Justice Ch. 03: Lawyers, Guns & Money

"Is that what you're trying to figure out?" I asked. He nodded his head.

"Yeah," he said. "Unfortunately, Lionel's memories are a bit fuzzy right now."

"You can read memories?" I asked. He smiled and nodded his head slightly.

"A bit," he said. "One of the perks of the job. Maybe after he wakes up I can get a better read."

"I thought you said you could read a man's face," I said. He nodded his head.

"I can," he said. "I can tell a lot from a man's face. But not necessarily everything. The trick is to look into his eyes - those are the windows into a man's mind." I took in what he said for a few moments before speaking again.

"Whaddya say we go out back for a beer and a smoke?" I asked. He looked at Lionel for a second, then nodded his head.

"Why not?" he asked with a smile. "Can't do much more here till he wakes up." We got up and headed out back, stopping at the fridge long enough to get two longnecks. I pulled out the case he gave me, opened it and offered him a cigarette. He took it as I pulled out a match and struck it on my jeans. He puffed as I lit his cigarette, then lit my own. We stared out into the darkness, lost in our own thoughts for a while.

"These jobs you do, Grandpa," I said. "Are they always like Mike's or Lionels?"

"Nah," he said. "Most of the time, they're pretty straightforward. Kinda like yours. More often than not, the fellas I help don't even know I was involved. I kinda like it that way. But lately, it seems they've gotten a lot more complicated, a lot more intense. Sometimes, it makes me think people don't even know the difference between right and wrong anymore. Worse yet, a lot of 'em don't seem to care."

"I can understand that," I said. "Well, Danni and I will do everything we can to help."

"I appreciate that, son," he said. "It means a lot to me. Especially since I'm not up on all this new-fangled technology of yers. In my day, it was a lot simpler. Shoot the bastard and be done with it. Not quite so easy anymore. Speaking of shooting," he began.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You've been practicing with that rifle I gave ya?" I nodded my head. The last time I saw him, he gave me a Winchester Model 1892 44-40 rifle with a modified lever. It was designed so that all I had to do to fire the thing was cycle the lever after putting a pin in place. It worked a lot like the rifle used in that old television western.

"Sure have," I said. "Funny thing, though."

"What's that?" he asked.

"Darn thing never seems to run out of bullets," I said. He laughed.

"Noticed that, have you?" he asked with a grin. "That can come in handy in a gunfight. Trust me, you take care of it, and it'll damn sure take care of you." We finished our cigarettes and our beer and headed back inside. Danni was waiting for us in the front room. She had several sheets of paper in her hand.

"I looked up Castillo and Cheryl Lindstrom/Hawkins for you," she said. "You ready to hear what I learned?"

"Sure," Elijah said, sitting down.

"Okay," she said. "First off, according to what I could find, Cheryl last worked as an attorney for Dewey and Cheatham in southern California. I'm not sure if she's still employed there or not, but Castillo was her most recent assignment. Apparently, she handles all of his legal work in the U.S. She also travels with him a lot. Mexico City, Bogota, Caracas, even overseas. There's been articles written online about Castillo and a lot of the pictures of him seem to include her. And she looks more like arm candy than a high-priced attorney." She stopped to hand us a printed photo.

Cheryl was a very attractive woman with long dark hair and doe-like eyes. Her Latin heritage was easy to spot. She wore a short dress that showed off a lot of well-toned leg and a fair amount of cleavage. Castillo looked to be a little older than her and appeared to be quite refined in his expensive suit. He had his arm around her and she seemed to enjoy the embrace. It was obvious there was chemistry between them.

"There's more. Castillo has large villas in Colombia and Mexico," she said. "He's also been under investigation by Mexican authorities for various allegations. Drugs, guns, human trafficking, you name it. Nothing ever came of those investigations, however, since they magically seemed to disappear. It also appears that lately, he's been very active politically in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. That's the biggest state in Mexico and borders Texas and New Mexico."

"What do you mean, active?" I asked.

"It seems he's been building up a coalition to eventually oust the political leaders there," she said. "It's not really that much different than rich people here in the states propping up politicians. He's already gotten several mayors replaced with politicians loyal to him and he's gotten a number of bureaucrats replaced as well. People are starting to ask questions."

"But you think there's more to it?" Grandpa asked.

