Читать книгу Her Texas Ranger Hero - Rebecca Winters - Страница 8
Оглавление“Yoo-hoo—I’m back! Does anyone care?”
Ally’s mother beat her to the front door of the ranch house, where her father had just walked in. His black hair with its streaks of silver made him distinguished looking. He put his briefcase on the floor and the three of them hugged.
“I decided to fly all night from Washington, DC, so I could surprise you. You’re both a glorious sight!” After kissing her mom, he turned to kiss Ally’s cheek.
“I’m so glad you’re home.” She kissed him back. “I was just about to leave for work, but I’ll be home later and we’ll celebrate.”
“Wait—I have a present for you.” He reached down and opened the case to pull out a letter. “I believe you’ve been waiting for this. It came in my diplomatic pouch yesterday.”
“Soo-Lin!”
“Who else?”
“I haven’t had a letter from her in two months!” Soo-Lin was one of Ally’s best friends. She couldn’t wait to hear all her news. Since Ally’s family had returned from China last summer, she’d hungered for Soo-Lin’s periodic letters. “I’ll take this with me.” She hugged them both again. “I’ll be back soon to help you, Mom.”
“All right, darling.”
Ally knew her parents would appreciate some quiet time together, and flew out the door to her car. She wanted to open the letter right away, but would have to put off reading it until she reached her office.
Twenty minutes later she pulled into the faculty parking lot of the University of Texas at Austin campus. “Hi, Nedra,” she said to the receptionist as she hurried in. “Have any students been by asking for me?”
“Not yet.”
“That’s good. I’m running late.” She made her way down the hall. After unlocking the door, she rushed inside and settled in before pulling the letter out of her purse.
Dear Friend, Thank you for your last letter. I can’t get used to you being so far away now. I’m not happy about it, but if you are happy, then that is good. You asked what happened when I went to the doctor. She said my fallopian tubes are blocked and suggests we try in vitro fertilization if we want children.
Oh, no...
My husband has been quiet about it, but that is Zheng’s way. Nine years and still no baby. Now we know why. I wouldn’t blame him if he wanted to leave me.
Ally cringed to hear those words. IVF was a very viable option for Soo-Lin, but Ally needed to give her a pep talk in person.
Mother is well enough. Father is doing poorly. His heart is not good, but the jewelry business has never been better and Zheng has been overseeing the other showrooms to ease the load. He has a fine business mind, like my father, and they see many things the same.
Soo-Lin’s parents were wonderful. So was Zheng. Ally loved them all.
What I have to tell you next is very upsetting to me and has devastated our family.
Ally couldn’t imagine. Her heart rate sped up.
Maybe you don’t remember my third cousin Yi. He came to my wedding with his wife and two children. But something awful has happened. Three weeks ago their sixteen-year-old daughter, Yu Tan, didn’t come home from school. One of her friends said she ran off with a man from a disco club in the city where she often went dancing without permission. I don’t believe it. Yu Tan is a sweet, well-brought-up young woman with plans to make the Olympic team and go to college. She’s won all kinds of awards in gymnastics.
Ally did remember her, but hadn’t seen her since the wedding. Yu-Tan would have been around seven at the time.
I know she wouldn’t go off with a man like that. I don’t trust that her friend is telling the truth. Now a tragedy has happened, because my cousin has disowned her, his own daughter! He listens to his father, who is the head of their family and a very forbidding man. You know what I mean. He believes in the old traditions and closes his mind to reason.
Both my cousin and his father believe she has disgraced the entire Tan family. My mother does not agree and says the grandfather’s pride is too great to help find his own granddaughter. I’ve begged my father to talk to him, but he says it will do no good. He will not listen. This isn’t right, Ally.
No. Nothing about it sounded right. Soo-Lin belonged to an upper-class family that didn’t tolerate embarrassment. Ally could feel her friend’s pain.
I’ve given you enough bad news for now. Write me back as soon as you can. You’ll always be my best friend. Soo-Lin.
When Ally got home, she’d write a letter and ask her father to send it with his classified correspondence. As she was putting the letter back in her purse, one of her students walked into the office. It was time to get to work.
* * *
RANGER JAMES DAVIS had just arrived at Texas Rangers’ headquarters in downtown Austin when his cell phone rang. He clicked on. “Davis here.”
