Chapter 1

Lloyd Feldman took a drink from a flask as he looked at yet another young Hispanic man who was killed by gang violence. The Lobos, as they call themselves, are a drug and sex trafficking gang in Cortez, Texas. They were not a violent gang, but sometimes there were new gangs that tried to take over some of the territory.

This was one of those times and now Lloyd had to enter their world. He really wished the police chief would do something more about the gangs coming from San Antonio, about 30 miles east of Cortez. The district attorney had decided not to over-prosecute prostitution, presumably because he frequented the motel that served as a brothel. It was rumored that the district attorney liked young girls, around 14 and 15 years old, and the gang provided the girls for the district attorney and he provided some leeway in prosecuting drug traffic. Everyone knew this, including those who voted for him. The deal was, however, the gang kept the violence down and kept its activities out of the sight of the more affluent community members. The gang also provides entertainment to the more affluent members by way of drugs and prostitution.

“Shorty,” Lloyd called out to one of the gang “brothers”. “I thought you were going to handle this without killing anybody.”

Shorty, one of the gang members who was elected to talk to the mayor, the police and any other community members who could affect the Lobos’ activities, looked at Lloyd and shrugged. He was highly intelligent, articulate and joined the Lobos when he was 12 years old. The top leader noticed that he had a better vocabulary than most of the older members and decided that Shorty would go to school, get an education and use it to protect the members. Shorty convinced the gang members to be courteous while in public, wear clothes that fit and keep the tattoos to a minimum. In fact, most members didn’t have many tattoos and none of them had face or neck tattoos.

“I don’t know who did this yet,” Shorty told Lloyd. “I am asking all my guys, and no one knows anything.”

“I have to find the man responsible for putting two bullets in this guy’s head, Shorty,” Lloyd pointed to the chalk outline. “The deal is you keep things like this to a bare minimum and we overlook some of the more petty crimes.”

Shorty nodded. He knew what the agreement was, he came up with it when he was 15. Now at 17, he had a lot of responsibility as a police informant. He was given immunity from the gang when he explained that they needed to keep the communication between themselves and the community or the community would think the gang is a threat and will act accordingly. It was a matter of survival. The gang agreed and gave him the ability to make decisions about how to hold the gang accountable to law enforcement and the community. This also protects some of the gang members, some of the girls from being abused.

“I am working on getting some information together, Lieutenant Feldman,” Shorty said. “Don’t worry, we don’t want this to continue any more than you do.”

Lloyd just nodded. He knew Shorty would come up with someone, but he wanted the man responsible, not the gang’s fall guy. He walked to his car, started the engine and drove to the police station in the center of Cortez. He parked his car a couple of blocks from the station so he could walk and clear his head.

Lloyd was a divorced 57-year-old detective with twin daughters. His wife divorced him ten years ago, after his 16-year-old girls saw the files of his oldest cold case strewn about the table. They saw what that monster did to a girl only a year older than them, and it shattered their innocence. His wife claimed their childhood had ended that night and he failed to protect them.

Lloyd told his wife that his children were old enough to understand there is evil in the world. He couldn’t protect them from the fact that monsters walk the earth. He could only make them more unlikely targets.

She packed his clothes that night and told him to leave, then two days later, he got the divorce papers. Six months after the divorce was final, his wife remarried and moved the new husband into the house she used to share with Lloyd.

Lloyd never remarried, he devoted all his time to working his cases and keeping his promise to Molly Hemsworth. He continued to think as he walked towards the office. His daughter, Savannah, told him last night that she is getting married and her mother wanted her stepfather to walk her down the aisle. He met the young man marrying his daughter, he was a good man, respectable and promised to take care of Savannah. Lloyd sighed. Really, what guarantee does he have that Savannah is not marrying some monster? Lloyd made Savannah and Samantha promise him that they will be open about the men they were seeing and he made sure he repaired his relationship with both his daughters after the divorce was finalized.

