“Yes, of course,” the vet said, “although I can’t do it immediately, but I have a big stable and several corrals. I can board them and they’ll be safe.”
“That can be managed,” Velasquez said. “I will tell my man that I want them picked up several days from now. Will that give you enough time to remove the drugs?”
“Well, yes. But what will we do with the drugs?” the vet asked.
“Turn them over to your sheriff, of course,” Velasquez said without hesitation.
The look on Marlowe’s face as he said it was a study in astonishment. “Raines must have planned to transport the drugs this way,” Velasquez said aloud. Silently, he was furious. Raines had obviously planned to steal the drugs by concealing them in the young bulls and driving them right down to Velasquez’s ranch—except that probably the bulls wouldn’t make it that far. Raines would have his small fortune in stolen drugs, and the bulls would be collateral damage. He’d have carved up the young animals to retrieve his drugs with no one the wiser. He’d have some cock and bull story ready for Velasquez, too, no doubt. Velasquez was already aware of the coming double cross, and this idiocy of Raines only emphasized what a stupid man the mule really was.
Velasquez was outraged at what had been done to injure small animals in that manner. It was unconscionable. He treated his animals well, especially his bulls. This made him very angry and it was obvious to everyone around him.
“Shouldn’t we turn the man in to the sheriff?” Cole asked.
“Can I speak to you for a moment?” Josie asked, smiling as she took the sheriff’s big, calloused hand in hers.
He was rattled enough by Velasquez’s suggestion that he went without a protest. Velasquez was amused and impressed by her intervention; he hadn’t expected it.
He might have changed his opinion if he knew what she was saying to the sheriff. “Listen,” she said, “you can’t arrest Raines. He knows who the big guy is and when the shipments are going out. I need him. Without him, I can’t get my hands on the shipment that’s coming through, the big shipment. This is not it, this little stash of drugs in the calves, although I have to admit Raines had me keeping an eye on them and I didn’t know why. I feel very stupid.”
“You’re not the only one who’s confused here,” Marlowe replied. “But what do you mean about the main man?” he added because surely, she knew who Velasquez was.
“The big guy,” she said, “the drug lord, the main man who’s moving this product around from Mexico to the United States. I’m not sure which of two drug lords it is, and I can’t find him without Raines. I can’t find the shipment without Raines. You can’t arrest him. Not now.”
Josie’s exasperated expression fascinated him. He couldn’t believe that she didn’t know who Velasquez was, but now he had a bigger problem. She’d said there were two big drug lords. This was news, and not good news. It was obvious, very obvious, that she had no idea who the man was with whom she’d been so friendly the night before at the bar. He himself hadn’t been there, but he’d heard about it from a contact of his. She and Velasquez had spoken as if they knew each other and had known each other for many years. But he was fairly certain that she hadn’t. And then he remembered that strange sixth sense of hers that seemed to kick in at odd times. If she sensed something good about Velasquez, it was news to Marlowe, who hated his guts with a passion. But she was right. He didn’t dare arrest Raines. And he had no grounds for arresting Velasquez, who had no arrest record in the United States, no wants or warrants. His past in the country was as clean as a whistle, even though he had been under indictment at least once in Mexico for drug running, and if Dunn arrested Raines it would not go well for Josie. It might put her at greater risk. Plus, he risked losing a multimillion-dollar shipment of illegal drugs.
“All right,” he agreed finally. “Since we don’t know exactly who planted the drugs in the cattle right now, we can’t arrest anybody. I hope you know that I feel like every bone in my body is broken from making this kind of concession,” he added.
“There, there,” she said. “When we get everybody behind bars you’ll feel all better.”
He laughed in spite of himself. “All right, I’ll go back to my office and play solitaire on my cell phone in between reports.”
“Poker is better,” she remarked with a laugh.
“Only if I could find somebody stupid enough to play poker with me,” he replied enigmatically, and smiled. He glanced toward Velasquez with one more hot look. He was still amazed at the man’s concern for a few cattle. “I’ll see you around,” he told Josie. He got in his car and drove away.
Josie joined the others at the corral. Velasquez and Cole were talking about cattle as if they’d known each other for a hundred years with an ease that set strangely on a drug lord and rancher who was as straight as an arrow. But then she reminded herself, miracles still happened. She’d saved Raines, but she still had work to do. And in order to do it, she needed Raines.
Fourteen
John joined the small group after a few minutes. He’d seen the vet in the barn and spoken to him. His face was thunderous.
“I’m sorry,” John said to Velasquez. “Do I know you?”
“My name is Eduardo Duarte,” he introduced himself and shook hands with John. “I run purebred Santa Gertrudis cattle on my hacienda in Mexico.”
“Do you know what’s going on with the calves?” he asked with an angry glance toward Josie, whom he had become warm toward and now regretted.
“Yes, we do,” Josie said, “and whoever did it should be shot!”
“We have a slight complication,” Cole told John.
“What sort of complication?” he wanted to know.
“Something we shouldn’t discuss in company,” Velasquez said. “Even very pleasant company,” he added with a warm smile at Josie, which caused John to look like a thunderstorm about to come down. Josie didn’t need a road map to understand why he said that. Velasquez was deliberately distancing her from the actual matter of drug smuggling, so that Johndidn’t get suspicious. She wished she could thank him, but she didn’t dare try.
Cole took Velasquez and John aside. Velasquez explained to John what was going on. John was furious. “You should have the sheriff arrest him right now,” John fumed.
“We can’t do that,” Cole said, having just spoken with Marlowe. “And I can’t explain why we can’t do that,” he added.
