CHAPTER 4
Matt met CJ and Lee at Ricardo's at 12:30. After ordering, the PI filled them in on what he had learned. "You boys have come a long way in twenty four hours." CJ looked between the two.
As he took a sip of iced tea the cop shook his head. "He's the reason."
"No, I took what Jimenez was able to find and got lucky finding the right person to ask."
"Speaking of which – guess who resigned?" CJ thanked the waiter as he put a sizzling order of chicken fajitas in front of her.
"Who?" Matt asked as he took a large bite of chimichangas.
"The ME." She saw the surprised look on both of their faces.
"About damn time." Matt took a sip of tea.
"I heard that the DA's office was opening an investigation." Lee shook his head.
"Which leads me to a phone call I received earlier. A friend at the DA's office wanted me to tell you that you're probably going to be subpoenaed." She looked at her husband and then added, "…and Michael, too."
"Does he know yet?" The PI took another bite.
She nodded, wiping her mouth with a napkin. "I called and gave him a heads up. He sounded like he was ready to celebrate."
The three continued discussing the matter over lunch. Afterward, Matt wrapped an arm around CJ as they walked out the door. "I'm going to go see what BABY can give me on this Martin Sherwood guy and Colin Foley."
"Okay. I've got paperwork to do on the call I just went on. I'll talk to you later."
As they exited the elevator in the office lobby the pair ran into Murray Chase. "How's it going, bud?" Matt shook hands with his friend.
"Good. I just came to say goodbye to Chris. I've got to go to New York for a couple of days."
"Have fun."
"Not without my Pumpkin." He blew a kiss at Chris and then hit the elevator.
Matt and CJ sat down on the couch and pulled up BABY, looking for information on Martin Sherwood. "Here we go: Martin Van Buren Sherwood, age 47, twice divorced. He's one of the stewards at the track and has been there for almost twenty years working various jobs and was appointed steward six years ago. That seems to be all there is on him." CJ punched a few more keys. "Colin Seamus Foley, age 51, he was married to Constance Archer for almost twenty years. She and their two teenaged kids, a son and daughter, were killed in a car accident in 2001." She scrolled down a little further. "They were killed by a hit and run driver. Colin was badly injured and was in a coma for over a month. The driver was never found and Foley lost everything…his home, job – everything."
"So that's why he stayed at the track." Matt sat back and thought for a minute. "When they found him he had a wad of cash on him but no ID or wallet. Kinda rules out robbery." They fell silent. "Lonnie Stark said that Foley had picked a winning horse and won about $9,000. He gave $1,000 to Stark."
"And had a nice dinner at the track." CJ rested her head on his shoulder.
"If robbery wasn't the motive for killing him – what was?" He took her hand and held it. "You know Stark said he would win a little bit here and there, enough to keep him in cigarettes and whiskey. Then all the sudden he hits it big."
"And he's suddenly dead." CJ looked at him.
"You know, a lot of things go on at tracks and not all of them are good…or legal."
"So was Foley's bet on that horse good luck or some information that he gained by hanging around so much?"
Matt pulled out his phone and called Lonnie Stark. "Are you where you can talk?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm at home. The chief gave me the boot."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Do you want to stay in the security business?"
"It's about all I know."
"Okay, I think I can get you set up. Can you hang on a second?"
"Sure."
"Babe, can you call security and see if they've still got an opening?"
"Sure can." She reached across him for the phone.
"Okay, my wife is checking on it. Listen, do you remember the name of the horse that Foley bet on?"
"Palisades Pride. The odds were 20-1."
"Okay. Hang on." He looked over at CJ.
"Walter said to tell him to come by tomorrow at 7:00AM. Is he firearm licensed?"
"Hey Lonnie, you're firearm licensed aren't you?"
"Sure am."
Matt nodded at CJ. "Okay, come to the Houston Industries Building at 7:00AM tomorrow."
"You're kidding."
"Nope, dead serious. Told you I could help you out."
"I sure appreciate it."
After disconnecting the call, Matt leaned forward and entered the name of the horse into the computer and the two began reading. "Lonnie said the odds were 20-1." He read through the horse's race history. "No wonder. He hasn't done very well in the past year. Who is the owner?" They both went through the information. "Sal Beardsly." He punched in the name. "Salvador Beardsly, age 45. Race horses are a family business. His father and uncle were trainers. Sal got his start as an owner after placing several bets on horses and coming up a winner. He was doing good up until about a year ago. Two of his horses were injured on the track and had to be put down…then another was killed in a transport accident. There are four horses currently under his banner at the track: Palisades Pride, Catch Me if You Can, Wind Song, and Zalma Flash. Out of those four only Palisades Pride and Zalma Flash have won or placed in the last eight months."
He leaned back and rubbed his eyes. "Okay, so say Foley finds out a tidbit that points him in the direction of Palisades Pride. He won nine grand…" Pulling up the calculator on his phone, he did some quick math. "With the thirteen percent that the state gets out of the winnings, that means he bet $500 on that race." Both fell silent again. "Five hundred bucks is a lot of money to someone who sleeps in the hay." He dialed Luis Sanchez. "Hey, Luis – Houston. Can you see if you have any records for a couple of folks? Okay the first one: Martin Van Buren Sherwood…Uh huh. Second is Salvador Beardsly…If you don't mind. Thanks." He hung up and pulled up his email. "Not yet…but in the meantime…" Matt put an arm around CJ and kissed her.
"What brought that on? Not that I'm complaining."
"Just 'cause." He turned back to the computer. "Darn – it's here." Both cracked up. "Sherwood had an assault charge when he was 22. And Beardsly…had a DUI eight years ago, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and a domestic assault but the charges were dropped."
