Page 21 of Nick
Amiddle-aged womansat at the front desk of the sheriff’s station when Nick walked through the front door. A headset was draped around her shoulders, and she was sorting through a stack of papers a couple of inches thick. If he remembered right, Rafe had said her name was Sally Anne.
She looked up when they walked inside. “Morning, Rafe.” Eyeballing him up and down, Nick nodded to her. “You’re Nick, right? I remember seeing you. Walked Ms. Patti down the aisle at the wedding.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Standing up, she walked around the desk and pulled him into a tight hug. “Welcome back to Shiloh Springs, Nick. I’ve heard so much about you. Any friend of the Boudreaus is welcome here.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” He stepped back when she released him and ambled back around her desk, sinking onto her chair.
Hugging? Guess it was a Southern thing.
“Anything pressing, Sally Anne?” Rafe asked reaching for a stack of pink phone message slips on the corner of her desk.
“No, pretty quiet so far. Daisy’s gonna send down food for our guest in about an hour. Other than that, Dusty’s got things covered.”
“Good. Nick, you know where the conference room is. I’ll grab our friend and we’ll meet you in there.”
Yeah, Nick remembered the conference room. The place where Ms. Patti recognized him, despite his altered appearance, when he was working undercover to take down Brashears a few months ago. It might have sped up the timeline for dismantling Brashears’ human trafficking ring as well as his drug operation, but it brought the Boudreaus back into his life, so he couldn’t really regret anything.
“Have a seat.” Rafe led the guy Nick had found skulking around Gracie’s apartment into the conference room, hands cuffed in front of him. He pointed to one of the chairs and closed the door behind him.
“Afternoon, Wilkins. Got a few more questions for you.” Nick leaned back in the chair, studying the guy. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, hair mussed, and stubble darkened his cheeks. From the red color of his eyes, he hadn’t gotten much sleep. “Sheriff, before we get started, was Mr. Wilkins read his Miranda rights?”
Rafe quirked a brow at Nick. “His rights were explained to Mr. Wilkins at the time of his arrest, and again right before I brought him here to answer our questions. Isn’t that right, Rudy?”
“Yeah, yeah. Look, I said I didn’t need a lawyer. I’ve answered all your questions. Why haven’t you let me go?” Wilkins flung himself into the empty chair, hunched forward and rested his cuffed wrists on the tabletop.
“I can hold you for seventy-two hours while the district attorney decides on all the charges you’re going to be looking at. Then you’ll go in front of the judge to decide if they’ll let you out on bail. You know how it works, Wilkins, you’ve had enough experience with the legal system. Your rap sheet makes for some interesting reading.” Rafe tossed a folder onto the table.
“I’ve told you everything. I was hired to follow the lady. See where she lived, where she worked.”
“Who hired you?” Nick voiced the question quietly. Inside, he still seethed from the morning’s events but had to push that down deep. Right now, it was more important to get answers. If he couldn’t talk to the person who’d slit his tires, at least he could help deal with this situation.
“Don’t know. My cousin had his old lady contact me. Said there was a job. I was told to call a number to get the details. That’s it.”
“Who is your cousin? Who might have asked him to tell you about the job?”
“Look, man, I’m not working for the bloody Fortune 500. My line of work, I don’t ask questions. That’s the quickest way to end up in a body bag. I called the number, got the info to hightail it to this backwater town called Shiloh Springs. I was told to call back when I verified the lady lived here.”
“Did you? Call them back?” Rafe leaned against the wall across from Wilkins, arms crossed over his chest. “When you found the person you thought you were looking for, did you call and tell anybody you’d found her?”
Wilkins stared down at the top of the table, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. Nick already knew the answer to Rafe’s question. But he needed Wilkins to confirm it.
“Look, it was just a job. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Oh, you’ve done several things wrong. Number one, you left Houston while on probation and didn’t check in with your probation officer. Number two, you were stalking an innocent woman. Stalking is a felony if you’re convicted. Number three, you had a firearm in your possession while in the commission of said presumed felony, and since you’re on probation, you’re not allowed to own or carry a firearm in the state of Texas. Rudy, that’s three strikes. Want me to keep going? Or maybe I should have the district attorney head over here. I’ve got him on speed dial.”
“Sheriff, I swear I wasn’t gonna hurt the lady. Just scare her, that’s all.” He shook his head. “There’s not enough money in the world to deal with this garbage.”
“Then tell us what we need to know to protect Ms. Medeiros.” Nick watched the man swallow, his Adam’s apple bobbing after Nick’s question.
“Like I said, Nicki, that’s my cousin’s girl, passed along the message from this dude in Huntsville. Said there was ten grand if I came to your town and looked for someone. Sent me a description and a picture. It looked like the picture was from a newspaper or something, though it wasn’t the greatest pic because it was kind of grainy. Look on my phone, you’ll find it. All I was supposed to do was check out the town, see if this woman lived here. They wanted proof, so I took a couple of pics of her, one at the coffee shop and another one at the diner on Main Street. Sent those to Nicki. She sent them to my cousin.”
“If you finished your job, why were you still hanging around Shiloh Springs? Why were you outside Ms. Medeiros’ apartment last night, Rudy?”
Rudy raised his cuffed hands to his face, lowering his head into his hands. Nick got the feeling the dude was about to burst into tears from the way his breathing sped up, almost like he was about to hyperventilate.
“Told you, I was supposed to scare her. I figured it would be easy-peasy. Knock on the door, force my way in. Wave the gun around, get her all riled up, and then take off. Job done and I’d get an extra ten grand.”
