CHAPTER 14
Fortunately for Matt, the afternoon passed quickly. Tammy and Wally had turned their backyard into a desert oasis. The swimming pool was half in the sun and half in the shade of a couple of palm trees and Tammy made some of the best margaritas that Matt had had in a long time. As they sat in the cool shade of the pool sipping on the drinks, Matt thought to himself that CJ had been right – he needed to just relax a little bit.
"So Houston, tell me about your wife – Wally says that she works with you at the detective agency?"
"Yes ma'am. She graduated from Harvard Law School and came to work for me back when I still had Houston Industries." He took a sip of margarita and grinned. "Before that..." He paused and laughed. "We were best friends since the day we met when we were ten years old."
"Aw, that's so sweet! Kinda like Wally and me – we met in fifth grade." The couple shared a look and then cracked up. "He was so shocked when he saw me he dropped his lunch tray in my lap." All three started laughing then. "We've been together ever since."
Matt shook his head and then explained how he and CJ had met while riding fences after a big storm. "She was stubborn...still is, but I wouldn't change her for anything. She's perfect." He took another sip. "So Wally tells me y'all have a daughter at school in San Francisco."
"Sure do." The cop reached over for his phone at the side of the pool and pulled up a picture of the girl, handing the phone over to Matt. "That's Sarah Jane. She's a sophomore at San Francisco State."
"She's beautiful." He handed the phone back. "Mine isn't quite ready for college yet." Grinning he pulled up a picture of CJ and Catey on his own phone and handed it over.
"Aww, how sweet! She looks a lot like you – but she's got her mother's eyes." Tammy handed the phone back as Matt told them about Catey's first word. "And it wasn't Mama, or Daddy...it was Cricket – my horse." The three of them all burst into laughter.
After eating steaks cooked on the grill and a dessert of apple pie, Matt and Wally sat at the picnic table watching the last rays of the sun. "I can't believe how warm it's been lately. We can't usually use the pool this time of year. Highs are usually around sixty degrees or so – not the eighty two like we had today."
"It's been weird for sure." Matt had changed into a pair of jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt after getting out of the pool earlier. Talk turned to cattle and the ranching business and then Matt caught himself yawning just as Wally did. They looked at each other and chuckled. "I think I'm going to turn in." Both men got up and headed into the house where Matt thanked Tammy once again for her hospitality before going to his room for the night.
Just as he closed the door and reached for his bag for a pair of shorts to sleep in, his phone buzzed. It was a text from CJ. Whatcha wearin?
"Oh boy, that's what she meant. Hot damn!" He grinned as he plopped down on the bed and sent a reply.
Matt had his alarm set for 6:00AM Monday morning. He sat up on the side of the bed and yawned before wandering into the adjoining bathroom for a shower. Since he didn't know how long he would be staying, the PI packed his bag and left it in the bedroom. When he found his way to the kitchen, Tammy was removing the last of the pancakes from the griddle. "Oh boy – almost like home." He sat down at the table as Wally came through the door yawning.
"Mornin'." The cop poured a cup of coffee and sat down opposite of Matt and both men dug into the stacks of pancakes in front of them.
"Mmph." Matt swallowed and wiped his mouth. "These are great." After a swig of coffee, he looked across at Wally. "How long do you think the warrant will take?"
"If I can get hold of the right ADA – not long." Both men hurried through breakfast and then hit the road to the sub-station. "I already sent the request over before breakfast. If my buddy there is on time for work," he glanced at his watch, "we should have an answer in about half an hour." He hit the button on the coffee maker and started going through his email as Matt did the same on his laptop. After making sure Wally wasn't looking, he tapped into the satellite program. Nothing looked out of place.
Thirty minutes later Wally nodded and turned to the printer. "Here we go." He started pulling off the pages as Matt closed the computer and put it into the case. "I'm going to suggest that you "stay" in the SUV when I go to serve the warrant. Knowing King and Arino there's going to be a lot of arguing about the whole thing. Whatever you do, don't take longer than five minutes…I'm not sure how long I can stall them."
"Sounds fair." Matt pulled a couple of the critters out and handed them to the cop. "If you can find a good place for these inside, you know what to do, right?"
