Page 6 of Justice for Radar

“Good, good. Actually, that has nothing to do with why I called.”

“Oh?” she asked. “What’s up?”

“You have a guy named Billy that was staying there, checked out this morning?”

“Hmm, you know I’m not supposed to be doing this,” she said and clicked her tongue as she clacked along some keys. Finally, with a sigh, she said, “Nope. No Billy, no William… what can you tell me about him?”

“Had a woman with him, Justice something or other,” I said and sort of kicked myself for not getting a last name.

“Oh, yeah. Sweet woman, always pleasant, always said please and thank you when she would come to the desk for more towels or whatever. He was in room two twenty-three with… ah, huh. Yeah, says here the room was checked out under the name of Travis Morrison.”

“Hmm, interesting. You guys take down vehicle information or anything like that?” I asked.

“Dodge Ram fifteen hundred, Texas license plate…” I wrote the number she gave me down on one of the legal pads I kept nearby.

“So, what happened?” she asked after I’d finished scribbling down all the pertinent information.

“Left the girl he was with behind. Said he was getting the truck to bring it around and ghosted her.”

Rosa gasped on the other end of the line. “She alright?”

“No, but she will be. You know how I feel about shit like this going down in our town.”

“Now that I surely do,” Rosa said, and she sighed. “Well, hope what I gave you helps. It’s about to get busy in here. I’ve got to go.”

“Thanks a million, Rosa. This is all I’ll need.”

“Give him hell, Radar.”

“Copy that, darlin’.”

The line went dead, and I leaned way back in my seat before calling up the captain of our little outfit.

“Radar,” Cutter greeted me. “What’s up, buddy?”

“Just giving you a heads-up that I picked up a stray,” I told him.

“You? How’s that now?” he asked.

I told him what happened, and he gave a low whistle. “Fuckin’ citizens, man. And they want to callusthe animals.”

I heard Hope in the background ask him what was up. His voice grew distant as he held the phone away from him and said, “Radar’s dealing with a townie situation. I’ll fill you in later.”

“Yeah, that’s all this is right now,” I said. “A townie situation. Just wanted to let you know.”

“Nah, you’re good, man. You do what you need to do…” he trailed off, then asked, “She pretty?”

“Not bad at all,” I confirmed with a grin. “But I’m not about to go there. That’s not my speed.”

“No,” Cutter said thoughtfully. “No, it’s not. God speed, man. Let me know how things shake out.”

“Will do, Captain.”

I ended the call and sighed, pushing to my feet before going on a deep dive through my resources to find out more about this Billy who wasn’t really a Billy and what the fuck his deal was.

I wanted to check on Justice, make sure she was up and running, but the sound of her racking sobs through Mariposa’s bedroom door stalled me out in the hallway. If it had been one of my daughters weeping like that, I would have killed a son of a bitch – but as it was, I held no attachment to this woman. I didn’t know if my going in there would make things better or worse, so I erred on the side of caution and silently backed off, away from the door, edging back down the hall where I’d come from to do what I did best.

I stopped in the kitchen for a soda and cracked the top on the can, taking a drink and heading back to my desk. I stood and stared at the legal pad some and finally, I dropped into my pilot’s seat and stayed staring at it, brooding for a while.

---