Bad Day in Queen's Landing - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Cal walked into Terrance’s house.  Knocking was useless.  Terrance never answered the door.  He also never locked the door.  When Cal walked in he had to hold his breath while searching for Terrance.  Smoke filled the home.  Cal found Terrance taking a hit off a bong.  Terrance raised his hand at him in greeting, stoned out of his mind.  Cal grabbed Terrance and drug him out the back door to fresh air.  Terrance was bigger than Cal.  Terrance used to be a standout middle linebacker in high school.  He used to be 6’2” 215 lbs. and could run a 4.4 forty. Terrance had joined the military out of high school and had become a firearms and marksman expert.  Cal had never gotten the full story, but somewhere in the Middle East, Terrance was either shot or stepped on something and severely injured his leg.  He didn’t lose it or anything like that, but he could always tell when bad weather was coming, and it did seem to legitimately hurt on a consistent basis.  Terrance now spent his days smoking pot, and claiming it was all medicinal marijuana, forgetting the fact that Kentucky didn’t recognize medicinal marijuana.

“What’s eatin’ you?” Terrance asked.

“I think Hernandez killed Chris,” Cal replied solemnly.  “I think it’s all my fault.”

“Chris?  The sheriff?” Terrance asked.  “Man, either I’m more stoned than I realized, or Hernandez just stepped up his game.”  Terrance looked over at his friend who didn’t know what to do.  “Chris finally figure out you’re taking money from Hernandez?”  Cal looked over at Terrance in shock.

“T, how did you know?” Cal asked.

“Do you think we’re all stupid?” Terrance asked in respond.  “You’re rolling in money that you shouldn’t have.  You have never brought in any of his men, and every time one of them gets popped, they suddenly get out because of mishandling of evidence.  I’m stoned, not stupid.  The question is what did Chris have that Hernandez killed him over?”

            “Chris had some type of file apparently,” Cal answered, still shocked that Terrance had figured things out.”

            “What are you going to do?” Terrance asked.

            “I don’t know what I can do,” Cal admitted.  “If I take him down he turns in the file, if I try and take it, he’ll kill me.”

            “You deputies are a bunch of wimps,” Terrance said, shaking his head in disgust.

            “I’m sheriff now!” Cal spat back.  “Besides who are you to talk?”  Terrance lifted an eyebrow and looked down at his leg.  Cal looked a little ashamed of himself for blowing up at his friend like that.  Terrance sighed and crossed his arms.  He knew how to fix this mess; he didn’t want to, but he knew how.

            “How many men does Hernandez have?” Terrance asked.

            “I have no idea, no more than 8 to 10 at a time are at his safe house,” Cal replied.  Terrance nodded, and walked inside, Cal followed.  Terrance walked up to a wall, took a look at Cal, and made up his mind.

            “You’ve looked the other way on the things I do for a long time, guess I owe you,” Terrance said and began to shove a book case.  The bookcase moved back to revel a stairway.  Cal looked at Terrance in awe.

            “I may have been a slightly bigger deal then I let one when I was in the military,” Terrance said as an explanation.

            “I’ll say,” Cal muttered.  “I’ll say.”

Bad Day in Queen's Landing - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

            “Who says I was at the Sheriff’s house last night?”  Hernandez asked. 

“Come on Hernandez,” Cal replied.  “My brother-in-law could tell the tire tracks came from vehicles like yours.  Do you think everyone in this town is stupid enough not to figure it out?”

Hernandez laughed.  “Yeah, I do,” he replied.

Cal was seriously beginning to think he made a mistake.  He thought about the conversation he had with his sister a few months ago, regarding Hernandez.  The rumor had been that Hernandez wasn’t just selling in LaCompt county, and he wasn’t just selling weed.  Carol had told him that cocaine use and heroin use were up tremendously in the surrounding counties.  She had also heard that the Mexican drug cartel was supposedly interested in making some deals with Hernandez.

