--Title: "Currently Unknown"(Chapter 1)

I’ve only been a sergeant for a short amount of time now. I question my ability regularly and question whether or not I’m even qualified for this job. I was promoted because I cleaned up an entire block of drugs. I was just beat cop and I was in the right place at the right time and captured one of the major movers here in our quiet little city. Apparently that was enough to promote me to sergeant and now I’m leading the city’s war on gangs and drugs. I know the other men in this department don’t respect me, they think I don’t have what it takes, and you know what? I’m starting to agree with them. Especially with what happened just a year ago.1

There is no amount of training in the entire world that could have prepared anyone for what happened. A year ago on the verge of a gang war, Darling’s greatest criminal made his first appearance. It sounds weird to even speak of a town like Darling having a criminal; you would think the name alone would deter any sort of crime. Darling is a small suburb town of about 80,000 to 100,000 people. Surrounded by fields and no buildings taller than four stories within fifty miles, yet this town is the home of one of the most notorious and dangerous criminals to ever surface. I remember the day it started.2

It was a typical Tuesday morning; I had come into work with a light case load after just being promoted. I started flipping through some files, mainly looking at petty crimes, like shoplifting, vandalism, the type of crimes that needed to be looked at but really nobody cared about. I was getting bored with calling people on the phone and started an intense game of “Mine Sweep” on my computer. I wish I had gone to the bathroom or had left earlier to go visit the local K-Mart to pick up evidence tapes for my shoplifting crime. The Captain came in and was scanning the department looking for someone to drop a case on. I poked my head up hoping for something worth wild.3

He kept looking past me and then with a scowl he dropped the file on my desk. 4

“Congratulations Rook, you’ve got a big boy case to look at. Someone found a body under the over pass.”5

I nearly fell out of my chair scrambling to get my stuff together. Finally a case worth my time, finally something that mattered. It was my first murder investigation. As a department we didn’t investigate too many murders and when we did it was usually a cut and dry case where we arrested the suspect with in a week. I went down into the garage and a Uniform was waiting to take me to the crime scene. I read the notes on the case on the way over there. No identification, no witnesses, and body was reported by a jogger at about 08:00 hours. The beat long reports that we had a patrol car come by at 23:18 hours to make sure there were no Transits sleeping under the bridge.6

“Great” I thought a John Doe and a murder that could have taken place in a nine hour window. Not exactly cut and dry and not exactly the way I want to start out my major crimes career. When arriving under the overpass there was a huge scene, it was almost as if the entire town’s law enforcement unit showed up to monitor the dead body. There weren’t a lot of murders in our town so some of the cops get a little excited when one does take place because it breaks their daily routine.7

As I approached the body, Webber was working traffic and saw me coming. Webber was my training officer and was extremely jealous that I was promoted over him seeing how he had more years with the department than I did. I could understand why that would make him jealous but he’s a lazy son of bitch and didn’t really deserve to be promoted. But as things always go when you rise above your peers you going to get a hard time about achieving in life.8

“Oh look, problem solved. They’ve sent a suit to look at the body. Its super sergeant Keys.”9

He announced to everyone at the scene in a very sarcastic tone. I gave a sarcastic Ha Ha and just walked by him. Dickhead, I thought to myself. Webber was the least of my problems thou. When I finally made it past the circus of men and to the body it was very unusual. The officer on scene announced to me what he knew, which was most of the stuff I had already read, but he informed me that the body had suffered three gun shot wounds. Two in the stomach and one in the heart. I looked at him and then as if he remember something.10

“There is also this.”11

He pulled the sheet off the body which revealed the number one spray painted on the victim’s chest and the eyes spray painted with a thick streak to cover up the eyes from ear to ear almost as if it wearing a bandit’s mask. 12

“Where did the spray paint come from?” I asked, it seemed a little unusual for a victim to be spray painted like that.13

“We believe he was going to tag this wall with his gang logo when the suspect gunned him down. As you can see he had started spraying and then just stopped.”14

I looked up at the wall and it was very clear that’s what had happened. I looked over at the officer where he was now giving me a very condescending look expressing his beliefs like everyone else’s that I was idiot and not qualified for this position. “Shit” I thought, not the first impression I want to give out. 15

“So before the police mob showed up, were there any foot prints in this loose dirt?” I asked.16

“Yeah, two. We’re assuming the victim’s and the suspect’s. Here’s the scary thing, we know which one was the victim’s but the suspect has about a size 14 shoe. So we’re dealing with a large man here, he should stand out in a crowd.”17

“Any idea, what type of shoe?”18

“Ah yeah. At first look, I would say some kind of boot. Very little tread, so most likely a cowboy boot of some sorts.”19

