“That’s right. Probably got some law enforcement on his payroll so you need to be careful who you trust.”
Linc thought of Howler. He was the local law in the county. Linc didn’t know whether or not the sheriff was corrupt, but with the bad blood between them, he couldn’t trust his usually reliable instincts where Howler was concerned.
“Anything else?” he asked.
“Not yet, but I’m heading for Iron Springs. I want to do some digging, see what some of the locals have to say about the hijacking, see what they say about Miguel Hernandez.”
An alarm went off in Linc’s head. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m wondering if there’s a chance Hernandez wasn’t as lily white as everyone thought he was. Maybe he was working for El Jefe and something went wrong. Hernandez got axed and the hijacking was just a cover.”
Carly spoke up. “I don’t believe it. Miguel was a family man. My grandfather trusted him completely. No way was he working for some drug lord.”
“Your loyalty is commendable, Ms. Drake,” Ross said, “but it’s my job to find out the truth, no matter what it turns out to be.”
“But—”
“You can stay at the house while you’re in town,” Linc said. “I’ll tell the housekeeper to expect you.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be there tomorrow. If you haven’t left for Dallas, we can talk then.”
“I’ll be here. I’ve got a project in front of the county commissioners’ court tomorrow afternoon.” Linc looked at Carly. “Anything you want to add?”
Her mouth looked tight. She just shook her head. She was still fighting the notion that her employee might have been involved in some kind of criminal activity. But the things people did rarely surprised Linc anymore.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” he said to Townsend and ended the phone call. “You okay?” he asked Carly.
“Miguel had a wife and three kids. I don’t believe he’d get involved with a drug lord.”
“For his family’s sake, I hope you’re right, but it’s Ross’s job to find out. Now that El Jefe is pressing you for a meeting, it’s even more important. In that regard, I think we should hold off on talking to the sheriff. Let’s see what Townsend comes up with first.”
“You don’t trust Howler?”
“I don’t like him and he doesn’t like me. I don’t know if he’s on the take; I’m just not sure of him. If he’s on El Jefe’s payroll—”
“You’re right. We need to wait.” She looked up at him. “I thought you’d be heading back to Dallas tonight. I mean, you do run a big corporation and Monday’s the beginning of the workweek.”
The hopeful look in those big blue eyes irritated the hell out of him. With his money, women fell all over themselves trying to get his attention. Carly had spent most of her time trying to get rid of him.
“Sorry, sweet pea, I’m not going back till tomorrow. Tex/Am is opening a tire rebuilding plant a couple of miles outside Pleasant Hill, the first of a chain. The plant’s good for the community, creates jobs, brings money into the area. But a bunch of environmentalists from out of town are fighting the project.”
“Sometimes they do good things,” she said. “Sometimes they just don’t have enough to do.”
“Sad thing is, what we’re planning is actually recycling, re-using old tires instead of just throwing them into a land fill or burning them up and sending toxic waste into the atmosphere. So far, they aren’t convinced. You want to go to supper tonight?” he asked, just to see her scramble. “We can talk about the case.”
She squirmed in her chair, fiddled with her ponytail, glanced away, then back at him. “Thanks, but I . . . umm . . . already have plans.”
“Too bad,” he said, not the least surprised she’d refused him. The lady was no fool. Staying away from him was exactly the right thing to do. Unfortunately.
He came up out of the chair. “I’ve got to get going. I’ll call you if Townsend comes up with anything new.”
“Thank you.” She walked over and opened the door. “And thanks again for what you did last night.”
Linc turned to face her. “Remember what we talked about—you don’t meet with El Jefe. You call me the minute you hear from him. Give me your phone.” She hesitated a moment, then grabbed it off the desk and handed it over. Linc plugged in his private number.
“You call me—you understand? I don’t care what time it is.”
She gave him a reluctant nod. “Okay.”
