A New Age Mystery Comes to Life Pt. 01

"Let me guess, she is related to me."

"I'm not sure if she claims that but she is married to our boss."

"That's what I figured." I frowned, "There is a convenience store on the corner near my place. Stop there and I will get an Aggies seven course dinner."

"Uh huh. I figured; a burger and a six pack."

"No actually, I eat healthy from there. Chopped beef bar-b-que, potato wedges, and a six pack."

"That is eight courses."

"No, because one beer will be gone before I get home."

"Oh God; I have my work cut out for me, don't I?"

"Am I work?" I responded in my most innocent voice. She didn't give me the satisfaction of a reply but giggled loudly.

By the time we got to the convenience store, my body was beginning to rebel again so Glenda said that she would go inside and get my dinner. All I could do was nod and mutter a weak, "Thanks."

When she returned, she handed me two bags. From one, I took a beer and took the first drink before I even looked at the bottle. "Oh, that's good beer. Better than I usually drink." Now I looked at the bottle.

"It is from a little brewery near my home town. I always liked it so that's what I got you."

She parked in my driveway and got out to help me inside. Even with the beer, I had a lot of trouble getting out of the car and standing. She took my arm and the bags and let me move at my own pace to the door. It was a slow journey. Once inside, I plopped down in my recliner with a couple of groans and efforts to readjust the pillows and my appendages to find a comfortable position. Glenda looked on with concern.

"Did you do too much today?"

"Probably but I also felt better while doing it than I have in months. Thanks. You were great today. Now I just have to let things relax and calm down again."

"Do you need anything else? If not, I'll get going and pick you up around 7:00 in the morning. Is that all right with you?"

"That would be perfect." I smiled at her but also felt a twinge in my leg. She also noticed and frowned. "Glenda, things twinge sometimes. It isn't anything to worry about."

"Sorry; I just hate to think about all of the things you have already gone through and still have to face."

"I appreciate the concern but I don't really have a choice right now. I will heal and I know it; it is just slower than I would like. I'll be ok. Go and tell my sister that I am fine and wonderful and whatever other lies you feel are appropriate."

Glenda just grinned and didn't say anything. She nodded and wrote her phone number on a piece of paper. "Call me if you have problems later or in the morning."

"I will. Thanks, Glen."

"Sleep well." She said as she walked out of the door.

I started to grumble but stopped. I would sleep and I knew it; it would just take a little time to get comfortable. I also decided to take a soaking bath before I ate. Maybe the hot water would calm some of the aches before they got too bad. I took another beer to the bathroom and gingerly undressed while the tub was filling. When I got in and settled down, the warm water felt good and I slowly felt some of the weariness fade away.

An hour later, I climbed out of the tub when the water was too cold to sit in and surprisingly, felt pretty good. I slipped on my pajamas and went to the kitchen to warm up dinner in the microwave. My second surprise came when I opened the sack and discovered that this chopped beef sandwich had turned into a salad with grilled chicken, two potato wedges, and a can of fruit cocktail. When I took it to my recliner to eat, I picked up my phone and entered Glenda's phone number to the text app and wrote, "This chopped beef sandwich tastes a lot like a chicken salad. Even the BBQ sauce I put on it doesn't change the taste." I sent the message and began to eat. It was very good and I suspected that I could hear Glenda giggling wherever she was. I just finished when the phone dinged.

The message read, "Didn't your mother tell you to appreciate whatever you are served for dinner?" For some reason, I didn't feel that Glenda wrote it.

I wrote, "Marla, why are you reading someone else's private message? Are you that nosey?"

"Nope. She is busy fighting off a couple of horny guys. I thought that I wouldn't distract her. "

"Take names and addresses. I'll bust them tomorrow. She doesn't need that kind of shit."

"She is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. So, do you like having her as your surrogate mother?"

"I will never confuse her for our mother, dolt. How do you like having Rick as your surrogate father?"

The message that came back was different, "Why are you picking on my friend? And you needed a lighter dinner; you will feel better."

"So, do you need help getting rid of those guys?"