“Luckey?”
Only family and close friends called him by his nickname. “Hey, Randy.”
“Do you have time to talk?”
“I always have time for my little bro.” Though he had a Monday morning meeting scheduled with his boss, TJ, he could spare a few minutes. TJ was the captain of the Austin-based Company H, where Luckey had been assigned since becoming a Ranger. “What’s going on? How are Lisa and the two cutest little girls in Texas?”
“We’re all great and wish you’d drop by more often.”
Luckey swung by the makeshift lunchroom located on the second floor of the building for a cup of coffee and a doughnut. Taking a bite, he entered his own office and sank down in his chair. “Sorry it’s been so long. My last undercover case was no picnic and took forever to solve.”
“So I heard. Dad said three escaped felons are in the federal slammer because of you. Guys are singing your praises all over the department.” Luckey smiled. Their dad had recently retired as sheriff for Travis County and was now doing full-time ranching, but he’d never be out of the loop. “You’re becoming a bigger legend than our original Texas Ranger ancestor,” his brother added.
“Knock it off, Randy. Still enjoying your work as a mounted police officer?”
“It’s getting old. At least I was put on the day shift three days ago.”
Luckey frowned. “I thought you liked it.”
“The horse part I love, but more and more I know I want to be a Ranger.”
He’d heard that from his brother several times before and took another sip of his coffee. “That means a lot more hours away from the fam. I don’t have a wife and children, so that isn’t a problem for me.” Never again. “How does Robin feel about it?”
“She said that if it’s what I want, I should do it.”
“You married a terrific woman.”
Luckey’s ex-wife had felt the exact opposite. She couldn’t handle his work as a Ranger and acted on it by divorcing him and moving to Houston. But that was old news.
Randy’s voice lowered. “I didn’t mean to remind you of the past.”
“I know you didn’t.” Luckey had the greatest brother in the world. He was thirty to Luckey’s thirty-two. “If that’s your goal, I’m behind you.”
“It’s all I’ve been able to think about for the last year. Remember that body my partner and I found dumped on the street on our beat last week? It’s the fourth one in the last ten months. Though each was discovered in a different area, I believe they’re all related. But the detective who arrived on the scene disagrees.”
Luckey was listening intently to his brother, who was no fool. He remembered clips on the news, but hadn’t paid much attention. “What do your instincts tell you?” This was Randy’s case, but Luckey was always interested.
“All four bodies have been young Chinese and Indonesian women, which smells like human trafficking to me. When I pointed this out to him, he said he wasn’t ready to make an assumption like that quite yet. He said coincidence could play a role, or some copycat criminals who heard the news on the media could’ve decided to pull the same stunts for the sheer pleasure of creating chaos.”
At a trafficking conference Luckey had recently attended, he’d learned that although Asians represented only 6 percent of Austin’s 800,000 residents, their population had surged by 60 percent since 2000. It was the fastest-growing group in the city by percentage and tripled the rate of Austin’s overall growth.
“It doesn’t sound like a coincidence to me,” Luckey concurred. “Have you discussed this with anyone else?”
“Nope. You know I can’t.”
“Listen—I want to talk to you some more about this, but I’ve got to go in to a meeting right now. This one will probably last an hour. Expect a call from me after I get out.”
“Thanks.”
Luckey clicked off and headed for TJ’s office at the end of the hall. The gray-haired captain nodded as he walked in. “I’m surprised to see you remembered. I thought you might be home enjoying some well-deserved sleep after your last case.”
“Not me. I like work.”
His boss nodded again. “I know you do. But one of these days you need to take some time off.”
“I do better being busy.”
TJ’s eyes filled with concern. “I don’t want you to burn out.”
Luckey blinked. “You think I am?”
“Of course not. But my famous Four Sons of the Original Forty Texas Rangers have done a hell of a job for the department this last year. I want you to know you can have the time off if you feel you need it.”
“Can I take a rain check on that?”
He nodded.
Good. “So what smorgasbord of corruption and evil are you going to lay out for me this morning?”
