“Ash,” Lowell said with what felt like exaggerated patience. “Look. I don’t want to get into an argument with you about some stupid chick who probably would have wound up dealing on the street anyway.”
Ash started to argue, but Lowell cut him off.
“No. You and I both know it. Admit it!” Lowell said sharply. “Statistically speaking anyway.”
It burned, but Ash had to nod because—statistically speaking—Lowell was right. Whether he liked to think about it or not, Mindy Hall was doomed. She was living below the poverty line. Caring for her brother only made things worse for her, financially speaking. She was at risk for so many problems and issues and yes, prostitution and drug dealing were the number one dangers here, and they weren’t small risks for a woman like Mindy.
“She’s not like that.” Ash could not believe he was saying that. How many times had he heard other people saying ridiculous things like that only to remind them later—when it all blew up in their face—that you could never really know what someone was like until the chips were down and it was all going to hell.
“Uh huh.” Lowell had evidently heard that a time or two before himself. “I know, Ash. She’s a great young lady who has had a rough time of it and if she could just catch a break, she would become a wonderful, intelligent member of the community.”
Ash didn’t appreciate the sarcasm. He didn’t appreciate it at all. But what was he supposed to say? He pinched the bridge of his nose and waved vaguely to the drugs on the counter. “So, what can you tell me about that? You’re the one who seems to be an expert. I was all ready to Google the colors and shapes and little inscriptions on the pills to find out what they were.”
“Mostly oxycontin. Not surprising really. Some Valium. There are some Lortab pills here…” Lowell grew thoughtful. “Did she say anything to you about how this stuff was given to her? Did they give her instructions? Was she told what was in the bag?”
“We didn’t talk about it,” Ash said with a frown. “I thought you were going to talk to her about it. That’s what you were supposed to do. Right? Talk to her about the deal and what she needed to do and how to do it?”
“I just assumed they would tell her how much to ask for and what they were giving her.” Lowell turned and began pacing around his living room. He looked very restless and somewhat vexed.
That didn’t help Ash’s frame of mind at all. “Why? What are you thinking here?”
Lowell didn’t answer right away. He stood in front of his fireplace and stared up at the stonework going from the mantelpiece to the vaulted ceiling of the condo. Finally, he pursed his lips and looked as though he might say something. But then he shook his head and remained silent.
“What?” Ash pressed. “You’re acting like you think there’s something else going on. What is it?”
Lowell turned around and stared at Ash. “She’s got to be in on it already.”
“What?” Ash was taken aback. The words shocked him so thoroughly that he took a physical step back. “That’s not possible. Of course she’s not in on some drug ring working out of Dino Golf! Are you out of your mind? What kind of sense would that make?”
“A lot, actually,” Lowell said flatly. “Did she even count the money or know how much was in the bag?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s because she knew that we had well overpaid her for what’s here in these two bags.” Lowell picked up the big baggie and waved it around. “She’s going to go home tonight and go through the money. Then she’ll keep the extra. She already knows what it’s worth because she’s been selling before. Can’t you see that?”
“That’s not true.” Maybe if Ash kept saying it enough times, he would make himself believe it too. “She’s not like that.”
“Right. Because they didn’t give her a pricelist or a rundown of what to charge or anything. They just handed her two bags of pills and said go for it.”
Ash’s brain was fumbling for answers and hit on one thing. “The pills came from her and her brother.”
“Both of them?” Lowell seemed to be chewing on this a lot. “Really. That’s interesting. So, she had a double dose of the regular handout.” He was now staring at the pills nearly packaged on the counter. “This operation is small. It can’t be that small.”
“What?” Now Ash was just confused. “First, it’s too much and then it’s too little. What do you want? The entire layout complete with names just sitting there on the table?”
“That would be helpful,” Lowell said sardonically. “But I’m talking about the fact that I think our helper is holding back a lot. This can’t be all they hand out. You would never be able to make anything with this. It’s just a taste of what they would need to be trafficking to get the sort of numbers we’ve had reported.”
“Who is we?” Ash latched onto that quick enough. “The police department? Because I don’t understand why you can’t just bring Caprico in and start grilling him until he cracks. She already told you Caprico is the one who handed her the pills. He’s the boss. He’s the one running the show.” Ash thought about Duke Dunbar’s future wife and how abused she had been at the hands of Sergeant Caprico. “You already know that guy is a scumbag. Why would you not take that knowledge and do something with it?”
“It’s not that simple. That’s why.” Lowell looked irritated. “You have to get the State patrol involved. That takes time. And there’s the drug operation to think of too. These guys are not our real targets anyway. They’re just the small timers. We want to know where they’re getting these. I’ll send this lot back to the lab and they’ll be able to trace it back to a pharmaceutical company. That should help.”
This was looking just a little too complicated for Ash’s taste. He wanted instant gratification. An instant arrest or an answer to who they needed to arrest. “I thought they all got brought in from places like Mexico.”
“Not always.” Lowell was looking thoughtful again. That was almost worse than mean. “Sometimes you have employees here in the US who work for the pharmaceutical corporation. They run entire rings right there under the nose of the FDA and everyone else. They sell more pills to dealers than they do to actual pharmacies. It’s becoming a big side business.”
“Of course it is,” Ash muttered. “And we all know that if they would just legalize things like marijuana, we wouldn’t have to waste so much manpower going after a couple of potheads instead of catching a ring of criminals trying to get the nation’s youth hooked on painkillers.”