Cal was beginning to suspect that Hernandez wasn’t honoring their agreement.  There was something else that bothered Cal.  LaCompt county wasn’t that big.  There was only a population of around 15,000 people.  How was Hernandez making enough to pay Cal off $5,000.00 every two months and still be making the money he was obviously making?  As Cal glanced around at all the guns pointed in his direction, he decided that this might not be the best time to ask that question to Hernandez.

“Hernandez, do I need to do something, or not?”  Cal asked.  Hernandez frowned.  “I can’t do what you paid me to do if I don’t know what’s going on.”  Hernandez signaled for his guys to lower their guns.  He leaned in angrily. 

“If you’d done your job, we wouldn’t have to take care of the Sherriff,” Hernandez said in a low voice.

“What do you mean?”  Cal asked.  Hernandez said nothing, stood up, strode over to a table and picked up a file for Cal to see.

“This buried both of us,” he continued.  “Now go do the job I’m paying you for!”  Cal thought about saying something else, but thought better of it.  He left.  Just before he exited the door he turned back.

“Is there anything going on I need to know about?”  He asked Hernandez.  Hernandez barked a laugh.

“No, there’s nothing you need to know,” Hernandez answered, emphasizing need.  Cal turned, walked out to his vehicle, started it, and took off, knowing this was probably the last time he would see Hernandez on friendly terms.

Bad Day in Queen's Landing Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Cal walked into the house, and nearly threw up.  He had seen crime scenes before, but this was absolutely senseless.  Cal counted five bullet holes minimum in Chris.  He nodded and Carol dropped the cover back over Chris.  Since the county was so small, Carol had become deputy coroner.  For the most part, she took care of crime scenes and brought the body back to the coroner, unless an emergency call came in that she was needed somewhere else.

            Carol walked with Cal through the house; trying to make sure he didn’t get sick and contaminate the crime scene.  She looked especially irritated with him today.  Cal stopped and turned toward her.

            “Have I done something that makes you more irritated with me than usual?”  Cal asked.  Carol gave Cal a dirty look.

            “What do you think happened here?”  She asked very angrily. 

            “I have no idea Carol,” Cal responded, genuinely confused.  Carol turned and studied him for a minute. She pursed her lips and nodded. 

            “This was senseless,” Carol said quietly.  Cal nodded.  “It makes me angry, I’m sorry if I took it out on you.”  Cal reached out an arm and hugged his sister with one arm.  Cal noticed something and let her go.  Carol followed Cal, watching him.

            “Guys,” Cal called toward the crime scene techs.  They came to where Cal was.  Carol saw it.  There was a blood trail into the kitchen and back outside.  Cal went and stood where the drops ended. 

            “Was there something on the table?” Carol asked.  Cal turned toward her, nodding.

            “I think so,” Cal replied.  “Apparently someone came in here to get something, and then left.  The question is whose blood was dripped, Chris’s, or one of his assailants?”  Cal turned toward one of the techs who was smiling.

            “Don’t even start on us man,” the tech said.  “You’ve watched too much TV if you think you’ll get this blood analyzed in under 24 hours.”  Cal didn’t say a word; he just stepped back and let his sister bite the man’s head off.

            “That is an officer down,” Carol said pointing at Chris’s body.  “Does that not light a fire under you!?!”  The tech gulped, and turned toward his supervisor, who just nodded and left the room.

            “I’m sorry ma’am,” the tech said.  “I’ll personally put a rush on it.”  The man left and Cal found himself chuckling.  Carol turned around with an amused smirk on her face.

            “What are you laughing about?”  She asked.  Cal shook his head.  There was no way in the world he was answering that question.  He continued to work the crime scene.  Craig offered to give Cal a lift home so he could get his vehicle and begin his investigation.  Cal accepted and shortly he was on the road. 

            After about 10 minutes of driving, Cal pulled up to Hernandez’s known hangout.  One of his goons met Cal outside.  He led Cal inside.  Hernandez nodded at Cal as he entered the room.  Hernandez got up and went to his safe.  He picked up an envelope and handed it to Cal.  Cal opened it, and saw the 5 grand he had been expecting.  Cal smiled at his return on his investment.  He sat down and looked Hernandez right in the eye.

