Deadly Distractions, page 31
52
FILLING IN THE BLANKS
Stan had filed a motion for a new trial in my criminal case immediately after I was found guilty. The judge hadn't ruled on it when the Dusty Thomas case came to trial. Based on Lewis Lance's confession, Don Harris' connection to Ernesto Garcia, and a decidedly different attitude at the DA's office, I was granted a new trial and my conviction was set aside. I figured it was just a matter of time before the case would be dismissed all together. With the new trial came an end to my temporary suspension from practicing law. I was glad to get back on the job and anxious to get working again. Fortunately, after successfully defending Dusty Thomas, our services were in great demand, so it wasn't long before I had more work to do than I could possibly handle.
In the meantime the DA's office was working on an indictment against Ernesto Garcia, Brian Armstrong, Maria Cabrillo, and Don Harris for the murder of Monty Dozier. They had managed to arrest a member of the 18th Street Gang who they suspected was involved in the murder. In exchange for immunity, he fingered Ernesto Garcia as the person who hired him, along with a couple of other gang members, to kill Monty.
Right after Dusty Thomas' acquittal, his congressman began a campaign to have any remaining tax liability forgiven. He said it was the least the government could do after they had put Dusty and Martha though hell for six months. With the trial over and a clean slate with the government, it appeared Dusty's fortune's were improving.
Even though the trial was over and it didn't really matter anymore, I was curious about the silver Mercedes. Was it a coincidence that it came along just after the murder? I asked Bart to get someone in the DA's office to ask Lewis Lance about it. Lance confirmed that Charlotte's silver Mercedes had indeed been out at the Double T Ranch on the day of Bobby Tuttle's murder. Don Harris had instructed Riley Davidson to take it and follow Lewis Lance and make sure he got the job done.
Several weeks after the trial, I got a call from Jill. She had come out of hiding following Don Harris' arrest and incarceration. I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask her, so I suggested lunch. I brought along Charlotte and Regina Harris, as I thought that between the three of them, I could get some answers about Don Harris. We met at Vincent's in Addison.
"I was so glad to hear your voice, Jill," I said. "I was worried Don had killed you."
"He would have had he found me," Jill replied. "That's why I had to disappear. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I probably would have done the same thing. Luckily Charlotte agreed to testify, so we didn't absolutely need you."
Jill turned to Charlotte and said, "I'm sorry—"
Charlotte raised her finger to her mouth. "Shhh! Don't worry about it. I never figured Don would be faithful."
"When we first met, he told me he was single," Jill said.
Charlotte shook her head. "That figures."
I said. "Listen. There's still one loose end that's troubling us."
"What's that?" Charlotte asked.
"General Moya. We're still worried that he might send an assassin to kill Stan and Tex. I'm sure you read about his threats in the newspaper."
They all nodded.
"Stan got a report from a friend in the CIA that Don Harris sold arms to General Moya. This is quite a coincidence, given Stan's kidnapping by General Moya. Did Don ever talk about General Moya?" I asked.
"They met in college," Regina said. "They were a trio—Don, Ray, and Raul. I was dating Don at the time. That's how I know."
"Really?"
"Yes, General Moya's parents were rich and sent him to the U.S. to be educated. They stayed in the same dorm. While Raul was at UT, his parents were brutally murdered by agents of the current dictator there. Raul vowed to get revenge. Don and Ray had some kind of beef with the U.S. Army themselves, so the three of them had one big thing in common—a hatred for their governments."
"Did Moya stay in school after his parents were killed?"
"Yes, and they all graduated together in 1970. After graduation, they all went off in different directions—Don to North Texas, Ray to Washington, D.C., and Raul back to Ecuador, but they stayed in touch. Later on they started doing business together. When Raul joined the guerrillas to fight the government, Don started selling them arms. Then they got the idea of kidnapping American businessmen who were traveling in South America and collecting big ransoms. Don would locate and screen prospective victims to be sure they could pay the ransoms, and Raul would handle the kidnapping, imprisonment, and collection of the ransom. If they couldn't find Americans there to kidnap, they'd lure them there with shady business propositions that promised big rewards."
"Like standing in for lost beneficiaries?" I asked.
"Yes, this was one of their most lucrative schemes," Regina replied. "If a rich person died without heirs they would contact an American and propose that he come to Ecuador as a 'stand-in' beneficiary. They would provide all the documentation to prove the American was the actual beneficiary, and when the money was paid, they supposedly would split it. However, instead of splitting it they’d keep it all for themselves, kidnap the American, and demanded a ransom."
"Jesus, I can't believe this kind of stuff goes on. It's so unreal," I said.
"Oh, it's real, all right," Charlotte said. "Don went to Ecuador just after Bobby Tuttle's murder. I bet the purpose of the visit was to set up this scam."