"No; I just turned them over to Marla. She can handle them." There was a pause and then, "Why do you think that one guy ran?"

"You are off-duty and you are supposed to protect my innocent sister from the wolves. Hell, how would do I know? Probably felt guilty or something. No, he probably knew that it would mean hard time in the big house this time."

"Are you sure that you are Marla's brother? Innocent?"

"Go fight off the wolves. I have some rabbit food to eat."

All that came back was a smiley face.

When I finished dinner, I actually got up and took the containers to the trash. Once there, I bundled the trash up and set it on the porch since Tuesday was trash day. I also loaded the dishwasher and turned it on. But by then I needed to sit down with another beer. I turned on the baseball game but fell asleep before the beer was half finished.

I woke mentally alert even if my body resented my efforts to move. It took several minutes before I could stand and walk gingerly to the kitchen. Once the coffee was perking, I went to the bedroom and dressed slowly. When I finished, I poured a cup of coffee and sat down to watch the morning news. After watching the weather, I just let my mind wander. Why would someone run rather than face what was probably a simple traffic violation? It was doubtful that anyone would pay close attention to the tailgate. The officer, of course, was trained to look at the contents of the bed and the passenger compartment but no one would notice that the bed had been significantly modified. The only answer I could come up with was that the driver was known to the law enforcement community and perhaps had an outstanding warrant. That would have certainly triggered a fight or flight reaction. Given the number of outstanding warrants, searching the area database would probably be useless but necessary just to be thorough.

It turns out that I missed the report on the news that a body had been found on a farm road five-miles from the spot where the truck had been stopped. If that thought would have triggered anything, it would have been stopped by the knock at the door. Today, I got up and walked to the door to open it.

"Sorry that I am a little early. I brought you tacos again."

"Thanks. I made coffee; would you like a cup before we go?"

"Sure. By the way, I heard on the news this morning that the sheriff found a body a few miles from the abandoned truck. It appears that he was dressed in the same kind of clothes the officer reported. Coincidence?"

I frowned, "Too much to ignore. We'll check when we get in." Then I tried to put on my calmest voice. "So, did you two get the wolves to calm down last night?"

She giggled. "Thank you for being concerned. That's nice."

"Are you going to answer the question?"

She giggled again. "Pushy, aren't you? If you must know, Marla can turn a guy off faster than anyone I have ever met. She asked them for their business cards, which they were more than willing to hand over. Then she handed them to me and told me to run a check on them today. You never saw two men turn green so quickly. She told them that she always checks out guys first since her husband is a state cop and I worked for him. They couldn't have been nicer after that."

"Aha! Abuse of power. I think I will have to investigate that." I couldn't help but grin when I said that. I was well aware that most people had both love and fear feelings about police officers. They respect them but fear what they might be able to do and find out about them. As a result, most cops have few close friends who are civilians.

"Oh hush. You will do no such thing. We better get going."

I rose slowly but more confidently than the day before. As we left, Glenda said, "I noticed that you cleaned up a little last night. You must be feeling a little better."

"Better is relative, but, yes; I did feel better last night and also this morning."

"Good. Rick is tied up in a meeting tonight. Marla is coming over with dinner for us."

"Crap. I need to call a house cleaning service today. She is a clean freak."

All Glenda did was laugh as though she was part of a conspiracy. As she drove to the office, I said, "In answer to your question from last night, I think that the runner was probably known to law enforcement. When he saw that he was being stopped, he panicked and ran. That is the only thing that makes sense. The hidden stuff was too well concealed and everything else was too innocent. If this dead guy proves to be the runner, we can confirm it. If not, then we probably need to do a search of the outstanding warrants in the area and see if anything pops up."

"That makes good sense. The guy in the wreck appears to be clean as a whistle."

"I noticed and that leads me to think that these incidents aren't directly related. But the sophistication of the hidden compartments still bothers me. I'm not ready to let that go just yet."

"I had the same thought. We might need to have a talk with him after we find out more about the truck."

"I think that you have the picture in mind."

