Page 37 of Hunting the Truth
“Let’s just get to the point,” he said. “We believe due to evidence that Eric Torres is in our area. We know he’s dangerous and we’d like to work together. Maybe one of you can fill us in as to why you feel you both needed to come for one man. What don’t we know about Eric Torres?”
Abigail jumped right in by saying, “First, thanks for having us come and allowing us to join in looking for Torres. There’s a lot more to him than what’s in the files.”
Maya noticed that Blake’s face tightened. Maybe he didn’t like having to work with a female partner. She had experienced some of that too in her military time. There were guys that thought women shouldn’t be there or be promoted, but the fact that Blake didn’t talk was interesting to Maya because that could also mean he didn’t mind Abigail taking charge. It was hard to read him. If they were going to work with these two, she wanted to know more about the dynamic in their relationship. It could affect the investigation and Maya needed to find Eric Torres. She wanted answers.
“Eric Torres is not your typical criminal or just a cop gone bad,” Abigail continued. “He’s cunning, he’s ruthless and he’s smart. He’s eluded arrest for a long time and he’s not going to be brought in very easily.”
“Maybe you can give us more background on him,” Pops said. “The more we know, the better. Did you two ever work together in your department?”
“We did. In fact, we went to the academy together. I liked him when I first met him, but that’s the thing with Torres. People like and trust him. He’s very charismatic and that’s allowed him to manipulate others over the years. We worked patrol together for a few years and I started to notice problems even then.”
“Like what?” Pops asked.
“He took bribes, for one. Usually from people he pulled over. Simple things at first like being paid off to look the other way on a speeding ticket or a DUI. Then, he started working for some judges who took bribes. They would get paid off by defense attorneys and in turn, Torres would lie on the stand and help the defense win. He would suddenly ‘forget’ certain details or deliberately leave out some details when he wrote up reports. Things that could legitimately get cases thrown out. We believe the judges and attorneys gave him a cut. I saw him intimidate witnesses a couple times and he would arrest young women on drug and prostitution charges, seduce them and convince them that if they had sex with him, he’d let them off. I know it happened many times. Never mind the fact that he was married.”
Maya gripped her coffee cup almost to the point of crushing it. Arrests on drug and prostitution charges. Her mother had been arrested for those things and she had run away to the same town in Montana. Maya knew one question was possibly answered. She’d have to see if she could find some old arrest records, but she bet that her mother had been arrested by Eric Torres and who knows what else happened based on what Abigail was saying.
“I agree he sounds like a total scumbag,” Pops said, “While he deserves to be arrested for all of that, it doesn’t make him a cold-blooded killer. The crime scene we had here was horrific.”
“I understand and I can only imagine how bad it was,” Abigail said. “I’ve seen his work. It seemed like Torres moved into harder crimes and now I suspect him for several more murders in our area including key witnesses in cases.”
Maya watched Pops. He was taking in everything Abigail was saying and mulling it over. Blake stared straight ahead at the wall. He hadn’t said one word. Maya didn’t know what to make of that and wondered why he wasn’t adding in information as Abigail’s partner.
“I see the connection to your area and his motivation,” Pops finally said, “but why Colorado? Why is he here? Does it connect to any of your cases? And do you know the most recent victim, Kendra Martin?”
“I’ll get to all that, I promise,” Abigail said. “We actually believe he’s a pawn in a bigger crime ring. Believe it or not, there’s someone above him calling the shots and we want to find that person. They may or may not also be in law enforcement. We’re not sure, but we believe that Eric has connections here in Colorado and he’s back to finish the job he started. There was a young lady he arrested several times by the name of Zoey Thompson...” Abigail trailed off.
Maya stared at her and then at Pops. She released her grip on her cup so that she didn’t crush it and send coffee everywhere and willed herself to remain calm.
“I know that’s a personal connection for you too, Sheriff Thompson and Officer Thompson, and I’m sorry for your loss,” Abigail said.
Maya could tell Pops was trying to stay calm too. He had more practice at a poker face since he got together with the guys and played poker once a week. That along with his many years in law enforcement.
“Thank you,” Pops finally said. “My daughter’s cold case has remained unsolved. Recently we’ve also connected the case with my wife’s death through DNA which is why Officer Thompson and I have not been involved. That DNA also goes back to Eric Torres. That’s why CBI investigator Lucas Tucker is sitting in on this meeting because he’s in charge of those investigations. But I am curious, any ideas on why he’d want to kill both my daughter and my wife? The same gun was used in both crimes—what are your thoughts on that?”
“Again, my condolences,” Abigail said. “I know for a fact that Torres arrested your daughter a couple times. We believe he asked her to do favors for him, probably illegal ones. We don’t have proof, but we also believe that your daughter took evidence with her when she left Montana. That evidence could connect not only Torres to many crimes, but others in the judicial system too. Unfortunately, we’ve had some issues in our area. And we also believe that this evidence could help lead us to the person in charge of the crime ring up in our area, but that Torres is this person’s right-hand man, so to speak. Did your daughter ever mention any evidence to you?”
Maya leaned forward, holding her breath. Did her mother have something that Pops didn’t tell her about? Was he holding back on her?
“No, she never mentioned anything...” Pops said. She saw the realization hit Pops the same time it did her. “But she and I weren’t close. Zoey often confided in my wife, but not me. Karen told me some things, but not everything, so I’m sorry. If there’s evidence, I don’t know where it is or even what it might be. Zoey’s house burned down and there wasn’t anything left, so it could be gone.”
“Or it could still be out there somewhere,” Abigail said.
“What makes you say that?” Pops asked.
“Because Torres is here and he’s cleaning up his messes. You see, he arrested Kendra Martin too back when she was in foster care. She was in and out of juvie and Torres put her there, but then all of a sudden, he said she had her act together and he wasn’t arresting her anymore. She probably started working for him back then.”
Maya couldn’t stay quiet any longer. “But Kendra enlisted in the Air Force. Would he have kept in touch with her?”
“Definitely,” Abigail said, turning to look at Maya. “Once you work for Torres, there’s no getting out.”
“Then what about the gun that was used to kill my grandmother and mother?” Maya asked.
“That’s definitely typical of Torres. He probably stole the gun from evidence or bought it off the street and then figured out how to register it to your grandmother. It’s all part of his manipulation, to make you wonder if there was any chance your grandmother killed her daughter.”
“No, I never wondered that,” Maya said, as her chest constricted. Pops glanced at her and she knew that she had to keep her cool. “But I know the other investigators did.”
That had been another difficult part of losing her grandmother. Since Pops was married to Nana, he couldn’t technically investigate, so some state investigators came in to help. They’d immediately ruled Nana’s death a suicide and had suggested that since the same gun was used in the crimes, Nana might have actually killed her own daughter and then years later taken her own life, no longer able to live with the guilt. Maya had still been drinking heavily then. After the investigators had suggested that, she’d gone home and drank until she passed out. It was how she dealt with her anger, and she wasn’t proud of it. When they originally reopened the cases, even Josh had suggested the connection. He had been the one to point out that they needed to somehow disprove that theory so investigators could look at new leads. Lucas had agreed, which was why he had approved testing the DNA.