"You think? But how did they know Tex was one of Stan's clients? And how did they know he would go to Ecuador looking for him?" I asked.
"I don't think they expected Stan to go to Ecuador. That probably was a big surprise and complicated matters a lot for them," Charlotte said.
"But not as much as when Tex had the money wired into Stan's trust account," I said.
"He did?" Charlotte said.
"Yes, he instructed his banker in the Cayman Islands to immediately wire the money he received from Ecuador to Dallas into Stan's trust account," I said. "That probably saved his life because had the money still been in the Cayman account, Raul's men would have probably taken the money, kidnapped him, and then locked him away somewhere and demanded a ransom."
"Boy, Raul is one greedy son of a bitch," Jill said.
"Well, that's how he finances their guerrilla war against the government," Regina said.
I shook my head. "Well, thank you, ladies. You filled in a lot of blanks for me. I really appreciate you meeting with me."
"Well, thank you for getting rid of Don for us. He's an evil man who hopefully will spend the rest of his life behind bars," Charlotte said.
"I hope they execute him, myself," Jill said.
They all laughed.
After lunch I went back to the office and relayed to Stan what I had learned. I felt badly because if I had probed Regina more during my initial interview with her, we might have discovered the connection between Don Harris and General Moya a lot earlier. Stan dismissed that notion as nonsense.
"No one had even dreamed of that connection back then," Stan said.
"I guess that's true. . . . I wonder how Don Harris picked Tex to lure to Ecuador?"
"Hmm. I'm not sure."
"How did they even know he was a client?" I asked.
Stan thought about it some more and then replied, "Actually that wouldn't have been difficult at all. Clients often ask for references, so I have a list of them. Guess who's at the top of the list?"
I shook my head and said, "Son of a bitch. He just called up here like he was a prospective client and asked for a reference before he retained you."
"Yes, and now that you mention it, Jodie told me someone had called and asked for references while I was on vacation. Apparently they stopped by and picked up a firm brochure. Our top ten clients are listed there too."
"Wonderful," I said. "Perhaps we should rethink giving out a reference sheet."
"Perhaps, but we've got a bigger problem to worry about," Stan said.
"What's that?"
"Now that we've put Don and Ray behind bars, General Moya is sure to be angry and has even more reason to make good on his assassination threats against me and Tex."
"I know," I said. "So, what are you going to do?"
"That's a good question," Stan said with a grim look on his face.
53
A LOOSE END
Although I tried to tell myself General Moya wouldn't go to the trouble to send an assassin all the way from Ecuador to kill me and Tex, I couldn't help but worry about it. Everywhere I went, I had this nagging fear that an assassin was lurking around every corner. My stomach was in knots and I had a constant headache worrying about it. I finally decided I couldn't live this way and had to do something about the problem. The only persons I could think of who might be able to help were Agents Ronald Logan and Maureen Cox of the FBI. They were surprised to get my call but agreed to a meeting. I went to their offices.
"Thanks for agreeing to meet with me," I said.
"Actually we were glad you called," Cox said. "Weren't we, Ron?"
Logan shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose we owe you an apology. We thought for sure you were in Raymond Farr's pocket."
"I know it may have looked that way. It's no big deal. I'm just glad it worked out okay."
"Yes, with all the evidence you dug up, and Lewis Lance's confession, we have enough to put Raymond Farr away for the rest of his life, not to mention putting an end to the CDA once and for all."
"That's great, but what are you going to do about General Moya? I feel certain he's going to send someone to kill me and Tex."
"Well, we can assign both of you some protection for a while, I suppose. After everything you did for the government they ought to spring for it."
"That's great for the short run but you and I know the government isn't going to protect us for more than a month or two."
"Well, there's the witness protection program," Logan said.
"No. I'm not going into hiding," I said. "Why can't you catch the son of a bitch?"
"Well, he's under indictment and we've been trying for several years to arrest him, but he's living out in the jungle and he's protected by his guerilla army."
"Then I want you to let me pay him the rest of the ransom. That's the only way he's going to leave me and Tex alone."
"We can't let you do that," Logan said. "He'll just use that money to buy more guns and ammunition to kill innocent citizens."
"Okay. What if we put up a reward?" I said.
"A reward?" Cox asked.
"Yes. Pass the word to all your operatives down in South America. We'll pay $900,000 if they put a bullet in General Moya's head."
Logan and Cox just looked at me.
"If I'm going to have to live with the fear of imminent death, then General Moya's gonna live with it too."
A smile came over Logan's face. He shook his head and said, "You know. That might just work. We'll send a message to General Moya and propose a truce. If he leaves you alone we won't put a price on his head."
"Okay. Let's do it. We don't have anything to lose."