“Size 14 cowboy boot. Should be easy to trace. Send a unit down to “Cowboy Corral” they might remember a customer buying a boot that large.”20

I also knew it was possible because I shopped there occasionally and the store was family owned and they remembered my shoes size and my name and I rarely shopped there. The officer started to walk away a bit and walked back because he remembered something.21

“Oh we also found a set of canine tracks near the other two sets of tracks. Just thought I let you know.”22

That wasn’t really important they were most likely coyote tracks investigating the dead body looking for a free meal. I took a closer look at the body and looked over the tattoos. It was member of the local Mexican gang in our town. He was a lower level member, I could tell from my years on the streets and in the jails. Mainly because of the type of ink he had done and he had not earned the gang’s trademark double bar and three circle tattoo. Still spray painting the body was extremely odd and the numeral one on the chest was particularly scary, meaning that this was only one victim and there was more to come.23

I remembered staring at the body just bewildered because I had nothing to go on. I couldn’t go to the gang leaders and ask if they know if any of there guys were killed last night. And for the most part it was a really clean murder. Nothing to go on but size 14 cowboy boots. No vehicle description or eye witnesses. How could nobody have scene anything? This is a fairly busy street. As I walked away from the body, seeing all that I could see and learning all that I could learn, I was going to have to wait for the lab reports and the autopsy to get more information, then something clicked. Size 14 cowboy boots, I thought I might have a suspect. When I got back to the car, I told the Uniform that we were going to go visit Big Earl. I saw fear over take his eyes but he got in the car and headed that way anyways.24

Big Earl was the local leader of the biker gang, “Satan’s Riders”. All the officers feared him because he was notorious for ordering shake downs and was extremely powerful. He had become an informant for me about five years ago. I turned my head on some petty crimes I could have booked and charged him with but instead I ignored it and developed a strong working relationship. Big Earl was the one who gave me the lead on that drug bust that got me promoted. Any questions I had I could go to him. Although he considered me a friend because I’ve kept him out of jail, I’ve kept it professional and he wasn’t someone I would want to call. Although I wasn’t allowed to accept them, he would send me a Christmas gift and Birthday gift every year. He also knew I couldn’t accept the gifts, but it was his way of showing he cared and it also became a big joke to him. 25

I told the Uniform to wait in the car as I approached the run downed beat up bar that Earl owned and operated. Most cops stayed away from this place but I had immunity and knew Earl wouldn’t let anything happen to me. I walked in and I was familiar with everyone there and they were familiar with me as well. That’s why I was greeted with a large amount of “oinks” when I entered the bar. They laughed and I smiled and asked them if Earl was in. The yelled for him and he yelled back to them.26

“Send the pig back here.” He bellowed from the back.27

When I got to the back office, Earl was sitting at his desk with his feet up reading the paper. He had on large dusty cowboy boots. I was a little overwhelmed and almost jumped him and slapped on the handcuffs right then and there. But I sat down, he ignored me for a moment as he finished what he was reading.28

“Did you get my birthday present?” He said with a Cheshire cat grin.29

“Yeah, thanks Earl. It was very nice.”30

“I’m sure it’s collecting plenty of dust in the evidence room.”31

“Yes.” I mumbled out with a large sigh.32

“What can I do you for partner?”33

I was trying to play it cool, and he could tell that I was extremely antsy today. I was going to try and make small talk and maybe ease into the murder investigation. But Earl I had known me for too long and could tell something was up and something was different. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk.34

“What’s got you all wired today?”35

I took a deep breath. I was extremely nervous I knew Earl was bad but I now know he could be a cold blooded killer and not just a drug runner.36

“A South Sider was murdered last night. We found the body under the overpass.”37

He sat back his chair and placed his hands behind his head. A look of concern grew over his face. Not the reaction I expected. Satan’s Riders and the Southern Mexicans had been fighting over this territory for some years now. They both were trying to run their drugs out on this suburb and it often resulted in a turf war. They fought each other all the time. Broken bones and sometimes stabbings with small knives but it was almost as if they had an unwritten rule between the two gangs, no guns and no killing. Earl responded almost as if he was scared and worried.38

“And you’re here because you think my boys had something to do with it?”39

“I just want to know what you know.”40

“We didn’t kill that boy.”41

“I didn’t say you did”42

“But you’re here because you suspect we did?”43

“No I’m here because you’re my best source for what happens in this town and I want to know what you know.”44

Still leaning back in his chair a little bit and now rocking back and forth now he was looking off into space trying to find the words. He now leaned forward with his elbows on the desk again. Looking down and not making eye contact with me anymore.45

“Why are you here?”46

“I told you why I was here.”47

“Why don’t you tell me what you know first and then I’ll tell you what I know.”48