Lloyd was still deep in thought when he walked right in front of a bicycle. The rider stopped before she hit him.

“Veronica Conway,” Lloyd recognized the 16-year-old girl. “I am so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Lieutenant Feldman, I could have killed you,” Veronica’s left foot was bearing most of her weight. She was trying to catch her breath and looked back to see if her friend was still following her.

“I doubt it,” Lloyd laughed. “I wouldn’t have enjoyed the collision, but you won’t hurt me that badly.” He looked behind her to see who she was looking for. He expected her younger brother Curtis, as they are rarely apart, but he saw a pretty brunette girl just Veronica’s age.

“Hello, Casey,” Lloyd said. “It is good to see you are staying out of trouble.”

Casey Hammond was a member of the Lobos gang since she was 15 and had several conversations with the police in the past for prostitution and drug trafficking.

“Hello, Lieutenant Feldman,” Casey greeted him from behind Veronica. “How are you?”

“Just fine,” Lloyd answered. “Now that I have you here, you wouldn’t know anything about a shooting that took place early this morning would you?”

“I heard about it,” Casey admitted. There was no point in lying to Feldman, he had the reputation of finding out what she knew anyway. “There was talk about what happened and it being a rival gang who shot their own member, but as to who pulled the trigger, that I don’t know.”

“You sure it wasn’t a member of your gang who pulled the trigger?” Lloyd looked at her.

“Lieutenant, you are asking me,” Casey pointed out. “So, you think it was one of us and not the rival.”

Something across the street had gotten Casey’s attention and she looked back at Lloyd, “I have to go, I see one of the “brothers” waving me over. Talk to you later, Lieutenant. Bye, Veronica. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Casey,” Veronica said. “Yeah, we will go shopping.”

“Ah, shopping, I remember when my girls did that when they were 16,” Lloyd reminisced.

“Did you go with them?” Veronica asked. She couldn’t picture the lieutenant shopping for frilly dresses and other girly things.

“I usually got the bills,” Lloyd laughed. “I remember helping them pick out their Sweet 16 frocks and then their wedding dresses. Savannah is getting married this fall and Samantha will be married next February.”

“My parents have the invitation to Savannah’s wedding,” Veronica said. “They are looking forward to it.”

“Ah, yes, well your father is friends with Mark Phelps, my daughter’s stepfather,” Lloyd said. “I guess he did introduce the girls to good potential partners.”

“His one redeeming quality,” Veronica said dryly. “I know a few things about Phelps that will make you pity Mrs. Phelps.” Veronica then realized what she had just said, “Oh, my god, I am so sorry. I keep forgetting that Sylvia is your ex-wife. Forget I said anything.”

“He is good to the girls, right?” Lloyd asked.

“Yes,” Veronica said. She dismounted the bike and started to walk with the lieutenant towards the police station. “He is good to them, of course he has an incentive. Their father won’t put up with much.”

Lloyd laughed and agreed with her, “So, what makes you feel sorry for Mrs. Phelps?”

“He frequents the brothel on the south side of town,” Veronica said. “I knew the minute my father introduced him to Curtis and me. He really has no reason to go there as there are few people who have the kind of money for his hedge fund. He was going later that night.”

A thought occurred to Lloyd, “Veronica, have you seen anything dealing with the shooting of that gang member?”

The way he said “seen” made Veronica look at him. She knew Lieutenant Feldman knew about her “gift”, but generally the police don’t ask her to help with any cases.

“I haven’t seen anything, Lieutenant,” Veronica said. “I will let you know if I can help. I know you need answers to this case soon.”

“I don’t like open murder cases,” Lloyd admitted.

“Yes,” Veronica said before she got back on the bike, “the oldest one is the hardest to solve.”

Veronica left him gaping at her. She got back on her bike, crossed the street and started to head to the Cortez Women's Shelter where her mother volunteered every afternoon. Veronica started volunteering herself this summer, but her mother gave her the day off.