TJ chuckled. “Take your pick of the latest Most Wanted cases that have come across my desk.” He riffled through the pile of files in front of him. “Armed robbery and murder of an armored-car guard. Kidnapping and brutal murder of two women, one of whom was set on fire in her wheelchair. The murder of a prominent CEO...or this latest one—a dead body dumped on the streets, a case that has the police detective stumped.”
“I’ll take that one,” Luckey said without hesitation.
TJ handed him the file. “Of course, it’s not a coincidence that your brother is mentioned in the abstract.”
“Nothing gets past you, Captain.”
His boss made an odd sound. “Go ahead and read it. Afterward I’ll tell you what the police commissioner told me.”
Luckey read the short paragraph to himself. “March 2. 2:20 a.m. Officers Mendez and Davis came across one Asian female of undetermined age found dead a block from the Underground Nightclub in the warehouse district of Austin, Texas. No witnesses. Died of gunshot wound to the back.”
“It’s sparse, all right,” he finally muttered.
TJ leaned forward. “The commissioner informed me that this is the fourth unsolved dumped body in less than a year. One was Indonesian, the other three of Chinese ethnicity. None had ties to friends or family found so far. No matches of their pictures to passport photos from China or Indonesia. No evidence that these girls were in school here, or had jobs and were here on working visas.
“The police have circulated pictures of the women everywhere, hoping someone will identify them, but investigations haven’t turned up anything.”
Luckey frowned. “Did they cover the strip clubs and spas, not to mention the massage parlors?” To be thorough they needed to check out modeling studios, cantinas and residential brothels as well, but it was a grueling process.
“If they did, they’ve had no success.”
Luckey had his work cut out for him. “Sex trafficking is also common in the agricultural, restaurant and nail salon industries.”
TJ shot him a glance. “The commissioner is convinced they were victims of trafficking and has turned the case over to us. What does your brother think? Between him and your father, you’re not all Davises for nothing.”
The compliment didn’t escape Luckey. “Randy disagrees that the deaths were random acts of violence. He sees a pattern and believes they’re related.”
“I’m sure he’s right. If anyone can figure it out, you can. Where are you going to start?”
“I want to see the latest body.”
“If you need backup later, just holler. Good luck.”
“Thanks, Captain.”
Intrigued by this new case, Luckey got up from the chair and headed out of the building to the car park. Once inside his XC90 Volvo, he drove to the county coroner’s office. En route he phoned his brother.
“Guess what? The case of the dead body you discovered has been turned over to the Rangers by the police commissioner.”
“What?”
“I was surprised, too. The captain agrees with your assessment that the four deaths are related. I’ve taken the case. Kind of gives you chills.” When Randy’s application to join the Rangers came up, Luckey would remind his boss of their conversation.
“Well, what do you know? I’d give anything to be working this case with you.”
“As long as we keep it to ourselves, who says you can’t help when you’re off duty? We’ve done it before. I’m going to the morgue to find out as much as I can. I’ll get back to you.”
“Thanks.”
* * *
TEN MINUTES LATER, Luckey knocked on the door of the coroner’s private office.
“Luckey? What can I do for you?”
“How are you, Dr. Wolff?” He’d had a working relationship with the forensics expert for years. Luckey handed him the file.
The older man studied it before nodding. “I examined the body last week. She was probably a sixteen-or seventeen-year-old Chinese woman, shot in the back with a .357 cal SIG Sauer.”
“How long had she been dead when she was found?”
“Six or seven hours.”
“According to my source, three other bodies of Asian women have been found on the streets in the last ten months and there’ve been no arrests made. I’d like to know their approximate ages, manner of death, everything you’ve got.”
“You’re welcome to the information in the files. But first, come over here. There’s something unique about this particular body. I would like to show you a piece of evidence that has me puzzled.”
Dr. Wolff walked to a shelf holding some labeled boxes and took one down. After lifting the lid, he showed Luckey the soiled, bloodstained, pale pink silk dress inside, folded so that the hole made by a bullet was visible.
“The young woman was wearing this when her body was brought in. Here. Put on some gloves.”
Luckey pulled out a pair from the carton and slipped them on.
“Go ahead and look on the underside of the skirt,” the doctor urged.
Curious, he turned it inside out. To his surprise he saw writing on the material, all the way around from the waist down, unusual characters that meant nothing to him. His brows knit together. “Is this Chinese?”
