Chapter
43
ROBIE SAT NEXT to Reel in the car and stared at the laptop.
“I’m not getting this,” he said.
“You’re not the only one. I thought we were looking at drug or arms dealers or maybe human trafficking. But not this.”
“This” was a series of photos showing a man in his forties with very young children in grossly perverse sexual situations.
“Who is this prick?” asked Robie.
“Don’t know. But I’d love to put a round in the sucker’s head.”
“All the kids are either black or Latino.”
Reel nodded. “I wonder why.”
“But why would these photos be on Sherm Clancy’s computer? Blackmail?”
Reel nodded. “Well, the guy’s not Clancy, right?”
“No, not even close.”
“Then blackmail it could well be. Probably what these guys were looking for when they came after Pete. But you beat them to it.”
“But they may not know that. They might think they got the laptop and all the files.”
“Then why come after you using the girl as bait?”
“Because I jacked them and they wanted to put a bullet in my head as payback,” said Robie. But he knew that probably wasn’t right. They risked a lot coming after him, and taking Sara Chisum to do so. There had to be a more compelling reason than simple payback. These guys weren’t street punks like Pete. He had a sudden thought.
“Is there a way to tell if a file has been copied from a computer, like I did with these?”
“I asked Little Bill that very question and he says there is. A few keystrokes and you’ll know if files were downloaded to another storage device.”
“So that’s the answer. They know I made copies.”
“Well, they know someone made copies. They couldn’t know for sure it was you. But they needed to cover that end. They might think Pete has other copies, too.”
“Which is why he ran for it,” added Robie.
“Which is why he ran for it,” agreed Reel.
“So Sherm Clancy was blackmailing this person presumably for money.”
“Do you think the guy in the photo is connected to the Rebel Yell casino people?”
“I wouldn’t bet against it.”
“When did Clancy hook up with the casino?”
“I don’t know exactly. I was told he made money selling the mineral rights to his farmland. Then he used that stake to buy into the Rebel Yell.”
“Who told you that?”
“More than one person, actually. So it seems to be an accepted fact.”
Robie leaned back in his seat, his brow furrowed.
“I know that look,” said Reel. “What’s going through that head of yours?”
“Mineral rights,” said Robie.
“What?”
“We need to go check something out.”
* * *
“What is this place, Robie?”
They had driven a long way through dusty back roads to arrive at a place that, even for Cantrell, was in the middle of nowhere. They were now standing in the middle of that nowhere.
“This is, or rather was, Sherman Clancy’s farm.”
“Looks like the wilderness has reclaimed it.”
“Looks like it.”
He shook his head and looked like he wanted to punch the screen. “I don’t know any pedophiles,” he snapped.
“We think Clancy was blackmailing this guy. That’s where his seed money came from. Not from selling his land to an energy company.”
Now Dan Robie looked interested. “How do you figure that?”
“Everybody told me that Clancy had hit a home run because his farmland had oil or gas under it. Only no one could tell me if it was oil or gas. Or who the energy company was, for that matter. Jessica and I walked the property today. There is no sign that anyone ever tried to get any oil or gas out of that land.”
Dan Robie sat back in his chair. “And the photos were used to blackmail the guy who’s abusin’ the kids. And that was Clancy’s jackpot?”