Page 13 of Justice for Aleta

Jack breathed a sigh of relief. The guy was unbelievably intuitive and had the ability to switch from a hardened taskmaster to a father figure in a nanosecond. If he ever became a captain, he’d like to be half the man Morgan was. “A little bit of both.”

Morgan scrutinized him for a few seconds and Jack almost blushed. “I can already tell it’s a Morgan and Jack conversation. What’s up?”

How to approach it? Jack decided to just blurt it out. “I know it’s not very professional, but I’ve started a relationship with the woman whose husband and baby were killed in the incident.”

Morgan’s eyes narrowed. “She’s not suspected of anything, is she?”

“God, no!” Jack almost yelled. “No, she and her family were innocent bystanders. Matter of fact, they’d stopped to help the suspect when the fatalities occurred, and she was already away from the van. She hadnothingto do with that.”

“As long as you’re sure she had nothing to do with it, I don’t see a problem.”

Jack nodded in understanding. “I’m positive.”

“You know I’ve always trusted you guys. I trust your instincts. I figure if I can’t, I’ve got the wrong troopers and I’m a poor judge of character. Your record is exemplary and your behavior has always been professional. If you think it’s okay, then it’s okay with me.”

“Thank you. If anything changes in regard to her, I’ll let you know, but for now, it’s all clear.” Jack stood. “I appreciate you listening to me.”

Morgan stood too, and Jack was truly shocked when the captain extended his hand. As Jack took it, Morgan said, “Jack, I know what happened with you. You’ve been alone for a while. I think it’s time, and if this woman is right for you, I’m all for it.”

“Thank you.” They broke the handshake. “And I’ll be ready for the briefing tomorrow morning, sir.”

“Yes you will, trooper, or I’ll have a piece of you the size of BowlingGreen.” With that, Cappy sat back down at his desk and went back to his work, effectively dismissing Jack.

He was presenting the next morning. Well, he knew what he’d be doing that evening?pulling all that stuff together into something coherent. Then he remembered something, looked around the office, and noticed that Matt was nowhere around, so he moved to the radio on the far side of the room. “KSP unit nine, KSP unit nine, respond.”

“KSP unit nine responding.”

“KSP unit seven requesting rendezvous location with ETA of fifteen.”

The radio went silent for a few seconds before Matt answered, “Coffee shop next to the Hyundai dealership on Dixie in Radcliff?”

“Roger that, unit nine. ETA of fifteen and rolling.”

Jack grabbed his jacket and headed out the door. He had some questions for Matt, and he needed the information pronto.

* * *

“What’s up?”Matt asked as he strolled into the coffee shop.

“Sit down. I need to ask you some questions.”

“Uh, okay. Can I at least order a cup of coffee first?” his buddy asked, pointing back to the counter.

“Yeah, yeah.” Jack waited impatiently as Matt placed his order and returned to the table. “I need to know how you found out about that meth chemist.”

“Got a call from a TexasRanger.” Matt pulled a little notepad from his pocket. “Name’s DaxtonChambers. They’ve got some guys undercover who told them there was a cooker coming from Kentucky, but he never showed up. They started checking different KSP posts and I happened to answer the phone.”

“Our dead guy was bringing him?”

Matt nodded. “Yep. They rented the car out of Bardstown and specified they wanted it to have plates from Ohio. Gave all the information over the phone, a dead guy’s ID and all. The guy driving that car was their regular runner. He’d drive to Texas, pick up a cook, and bring it up here to sell. One thing was accomplished that day?there’s less meth in Kentucky right now because that guy’s dead.”

“Then there’s something you should know.” Jack started laying out all the information they’d gotten from his conversation with Aleta and his insistence in the lab.

“So there was another person involved.”

“Yeah. I need to talk to that ranger. I need to see if he knows this guy, or knows who he might work for.”

“I’ve got his contact information here.” Matt recited the number and Jack put it in his phone. “You going to call him?”

---