Black Oil, Red Blood

Chapter 3



Judge Delmont’s cell phone buzzed. He picked it up. “Talk to me.”

“The police chief said Nash is about to leave town with Chloe Taylor,” said a gruff voice on the other end of the line.

“You got a tail on them?” Delmont asked.

“All my manpower is on the files. Schaeffer’s laptop is encrypted, and there are ten boxes of stuff in print. That’s just the stuff we got. There are thirty more boxes where that came from. We have to find out exactly how much he knew before we’re certain we’ve plugged the leak.”

“Thirty more boxes?”

“There wasn’t enough time to get them all before Nash and his guys got there. We need to secure the rest before Taylor does.”

“I see. You got any idea where Nash and Taylor are headed?”

“Some place for dinner. Nash is going to pick her up at her house at 6:30.”

“A date?” Delmont rearranged the cigar ashes in the tray with the end of his pen.

“Not according to Chief Scott.”

“How would he know?”

“He’s got Nash’s office bugged, as of yesterday. You know Nash and his goody-two-shoes reputation. If he happens to get wind of us, no telling what he might do.”

“You think Taylor will find out anything we don’t want her to know?”

“Unlikely. I don’t think she’s aware anything out of the ordinary is going on.”

Delmont snorted. “Please. Her expert turns up dead the night before a summary judgment hearing, and you don’t think she thinks anything out of the ordinary is going on? Get real. She’s a big city lawyer. She ain’t stupid. And you’ve got piss poor timing. You should have called me first.”

“It wasn’t your call to make.”

“Maybe not, but just FYI, Taylor ain’t playing by the rules anymore, either.”

“What do you mean?” the voice on the other end of the phone asked.

“If I don’t grant her motion for continuance tomorrow morning, I’m gonna lose my wife—that’s what I mean.”

The person on the other end of the line grunted. “Huh. Well, is that altogether a bad thing? Thought you were getting tired of her anyway.”

“Yeah, but I’d just as soon the local tongues not go a waggin’.”

“I’ll cut you a deal.”

“A deal! You’ve been hanging out with Dick Richardson too much lately. I’m sick of you guys and your deals.”

“A deal,” the voice said. “Here’s how it is. You get somebody to man all the roads back into town, and I’ll get somebody to go through her car and her house. There’s gotta be something there you can use to get her to back off. Nobody’s perfect. When you see Nash’s vehicle, call me and warn me to get out. Things go my way, and you can deny that motion for continuance come tomorrow morning.”

“Fine. I’ll call you,” Delmont said. “But I don’t like it. Frankly, I think you and your guys are getting careless.”

“I don’t care what you think, and even if I did, you’re not in a position to judge here. Just remember who put you where you are.”

“I was elected fair and square.”

“Sure, on my campaign money.”

Delmont held his tongue. He’d always thought it was stupid that Texas elected their judges instead of appointing them. On the other hand, the system did offer certain advantages for people like him.

But now he was starting to feel a little out of control of the situation. “Listen here,” he said. “I want you to keep me in the loop on all this. I don’t want to get caught by surprise on this case, understand?”

“I understand.”

“All right. Just so we’re straight. Otherwise you may find you start disliking some of my more important rulings.”

“That would be inconvenient,” said the gruff voice.

“Darn straight.” Delmont hung up the phone.