            “What were you doing at the Sheriff’s house last night?”  Cal asked.

            The four goons of Hernandez pulled their guns on Cal.  As he heard their weapons click, for the first time in the past 10 years, Cal wondered if he was making a mistake by taking payoffs from Hernandez to look the other way as he sold weed in LaCompt County.

Bad Day in Queen's Landing - Chapter 3

            Chapter 3

            Carol climbed out of the ambulance with an annoyed look on her face.

            “Why don’t you have you phone on?”  She demanded.

            “I can’t get a signal, so what’s the point?”  Cal replied.  Cal had been turning on his phone as the exchange took place.  He saw numerous missed calls and texts.  He nodded, impressed with the amount of calls made trying to locate him. “I take it this isn’t over breakfast?”  He asked his sister.

            “Get in!”  Carol demanded.  Cal knew when Carol was like this there was no arguing.  Cal locked his seatbelt and prepared to hold on for dear life.  Five minutes later they arrived at their destination, Chris Rogers’s residence, Cal’s boss.  Cal looked over Carol.  She gave him her famous, “you should have listened to me” look.  Cal got out of the ambulance and noticed the front window had been blown out, and bullet holes littered the frame of the house. 

            “What happened here?”  Cal asked quietly.  He noticed the Mayor walking up towards him.  Cal was getting very nervous.  The Mayor extended his hand and Cal shook it.”

            “Cal,” the Mayor said crisply.  “As of right now, you’re the new sheriff of LaCompt County.  We’ll deal with things later, but right now, you need to figure out who killed Chris, and quickly.”  The Mayor nodded curtly, turned, and walked away.  The reporter for the local paper came up to Cal.

            “Anything I can do Cal?”  Tyler, the reporter asked. 

            “Not right now Tyler,” Cal replied.  “When did this happen?”

            “No one knows for sure,” Tyler replied.  “People started trying to call Chris this morning; that was the only way everyone figured out something was wrong.”

            “No one heard the gun shots!?!”  Cal exclaimed.

            “The only neighbor around is 80, and she can’t hear you if you yell directly in her ear,” Tyler replied.  Cal shook his head.  Kentucky Highway Patrol had shown up and had offered to help process the scene.  Cal knew that meant they were going to take over the investigation which was fine with him.  What had happened here?  Cal looked around and saw his brother-in-law Craig.  Craig waved him over and Cal headed toward him.

            “Bad day in Queen’s Landing,” Craig said.  Cal nodded.  He hadn’t gone inside the house yet because he didn’t want to see his dead friend.  Cal was looking over toward some tire tracks that had been roped off.  Cal motioned with his head for Craig to follow him. 

            “Any chance you recognize these tire tracks?”  Cal asked.  Cal didn’t have a clue about cars, tires, trucks, or anything motorized.  Craig looked a second at the tracks and then back at Cal.  There was a confused look on his face.

            “Yeah I recognize them,” Craig replied.  “Don’t you?”  Cal shook his head no.  “Man those are the same type of treads your SUV makes.”  Cal nearly broke his neck trying to keep from whipping his head around to look at Craig.  Cal had a bad feeling where this was going.

            “Do they look like only my tire tracks?”  Cal asked never looking at Craig.

            “No,” Craig responded shaking his head.  “They look like those SUVs that Hernandez’s creeps roll around in.  Cal was torn.  On one hand he was thrilled that there were other vehicles than his that made the tracks, on the other, he had rather it been anyone other than Hernandez.  Hernandez Marrero was the known marijuana king of LaCompt County.  There were questions as to whether or not he was involved with the Mexican drug cartel.  Cal didn’t think so.  He thought Hernandez help spread those rumors so others would be scared to cross him.  Regardless if the stories were true or not, no one crossed Hernandez.  Cal thanked Craig for the help and started for the house.  Craig watched Cal walk away shaking his head.  Cal may have been a smart man, but if the stories were true he was the dumbest man in the county for the deal he had made.