“It looks like a form of it, but none of our experts here recognize it. Don’t let your eyes deceive you. What is written here was not done in red ink, but blood. Her blood.”
Luckey moaned inwardly. “I need copies of the pictures you took of the writing.”
“Certainly. Anything you want.”
“Did the detective investigating this case know about this?”
“He examined the inscriptions, but as I said, we couldn’t tell him anything about them. I have no idea if he’s following up on any of it.”
“Can I see the body now?”
“Right this way.”
Luckey was taken to the morgue and shown the deceased. She’d been a lovely young woman with refined features and long black hair. He returned to the coroner’s office and gathered information from the files of the four bodies, photocopying everything for his own records. The reports revealed three of the deceased were of Chinese origin and one was Indonesian, as he’d been told. They were all short—between five-one and five-two—and most likely sixteen or seventeen years old.
“The clothing is different on each one,” he muttered thoughtfully.
The doctor nodded. “I performed the autopsies. The Indonesian victim was strangled. Hers was the first body found. The second victim was stabbed in the chest. The third girl was wearing only a slip, had bloodshot eyes and died from suffocation. As you know, this latest one was shot in the back.
“These women appear to have been innocent victims. They were attacked and murdered before being transported to another spot to be dumped. But this latest victim was different from the others. She had broad shoulders and powerfully muscular legs. This suggests that she was into sports—or perhaps she was a ballet dancer or gymnast.
“And there’s something else you’ll see in the forensics report. I found a substance on the sleeves of her dress. Whoever dragged her body had DMSO cream on his or her hands.”
“What’s that, exactly?” Luckey asked.
“Some kind of topical painkiller.”
“You didn’t find traces of it on the other three bodies?”
“No.”
“Details like that are going to help me build this case,” he murmured as he examined the writing on the fabric again. “I’ve never seen anything so strange before. Did you find out if there was something special about this dress?”
“It’s silk, well made. There’s no label to tell us where it might have been bought or what manufacturer made it.”
After thanking Dr. Wolff, Luckey tossed his gloves, picked up the files and photocopies and drove back to headquarters. He was happy to find his boss still in his office. Luckey knocked on the door and was told to come in. He put the information from Dr. Wolff on TJ’s desk.
“Take a look at all this. What we’ve got here is evidence that these four young Asians were violently murdered. When you asked me to attend that trafficking conference a month ago, I was impressed by the panel. It included everyone from Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the US Postal Inspection and the US Attorney General for the eastern US.
“The deaths of these four women fall in line with the latest statistics from the National Human Trafficking Hotline. To date, it has received more calls from Texas than any other state in the union.”
“That makes sense, considering our extremely diverse population,” TJ mused.
Luckey nodded. “Our close proximity to Mexico makes this the most crossed international border. But I never realized that Texas contains a quarter of all American trafficking victims, and that almost a third of the calls to the hotline come from our state.”
“That many?”
“I know. I was surprised, too. Twenty percent of the 50,000 people annually trafficked from foreign countries into the United States come through Texas.”
TJ shook his head.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t yet pinpointed the source of the female trafficking activity coming out of China. But today the coroner showed me two things that might have given us our first lead.” Luckey explained about the cream and then he got to the writing. “Check this out.”
He opened the file and showed his boss pictures of the mysterious characters written in blood on the underside of the latest victim’s dress. “I’m not sure what this means, but it could open up this case once I get some answers. No one in forensics can read it or translate it. I’m thinking I need to find an expert in Chinese as a place to start. I’ll call the language department at the UT Austin and go from there.”
“Excellent start, Luckey. Keep me posted.”
* * *
ALLY DUNCAN CHECKED her watch. Ten after three in the afternoon. Her graduate students had turned in their theses. Now that it was spring break, she could spend her time studying them before setting up appointments for her students to come in and defend them, once classes started again.
She texted her mom that she’d be home in half an hour. They were planning to take some of the orphans to Zilker Park. Years earlier, Ally’s father had established the Austin orphanage for Chinese children with disabilities. They would ride the Zilker Zephyr miniature train and enjoy a picnic on the grounds before dark. With her father back from Washington, maybe he’d go with them.