"Flip the switch and wait for 'em to say cheese."
"Yup." Matt put a few of the critters into his shirt pocket and picked up his case following Wally out of the office and stopping at the counter with him as he got a couple of deputies to go along and help him serve the warrant, stressing that he was trying to keep them inside the house at least five minutes. Puzzled, the two men agreed and went to their patrol cars.
When they reached the King estate, it took about ten minutes for the man to agree to open up the gates. Once inside, Matt pretended to be texting on his phone as Wally and the two deputies went to the front door of the house. That was the first time he laid eyes on King and his radar went on high alert. Every fiber of his being told Matt that this guy was the collector. Something in his manner just seemed to mock the very fact that the cops were standing on his doorstep. A couple of minutes later, the deputies followed the man into the house and Matt quietly opened the door of the SUV and slid out between it and the patrol car parked next to it. After making his way to the back of the vehicle, the PI quickly ran across to the barn, careful to try to avoid the surveillance cameras. Although he doubted that King was watching them at the moment, he wanted to prevent calling attention to himself. The barn had a pretty sophisticated lock on it that took Matt a little longer than he would have liked to get it open. Once inside he saw that the vehicles were stored there. "Sure, put the cars in the barn. It's not like you've got a garage or anything." Realizing that once again he was talking to himself, the PI put away the lock picks and went to every vehicle and put a critter on it. The last one he came to was a specially-made motor home, just like he had expected. He snapped a few pictures of it and then put the critter on it. Headed for the door, he heard the sound of voices being raised. "Damn."
Matt fastened the lock behind him as he left the building and then peeked around the end. He jogged quickly and quietly across to the back of the SUV where he slid back inside. As Wally approached the vehicle, Matt had his hat down over his eyes as if napping. Arino was loaded into the back of a patrol car as Wally started the engine and began rolling back down the driveway. He didn't speak until they were on the road. "I got one critter in the study. Couldn't get the other one anywhere good."
"I got all of the vehicles – including the motor home." Matt raised the cowboy hat off of his face and grinned.
"Phew! I was sure worried." Simmons laughed. "Arino will be out in no time. King was on the phone with his lawyer before we left."
"Good thing I already activated them there critters." The PI pulled out the laptop and pulled up the BugBytes program. He turned up the volume and turned the laptop so that his new friend would be able to see.
"I don't like it, Pyle. I smell a rat – and you better get rid of it, you hear me?!" King looked like he was ready to foam at the mouth. They couldn't hear the other end of the conversation but it didn't last much longer as King slammed the phone.
"Kinda got a hot temper, huh?" Matt snickered.
"Those critters of yours are great." He drove on and as they neared the station he looked over at Matt. "So how do you want to handle this now?"
"I think I'm going to go back to your house. The less I'm seen around the better. I can keep tabs on what's going on there and let you know if anything happens, but if it doesn't pretty soon I'm going to head home. CJ can keep an eye on the critters for us while I'm on the road. Then when something breaks, I'll catch up with him."
"Sounds good. Although I seriously doubt that he'll jump up and do anything today. That warrant shook him up pretty good."
"Good. Now maybe he'll do something stupid and we can nail him to the wall." They drove back to the station and Matt stayed in the SUV until Arino had been taken inside the building and then got into his truck and went back to the Simmons home. He sat up shop on the kitchen table and called CJ to let her know what was going on. He re-wound the surveillance video back to where he had left off. Other than the fact that every other word out of King's mouth was of the four letter variety, Matt really didn't hear anything else incriminating. At four o'clock he called Wally and told him that he was heading home and would be in touch with him.
After thanking Tammy again for her hospitality, Matt headed out for home and called CJ to let her know, then called Bateaux to bring him up to date. When the FBI agent found out about the "crittering" of King's ranch he laughed. "Hoyt called me earlier and we talked for a while. He told me that I would probably be hearing about the critters before too long. Looks like he was right."
"Yeah, he is occasionally – but don't tell him I said that." Matt laughed. "I'm going home. I can keep track of things from there and I can get back up to Lone Pine pretty quick if I need to do it." They talked on for a few minutes and then Matt hung up and popped in another CD that he had found and sang most of the way home.
