“Damn that, what our race done to yours, son. I'm truly sorry for history. Damn that, for sure.” Nice way to view it, as history, Lucas thought-the white man's history was the red man's demise. “It's ancient history, and certainly not for you to worry about, Sheriff. Sounds like you got your hands full with those white devils in your cell.”
The sheriff stared for a moment, uneasy at the remark, then decided it was meant in jest, so he let out with a western whoop and a laugh. “Sorry I didn't have more time with you and the doctor, here,” he finally said before they began boarding. “Have a safe trip back now, you hear?”
Once on the plane, Meredyth summed Barnette up as the most purely Neanderthal individual she had ever met outside of a museum showcase. “He really didn't want us involved in his big show, did he?”
“Probably an election coming up.” Lucas grinned, then added in response to her remark, “He does look like a meat eater.”
Lucas quickly stowed his bag. “I sure do pity those local boys he's got in lockup.”
“You sure we shouldn't have talked to those boys?”
“Waste of time.”
“You sure are… sure of yourself. I'll give you that, Lucas Stonecoat.”
“This was a professional hit.”
“Professional. Like hired mob types?”
“Well-trained commando types; it was set up so neatly the whole thing was done in a matter of five to ten minutes, including the butchering.”
“God.”
“It looked very familiar, wouldn't you agree?”
“You mean like Mootry?”
“Precisely.”
“Then I was right? All along, I was right?”
“Yes, yes, yes, you were.”
She could hardly contain herself, so Lucas sat her down and locked her seat belt around her. “I knew it! I just knew it!” She beamed up at him. “What's our next step?”
“We go see Covey.”
“Covey? Jack Covey?”
“He was working the Palmer case, remember? Early in the investigation.”
“The cop pedophile serving time for abduction and child molestation?”
“He was working the Palmer case when he was put away on the charge. He's likely mellowed out some by now. In any case, we need to know what he knows.”
“What do you hope to learn from him? “Why he was caught.” She glowered at him. “What kind of game are you playing, Stonecoat?
“ One as old as time. I have twenty questions for Mr. Covey.”
“Beginning with?”
Lucas strapped himself into his seat. “Who was behind his capture and arrest?”
“But what does that have to do with… with this?”
“Maybe nothing… maybe everything.”
“Damn it, I hate it when you revert to Indian glibness and cryptograms. Will you please tell me what you hope to gain from this filthy individual whose arrest brought down the image of every cop in Houston with it?”
“He may be dirty, he may crawl on the earth as a snake, but why was the snake beheaded just as he was about to uncover evidence in the Whitaker case?”
“What evidence? I saw no evidence of evidence coming out of Covey's involvement. Where'd you get that?”
“I read between the lines in the file. Covey was one of the two investigators on the case. One, Pete Felipe, a Spanish cop, was killed in what was described as a random act of violence outside a liquor store the night before his partner, Covey, was picked up on charges he abducted, molested, and filmed sexual acts with a number of minors.”
“All true, and a court of law put the man away.”
“Precisely.”
“Precisely what?”
“The judge who put Covey away?”
She stared hard into Lucas's eyes. “No. Charles Mootry?”
“One and the same.”
“Damn that! As Sheriff Barnette would say.”
“Something big and dark like an ugly cougar is roamin' about, and it has large claws and bigger fangs, Doctor, and if we continue to scratch at it, it's going to turn on us. Maybe now's a good time to ask yourself just how far you're willing to take this thing.”
“What're you talking about? Quitting now? That's non-sense!”
“When white men tell lies, they are often lies within lies, and I've heard it said that a cautious man is careful for what he wishes. Can you face the truth in the end if the truth may reach out and kill you or harm those in your family, Meredyth?”
She thought about this warning well. She said nothing, leaning back in her seat instead. They'd left the ground. “We've unearthed irrefutable evidence that some sort of hit men or hit squad is operating across state lines. We could turn what we have over to the FBI, pass the standard, make it someone else's nightmare. We could let it silently sink back into the quiet cemetery of the Cold Room from where it all came. But that wouldn't avenge Alisha Reynolds, now, would it?”
“Think long on it,” he said.
She shook her head. “I don't have to think long on it. I'll go with you to see Covey. We'll find out what he knows, or what he thought he knew when Mootry and the system put him away.”
“It may be he knows nothing.”
“I'm aware of that.”
'Then again, it may be that he was set up.”
“And his partner murdered? How did his partner die, exactly?”
“Stabbed repeatedly through the heart by what was described as a trio of street toughs.”
“Anyone charged with the stabbing?”
“They were never caught, never identified. One eyewitness said they were dressed entirely in black to blend in with the night, and apparently, they did.”
“Where did you learn of all this?”
“Insomnia gives a man time. I saw that Covey and Felipe were suddenly no longer on the case.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I noticed that, too, but I didn't pay much attention. I just figured administrative shuffle since they were getting nowhere on the case.”
'That's the difference between us. Doctor.”
“What's that?”
“I see conspiracies everywhere; you're too trusting.”
“Well, maybe… perhaps… but…”
“Covey and Felipe were probably warned in one fashion or another to let up on the case, to lighten up; it was probably suggested to them that it wasn't worth pursuing, but they continued to pursue, and look where it got them.”
She swallowed hard. “Are you suggesting… that we're Covey and Felipe now?”
“I'm suggesting that we're in danger.”
“Now that's carrying things a bit far, Lucas. The next thing you'll be suggesting is that Phil Lawrence is somehow involved, and that's why he's stood in my way all this time.”
“Just watch your back, Meredyth.”
She tried a joke. “I thought you'd do that for me.”
“You need somebody to do it for you. Obviously, you're no good at it,” he tried joking back, but then his tone hardened. “In all sincerity, we may be dealing with people who view life, your life and mine and anyone else's who
