Crime in Bell County was relatively low. They were used to dealing with escaped cows or traffic accidents for the most part. He watched Agatha go to Rodriguez and throw her arms around her, and the two women wept openly.
He saw Coil hang up the phone and put his head in his hands, so he went to the office and knocked on the door. Coil waved him in.
“Any news?”
“The special agent in charge at the FBI is upset because we didn’t notify him first. He mentioned something about reopening the ethics violation against me, and then I might have mentioned how I heard the FBI was doing an internal investigation on his house because of dirty practices. The conversation went downhill from there.”
Hank grinned. “Are they going to assist with forensics, or actually send agents out to help?”
“He wouldn’t commit. For the time being, the state crime lab is examining the blood and the bullet. Will Ellis called earlier to say that their Ranger crime scene techs had finished up processing Brad Hartley’s murder. Will said they did find one bullet casing and it matches the one we recovered off the highway.”
“Any luck with the hospitals?” Hank asked. “No way could that guy Hazel hit with her .44 not need emergency medical attention.”
“We called the hospitals in Bell County, but no GSWs have been admitted. If they are mercenaries, the unlucky one probably got dumped off a bridge. It’s not like there’s much honor among thieves.”
“Good point,” Hank said. “I wonder if they knew the body was rigged with explosives?”
“Probably,” Coil said. “But I’m still not sure if they’re cartel or government contractors. That might also explain why they took off on the highway instead of pressing the fight to recover the corpse. I bet they were expecting it to detonate once Hazel parked on top of the thing.”
Hank blew out a breath. “Things could’ve ended very badly. I think God was watching out for my sisters today.”
“I don’t know what to do about James,” Coil admitted. “I don’t know how to deal with all the hurting people out there. Because I’m hurting too.”
“This is a tough one,” Hank said. “But those cops out there are going to look to you for guidance. Don’t be afraid to show them that you’re human.”
“You’re right,” he said. “But I’m so angry.”
“Look on the bright side,” Hank said. “Maybe you’ll get to take it out on a mercenary.”
“Fingers crossed,” he said. “Let’s go get the team focused on bringing these guys in.”
People were crammed into the conference room and spilled out into the hallway. Somber expressions greeted them. Hank knew how important it was for the leader to show strength, but most importantly humanity, in times of crisis.
“It’s been a tough day,” Coil said. “And I know we’ve all been waiting for confirmation about Deputy James, so I won’t beat around the bush. It’s been confirmed that James, as well as the medical examiner and an, as of yet, unidentified victim, were all killed in the explosion today.
“We have five eyewitnesses who can give a decent description of what the suspects look like. We’re also waiting for an expedited forensics processing on the bullet casings from the funeral home and collected off the highway. Those along with the blood sample aren’t expected to tell us much, but we’re hopeful. Hank has had experience dealing with mercenaries for hire before using these kinds of tactics, so he’s going to distribute assignments.”
Hank nodded and moved to the front of the room. “I want paired patrols canvassing neighborhoods and business districts. I want to know if these guys are in our county or across county lines. This is our priority. If someone is egregiously breaking the law, then take care of it, but lay off on the speeding tickets tonight until this is closed up. I’m going to assign two units to take care of calls from dispatch, and we’ll adjust as needed. Everyone else, I want out on the streets.
“Springer, I want you to start running the financials on Brad Hartley and the Sweet Dreams Funeral Home. Brad’s smuggling front is what brought these men here, so there has to be records of payments or cash transactions. You may find the sole thread tying us to a suspect.”
“I’m on it,” Springer said.
“Lieutenant Rodriguez, I need you on the phone with the state crime lab. Don’t take no for an answer, and make sure they run the blood and ballistics through every database known to man. You’re in charge of assigning calls coming in, and if you need to reassign patrol units that’s up to you.”
Rodriguez nodded.
“Karl, I want you to head out with the Rangers. There’s a man with a GSW to the chest who probably didn’t survive. Check rivers and under bridges, and keep an eye out for that hearse. They might have torched it or tried to bury it in the lake.
“Coil and I are going to meet with the witnesses again and see if we can pull any other information from them.”
“What about me?” Agatha asked.
“I want you to research and record,” Hank said. “This has been a fast and furious kind of day. I want a murder board set up in this office, and I need a timeline of events. The more time passes, the harder it is to remember times and who talked to who.”
Agatha nodded, and Hank looked around the room as a whole. “Let’s get this done. For James.”
“For James,” they repeated in unison.
***
Hank and Coil hadn’t said much on the short ride over from the sheriff’s office to Hank’s home. He knew his sisters were hurt and mad, and it had been so many years he had no idea how to bridge the gap. Even more, he wasn’t sure he wanted to. He’d learned over the years that toxic people sucked the joy out of life, and unless his sisters changed their attitude, they were toxic to his relationship with Agatha.
None of them had answered the phone when Hank had called, so they’d driven back to his house in hopes they’d be there and not driving back to Philadelphia.
“I don’t mean to pry,” Coil said, making Hank snort. “But what’s up with your sisters? Why’d all the fighting start?”
“Family is messy and complicated,” Hank said. “I can’t really pinpoint when things changed. I was the baby, and our parents died while I was still young, so I guess the girls felt an obligation to raise me. Can you imagine having five mothers? Five very different mothers who all combined knew exactly nothing about raising a young boy. None of them ever had kids of their own, but they’ve always had that manipulative spirit. They were smothering. Even when they got husbands of their own, they’d say things like they couldn’t have their own children because they were too busy taking care of me. I couldn’t wait to get out of that house.”
“Major guilt trip,” Coil said, whistling.
“It was always something like that. They made me feel like I was obligated to stay there and take care of them because that’s what they’d done for me. They didn’t want me to go off for college. I got a full scholarship, and you’ve have thought I’d shot someone in the head by the way they reacted. It got to the point where I just didn’t tell them anything, and when it was time to leave for school I packed a bag and left. I got to listen to more of the same every time I came home for Christmas or Thanksgiving. And they were thrilled to cheer me on at graduation because they thought I’d be moving back home and getting a job in town. But I got accepted to the police academy. I got into the Philadelphia Police Academy after graduation, and then I was sent to training at Quantico and I was there for a year. And then things really started to go downhill.