“You need to be a child,” Judith Conway said as she packed up more non-perishable foods for the shelter. “I understand that you are growing up, but these days won’t last long.”

“But Mother,” Veronica handed her another box of sugar. “The volunteer work will look good on my application.”

“I know it will,” Judith put the boxes near the door. “Curtis Howard Conway,” she called to her son who was upstairs, in his room, or so she thought. “Come down here and help me pack up this food into the car.”

Five seconds later, Curtis came from the gym that was closer to the kitchen.

“Oh, Curtis,” Judith was surprised to see her 14-year-old son down the stairs so fast. “I thought you were in your room playing video games.”

“Not this time,” he said as he grabbed the heaviest of the boxes and carried it to the car. He came back in and grabbed another box, “I have a sparring match this weekend and I was in the gym practicing.”

“Are you ready to get your ass kicked in the final round?” Veronica asked as she picked up one of the boxes.

“You think you are going to make it to the final round?” Curtis asked.

Veronica put the box in the car and looked at Curtis, “I make every final round. I am undefeated this season. I will remain undefeated after this weekend.”

Judith just let the kids taunt each other. They were two years apart, they have been fencing since they were both nine and they are in the same division. Luckily, her youngest daughter, 12-year-old Maddison, wasn’t in the same division, yet. She will be next year however.

“Veronica,” Judith tried to get her daughter’s attention. “I think 20 hours a week will be enough volunteering to impress any college.”

“We have a goal,” Veronica said.

“I know we have a goal,” Judith said as she grabbed her purse and keys. “We are all going to help you meet your goal. Your father, me, Curtis…”

Curtis gave her the thumbs up sign which made Veronica laugh. She knew her family was behind her.

“So, how is your new friend,” Judith asked. “The one you met at the shelter.”

“Casey is good, Mom,” Veronica said. “We are going to hang out later. I mean I will need someone to hang out with all summer if you don’t want me at the shelter.”

“I understand that, dear. I just wish you could find someone who was more,” Judith started to search for the right word.

“Connected,” Curtis supplied.

“I was thinking of a different word,” Judith said. “Casey is a member of the Lobos gang.”

“I know, Mom, but we don’t hang out with them,” Veronica said. “We do things that are not gang-related.”

Judith just shook her head, “I don’t want you to get into trouble and I definitely don’t want you to get inducted by that gang.”

Veronica met Casey at the women’s shelter, Casey came into the shelter with one of her friends who needed to get out of a tough situation. Casey promised to stay the night with her and ended up staying for 10 days. Veronica and Casey ended up talking about school, which Casey still attended, and became fast friends. Casey wanted to find a way to get away from the gang, but that would mean she would have to go through the process of getting out of the gang which is a lot harder than getting in.

Casey didn’t want to talk about the gang, how she got in or what she did for them. She just wanted to have fun, she wanted to talk to someone who wasn’t going to ask her how much she sold, how many other girls she could recruit or how many men she could service at night.

Casey walked along with her “brother” and saw Shorty gesturing to her. She rolled her eyes and walked over to the table he was seated at.

“Hey, Shorty,” Casey said with feigned friendliness. She didn’t want to talk to the “brother” right now. “What’s going on?”

“I heard you were talking to Lieutenant Feldman,” Shorty started. He took a sip of a steaming beverage in a mug. He was wearing his typical button down shirt and black slacks. He didn’t dress in jeans or baggy pants. Neither did any of the boys he recruited.

“We ran into him, quite literally,” Casey said. “My friend nearly ran him over because he wasn’t paying attention when he crossed the street.”

“He is investigating the death of that rival gang member,” Shorty said.

“He didn’t ask us about that,” Casey couldn’t lie to Feldman, but she had no problem lying to Shorty. What he didn’t know won’t hurt him and it won’t hurt her either.

