Page 15 of Justice for Aleta

“You sure will. Night,” he said, then finished with, “sugar.”

“Night.”

He wondered if she was clutching the phone to her chest when she ended the call. She sounded excited about Friday night. He was a little excited too. Then he sobered. He still had to call the TexasRanger.

He heard someone answer the call, a female voice, and say, “It’s a five oh two number. Oh! Hello?”

“Hello. This is Kentucky State Police TrooperJohn Henry Fletcher, badge twelve eighty-five. I’m looking for TexasRanger DaxtonChambers. Could I speak with him, please?”

“Sure! Dax, it’s a trooper from Kentucky,” he heard her say.

There was the sound of the phone being jostled before a male voice said, “RangerChambers.”

“RangerChambers, this is Kentucky State Police TrooperJohn Henry Fletcher from PostFour. I think you spoke to one of my colleagues, TrooperMatthew Colvin?”

“Yes! I sure did! Have you got any more information for me?”

“Yes, sir, I do. And I was hoping to get more details from you, if that’s okay?”

“Sure! And dispense with the ‘sir.’ That’s not necessary. My friends all call me Dax.”

“And mine all call me Jack.”

“Glad we got those formalities out of the way! Now, how can I help you?”

Jack began telling Dax what they’d found in the last few days. When he was finished, the ranger said, “Well, that all makes sense with what we know on this end.”

“So the key piece of the puzzle here is whoever kidnapped the chemist.”

“Yep. Do you have a description of the shooter?”

“Sketchy, but unusual.” Jack went over all the details Aleta had told him.

The minute he said something about the duster, Dax stopped him. “Stop right there. I know who this guy is.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep. Name’s BlakeMoss. They call him Poser because he’s trying so hard to look like a modern-day outlaw. Makes him madder than hell. But he’s a helluva shot, from what we can ascertain, and I’ve heard that he has zero conscience. None. Doesn’t care about anybody but himselfandthe guys he’s trying to impress. The current one is DiegoOrtiz, small time distribution trying to make it into the big leagues. His chemist was killed in a cooking accident and he’s been trying to find another one for months now. Sounds like he just decided to snatch one instead.”

“I’m guessing that’s right. Do you know this chemist’s name?”

“We’re trying to find out who he is, but he’s supposedly from your area. That’s why I called there.”

“Not my area, or at least I don’t think so. I’m in Elizabethtown, PostFour. The driver of the car was from the far western part of the state. PostOne. But that’s okay. I’ll talk to some of their guys and see what they know.”

“Sounds good. The guy he wassupposedto be coming to cook for is head of the Menendez cartel, DonHernan Menendez. They’re royally pissed that their chemist has gone missing. Our biggest question has been how Ortiz knew the chemist was coming. Menendez suspects he has a snitch in his organization. We’re worried about our guys because of their newness to the cartel for fear DonHernan will peg them as the snitches. Which, of course, they’re not, at least not likehe’dthink of snitches.”

“Yeah. That could be bad. Anything else you can think of?”

“One. Where did you get the description of the shooter?”

“From a witness on the scene.”

He heard Dax snort. “Word of warning: They won’t be a witness for long. He’ll eliminate anybody who can tell them anything about him. It won’t be because they’ll be a threat. It’ll be just because he can.” Jack’s heart sank. Aleta. He’d been right to be concerned about her. “It might be worth it to put them in protective custody if they could be instrumental in a trial.”

“She certainly could be, so I’ll talk to my captain about that. Can you think of anything else?”

“Nope. I think that about covers it. Are you guys actively working on this?”

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