud answered, then pointed to the next participant.

By the time they finished, they had little more than when they’d started. Waters had answered several questions, mostly about drugs, and one of them was something Carter had thought of but hadn’t had a chance to ask for. Had he analyzed the drugs he’d found in Tamara’s system to see if they matched anything else he’d seen? His answer was yes, and he claimed he’d found a few that were close, but none that were identical to the composition.Well, scratch that, Carter thought.

In all, fifty-five minutes was all they spent, fifty-five minutes Carter felt he could’ve better spent in investigation, except for one thing?Sam. “You know where Dandy’sCoffee is?” Sam asked off-handedly as they strode out of the building.

“Yep. See you there,” Carter answered, being careful of the volume of his voice. He knew what was happening, and he didn’t want anybody else figuring out what the two were up to.

They found a seat in the corner and waited until the barista finished their orders before they got down to business. Carter could barely wait. “Well?” Instead of speaking, Sam slid a piece of paper toward him with a phone number written on it. “What’s this?”

“Guy my wife knows. You do realize Dahlia is former FBI,” Sam said, taking a sip of his coffee.

“No shit? Had no idea! So who is this?”

“His name is CruzLivingston. Down in SanAntonio. I think you should talk to him. May be nothing; may be something.”

“Like what?”

“Tanner delupo. You do know whatlupomeans, right?” Carter shook his head. “Wolf.”

“Wolf.” What was tickling his brain?

“Lupois Italian for ‘wolf.’ Who operates out of Texas?”

It hit Carter like a ton of bricks. “LosLobos.”

“Exactly.”

Sour dread balled up in Carter’s stomach. LosLobos was a notorious Latino gang in Texas, spending the last twenty years branching out into every major U.S. city. They were the epitome of evil, spreading prostitution, drugs, illegal alcohol production, and worst of all, illegal firearms. Bump stocks were turning up for AR-15s all over the place, and most of them were being illegally distributed by LosLobos. “What do you think this Livingston guy can tell me?”

“I know he did some undercover work for the FBI on some gang activity in the SanAntonio area. He might be able to give you some info, or at least point you in the right direction.”

“Why aren’t you doing this and taking credit for it?” Carter asked. He’d been in law enforcement long enough to be suspicious.

“Because you were there when Palmer bled out. Because your bullet was the one… Because I’d like to see you catch a break on this one and show these troopers a thing or two. They look down their noses at us. You know it and I know it. And we need to get one up on them,” Sam said from inside his coffee cup.

“And solve the case,” Carter interjected.

“Most definitely solve the case. And listen, if I can help you with anything, anytime, never hesitate to ask. And SheriffMassey said that goes for our whole department.” Massey was the sheriff in CallowayCounty, the department Sam worked for, and that was huge for Carter, having CallowayCounty not only cooperate with them but offer assistance.

“Thanks. I really appreciate that. Same goes for us, if we can ever help you.”

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