Sudden Death

“If he’s not there?”

“Then we’ll find him.”

The two Rangers were standing outside the main entrance, one smoking a cigarette. Hans extended his hand and flashed his badge. “Assistant Special Agent in Charge Hans Vigo, FBI. My partner SSA Megan Elliott.”

The Rangers tipped their hats. “Pleasure.” The smoker was Rich Barker; the quiet Ranger was Ted Hern.

Hans glanced at the station, then pointed to the threatening sky. “Is there a problem here? Where’s Perez?”

“Hasn’t come in yet,” Barker said, taking a drag on his cigarette. “So the Hamstring Killer hit Hidalgo. You sure?”

“As sure as we can be without seeing the evidence or the body,” Megan said. “We’re going off a witness who saw the body and recognized the M.O. from a news report.”

“Ain’t surprised Perez didn’t call us.”

“Problems?”

“Territorial.”

“Have you had problems with him in the past?” Megan asked.

“Here and there. We keep a close eye on the town. It’s a border town. There’s a strong drug trade, other issues. Perez isn’t part of the real problem, but he sure ain’t part of the solution.

“So we just wait?” Hans was getting antsy; normally he was the patient one.

“We had the desk sergeant call Perez. He should be here any minute.”

Megan said, “Unless he wants to make you wait, just to flex his muscles.”

“He’ll be here. We have jurisdiction; we can walk in when we want. We’re just playing nice.”

Hern said, “You came all the way from D.C.?”

“Quantico,” Hans corrected. “Megan’s from Sacramento. She pulled the third victim. The killers are escalating.”

“We read the hot sheet y’all sent over,” Barker said. “Ted, you were Delta, right?”

Ted Hern nodded.

“Did you know any of the victims?”

“Only Scout. Bartleton,” Hern said. “But not until he moved here to join Kincaid’s men a few years back.”

A truck turned onto the street and sped into the lot. Art Perez, in uniform, jumped out and put on his hat. “Rangers, this wasn’t necessary.”

“Art,” Ted tipped his hat. “Let’s go look at what you’ve got on the Lawrence Bartleton homicide.”

Perez looked from Hans to Megan and back to the Rangers. “As I told Lieutenant Gray last night, I’m certain that Bartleton was taken down by one of the Guatemalan rebels Kincaid’s group has been battling. They just returned from an unofficial operation not three days before the murder. And-”

“Gray? You mean Scott Gray?” Barker nodded to Hern. “Were Kincaid and the lieutenant at boot camp together, or was it Desert Storm where they hooked up? No matter, Scott tells the story to anyone who’ll listen, how Kincaid, then just an Army Ranger, saved his ass when he walked into the middle of a minefield without detonating a single one, but got trapped. Damnedest thing, really, but Kincaid hotwires a Chinese chopper, never even flew one before, and lowered a rope for Scott to grab on to. The bastard almost got himself killed in the process, but hell, they all came away without a scratch.”

Hern nodded. “I don’t see Kincaid leaving loose ends in Guatemala.”

Perez reddened. “Kincaid isn’t a saint. He was arrested for obstructing justice.”

“How so?” Hans asked.

At the invitation to expand, Perez went off. “He’s been all over town asking questions as if he were a cop. Talking to everyone who was at El Gato, where Scout was drinking the night he was killed. He even had one of his mercenaries track down three college kids from UTSA and interrogate them! He’s been asking everyone about this woman who was in the bar, he attacked one of the bar owners, and he threatened one of my deputies. I’ve been saying since he came to town that Jack Kincaid is dangerous, but just because he’s friends with the priest, no one listens. I caught him red-handed at the crime scene after the fact. He wouldn’t tell me why, and it supports my argument that he brought back trouble to Hidalgo from Central America, and he’s trying to cover it up.” Perez was red in the face when he was done, but satisfied that he’d finally gotten his thoughts off his chest.

Barker said, “Hidalgo has plenty of trouble all on its own.”

“What woman?” Megan asked. “Have you followed up with the bar owners? What did they say-”

“Go ahead and talk to them yourself. My reports are all filed.” Perez opened the door and said to the desk sergeant, “Jorge, let them have the Bartleton files and anything else they want to see.” He glanced at Megan, then turned to the Rangers and said, “You think Kincaid is a saint? Go pull my file on him.”

“If you had anything on Kincaid, he’d be in jail,” Barker said.

Perez stared at Megan. “He was.” Then he left.

“He certainly doesn’t like Jack,” Hans said thoughtfully.

“Was anything he said true?” If Jack knew something that would help in this investigation, why didn’t he say something? Megan didn’t like being deceived or manipulated.

The desk sergeant led them to the evidence room and put the files in front of them.

An hour later, Megan stood up and stretched. Perez had spent more time tracing Jack’s steps than following his own investigation. And Jack had done what she’d have done were she investigating the murder. But he wasn’t a cop, and he had overstepped his bounds. Perez had some justifiable reasons to arrest him, though certainly not to allow three armed men in to attack him. Meg wasn’t sure the chief of police hadn’t known about that.

“There’s not much here,” Barker said. “Perez was more interested in following Kincaid; that’s where all the info came from. We should talk to him.”

“He’s at the rectory,” Hans said. “We’ve been working with him.”

But he didn’t share this information with us. She didn’t know what, if anything, Jack had learned about Scout’s murder, but she had a few choice words for him. If he didn’t answer her questions right she’d put him in jail herself.

Barker stuffed a piece of gum in his mouth and said, “Perez fucked up the collection of evidence. How could he let so many people contaminate the crime scene? The kid, the kid’s mother-”

Hern said, “She was Scout’s girlfriend.”

“-the priest, Kincaid, a half dozen cops. I swear, half of Hidalgo walked through that house before Perez sealed off the place.”

Hans said, “My boss has given us priority use of the trace evidence lab, just let me know what you need. They’re already working on two of the other murders and maybe something will come from this one that will help.

Hern said, “We appreciate the help.”

“There’s no autopsy report,” Megan said. “Wouldn’t the autopsy have been done by now?”

“I’ll ask the sergeant,” Barker said and left the evidence room.

“Is the body here?” Megan asked.

“Probably up in Edinburg, at the morgue. Twenty minutes or so north.”

Megan glanced at Hans. “We need that report. I’d like to talk to the supervising pathologist as well. Compare the marks on Johnson and Perry with Scout.”

“Agreed,” Hans said. “Would you like to join us?” he asked the Ranger.

“One of us will,” Ted said. “We’ll also want to follow up on the witness statements from El Gato. And no one talked to the girlfriend or her kids.”

“Do you want to follow us back to the rectory, then we can split the interviews?” Hans asked. “Meg and I are headed to Las Vegas tomorrow morning if nothing breaks here. We have a meeting with the coroner and investigating officer.”

“I didn’t know the FBI sent teams around the country. I thought you folks were regional.”

“Special circumstances,” Hans said.

Barker returned. “No report. I called the morgue and they haven’t done the autopsy yet. I told them to hold