“No. I’ve lived here most of my life, and I know a lot of the twenty thousand citizens of El Rio.”
“Then how about Diego Mederos? I don’t remember anyone like him when we were growing up.” Twenty years ago the town was much smaller, but as San Antonio had grown so had El Rio.
“He set up shop here seven years ago. I think he’s behind most of the serious crimes in this area. The police and the sheriff have tried to get him for years. But he’s never gone to trial. Something always happens to the case—a missing witness or evidence corrupted. So far we’ve been able to keep our main witness alive.”
“How?”
“I’m not at liberty to say. In El Rio I’m the only one who knows where the witness is being guarded by the US Marshals.”
“You’re talking about the father of the teenager killed—Carlos Dietz?”
“Yes. There were a couple of other witnesses besides the father, but he’s the only one who will dare testify. He lost his only child. Two years ago, his wife died in a wreck. Guess who was involved in that?”
“Diego Mederos.”
“One of his henchman was supposedly driving drunk and got a slap on his wrist. There was some speculation it was Mederos who was also drunk. The car was his, and when he’s in it, he’s always driving. His fall guy served a year in jail and was set free a month before Carlos was murdered in front of his father. Carlos Senior was very vocal about the justice system failing him and his son.” She kneaded the muscles at the back of her neck. “I want to change that perception.”
Tory was wound so tightly Cade wondered when she would break. The Mederos case was costing her more than a large amount of time. “Then why didn’t the henchman come after Carlos?”
“Because most of the complaints were targeted at Mederos.”
Not a smart move on the father’s part. Cases like Mederos’s caused Cade to question the justice system himself. It was made up of people who were flawed, but in the end everyone had to answer to God. That knowledge always gave him some peace. “I’m going to interview him this afternoon while we’re in town.”
“He’s smart and cruel. Mederos won’t tell you a thing.” Tory bolted to her feet and began pacing.
Cade sensed the presence of someone else nearby. He looked toward the entry hall and tensed.
Michelle stood in the entrance, tears running down her cheeks.
Tory covered the distance between them and tried to hug her daughter. “Honey—”
Michelle pushed away. “Don’t. I hate your job. You’re in danger because of it.”
Cade rose and walked to them. “Worrying doesn’t solve anything. It’ll only make it worse. When we know what we’re really dealing with, you’ll be informed. Then we can decide what needs to be done.”
Michelle glared at him. “Were you even a friend of my dad’s? Or did Mom say that just to shut me up?”
“I certainly had to get your dad and my nephew out of enough trouble when they were growing up.” Uncle Ben’s gruff voice came from the end of the hall, but as he moved toward them, it softened. “They were inseparable. They went everywhere together. Their curiosity was mighty huge. Once they wanted to know what would happen if you poked a beehive. That was a painful lesson to learn.” His six-feet-six-inch presence took up a large part of the hallway. At sixty he was still in good physical condition and was an expert shot.
“You poked a beehive?” his daughter asked Cade as though she couldn’t believe he could have been that stupid.
He nodded once. “Guilty as charged, but in our defense, we were only four years old.”
“I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve worked up a mighty big appetite. I hope y’all are hungry. I fixed a lot.”
“That’s what woke me up. What did you fix? It smells great.” Michelle took a step toward Uncle Ben.
“That smell is our dinner. Chili. I slow cook it. My recipe has won several county fair competitions. I hope you’ll stick around to have some.”
“I gotta.”
“Good. I have a basketball hoop on the side of the barn. Cade and your dad used to practice here.”
When the two of them disappeared into the kitchen, Tory sagged in relief. “Now you see why we need to be careful about what we say if Michelle is around. She’s going through an emotional stage where everything is black or white. No shades of gray. On top of that, she inherited that curiosity Ben was talking about.”
Cade leaned close. “I wonder what else she inherited.”
Tory’s sharp look sliced through him. She pinched her lips together and stalked toward the kitchen.
Before he could follow her, a knock sounded at the door behind him. When he checked out the peephole, the look on Paul’s face didn’t bode well. Instead of asking the police chief to come inside, Cade stepped out onto the porch. He thought Michelle needed to know what was going on, but not the brutal facts. “Before you say anything, let’s go for a walk away from the house.”
Thirty yards away, Paul stopped and faced Cade. “We found a dead body on your ranch near the crash.”
After lunch, Tory left Michelle with Cade’s uncle and a deputy and climbed into the rented SUV to head to her office to pick up her files. The second Cade sat behind the steering wheel, she asked, “What’s wrong? Have you heard anything from Paul or the sheriff?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Oh, you tried to hide it, and I’m sure you did from Michelle but not me and probably not Ben. You get this hard glint in your eyes as though you’re preparing to take on the world. I didn’t say anything because Michelle doesn’t need to know the sordid details of this case, but I’m sure you’ve heard something I’m not going to like.”
“I keep forgetting you know me well—” he slid his gaze toward her “—and some things haven’t changed since we were teenagers. Paul came to the house.”
“When?”
“Right after you went to the kitchen.” He backed out of the garage and drove toward the highway.
“You should have gotten me. I’d rather hear firsthand any news of what’s happening.”
He stopped before pulling out onto the road into town and twisted toward her. “Let me make this clear. I’m the investigator on this case. Not you. I’ll keep you informed as soon as I can, but that’s only because you are the district attorney.”
Anger bubbled to the surface. “No, the only reason you’re appeasing me with information is because I may know information that can help you solve the case. Oh, and if I want to be guarded by someone else, that means Michelle will be too.” She stopped talking before she said something else and faced forward. She felt the stab of his gaze, but she didn’t look at him. Both Michelle’s life and hers were on the line. There was no way she wouldn’t be actively involved.
He threw the SUV into drive and headed in the direction of El Rio. When they neared the crash site, Tory saw more law enforcement officers in the field on Cade’s ranch with crime scene tape around a location.
Now she knew why Paul had come to the house earlier. “Who did they find?”
“Judge Parks in a shadow grave.”
All her earlier anger vanished as reality slammed into her. He was presiding over the Mederos trial. “How did he die?”
“Execution-style.