“I will handle Feldman,” Shorty said, picking up the mug again. “He will have his man. Now, about this friend: is she anyone you are actively recruiting?”

Shorty started to take a sip out of his cup.

“Veronica Conway?” Casey asked.

Shorty almost choked on the warm drink, “Veronica Conway? Please tell me that you are not thinking of recruiting her.”

Casey shook her head, “We are just hanging out. We are going shopping tomorrow.”

Shorty looked at Casey, she was a very pretty girl and he wanted to talk to the leader of the gang about giving the girl to him. “Casey, come sit with me.”

Casey walked over to the chair next to Shorty’s and made a move to sit down.

“No,” Shorty smiled thinly. “Sit here,” he patted his lap. He wanted to hold her, play with her hair, caress her.

Casey sighed and sat down on his lap. She tried to show very little emotion, she didn’t want to be pawed. Shorty moved her to sit across his lap. He didn’t want her to straddle him.

“You are very beautiful,” Shorty said. “I don’t want to use you and I don’t want to see you get used. You deserve to be taken care of.”

“The gang takes very good care of me,” Casey said. She didn’t really know what game Shorty was playing. He was a powerful member of the leadership. He wasn’t second in command, but he had just as much freedom and responsibility.

“Yes,” Shorty rolled his eyes. “Well, since you are going shopping with Veronica Conway tomorrow, I will make sure you have an allowance.”

“I have my own money,” Casey said. “I have to get to work.” She made the move to get up, but Shorty held her tightly.

“I have another request,” Shorty started playing with her hair and moved his hand to caress her bare leg. “I want you to become very good friends with Veronica Conway. Not to pressure her to join, but just be good friends. She can open many doors for us in the future.”

“For the gang,” Casey started to become more uneasy. Shorty was different from most of the gang members. He was the consummate politician.

“No,” Shorty said. “Not for the gang. For you and me. We are different. We are allowed to continue with our education. We are allowed to move in between the gang world and the world of power. You found your way there; I made my way there. Together we can build our own lives.”

Shorty’s words were more seductive than any touch Casey had felt. She needed to get away from the hypnosis and think.

Shorty looked into her brown eyes. She was so beautiful. No one needed to know what their past was. They weren’t marked up like some of the other members. Shorty said the tattoos would make them more identifiable and marking the girl’s skin would make them less attractive. Casey’s skin was smooth, unblemished and felt good against him. Shorty wasn’t going to force her, but he wasn’t going to let her go right away either.

“I don’t understand,” Casey said.

“I know,” Shorty said. “You will understand soon.”

Shorty couldn’t resist, he brought her face closer to his and kissed her gently. His hand moved between her legs to brush the inside of her thigh. He wasn’t going to force her, he wanted Casey to come to him willingly.

Casey let him kiss her and fondle her. It was the agreement she made for the gang’s protection, to satisfy them, but she didn’t have to submit her will to him. She was just going to be passive.

Shorty knew what she was about and had the patience to get a reaction out of her. He just needed time and he had the influence to ask the leader, Coyot, if Shorty could claim Casey. For a “short” time. Coyot owed Shorty a favor and this was a simple way to pay him back.

“Have fun tomorrow,” Shorty said. “I will make sure you get that allowance.”

“What do I have to do to pay for the allowance?” Shorty wasn’t fooling Casey.

“Let’s think of it as evidence that I can be generous,” Shorty said as he lifted her off his lap and patted her rounded bottom.

Casey walked away from the table and went to the room she shared with several other girls. They all slept in the room, but no one was really close; they all had agendas. Most of the girls wanted to become the gang leader’s woman for a time. That would mean they would be set up for life. Even if that life meant that they had to serve all the “brothers”. Casey didn’t want to service the “brothers”. She went through the initiation process and that was the last time she wanted to be touched by a “brother”. Shorty wasn’t part of her initiation. He didn’t even watch, as she recalled.