There was a new file on Glenda's desk when we entered. It only took her a moment to read it and hand it to me. I read it just as quickly and my frown grew deeper than hers. "Add another column to the board for the Gun Ship. Brad Beasley, 25, Caucasian, multiple run-ins with local and county law enforcement but nothing for the past year. No outstanding warrants locally. Reported to have joined the Freedom Clan. That is not good news. Do you know anything about them?"

Glenda paused and replied, "I think I heard that they were a white supremacist group based west of here."

"That's them. They seem to be fixated on starting race wars and stuff. Two-dozen automatic weapons heading west would not be not a good sign. We need to do some research on them. Do you want to take that on?"

"Sure. Are you going to do the trucks alone?"

"Why not? There is only so much information out there on the official records. Filling in the gaps might be the biggest problem."

"Ok, I'll get started on the Freedom Clan. Let me know when you need support on the trucks."

We each logged into our computer and quickly got lost in the various databases and information cache's available. As I predicted, the available information on the two trucks was fairly limited. The Ford had been owned and registered to an Oklahoma man for over twenty years and then had been sold to a man from the northern part for the state for the next ten years. There was an indication that the truck had been totaled by an insurance company but had been retitled two years before. The current registered owner was an individual who had a PO Box address in a small town, 100 miles west. That brought a frown.

The Chevy truck was a little easier. One man in Arkansas had owned it until the year before. It was sold to a wrecking and truck part company and the latest owner was listed. That would be a good starting point for that one. The Ford might require a trip west to discover anything about the current owner. Fortunately, I had worked with the sheriff in that county before and got along with him pretty well.

When I looked over at Glenda, I saw that she too wore the frown of frustration. "Problems?"

"There is a fair amount of stuff on the Internet about the Freedom Clan. They seem to have an active presence but not many details. Unfortunately, the Intelligence Department website is restricted. Do you know anyone down there?"

I reached for the phone and called a number. "Hey deadbeat! Are you earning your paycheck yet?" I put the phone on speaker.

"Me? You are the one who has been sitting at home eating bon-bons and watching Oprah. What's up?"

"You have the file on the Freedom Clan locked up. What can you tell me about them?" Both Glenda and I could hear the long pause and the more serious voice that replied.

"Um...It is being looked at closely by others. Do you have something on them?"

"Maybe. It is tenuous right now. That's what we need to find out."

"I can only tell you so much over the phone. Tell me what you have and I'll tell you what I can."

"A trooper stopped a pickup the other day and the driver jack-rabbited before he could get close. The truck had a hidden compartment with a nice arsenal of automatic weapons. The Feds have that part. This morning a sheriff reported a body near where the truck was stopped. If it is the driver of the truck, he has a list of small offenses but is reported to have joined the Clan. That is why the call."

There was silence for a long time but we could hear wheels turning over the phone line. Finally, the voice returned, "This is for your ears only. This..."

"Sorry to cut you off but I have a partner now to babysit me. She is right here and her name if Glenda McCormick."

"Oh hi, Glenda. Who did you piss off to get stuck with Thomas?" Glenda laughed while I just rolled my eyes.

"Hi Mitch. I sort of asked to work with him to learn about investigations and forensics. And he is just as supportive as you were at the Academy."

"Thomas is a good guy except for his personality. His sister is great though."

"I know Marla well. We had dinner together last night."

Half out of self-preservation, I butted in. "I hate to break up this mutual admiration society but the Freedom Clan might be fomenting revolution as we speak."

"They probably are. All right then; if you are going to be this way, don't repeat any of this, either of you. The Clan was just a bunch of local idiots for a long time. About three years ago this guy suddenly shows up on the radar screen and sort of took over the group. He brought some backing with him but no one knows who the backers are. They have been recruiting carefully but aggressively. We have tried but can't get anyone on the inside. Before they would cause some local problems, mainly fights and stuff. Now they stay clean but seem to be training recruits like the terrorists do. They have a place out in the boonies and no one can get near the place. We suspect that they are planning something but don't know what. A load of automatic weapons heading their direction would definitely not be good news."

I replied, "That is exactly what I was thinking. Right now, the thread is only through this one guy and he is dead."

"What brought you into this loop in the first place? It is a little outside of your normal stuff."

