CHAPTER 4

Matt woke up early Sunday morning. Like every morning, CJ was lying with her head on his chest and her left arm across his belly and his left arm was wrapped around her. Carefully, he slid out of the bed and went to the shower, thinking about the case. He needed to talk to Lee Jenkins and follow up on the partial license plate, as well as see if they had a hit on any of the fingerprints that had been collected. Carl Roper had taken the makeshift door to the DEA office for processing and Matt was wondering if they had a hit on the hand print yet, as well as any finger prints that might have been found on the packages of drugs.

Getting out of the shower, Matt dried off and made his way into the bedroom and started pulling out clothes. As he started getting dressed it occurred to him that he hadn't checked into Alex Carmichael who was the owner of the home that Sheila and Charles had been renting, nor had he checked on Rick and Melanie Potts, the former tenants. He usually took Sundays off, but not this time. Finding Charles' killers was number one on his list of priorities at the moment. Sliding on his boots, Matt glanced back over his shoulder at CJ who was still peacefully sleeping. He gently leaned over and kissed her cheek, then picked up the pad of paper next to the bed and left her a note.

GOOD MORNING, BABE. I'M GOING IN TO THE OFFICE TO WORK ON THE CASE. LET ME KNOW IF Y'ALL NEED ANYTHING.

LOVE,

MATT

He left the note propped up on his pillow and quietly left the room, stopping to look into the nursery to check on Catey. Chantilly was in the same exact spot under the crib, and came to Matt when he stuck his head in the door. The private investigator stretched then made his way into the kitchen, turned on the coffee pot, and sat down at the kitchen table to make a list of the things that he needed to do that day. Chantilly had followed him into the kitchen and was sitting at the door. "Guess it's time to go out, huh?" He got up and opened the door, stepping out on the patio as the pup took off for a grassy area. When she had finished, Matt let her back in the house and found a package of cinnamon rolls, filled up a travel mug with coffee, and started munching on one of the pastries. The dog was watching him closely. After he finished the first roll he reached into the package for another. "I'll share with you but I get the part in the center." He handed the dog a couple of pieces which were eagerly gobbled up. Getting up from the table, Matt refilled his mug and headed for the door. "Take care of my ladies, Tilly." With that he walked out the door and got behind the wheel of his truck.

On the drive to the office his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID: Jenkins. "Hey, I was about to call you. Did you get anything?"

"Yes and no. The partial on the plate came back with twenty four hits. Out of those, three are silver or gray Ford Tauruses. So I'm going to be checking into the owners of those today. As far as prints, nothing yet, but the lab is working on them. How about you?"

"I'm planning on checking on the guy that owns the property, an Alex Carmichael, and I'm also going to check on the couple that used to live there - Rick and Melanie Potts. I wonder if Roper has had any luck with anything yet. If we can get a match on the hand print from the fake door we might get a big break."

"Okay, I'll call you if I get anything. Are you going to be at your office?" Jenkins was filling up a styrofoam cup with coffee at the police station.

"Yeah, for a while anyway. I may end up going to pay a visit to some of the folks that are on my list today. Depends on what I find. I'll call you." Matt hung up and took a sip of coffee from his travel mug while sitting at a red light. He had forgotten to ask Jenkins if the autopsy on Charles had been finished, so he dialed the detective. "Hey, I meant to ask you: do you know if they're done with the autopsy?"

"I don't know. I'll call you back in a few." Jenkins hung up and went to his desk to find the number for the ME's office.

Matt reached the parking garage of Houston Industries a few minutes later and rode up in the elevator to his penthouse office. Stepping over the back of the couch, he sat down and pulled up BABY. The computer normally remained hidden under the top of the coffee table. When it was turned on a familiar phrase popped up on the screen: HIYA, BOSS! "Good morning, BABY. We've got some work to do." He started with Alex Carmichael. The landlord was thirty one years old, divorced three times, and the father of two children – ages ten and six. Matt ran a property search on him. Carmichael owned twenty three properties all of which were single family houses except for two sets of apartments. The first had twelve units and the second one had a hundred. "He's making a pretty good chunk of money off of that stuff." The private eye did a little more looking into the landlord. He was curious how he had managed to buy all of the properties. Granted, good deals could be picked up here and there because of auctions and foreclosures. After a few more minutes of working the keyboard, Matt had managed to get a look at the financial dealings of Carmichael. Nothing seemed out of place, so the private eye switched gears and began looking at the Potts.