After reaching for her handbag in the desk drawer, Ally started for the door and opened it, only to collide with a tall, rock-hard, masculine body. “I’m sorry,” the man murmured, and grasped her upper arms to steady her, while securing a file folder under his arm.
After noting the badge on the pocket of his khaki shirt identifying him as a Texas Ranger, she lifted her head and let out a quiet gasp. The man was gorgeous. He had neatly trimmed dark blond hair and rugged features, but it was his brown eyes roving appreciatively over her face that infused her with warmth. She stepped back, forcing him to release her.
“I was looking for Dr. Duncan.” His deep voice resonated in the room. “I’m James Davis with the Texas Rangers.”
She swallowed hard, unable to remember the last time she’d met anyone so attractive. “You’ve found her. I was just leaving, obviously, but it’s apparent you’re here on official business.”
“You’re the Director of Asian Studies?” he blurted.
Ally took a quick breath. “I’m not what you expected?”
The hard line of his compelling mouth softened into a smile. “Frankly, no.”
She chuckled. “You don’t fit the type of student I normally see in my classes, either. Please, come in and sit down.”
He waited until she’d gone back to her chair behind the desk. “The secretary out front said that spring break has started and I might not find you in, but I took a chance, anyway.”
Ally’s cheeks were burning; she could feel it. She cursed herself for acting like a starstruck teenager instead of a twenty-eight-year-old woman meeting her first legendary Texas Ranger. “How can I help you?” she asked.
“First, may I ask you a question? Has anyone from the police department been here to talk to you yet?”
She looked surprised. “No. No one.”
He removed the file from under his arm and opened it to retrieve some pages, which he handed to her. “I’m just starting an investigation. These photos were taken by a forensics expert after the latest body of a young Chinese girl was brought into the morgue last week.”
Latest?
Just like that the conversation had turned to something hideous, something Ally was very familiar with. Women from the Hunan Province of China were noted for their beauty. Men from all over the world were willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money to traffickers in order to enslave these poor young women. It was too sad and ghastly to dwell on. Her hands trembled a little as she lifted the first page and stared at the photocopy.
“Do you recognize this?”
Nothing could have surprised her more when she saw that the page contained writing rather than a woman’s picture. Not just any writing, though. The realization of what she was looking at caused Ally to break out in a cold sweat. Reading it, she felt her stomach muscles clench. She lifted the next page and the next, until she’d read the horrifying contents of all six, then she shot to her feet.
“Where did you come across this?”
“On the victim’s body. All this was done in her own blood on the underside of the dress she was wearing.”
Ally moaned.
“It’s apparent this writing has great significance for you.”
She closed her eyes for a moment before she sat back down. “This girl knew she was going to die. The writing is a desperate plea for help in the only way she could communicate in order to prevent her captors from knowing what she was doing.”
The Ranger seemed perplexed. “Is it in Chinese, then? The chief forensics expert said they couldn’t identify it as such.”
Ally took a deep breath before launching into an explanation of what he’d brought her. “This message has been written in Nüshu, a secret language that has evolved over a thousand years in the Hunan Province of China. Nüshu means ‘women’s language’ and comes from a remote area of Yongzhou City in Jiangyong County.”
“Why secret?”
“Since the traditional Chinese culture was male-centered, girls were forbidden from any kind of formal education. Nüshu was developed for the women to educate themselves. They were sequestered away from men, and males never learned their language. These sworn sisters took an oath never to reveal their secret language to anyone.” Ally picked up the first sheet and studied it again. “This victim was begging for help.”
The Ranger studied her intensely. “How do you know all this?”
“For one thing, my best friend, Soo-Lin, was born in Yongzhou and has lived there all her life, except to attend the university in Changsha.”
He cocked his attractive blond head. “Which means you’ve lived there, too?”
Ally sat back in her chair. “I’ll have to give you some background. My birth name is Allyson Forrester Duncan.”
The moment she said her full name, she saw a flicker of understanding in his eyes. “Duncan...as in former Senator Lawrence Duncan from Austin, then ambassador to China, who now resides here in Austin instead of Washington, DC? It’s been in the news.”
“He’s my father.”
“Incredible that you would be the expert I sought out first,” he murmured.
“My mother’s name is Beatrice Forrester Duncan.”