"I don't know," she said. "It's hard to tell just from these reports."

"Alright," Grandpa said, taking the stack of papers from Danni. "I'll go through this. Much obliged, Danni. Why don't you young'uns get some sleep and I'll stay up with Lionel here."

"Are you sure, Grandpa?" Danni asked. "You need your sleep, too." He laughed at that.

"Don't worry yer pretty little head, sweetheart," he said. "I have no need for sleep anymore, remember?"

"Sorry, forgot," she said. He kissed her on the forehead as she walked upstairs. I looked at him before I went up, but he was already going over everything Danni gave him.

"Goodnight, Grandpa," I said. He looked up and gave me a wave.

"Goodnight, son," he said. "Don't worry about disturbing me, by the way," he added with a smile. I knew what he meant. Danni could be a screamer at times. I smiled and headed on up. As it turned out, I didn't have to worry much as Danni kept a pillow close by just to keep from screaming out.

The next morning, I awoke to the smell of bacon and coffee and knew Danni was already up and about. I went into the bathroom and did my business, took a shower, dressed and headed downstairs.

"'Bout damn time you got up, sleepyhead," Grandpa said, laughing. "Half the day's gone already." I smiled and went into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee and give my wife her morning kiss. I wrapped my arms around her and nuzzled into her neck.

"Damn, that smells good," I said.

"Thank you, kind sir," she said. "But you'd better let me finish before it gets burned." I gave her a kiss, grabbed my coffee and went into the front room. William was in his high chair and Lionel was awake but still laying on the couch.

"How are you feeling?" I asked. He looked at me, confused.

"My leg hurts like hell and my back itches," he said. "Where am I? Who are you people? How did I get here? Am I..."

"One question at a time," I said. "To start, no, you're not dead. My name is Amos Jones. The woman making breakfast is my wife, Danni, and this other fella is..."

"Justice O. Peace," Grandpa said, holding out his hand. Lionel took it and looked closely at Grandpa.

"I remember seeing you," Lionel said. "You were the one who picked me up in the desert." Grandpa nodded his head. "How did you know where I was?"

"You asked for help," Grandpa said. "I answered your call." Lionel thought back and remembered his prayer. He looked at Grandpa, shocked.

"Are you..." he began. Grandpa shook his head.

"No, no," he said. "Not even close."

"So, where am I?" Lionel asked.

"Texas," I told him. "Are you up for a little breakfast?" He nodded his head.

"Yeah, I'm starving," he said. Danni brought him a plate of bacon and eggs and set it on the coffee table after putting down a placemat. "Thank you so much," he said.

"You're welcome," she said. "Dig in." He didn't have to be told twice. He picked up the fork and scarfed down the food as though he hadn't eaten for days. Danni brought out food for the rest of us and we sat and ate in silence. She sat with William and fed him as she ate, placing him in his playpen when she was finished.

"So," I said after I finished. "What can you tell us? How did you end up in Death Valley?"

"Is that where I was?" he asked. I nodded my head.

"Yeah," I said. "What happened?"

"The last thing I remember was setting my briefcase on my desk at home so I could go over some paperwork," he said. "The next thing I know, I'm tied up and in the trunk of a car. The car stopped and they threw me out. My wife pissed on me and made it clear she wanted me dead."

"Oh my God," Danni said.

"What kind of paperwork?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Just some things Cheryl - that's my wife, by the way - wanted me to notarize for her client," he said.

"This is important, Lionel," Danni said. "What kind of papers?"

"She's been after me to pre-notarize and sign documents for some kind of import and export thing her client is doing," he said.

"Wait," Danni said. "She wanted you to sign and put a notary stamp on something that hadn't even been signed or completely filled out yet?" she asked, shocked.

"Pretty much, yeah," he said.

"Why?" Danni asked. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know," he said.

"You're wife is an attorney, right?" she asked. He nodded his head.

"Yeah," he said.

"So why couldn't she take care of this if it's so important?" Danni asked. He shook his head.

"Again, I don't know," he said. "I asked her, but she just blew me off. I told her I wouldn't do it unless I first met her client and discussed it with him and I also told her I refused to put my stamp on anything that wasn't completely filled out and verified first. Look, I don't have much, but I still have my integrity."