Rick and Melanie Potts had been married for four years. They didn't have any children, and had lived in the rental house for not quite a year before they were evicted for non-payment of rent. They were four months behind when the eviction order was granted and the landlord had removed their belongings from the house with the supervision of the Sheriff's Department and had changed the locks. Matt leaned back on the couch and took a long swallow of the coffee. He had tried to check on the couple's finances but had been unable to find anything. Guess I'll be going to the police station. The private investigator stood up and stretched and headed for the elevator after shutting down the computer.

Pulling into the parking garage of the precinct, Matt pulled his ID off of the visor and clipped it onto his shirt pocket. He walked into the lobby to find a young officer manning the records counter. Evidently Sgt. Bob Peterson had the weekend off. The private eye introduced himself and showed the man his ID, but he refused to give Matt access to the files. "Would you call Det. Lee Jenkins and ask him about it, please?" After shooting Houston a disgruntled look he dialed up the extension and spoke with the detective. Although Matt couldn't hear the other end of the conversation, he saw the face of the young cop turn red and heard the repeated "Yes, sir" about four times.

"Det. Jenkins says to get whatever you need and that he talked to Lt. Hoyt a few minutes ago – you're welcome to use his office and he would appreciate it if you would call him at your earliest convenience, sir." Officer Reeves stepped over to the end of the counter and opened the gate for Matt.

"Thanks." Matt walked on through and went to the computer terminal and typed in the names that he needed information on. There was no record on Carmichael whatsoever, but both Rick and Melanie Potts had records. He jotted down the numbers and went straight to where they were located, leaving Reeves to stand watching him in surprise.

"You look like you've done that a lot." He gave Matt a shy smile.

"Yep, a few years now. Thanks for your help…and don't worry about having to make the phone call upstairs. You were doing what you were told and you didn't know me from Adam." He held out his hand and Reeves shook it and smiled.

"Well I sure know now – Det. Jenkins made it crystal clear. Have a good day, sir."

Matt left the area and headed over to catch the elevator up to the fourth floor. As he stepped off, he walked over to the coffee pot and refilled his travel mug, then went into Hoyt's office and flipped on the light. It didn't appear that anyone had been in the room since the lieutenant had been shot a couple of weeks back.

Sitting down behind his friend's desk, Matt picked up the phone and called the lieutenant. "Hey, how ya doin' bud?" He took a sip of coffee and propped his feet up.

"I'm about to go stir crazy, that's how I'm doing. And what are you doing with your feet up on my desk?" Hoyt did indeed sound like he was about to go around the bend.

"They aren't on your desk. I'm not even sitting down yet." Matt just grinned.

"Damn! How come that stuff works for you but not for me?" The lieutenant sounded pretty strong.

"Because I'm me, that's how. So are those bullet holes going away?" Speaking as someone who had been shot more times than he cared to remember, Matt knew that by this point his friend was probably suffering from a lot of itching.

"Oh let's see: Anne is threatening to duct tape mittens on my hands if I don't stop scratching." Michael sounded truly miserable and the private eye could sympathize with him.

"Look at it this way: at least you don't have a couple of casts on. Those really do itch."

"How is Sheila doing? Jenkins called me yesterday and let me know what happened."

"She's doing. It's a heavy blow. Larry told me that she managed to drag her husband outside and put out the flames but he was dead by that time. Did Lee tell you what we found yesterday?"

"No, he told me what YOU found yesterday. I swear, Houston, you can step in a pile of horse dung and come out smelling like a rose."

"Kinda brings a whole new meaning to tiptoe through the tulips, huh?" The private investigator chuckled. "I called Roper and he came down to join the show."

"Bet he made sure all the helicopters were locked up before he left." Hoyt snickered thinking back to the time that Matt took off in one of the DEA's Blackhawk helicopters without permission.

"Funny. Anyway, I'm about to go through the records of the couple that was evicted from the house before Sheila and Charles moved in. The landlord seems clean: at least I haven't found anything on him yet, but the tenants look kinda shady."

"Well, if you need me for anything…"

"All I need you to do is heal up so we can get some hunting done next month. Or have you changed your mind?" Matt had invited Hoyt to go deer hunting down at the ranch just outside of Houston. "That reminds me: I've got a couple of things for you to look at. Maybe you can stop scratching long enough to watch 'em."

"No, I really would like to go. I think I'll be able to by then."

