Chapter 17

I took a shower in the bath off of the bedroom and to my surprise, found a cupboard full of towels and other stuff. I found new razors and shave cream, and toothbrushes still in their original packages. I felt like a new man by the time I was finished. I went back out to my office and all the men were already gathered waiting on me. I noticed that Kit's boy was there and was joking with Beau and Shorty. He was built like a football player and sure looked older than his thirteen years. I sat down after getting a cup of coffee and one of the donuts someone had brought in. I cleared my throat and laid out the plans for today.

"We are going to search Trent's house and business today. I will take Kit and his son with me to search his house. The rest of you will go directly to the store and start going through it. All of you going to the store, be careful of booby traps. He is the type that would set them in his own business to wipe out evidence. Beau will open the safe if there is one, and the rest of you will take a general list of the cases of different firearms. You don't have to record serial numbers this time but before this is over you will have to record everything in the store. I have the ATF coming Monday morning so they will be taking over the store part of it."

"Kit and I with his son will search his house for any records pertaining to sales and buys. I may have to call Beau over to open the safe if he has one there. Guys, be careful and don't set off any booby traps. I will draw an unmarked from the motor pool for transportation. If you get snowed under then call Jim and Jerry in to help out. Shorty you're in charge at the store. Let's get going, guys."

"Harry, there is an unmarked already out front for you to use. I had it brought over from the motor pool on my way in this morning. They said to tell you that yours ought to be ready to go by late this afternoon. They said the window shield was the only damage to it. You have several holes in the body but nothing important was hit."

"Thanks for the good news, Shorty. Now let's get out of here so we can get done before dark."

I locked the office door as we went out, and I also remembered to grab my walkie. I didn't know if the unmarked had the right channels, but I would use the walkie for channel 4. I had to drive around the block several times before I finally found his house. It was sitting back in a type of cull de sac and couldn't be seen from the road. I pulled into the driveway and up in front of the house. I told the boy to stay in the car until his dad and I cleared the house. I knocked on the door while Kit went around back. I knocked louder announcing myself and tested the door to see if it was locked and it was. I knocked a pane of glass out of the window closest to where I thought the lock was and slipped my hand through to unlock the door. The handle lock was easy but the lower one was a deadbolt that was locked and unlocked by a key. I stood back and kicked the door by the deadbolt. It didn't do anything but crack the first try so I kicked it again and this time the door jamb split so with the third kick it came open.

I went in with my gun drawn and cleared the lower floor. I heard Kit come in and I pointed to the second floor. We went up the steps and cleared the rooms up there one at a time until I was satisfied the house was unoccupied. We went tramping back downstairs where I found his desk and computer. I told Kit he could bring his son in but to keep a close eye on him in case we might have missed someone that might be hiding in the house.

I holstered my gun and sat down at the desk and started going through the files that were shoved haphazardly in about all the drawers. I didn't find anything I considered important until I booted up the computer. I found a treasure trove of information that he kept there. I started printing files for my records and hoped they would lead the federal boys to his buyers. It took me the better part of an hour to print all the sales files and then I started on where he had bought the stolen guns he was selling. There were names and bases and the amounts that had been bought and what he had paid each individual for each purchase. This stuff I would turn over to the military investigators for them to handle. This was way out of my department's league. While the last files were printing, I got on the radio to Shorty.

"One to three, do you copy?"

"I copy one, and I must say there are more of the guns from last night stored in the back warehouse. I make it out to be almost a thousand cases total. Did you copy that one?"

"I copy four by four, three. I want you to keep looking and call the two others from last night in. Have them go to the motor pool and impound what they find stored there, copy?"

"I copy loud and clear one. Do you want them brought here or taken to the cage?"

"If they are pistols have them taken to the cage where we can check the numbers against our stolen pistols. Also have someone in dispatch call Nellis and ask for their investigations division and see if someone can come in today to check serial numbers against stolen base weapons. One out."

"Three out."

I went on with the printing and decided that I would impound the computer and the printer for a little extra security. This enterprise he was running covered some big names and ranks from what I could see. I wanted to make sure I covered my department and men as much as I could. Those government boys would be frothing at the mouth if they knew the extent of what I had. From some of the dates in the computer this had been going on for at least ten years. I was watching the printer and didn't notice Kit's son come up until he spoke to me.

"There is a large picture file you haven't opened yet sheriff."

"You know about computers do you?"

"Yes sheriff, it is a hobby of mine and I have a good one at dad's that he bought me last year. I went to the community college last fall to learn how to program them. I got straight A's through the whole course."

"Well now son from here on you're the departments computer whiz. What's your name boy?"

"My name is Danny, Sheriff, and I would be glad to help. Do you want me to back up the pictures on disk? You won't be able to print these because the printer isn't a photo printer."

"Danny, you back everything up on disk if you have enough of them to do that. I will make sure I buy you lunch for your help."

"Gee, thanks sheriff. This won't take long at all."

I walked away shaking my head, wondering what the world was coming to when a kid was smarter than the adult. I didn't know a damn thing about computers but a thirteen year old had learned to program them for fun. Now I knew it was time to retire and sit on the porch like a good old man. I went to looking for a wall or floor safe but if there was one I couldn't find it.

"Um sheriff, I think you better come and look at this."

"What did you find Danny? Is it a blueprint of this house or the store or something like that?"

"It's all of that sheriff and more. I don't think I ought to be looking at this stuff. I think I will go talk to dad for a little bit."

I looked at him in confusion as he got up and went out the door, looking for his dad. I sat back down at the computer and realized that I should not be looking at this stuff either. He had a death list with all the facts and pictures of the persons he had watched being shot in the head in cold blood. He had the graves marked by longitude and latitude and how deep they had been buried and by whom. I looked at twelve of the pictures and realized there had to be at least a hundred more. I could not believe the neat bookkeeping he kept from the shooter to the grave diggers. God, I had a headache.

I yelled for Danny to come back in and asked him if he had enough of the disks to put all this on them and he said there were plenty. His fingers danced across the keys of the pad and he brought up the blueprints of the store and this house. I got on the walkie and told Shorty about the full basement that ran the length of the store and how to get in it. I also reminded him to watch out for strings or other booby traps on the floor and the steps. He acknowledged my warning and then I had Danny bring up the blueprints for the house we were in. I discovered where the safe was and that there was a complete underground house under the little knoll in back. I found the entrance on the computer and went in search of it after telling Danny to put a copy of everything on disks, especially the pictures and sales and the list of sellers. He said he could do that in a very short time. I told him to get after it and yell when he was done. I found Kit in the kitchen and told him to stay close to Danny while I had a look around. I told him to keep an ear open for any one coming to the door and to make sure not to let anyone in.