“Forrester,” he said aloud. “Her name came up among a few others at a conference I attended recently. The panel praised her work devoted to ending the trafficking of female victims from the Far East here in Texas.” He sat forward. “Your mother...”
“Yes. I have fabulous parents and am extremely proud of them.”
“How could you not be? Tell me more about your life in China.”
“We spent equal time in Beijing and Changsha, for fifteen years. Twice annually we flew home to Austin for two weeks, then went back. Being thirteen years old when we moved, I had tutors and was at the perfect age to pick up Mandarin and Xiang—a dialect of the Changsha region. As soon as I was old enough, I studied at the University of Changsha, under some brilliant teachers.
“Soo-Lin was also studying there and became my close friend. I spent time at her home in Yongzhou and came to love her family, as well. I loved it in China. I never wanted to come home and almost didn’t.”
“Why did you, then?”
The Ranger was direct, but then, that was his job.
“Last year my father was recalled to Washington. A new ambassador was named, but my dad now serves as a consultant to the president for Far Eastern affairs. So we returned to the Duncan family ranch here in Austin. I joined the university faculty last fall.
“Dad flies back and forth, but my mother and I stay here. She’s more involved than ever in her work against trafficking and I help her when I can. We’re committed as a family. If I’d stayed in China, I would have missed my parents too terribly.”
Ally heard Ranger Davis clear his throat. “You’ve led a fascinating life. I’m so glad I decided to seek your department out first.”
“I must admit the hairs stood up on the back of my neck when I read what’s on those pages.”
“Mine, too, when you said what they contain.”
“It was through Soo-Lin I learned about the secret language.”
The Ranger got to his feet. “When we bumped into each other at the door, you said you were on your way out, so I won’t keep you. What’s your schedule like tomorrow? I’d like to meet again. Get from you an exact translation of what’s written on the dress so I can build my case. Out of four similar cases in the last ten months, this is the first piece of tangible evidence to turn up.”
“You mean the other bodies were all young Chinese women, too?”
“No. One was Indonesian, but I highly suspect they were all victims of human trafficking. It’s imperative we find the person or persons who did this. Unfortunately, there are thousands of trafficking victims currently working in the underground sex trade here in Texas. Trying to escape often means death. Even if these girls don’t die, it’s nearly impossible for them to get their lives back on track after going through something like this. The men who are responsible need to be caught and locked away forever.”
The emotion in his voice convinced Ally that this Ranger was the one who could do it. “I couldn’t agree more. Since I don’t have a busy schedule right now, why don’t you tell me when and where you want to meet?”
“If morning is all right with you, how about we say nine o’clock at the Magnolia Café?”
“Morning is fine,” she said. “I realize you’re anxious to get going on this case. The Magnolia Café is in my neck of the woods. I suspect you love their chocolate-chip pancakes.”
One corner of his mouth lifted.
“So do I,” she said, smiling.
He gathered the photocopies and put them back in his folder. “If you’re ready, I’ll walk you out.”
Be still, my heart.
Ally locked her office door behind her and left the building for the faculty parking lot. Several students were milling about outside and one of the young women called out to her. Ally waved, but the other woman was staring so hard at the Ranger, Ally felt a ridiculous sense of pride over the fact that he was escorting her to her car.
She pressed the remote to unlock the door of her silver Audi. “Thank you. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Let me get your cell phone number. That way, in case an emergency arises, I’ll be able to reach you.”
Ally told him her number. After he’d typed it into his phone, his eyes fused with hers, melting her insides. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Please remember that for the time being I must ask you to keep this to yourself. If you were to say anything to anyone, even your parents, they could give something away without meaning to that could jeopardize the case. It’s for their protection, too.”
“I understand.”
“I’m sure you do. What should I call you, by the way?”
“Just Ally.”
“Until tomorrow, then, Just Ally.”
She laughed and watched him head toward the public parking area, then got into her car and pressed her head against the steering wheel. She hated that she’d scanned his left hand for a wedding ring, and hated it even more that the fact that he wasn’t wearing one made her so happy.
Had she gone out of her mind? It didn’t mean he didn’t have a girlfriend. Ally felt shaky after colliding with him in the doorway of her office. Her world had suddenly changed. Fear and excitement waged a war inside her as she pulled out of the parking lot and drove off toward the ranch.
