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By the first of September, Lester Finkley was getting the cast off his arm and feeling much better.-Only one little bandage remained on each of the bullet wounds and he was ready to be discharged from the hospital.-He didn’t know if he liked the idea of being in the prison infirmary, but it could be better than the general population.-Former law enforcement officials quite often didn’t fare too well in prison.-Of course, what he didn’t know was that everyone back in Laredo thought he was dead.-He wasn’t allowed to see television or see newspapers or magazines.-He wasn’t too happy about that but then Lester wasn’t happy about a good many things these days.-He realized, finally, that his being shot had not been an accident and that it had almost surely been ordered by his erstwhile boss.- The assassin had definitely been shooting at him.-He still wasn’t sure why but he supposed it was because he couldn’t get the information his boss wanted about the disloyal son of a bitch who had ratted on the operation.-If he knew who it was, he would be sorely tempted to kill the bastard himself just for messing up his play house as he had.
Acting Sheriff Colton Keenan finally got a few days off and he immediately headed for Dallas.-He had met with Bernie Tavalerio for breakfast and they had discussed strategies for interrogating Finkley.
“He has figured out that whoever he had been working for ordered the hit on him; so we can use that as leverage,” Tavalerio reported.
“Good.-If we threaten to let everybody know he’s still alive, that might get us some cooperation.”
“We’ve also got corroboration on another phone call where he made incriminating statements.-Another deputy heard him on the phone at another time and saying basically the same things I overheard.-Then Carl Forrester gave him up, too.-I think we should be able to scare him pretty good.”
“Charles Harrington also suggested we might tell him we were going to make all this public, let everybody know he’s alive and then let him go.-He would know that the big man would think he had cooperated with us and that Finkley would be a prime target for reprisal and revenge.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.-We’ve got to have the identity of whoever Finkley was answering to some way or other.-We think we know who purchased the bullets that were used on Finkley and we should be getting the results from the DNA tests on the cigarette butts before long.-The guy who we think bought the ammunition has a record so if he’s the one who smoked the cigarettes, his DNA should be on file.-To get an ID from Finkley would sure help, though.”
“I know.-But while Finkley was really stupid to get mixed up in this, he’s not actually lacking in intelligence.-He’ll be hard to fool.”
“Right.-We’ll have to play it smooth.-Slow and smooth.”
“Well, let’s go give it a try.”
“I’m with you.”
They spent most of that whole day reasoning with Finkley, threatening him, and playing with his mind.-They didn’t seem much closer than when they had begun.-Then Colton played his trump card.
“Okay, then.-Let’s go Bernie.-We’ll tell the prosecutor to draw up the papers to charge Finkley with murder in the first degree and state our intention to ask for the death penalty.”-They scraped back their chairs and rose as though preparatory to ending the interrogation.
Finkley’s reaction was much the same as Carl Forrester’s had been.-“You can’t do that.-Who are you saying I murdered?-I didn’t kill anybody.-Come back here.”
“Look Finkley, somebody ordered the hit on Ramon Mendez.-It had to be the ring leader.-We’ve got all kinds of proof you were involved up to your eyeballs.-Whoever ordered that killing is as guilty as the guy who pulled the trigger.-We know Carl Forrester passed along the orders; he says those orders came from you.-We can prove that is a true statement.-Since he only passed along the instructions, his liability is reduced.-We won’t charge him with murder.-If we can’t find anyone higher on the food chain than you—well, you can see where that leaves us.-Therefore, you get charged with murder one.-We’ll see you in court.”
“No, wait.-The son of a bitch already tried to get me killed, too.-I don’t owe him any loyalty.-But if I tell you who he is, you’ve got to protect me.-He’ll get to me even in prison.-You’ve got to guarantee me protection.-Some way or other.”
“This better be good.-I don’t like wasting my time and I’ve already wasted this entire day on you.-If I figure you’re jerking me around, there won’t be any second chances.”-Keenan re-entered the room appearing quite reluctant. He and Tavalerio slowly re-seated themselves in their chairs.-Keenan set a tape recorder on the table and pushed the record button.
“You are guaranteeing to protect me, right?- They won’t miss next time unless you keep me guarded day and night.”
“If you give us the straight dope on this and give testimony that holds up in court, we’ll do our best to keep you safe.”
“Alright.”-He gave a name and enough details so that they were pretty much convinced that the information Finkley had given them would give them good cause for an arrest warrant and about a dozen charges to file against the leader of the gang.