Logan promised to get the message to General Moya and let me know if he got a response. In the meantime Tex and I were each assigned an FBI agent to protect us as best they could. It was almost ten days before we got a reply from General Moya. He said he wasn't worried about having a price on his head as he already had an abundance of enemies who wanted him dead, but he would agree to the proposal because it was well documented in the press that I had been prevented by the government from paying the rest of the ransom and he could hardly hold that against me.
I was glad to get this news, but I couldn't help but wonder if General Moya was sincere or just wanted me to let my guard down. I finally decided I'd just have to assume he was sincere or otherwise I'd go crazy worrying about it.
Rebekah was particularly pleased to hear my life was no longer in danger. She had been a nervous wreck for months and finally was starting to smile again. Paula was also relieved, as she didn't enjoy practicing law alone. I was feeling pretty good about how everything turned out, but there was still one unanswered question. Why did Don Harris get kicked out of the army? What could have happened to him to turn him so violently against the government? After the trial was over, I called Mo to thank him for his help and posed that question. He said he was curious about that too so he'd look into it. A week later we had the answer.
The unofficial report on Don Harris' general discharge was that he had been caught engaging in a sexual act with another soldier—Riley Davidson. The army had zero tolerance for homosexuals so it was suggested by his superior officers that he resign or face exposure and humiliation. Now I understood why Harris had been so hard on his women. He didn't like them much. They were only around for show. Then it occurred to me. He may actually enjoy prison.
EPILOGUE
One Sunday morning nearly four years after the Dusty Thomas' trial I sat down at the kitchen table across from Rebekah to read the Dallas Morning News. There had been terrible thunderstorms the night before and several tornados had touched down in various places in North Texas. One of them had done serious damage in Fort Worth and another one in Wylie.
With the thunderstorms came hail, and I was concerned that our roof had been damaged. I was planning to get up on the roof later that day and do a close inspection, but in the meantime I wanted to see what the newspaper had to say about it. The headline was about the Wylie tornado.
Massive Tornado Strikes Wylie
A massive cleanup operation was still under way in Wylie, Texas on Thursday after back-to-back tornadoes packing winds of more than 206 mph , smashed through the downtown area, killing four people and causing an estimated $30 million in damage. The death toll from the twisters stood at four, with one person missing and presumed dead. The downtown core of Wylie, a six-square-block area, remained closed to all but those involved in the cleanup effort.
Softball-sized hailstones kills man
The coroner's office said Carl Snyder, 67, was killed by a collapsing wall, and Howard D. Horton, 52, died after a truck trailer toppled onto him. The body of Arthur B. Poole, 24, was recovered Wednesday morning along a creek. Dickens and his grandmother, Adele Wester, 62, were in a car that was swept away by rising waters as they left their Lake Lavon home. Dickens remains missing and is presumed dead. Another victim of the storms, Dusty Thomas, 59, died Wednesday afternoon at Collin County Memorial Hospital. He had suffered severe head injuries when he was hit by a softball-sized hailstone in Princeton, Texas while he was mowing grass along State Highway 380. It was an unusual way to die, as there have been fewer than a dozen reported hail deaths in the 20th century.
"Oh, my God!" I exclaimed.
"What?" Rebekah said.
"Dusty Thomas was killed in that hailstorm last night."
"Oh, no. . . . Oh, Jesus. Poor Dusty."
I handed the paper to Rebekah and, while she read the story, I thought of poor Dusty being the victim of yet another bitter blow of fate. The thought of being pelted by rocks from the sky was chilling. What had he done to deserve such a fate? The newspaper hadn't made the connection between Dusty Thomas the hailstone victim and Dusty Thomas the murder defendant. But they would soon figure that out and Dusty's tragic life would be talked about for years. There would be no doubt about it now. Dusty Thomas was the world's unluckiest man.
THE STAN TURNER MYSTERIES
by William Manchee
Undaunted (1997)
Brash Endeavor (1998)
Second Chair (2000)
Cash Call (2002)
Deadly Distractions (2004)
Black Monday (2005)
Cactus Island (2006)
Act Normal (2007)
"...appealing characters and lively dialogue, especially in the courtroom . . . " (Publisher's Weekly)
"...plenty of action and adventure . . . " (Library Journal)
"...each plot line, in and of itself, can be riveting . . . " (Foreword Magazine)
"...a courtroom climax that would make the venerable Perry Mason stand and applaud . . . "
(Crescent Blue)
"...Richly textured with wonderful atmosphere, the novel shows Manchee as a smooth, polished master of the mystery form . . . " (The Book Reader)
"...Manchee’s stories are suspenseful and most involve lawyers. And he’s as proficient as Grisham . . . (Dallas Observer)