"I understand," Danni said. She looked at Grandpa and I before speaking again. "I'm smelling a very large rat here," she said. "Nothing about this makes any sense." She turned back to Lionel. "Did she offer you money?"

"Oh, God, yes," he said. "A whole damn suitcase full of $100 bills. I didn't count it, but I knew it had to much more than $10,000. You know what happens when you try to deposit that much cash at once, right?" Danni nodded her head.

"I also know what happens if you try to deposit that in incremental amounts," she said. "You didn't accept it, did you?"

"Hell, no," he said. "I told her in no uncertain terms I either meet directly with her client and get the full story or no deal."

"How is your relationship with your wife right now?" Danni asked. He laughed out loud.

"What relationship?" he asked. "The last three months, I'm lucky if I see her maybe five days the whole month. The rest of the time she's off to meetings in Mexico City, Acapulco, Bogota, wherever else she goes. Even when she's home, she's either on her phone or on her computer."

"Do you think she's cheating on you?" Danni asked.

"Right now, I'm certain of it," he said. "I've suspected for a while, but she was never home and I could never afford a PI to check up on her."

"What makes you certain of it now?" Danni asked.

"Her last words to me," he said. "After she pissed on me, she told me to do humanity a favor and die. One of her goons called me a 'cuck' and she admitted fucking other guys. I may be weak, but I'm not stupid." Danni showed him one of the photos she printed off the internet.

"Is this your wife?" she asked. He looked at it and nodded his head.

"Yeah, that's her," he said.

"Do you know the man she's with?" Danni asked.

"No, not personally," he said. "I assume he's one of her rich clients."

"Her only client from what I can gather," Danni said. "His name is Enrique Castillo and he's one of Mexico's wealthiest businessmen."

"Figures," Lionel said. "Enrique comes from the German name Heinrich, which basically translates to 'powerful ruler of the home.' The name Castillo translates to 'Castle.' Which tells me he's probably an overbearing asshole with delusions of power and grandeur." He looked at us after he said all that. "Sorry, it's a hobby of mine. I like to research the origin and meaning of names."

"So we can assume that whatever she wanted you to notarize had something to do with him," Danni said. "Am I right?" He slowly nodded his head.

"Yeah," he said.

"Maybe it has something to do with that note you found before you were nabbed," Grandpa said. Until now, he had just been listening, watching Lionel's face, not saying much of anything. Lionel's eyes widened at that.

"How do you know about that?" he asked.

"It's a hobby of his," I said. "He reads faces." Lionel looked back and forth between us.

"And he can tell that from my face?" he asked.

"I can tell a lot about a man by his face," Grandpa said. Just then, we heard a knock at the door. I opened it and ushered Doc Thompson inside.

"How's our patient this morning?" he asked, looking at Lionel. "You seem to be doing a bit better."

"I am," he said. Doc nodded his head and examined Lionel's wound.

"The bit looks a lot better than it did yesterday," he said as he began to change the dressing. "You eat anything yet?"

"I had some bacon and eggs," Lionel said. Doc nodded his head again.

"Good," he said. "No nausea, dizziness or anything like that?"

"No," Lionel said, shaking his head.

"Even better," Doc said. "Well, that should do you," he added as he finished replacing the bandage. "Don't put too much weight on that leg for a while and call if you need anything."

"How much do I owe you?" I asked. Doc waved his hand.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "My office manager will send a bill. You folks take care now, y'hear?"

"See ya, Doc," Danni and I said as he walked out. After he left, we turned our attention back to Lionel.

"You were going to explain something about a note you found," I said. Lionel took a deep breathed and sighed.

"Yeah, it had some numbers and the initials AK along with what looked like a date and GPS coordinates," he said. Grandpa looked at me.

"Jee Pee Ess? What's that?" he asked.

"GPS," I said. "Stands for Global Positioning Satellite. It's a way to find and track anything on earth."

"Good grief," Grandpa said. "What'll they think of next?"

"What do you think it was?" I asked Lionel.

"I honestly don't know," he said.

"But you have an idea, don't you?" Grandpa asked him. Lionel nodded his head.

"Yeah," he said. "A friend of mine suggested it had something to do with a possible shipment of illegal arms. But I just can't imagine Cheryl being involved in something so blatantly illegal."