Pulling in up in the driveway, he was met by a committee of four ladies: CJ, Catey, Sheila, and of course Tilly. After a kiss from CJ and a sloppy kiss from Catey, Matt even got a hug from Sheila. "You must have really missed me, huh?" He grinned as they walked up to the house, Tilly jumping and barking. He handed Catey off to CJ and knelt down, only to be attacked by the dog who nearly gave him a bath.
Matt took care of Catey from the time he walked in the door until she went to bed. Later on that night he was sitting in the recliner with the laptop on, watching both the surveillance feed from the critter inside the house and occasionally the satellite feed. Everything in the house had gotten quiet after Catey went to bed and CJ went to take a shower. Tilly had come back to sit with him in the recliner and Sheila came back into the living room. Matt looked over at the nanny. "Wanna watch?"
"Sure. Maybe I can be a private eye in training." She came over and sat down as he turned the laptop where she could see it. After a few minutes, Sheila finally asked him something that she had been wondering since Matt solved the murder of her husband. "I want to ask you a question."
"Okay. Shoot."
"When Charles was killed and you were tracking down the idiots…you showed me a satellite picture and told me not to ask…"
He gave her a small smile. "And here you are asking." She nodded. Matt took a big breath and sighed. "Well hell…can you keep a secret and never say anything about it again…ever?"
"I can."
"I bought a used Russian satellite a few months after CJ and I were married. I was trying to track down somebody in another country. Let's just say I found them and nobody will ever have to worry about them again."
"That's what I had just about figured out. Not the Russian part…but I thought after a few things that I've seen and heard that you might have been involved with that. And Charles didn't know who it was, but he had come to the conclusion that the government had hired someone to track that guy down."
"They didn't hire me, but they sure didn't mind the help." Matt reached out and began petting on Tilly who was nuzzling his hand.
"But you went in there…I saw that scar on your shoulder. That's from a 50 cal. Charles had one just like it." She watched as Matt kept his eyes on the dog. "Thank you for that. And for everything else that you've done." Reaching over she patted his arm and he nodded.
"So…" He looked back up as he changed the subject. "Wanna see the new jerk I'm tracking now?" Grinning he turned the computer a little bit more.
King was sitting at his desk in the study where Wally Simmons had planted the critter. "Oh – he is an ugly lookin' little something!" Sheila cracked up. "He just looks…demented, you know?"
"Yup." Matt turned it back. He got quiet as they sat there watching. "Actually…" Looking over at her, he nodded. "I'm glad you know about the satellite. We have to do things like this sometimes and it can be hard to hide it. But I don't want anyone else other than CJ, you, Uncle Roy, or me to see it here. That includes Catey when she gets older. Oh, and Vince and Michael know about it, too."
CJ walked in and looked at Matt. "Good. I've been thinking that we should tell her." She smiled at the nanny.
"Oh, she's bucking to become a private eye now." Matt smiled. "She figured out the other part, too."
"A 50 cal scar isn't too easy to hide, Cowboy." She slid into the other side of the recliner with him, kissing him on the cheek.
There was a knock on the door to King's study. "Come in." Ramon Arino walked in and closed the door behind him. "Sit down." The foreman sat on the couch to the left of King's desk. "What have I told you about drawing attention to yourself?" Arino nodded. "I know you had the damn money. Why didn't you pay her like you were supposed to?"
"She's been getting to be a pain in the ass. I thought it would teach her a lesson."
"And all it did was allow the cops a chance to come on the property."
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
"It better not. You know what happened to the last person who crossed me, Ramon." The foreman nodded. "Now – I want the RV ready to roll out of here Wednesday morning."
"I'll take care of it first thing in the morning." Arino got up and left.
Matt pulled out his phone and called Wally and then Bateaux. They arranged for Matt and the FBI agent to fly up to Lone Pine the next day in the chopper and would be operating out of the Simmons' home. When he hung up, King had left the study and turned out the light. Matt closed the laptop and looked at CJ. "Maybe tomorrow will be the end of it."
"I hope so." CJ reached over to pat on Tilly. "She really has missed you."
"I missed her, too." He handed the laptop to CJ who put it on the end table. Tilly crawled up and laid her head on his chest causing all three to laugh.