“It was a not ranking member of the gang. Not a hitter or a pusher. He was tagging when someone gunned him down. Two in the stomach and one in the chest. No witnesses, and the only evidence I have are size 14 cowboy boots that were left in the loose dirt.”49

He smirked.50

“That’s why you’re here. You’re getting good, but I didn’t kill that boy.”51

“How do I know that Earl?”52

“Well we wouldn’t be talking right now, and I can you this much. If I wanted to kill one of those guys, I would have gone for a higher rank and I wouldn’t have done it myself. And besides that I wear size 11 cowboy boots.”53

I panicked a little, I had just accused my informant of murder and I was sure he was going to take haste to that. I kept a straight face thou. I did not say anything else. He just sat there nervously twirling his lighter as if he wanted to tell me something.54

“Things are different now.” He mumbled softly.55

“What do you mean?”56

“Long ago we used to run this town. Yeah we sold “stuff” but we were the only game in town and respected the people and the city. We didn’t bother those who didn’t want to be bothered and we took care of those who needed our services. That other gang moved in and look went happened. The town became dirty, graffiti everywhere, more crime than ever. I know you see it, but you can’t say anything. They’ve moved in on us, jumping my guys and I’m afraid they’re going to start hitting us. I’ve made it known that we do not hit in this group. Now we do show some muscle when it needs to be shown, but things are just getting out of hand now. There is another group moving in. They’ve left us alone thus far, but for how long? It’s another group of Mexicans, their logo is the Dallas Cowboy star with some kind of prefix before I believe “boys” I don’t know. Every time I’ve seen it, it’s been in old English and I can’t read it. But things are getting worse and crime is going up. This isn’t a major drug town so the pay is getting slimmer as we fight to move our products to a small group of consumers. Now you’ve got those idiots over there and they don’t play by the rules anymore. We’re going to have a street war on our hands. Because I don’t know what else to do. I’ve got to get them before they get us.”57

Then he said something that I’ll never forget. He mumbled it and he said it almost as if he didn’t want too.58

“And I guess he’s just tired of it.”59

He’s? Whose He’s? What is he talking about?60

“He’s?”61

He looked up at me with a shocked look in his eyes as he made eye contact for the first time in awhile. He tried to play it cool but he was nervous and now was squirming around in his desk.62

“Its nothing forget I even said anything.”63

“Earl, what the hell is going on?”64

He stared at me for what seemed like hours. It was almost as if he was trying to read my mind. I’ve never seen Earl rattled before, what could have him so wound up? He reached over to the top drawer of his desk and began digging for something. He looked back at me as if trying to justify what he was going to do. He pulled out a single envelope that he had opened already. He handed it to me. It was not a normal envelope it was thicker and was an eggshell color. The paper inside was the same type of paper it was more expensive than the average paper and envelope. I looked at him.65

“Go ahead and read it.”66

I looked at the front of the envelope before I decided to pull out the letter. Of course no return address but it was hand written in a beautiful calligraphy. I pulled out the letter and read it.67

Dear Mr. Earl,68

It is with great guidance that I warn you to move your establishment to a different town.69

Your rein of terror and corruption I’ve decided has come to an end.70

There is no room in society for people that knowingly and harmful corrupt the innocent and damage a productive way of life.71

You have pushed my hand now as I am tired of waiting for the police to act.72

It seems you’ve done a mighty fine job persuading them to allow you to continue your toxic operation.73

If you choose to ignore my warning, than I will be forced to terminate your operation and the machines that operate it.74

As I’m sure you know, when destroying any type of machine is it important disconnect the power source before taking apart the rest.75

You have one month to oblige with my request before I take action.76

This town belongs to the people and me now and there is no room for you.77

Sincerely,78

The Ranger79

“How long ago did you receive this?” I asked.80

“One month.”81

I handed him the letter back and sat puzzled for a moment. I was trying to figure out what was going on and I remembered looking at Big Earl. He was looking back at me the way a kid looks at his parents for help and guidance when the kid has nothing left.82

“You’ve got to stop him.” He said.83

“I know. I just don’t know where to start.”84

“You want to check this letter for finger prints?”85

“No we’ve touched it too many times and I’m positive whomever this guy is was smart enough to wear gloves. Keep it for now. But I’ll be back for it.”86

I got up and started headed back to the car.87

“What are you going to do? You’ve got to stop him.”88

“Earl, I’m going to do my best, but I have nothing to go on. I have dead body and phantom suspect. What would you have me do?”89

He had no answer either. I looked him over one more time just so I could observe the formally most dangerous man in Darling slowly become a scared child. That day at Big Earl’s was the beginning of the reign of terror that flew over Darling. That was the day The Ranger staked his claim.90