"Did you ever imagine that your wife would cheat on you and try to get you to engage in unethical if not outright illegal behavior with your notary?" Danni asked. She didn't wait for an answer before she continued. I knew she was in full lawyer mode and wouldn't stop until Lionel figured it out for himself.

"Did you ever imagine that your wife would have you drugged, kidnapped and left you in the desert to die?" she asked, her voice getting angrier. "Did you ever imagine that she would literally piss on you and tell you to do humanity a favor and die?" Lionel shook his head, tears falling down his cheeks.

"No," he said quietly. "I figured she was cheating, but I never would've imagined the rest."

"So is it really too far of a stretch to think that she might be involved in something highly illegal, like gun running?" Danni asked. He shook his head again.

"Not when you put it in that context, no," he said. All during this exchange, I noticed Grandpa's eyes were closed and it looked like he was in communication with someone, but I didn't know who. After Lionel spoke, Grandpa opened his eyes and looked up at me.

"Do me a favor, son," he said quietly. "Turn on that television device of yours and put it on channel 970." I picked up the remote and did as he asked. We didn't have anything that went up that high on our service, so I wondered what we would see. When I put the cable box on 970, the image showed what looked like an expensive veranda with a bistro table and two chairs. I hit the button to start recording to the DVR.

Cheryl stepped on the veranda, wearing nothing but a short robe that was open in the front. As she walked, the robe opened and we could see she was naked. After she sat down, a dark-skinned man dressed in a somewhat longer robe sat across from her. A servant came by and handed them each a cup from a serving tray.

"What are we looking at, Grandpa?" I asked. He held up his hand.

"I'll tell you when it's done," he said. As we watched, they took a sip from their cups before speaking.

The man said something in rapid Spanish and a box appeared at the bottom of the screen with a translation.

"I see you took care of your clueless husband yesterday," the English translation in the box read.

"Yes," Cheryl said in Spanish.

"I'm sure it was difficult for you to dispose of him in such a way," he told her. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Not really, Enrique," she said. "It's been building for a while. It would have to have been done sooner or later anyway. This just saves me the trouble and expense of a divorce. Now, his entire estate and his business will be mine once he's declared dead."

"I take it you didn't love him, then," Enrique said. She shook her head.

"Not for a long time," she said, prompting more tears from Lionel. "At first, yeah. But he just didn't have the drive for wealth and power that you do. And I'll be damned if I'm going to carry someone because they don't have the ambition to do better on their own."

"And now?" he asked. She smiled and took a sip of her drink.

"Now, I have you," she said, causing him to smile. "And I've never been happier or more satisfied."

"And soon, you will have all of Chihuahua at your feet," he said, causing her to smile. "Once the weapons are delivered, my new army will be ready to move and we will strike. You know, my men said they lost track of your husband a few hours after you dropped him off. They're still looking, but they haven't found anything yet." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe he fell into a ravine or crawled away somewhere and died," she said. "Who cares? Besides, where could he go? He didn't even have his comb when I left him and I didn't see any angels swooping down to take him away. Face it. He's gone now. It's just you and me." He smiled as he nodded his head.

"Yes, it is, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically. He was suddenly distracted and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a mobile phone and spoke into it.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked. We couldn't hear the other end of the conversation. After a few seconds, he responded. "Do it, now," he ordered before ending the call.

"What was that, Enrique?" Cheryl asked. He smiled and shook his head.

"A minor administrative detail," he said. "Nothing for you to worry about. Now, where were we?"

"You were going to tell me again about our future," she said.

"Ah, yes," he said. "First, we take Chihuahua. Then we take all of Mexico. After that, we unite all of our people under one banner. Then, we move north and join our oppressed brothers and sisters and take back that which the gringos stole from us so long ago. It will be a glorious war and I will become the Napoleon of the Western Hemisphere." Cheryl had opened her robe and was masturbating as he spoke, her legs spread wide. "That excites you, does it?" he asked as he watched her tremble in orgasm.

"Yes, it does," she said. "And I'll be your Empress Josephine and I'll be at your side when the crooked President of the United States is forced to surrender to you, my king."

"Am I your king?" he asked with a crooked smile.

"Of course, Enrique," she said. "Always and forever. I want to be your queen and give birth to your heirs."