"So both have been somewhat violent in the past." CJ thought. "Money can be a big motivator. I'll run a check on their financials." She stepped over the back of the couch and went to her office. Matt went behind the bar for a cup of coffee and then out on the patio. He sat down in one of the chairs and propped his feet up on the wall, thinking over the Foley case and Mario Santiago.
CJ came out an hour later to find him lost in thought. She came up behind him and began rubbing his shoulders. Tilting his head back he looked up at her. "Want to hear what I found out about Sherwood and Beardsly?"
"Sure." He took her by the hand and walked her around to the front of the chair, pulling her onto his lap and wrapping his arms around her waist.
"You know that Beardsly's stable hasn't been doing too well in the last year. Evidently it was starting to pinch him; he had to take on a couple of partners to make ends meet. He chose some interesting investors."
"Do tell?"
"Uh huh. Luciano Aratoli and Keshawn Robertson."
"No he didn't. Damn…he must have been desperate." Matt shook his head. "Neither one of those fellas is going to wait too long to see a profit. And how in the hell did he get that pair together? Aratoli is so wild and disorganized it's a wonder he's accomplished what he has. Robertson though…well, actually I can see him going for it. He started out in the projects and now supplies most of the users in Hollywood – silk suits and all."
"I wonder if Robertson and Aratoli are partners together in any other ventures?" She started playing with the curls at the base of his neck.
"I don't know – but if you keep on with what you're doing I'll never find out." He pulled her down for a kiss. "Let's go home. I'll think about it tonight."
Later that evening, after taking Catey for a ride on Cricket and grilling some steaks, Matt left the others sitting around the table on the patio and went back down to the barn to groom Cricket. Roy watched as his nephew brought the Red Sorrel out of the pasture and began hosing her down. "She sure does like the attention." He chuckled as Cricket waited for Matt to lay the hose down and then took the opportunity to pick it up, turning to hit her owner with the water. All three adults at the table laughed.
"That's a game they play." CJ watched the pair. Matt took the hose away from her and rubbed her jaw as he rested his forehead on hers. "You know, another woman who didn't know any better might be jealous of those two."
After drying Cricket off, the cowboy began cleaning her feet. The horse stood patiently as he picked the dirt from her hooves and inspected them. She watched as he finished on her left side and started around in front of her going to the right side, once again nuzzling him. He stopped and rubbed her jaw, talking quietly to her before moving on around to finish her feet. As he moved on through the grooming, Sheila noticed that the horse would nuzzle him at every opportunity. "She is absolutely crazy about him, isn't she?"
"It's mutual. Matt owned her mom and dad and both of them were really good horses. Mr. Billy was struck by lightning about a week before Matt moved to California. Her mother Rachel was about three months from foaling and he brought her here. She went into foal when Matt was at work and he flew here in the helicopter. Bo and Lamar were moving her to the barn but she slipped on the creek bank and broke a leg. Matt had to put her down and did a C-section to deliver Cricket."
"That had to be rough." Sheila watched as he continued to work on the horse.
"He was torn up. That's part of the reason he was so reluctant to let Cricket and Jasper get together." CJ looked over to where Cricket's mate Jasper was standing on the other side of the fence, watching the mare and Matt closely. When the cowboy had finished, he went into the barn followed by Cricket, emerging a minute later with a new halter in his hands. "This may get interesting."
The group watched as Matt casually walked over to the pasture fence and climbed up to sit on the top rail, not paying any attention at all to the Buckskin stallion. Cricket walked up next to him and began nuzzling him again and nickering at Jasper. After watching the two for a minute, the stallion cautiously approached. Matt began rubbing Cricket's jaw as Jasper nuzzled her. The cowboy eased his hand downward where he would contact the stallion.
"How did he end up with Jasper?" Roy looked at his niece.
"He was out helping the ATF with a weapons dealer not too far from Fresno. Jasper was on the property and belonged to the guy in charge. He decided to go out in a blaze of glory." She rolled her eyes. "Jasper there was about half-starved, had been abused, and apparently never been trained at all. Matt convinced the Animal Control officer to let him take the horse."
They all watched as Matt began rubbing the stallion's jaw – something that he hadn't allowed anyone else to do up to that point. Matt let the horse inspect the new halter. After gently rubbing over the areas where it would go, he slowly eased it onto the horse. Although he looked frightened, the stallion allowed his new owner to adjust the halter and fasten it, after which he went back to petting the two horses. In a few minutes he climbed down and opened the gate for Cricket who joined her mate in the pasture. Matt gathered up the equipment he had been using on the mare and returned it to the barn before coming back outside. Reaching into his shirt pocket, the cowboy extracted a cigar and proceeded to light it before leaning on the pasture fence. CJ's horse Lucy came over for some attention from him. After the horse rejoined her companions, Matt continued to lean on the fence, puffing on the cigar.
"Looks like a man deep in thought." Roy watched his nephew.
"He's got a case that's bothering him." CJ told them about Mario Santiago and how Matt was taking care of the funeral expenses for the young man's grandmother.
"So absolutely no leads on it?" Roy was intrigued.
"Not a one. That's why it's driving him crazy."
As the sun began to set, Matt put out the cigar, turning and walking back up to the house. He and CJ put Catey down for the night and were snuggled up in the recliner watching a movie. When it went off Roy yawned and stretched. "Believe I'm going to hit the sack."
Yawning, Sheila nodded. "Me, too."
Roy chuckled as he looked in the direction of the couple. "Looks like they already have." He covered them up as Sheila turned off the TV and the light.