“I was just sure,” Colton told Bernie later, “that it was one of those three officials.-Now we need to get a warrant and make another trip.”
“Yep, that was good work in there, Sheriff Keenan.-I’d say Webb County finally has a top official they can be proud of.”
“But we’re not done, you know.-We can’t convict anybody on just the testimony of a co-conspirator.-We have to find other evidence from another source in order to make it stick.-We need to see if Finkley has any idea who might have shot him.-Then maybe we can set up a sting of some kind and get some corroborating evidence against our man.”
Late that afternoon, the call came from the crime lab.-They had a definite match on the DNA pulled from the cigarette butts.-They could prove the cigarettes had been smoked the day the sheriff had been shot.-It had rained the night before; then the sun had come out hot during the day.-It was about an hour after they had recovered the incriminating butts when it started to rain again.-If they hadn’t found the butts before it rained on them, it would probably have diluted the DNA to the point it would have been useless.-
Keenan, Tavalerio, and Harrington went together to pick up Jack Phillips at his apartment on Fourteenth Street.-He started out being cocky and smart-alecky.
“What the hell do you think you’re going to convict me of doing, anyway?”
“We can prove you were there during the time the assault took place.”
“So what?-Maybe I was there, but that doesn’t prove I even had a gun, much less shot anybody.”-
“We can prove you bought the ammunition that was found with the cigarette butts.”
“That still doesn’t prove I shot anybody.”
“Maybe not but I think the prosecutor can sell it to a jury.-Are you willing to bet your life that we can’t?”
When he discovered the evidence against him, he lost his smug attitude and became sullen and uncooperative.-However, when he understood the charges against him, he reluctantly agreed to cooperate.
Harrington suggested that they have Phillips call the big man at his office and ask for more money as though he intended to shake him down.-Phillips was to suggest that he deserved extra-hazardous duty pay for taking out a law enforcement official.-Phillips was allowed to continue to believe he had killed Finkley.-Phillips admitted, finally, that he had carried out the assassination on the direct order of his boss and that he had reported back to him on the success of his mission.-He agreed to make the call with the stipulation that the prosecution in his case would not seek the death penalty.
Phillips called the number for the ring leader’s private office.
“Hello.”
“Is this Senator Darrell Kirkland?”
“Yes.-Who is this?”
“This is Jack Phillips.-I need to talk to you, Kirkland.”
“Phillips, you know you’re not supposed to call me here.-What’s the matter with you
?-I’ll call you tonight.-Now, don’t—“
“Senator, I think you’re gonna want to talk to me and right now.-If there’s someone in your office, you’ll want to ask them to leave.-This is private and personal and urgent.”
The senator put his hand over the mouthpiece and made some remarks to someone who had apparently been in the room.-Then they could hear a door close and then the senator came back on the line.
“Okay, I’m alone, now.-But I still don’t know what’s so urgent that it couldn’t wait until tonight.”
“It’s like this, man.-I have reason to believe that the cops are getting close to making me for the shooting of Sheriff Finkley.-I need some extra money to blow this town and maybe this country.-Besides, I’m tired of doing your dirty work for pennies while you’re raking in the big bucks on this deal.-I know what you’re making on this smuggling operation and I also realize that you don’t need me around to blow the whistle on your involvement in it.-So what I want is fifty thousand dollars to use as traveling money.-Okay?”
“You stupid son of a bitch!-You know how easy it was to get somebody to take out the sheriff.-What makes you think I won’t just have you killed like I did him?-I’ve been running this whole deal for over fifteen years and now you think you can blackmail me, you little bastard?”
“I know I can blackmail you because I’ve written up a complete account of the whole damn setup with names and dates and everything and I’ve given it to my lawyer to be opened in case of my untimely death or disappearance.-Now how does that grab you, big man?”-There was silence on the other end of the line for quite some time.-Finally, the senator spoke again.
“Well, I suppose that does put a little different light on things.-You said fifty thousand?-Okay, I’ll get you the money, although it may take a day or two.-But you’d better get that paper back from your attorney.-Something could happen to you without any intention on my part.”
“I’ll get back the paper when I get my money.-You can reach me at the regular number when you’ve got the cash ready for me.”-They hung up and Harrington switched off the recorder.
“We’ve got him by the short hairs in a downhill pull,” Tavalerio enthused.-"You did a good job, Phillips.-I almost believed you and I for damn sure knew better.”