"Alright, well I'm going to get some work done. You stay outta trouble, ya hear? And thanks for letting me use your office."

"Hell – it's half yours now anyway. Talk to you later."

Matt took a swig of coffee then opened up the file on Rick Lucas Potts, age 42. Looks like he lives up to his name the private eye thought to himself. The man had been arrested several times for possession and once for possession with intent. He had done a little time for that plus a DUI. Matt opened Melanie Potts file. "Whoa!" Melanie Darlene Potts was 44 and looked like she was at least 60. There were several possession arrests, a couple for solicitation, and one for manslaughter. She had gotten out of prison about a year ago, right before she and her husband had rented the house. Matt saw that she was known to have associated with Doug Hayes who was one of the biggest drug suppliers in town.

Stepping out into the squad room, he spied Lee Jenkins sitting at his desk and went to him. "I just found something interesting here. Melanie Potts is known to have had business with Doug Hayes."

"Do tell?" Jenkins took a swig of coffee. "That is very interesting. Have you heard anything from Roper on those prints yet?"

"Nope, I was going to ask you." Matt sat down on the corner of the desk.

"Well I guess you should call him." Jenkins sat back as Matt pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number and hit the speaker button.

"Hey Houston, I was about to call you. Wasn't sure how early you would be up." The DEA agent was looking at the reports on the evidence that had been brought in the day before.

"Been up for almost three hours now, Mr. Federal Employee." He winked at Jenkins. "Bet I could have slipped in and stolen six or seven choppers from you by now."

"Nah, they've got anti-Houston devices on 'em now." Roper chuckled. "We got a hit on some of the prints. They came back to a Mel…"

"Melanie Potts." Matt finished the sentence for him.

"Okay, how did you know?"

"She and her husband Rick lived there until they were evicted a few weeks ago. Where were her prints?"

"On every single package of drugs that we found as well as the styrofoam chests that the heroin was in, but the hand print belonged to her husband. That was the only one of his that we found."

"Guess he was being a gentleman and opened the door for her. Both of the Potts have done time for drug charges, plus she had one for manslaughter. Turns out it was a john - she also got busted for solicitation."

"Real sweetheart, huh?"

"Yeah, she is that."

"So did Jenkins get anything on the car?" Roper took another swig of coffee.

"Hey, Roper. I've got it down to three possibles. I'm about to go pay a visit to them. The first is a Theodore Lang, no record whatsoever. Number two is Alecia Hernandez, no record other than a couple of speeding tickets. The third is Tony Yearly, a couple of busts for possession with intent. Obviously, he's first on my list. I don't think the other two are even worth a second look. Hang on a minute…" A patrolman had just handed Jenkins a sheet of paper. "Well this is interesting." He looked at Matt. "Remember I got held up by a car accident the other night? Yearly's car was positively identified in the hit and run."

Matt shifted on the desk. "Guess we know now why he was in such a hurry. Do they have a line on him?"

The police detective shook his head. "They've already been looking for him. But I think we have enough to get a search warrant for his house – maybe we'll find something that we can use."

"Guess I'll go with you then. Maybe we can get some info on the Potts from him. Roper, I'll call you later." Matt stood up and downed the rest of his coffee.

"Not if I call you first." The DEA agent laughed as he ended the call.

"I'll call and get started on the warrant." Jenkins hit a few buttons on his phone and started in on that.

"Need to make a call myself." Matt walked back into Hoyt's office and picked up the phone to call CJ. "Hey, how's everybody doing this morning?"

"Pretty good. Catey's kind of fussy – she's getting a couple more teeth coming in." CJ had just given the baby some pain drops and was attempting to feed her without much success.

"Well, give her a kiss for me. How's Sheila? And do you know if she called to let her boss know what's going on?"

"Pretty good – as good as can be expected I guess. She talked to them yesterday. They've got her covered. What's going on there?"

"I'm in Hoyt's office. Lee is working on getting a search warrant. We think that the guys that we're looking for were responsible for that hit and run wreck the other night that made him late getting to the scene."

"Are you going with him to serve it?" No matter how hard she tried not to, CJ still worried about Matt every time he went out with the police on a job.

"Yep. Don't worry; I'll have my vest on, Babe. Promise." He knew what was going through her mind.

"Make sure you do." There was a pause.

"Love you, Babe. Better get going."

"Love you, too. Matt – be extra careful, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am. 'Bye." He hung up and turned off the light to the office and closed the door behind him.