"It is but last week we had a gravel truck get too close to a pickup. It also had a hidden compartment under the truck bed. This one is a different setup but Rick is wondering if there is a link. Two similar smuggling operations is pretty coincidental. Right?"

"Hold on for a moment." We could hear the rustling of papers and files. "Here it is. I'm sending you a file to add to your stack. Down south, they busted a guy with a ton of grass in a pickup with a topper. When they looked closely, it also had a hidden compartment under the bed. It was empty. The thing is that the truck is registered up in your neck of the woods too."

"Once is an accident; twice is a coincidence; three is a pattern."

"You've got it. Run with this and stay in touch. We'll let you know if anything develops on the Clan that you can look in to."

"That's a deal. Say hello to your wife for me."

"Will do. I look forward to talking to you again, Glenda. Thomas, she was one of the best students we ever had. Treat her better than you do most of the others. Gotta go."

I disconnected the phone and turned to Glenda. "If I had any doubt about you, which I didn't, that is now gone. If Mitch thinks highly of you, you have my vote too."

Glenda beamed. "It sounds like you know Mitch pretty well."

"He was the Captain of my Army unit. He was the one who covered my ass when I was shot over there. He got hit too. That's why his hand is kind of gimpy. He tells people that he got it caught in a farm implement but he took one for me. We went to the Academy at the same time and started out together. He moved to headquarters when he met his wife. She is a cousin of ours, I think. You will have to ask Marla about that."

"I will for sure. So where do we go from here?"

"Let's put the Clan on ice unless something else comes up. We'll add this new one to the list and see if we can find a link. This is getting a lot more complex than we expected."

"No kidding."

It was close to lunchtime when we heard the ding of the printer starting to print out the file from Mitch. Glenda went to the machine and started scanning the pages as they came off until she muttered, "Oh Shit!"

"What's the matter, Glen?" She turned and I could see that she was distressed. I stood and walked towards her. "What is it?"

"Thomas, the driver of the truck down there was my brother. Does that mean that I can't work on this?"

It was my turn to frown. "I don't know." I picked up the phone and called, "Can you come down here for a minute? We might have a problem."

A minute later, Rick entered. "What's up?"

"We talked to Mitch a while ago about a possible link to the Clan. He is going to follow that but sent us a file on another truck with a hidden compartment. It is coming in but Glenda saw that her brother was driving the truck when it was stopped."

Rick looked at Glenda and asked, "You remember what we talked about. Are you still ok with that?"

Glenda looked at him directly in the eye and replied, "Yes sir. I haven't changed my mind at all."

"Good. Tommy, get Mitch on the speaker." I replaced the call to Mitch who answered on the first ring. "Hey Mitch, this is Rick. This file you sent up presents a small problem."

"How so?"

"The guy driving the truck is Glenda's brother. She told me about her history and possible problems when she started. She said that she had no strong feelings about her brothers or her father. So, we agreed that if anything came up, she could work on the case but have no direct contact with them. Whoever is investigating this doesn't need to know of her existence and involvement."

"That's no problem; the investigator is ex-Army too and has few ties in the department. I'll alert him though. Anything else?"

Rick looked at me and I added, "From our end, if he could find out if he knows where the hidden compartment came from would be helpful. Our one lead here knows nothing. He was a local hire just transporting the truck from point A to B."

"Gotcha. This whole thing is getting more and more complicated as we move forward."

"That's what I am thinking too. These boxes are too well made to be the work of an amateur and with three of them floating around, there might be something a lot bigger going on."

"I'll be in touch. Glenda, I am sorry for you personally but I agree with Rick; just do your job and everything will be fine."

"Thank you, Mitch. I think that I needed to hear all three of you say that."

The line went dead and Rick then asked, "Do you need anything? I have a meeting to go to?"

I replied, "Can we get a flickering tail light alert out?"

"What and where?"

"Let's say west and southbound Interstates and major highways for early model pickups. Say pre-1980. Just a casual stop for anything long enough to see if they can spot the edge of a box near the tailgate. If one looks suspicious, just send in the plate number and description of the driver."