Lowell frowned at Ash. “All drugs are bad.”
“And this investigation started because of corruption in the Branson Police Department, not because we needed to take down a drug ring at the nearest pharmaceutical corporation. I just keep wondering what your real goal is in all of this, Lowell.” Ash waited, but Lowell never even acknowledged him.
“Don’t be cute,” Lowell finally said after a moment or two. “Don’t try to stand there and pretend you know what’s going on. Titus is a good guy. I like him. And I appreciate what all of you are doing for this town. I really do. But this is police business and if you want to work with the big boys, you need to learn to listen and do what you’re told.”
Ash tilted his head and twisted his lips into half a smile. He didn’t appreciate the way Lowell was talking to him at the moment. That was enough to be done. Ash turned and started walking toward the front door. It was time to make an exit and go home.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Lowell demanded.
Ash did not turn around to look at him. He was making a point here whether the detective would get it or not. “I’m going home. I’m tired of listening to you speculate about whether or not a person who offered to help you of her own free will without any compensation and at considerable risk to herself is actually your enemy.”
Lowell marched over to Ash and grabbed his arm to spin him around. “All of those things you said are all reasons to suspect her! Don’t you get it?”
; “And yet she doesn’t act suspicious in the least,” Ash reminded him. “Did you tell her to ask for a price list? No. She’s totally naïve. And how much money she should have gotten? She didn’t know. That’s why she didn’t ask and didn’t look. It’s not because she’s scheming. She really doesn’t know better.”
Lowell stared at Ash for a long moment. Finally, he let go of Ash’s arm and stepped back. “I hope you’re right. But in my experience, you aren’t.”
Chapter Sixteen
Nothing said first class like walking up to that fake lock on the back gate of Dino Golf with a bag full of money in her hands. Mindy did not have any idea what she was doing and somehow, she hoped that would actually make her that much more believable in this situation. When she unfastened the fake lock and walked through the gate, she looked toward the maintenance shed.
It was nearly eleven o’clock. She had almost thought about not coming up here at all tonight. If it hadn’t been for her latent worry that her brother might somehow be penalized for her not getting the cash to Caprico as quickly as possible, Mindy might have waited a day or two before handing over the cash. Not because she wanted a bag of money around, but because she really didn’t want to be involved in this. It all felt oily and greasy and just wrong.
“Well, what have we here?” Caprico’s silky, yet callous voice came from the deep shadows around the shed.
Mindy tossed her bag of money on the ground. “I got your cash. And I need the bag back. I don’t have many of them.”
It was difficult to tell in the deep inky pooling shadows, but it didn’t look as though Caprico was alone. In fact, it looked as though he was sitting there shooting the breeze with someone else. But who would be out here? Mindy had gotten the impression there was more than one person hanging out here at night, but that was on the first night when she had been trying to spy for her brother’s sake. Now, it was difficult to say. It wasn’t like the other person—if there was someone else—was saying much of anything.
Caprico stepped out of the shadows and far enough into the light for Mindy to see that he was still in uniform. This just made everything that much more wrong. A police sergeant in uniform was collecting money from a drug sale. He was the kingpin drug dealer and he was a cop.
The zip of the bag opening was loud in the night. Somewhere further away, Mindy could hear laughing children. But not here. Not near the shed. The bag opened and Caprico shoved the sides apart. He made a low appreciative noise. But then he looked up at her with suspicion.
“How did you sell it all so fast?”
She shrugged. “I know a guy. He and his wife are addicted to this stuff. I didn’t even know what it was. I showed him what I had and he bought it all and asked if I had more.” This was probably not a great plan, but it was the only one that Mindy could come up with since Caprico hadn’t given her prices or even a list of what she was “selling.”
“You know a guy?” Caprico snorted. He stood up and took the bag of money. He set the bag in the shadows and for just a moment, Mindy lost track of it. Caprico wasn’t going to be giving any of it to her. That much she could see for herself. “And this guy. Where does he live?”
“In those big time share condos. He rents one for the season and comes in to do the maze every year with his grandkids.” There. This was getting plenty preposterous. At least it wouldn’t seem like Ash was her buyer.
“Grandkids!” Caprico seemed to find this ridiculous. “That’s so typical. They’re selfish bastards. All of those rich people.”
This was an interesting side note. At least in Mindy’s opinion it was. The sergeant was acting as though he was freaking out about people who had more than he did when he had a bag full of money he hadn’t earned.
“You done good.” Caprico seemed almost sorry to say that out loud. “This time I’m going to give you a bigger bag. Maybe you can get your big fish to buy more or get you the number of a friend who will.”
“Fine. Whatever.” Mindy did her best to sound bored. “How about my brother? What are you expecting him to do?”
“Nothing.” Caprico’s smile twisted into something ugly. “Your brother is no good as a dealer. He’s barely good with anything these days. I think saying hello to people when they arrive at Dino Golf is what his current job will be.”
Mindy felt taken aback by this information. “What do you mean? Of course Darren is okay to do other work.”
“Not on your life,” Caprico said with a derisive snort. “You go home again. He should be there.”
A cold slice of dread made Mindy’s palm start to sweat. “I was just at the apartment. He wasn’t there.”
“Oh, yes he was. He got sent home hours ago for trying to shake down a customer for drugs.” Caprico sounded triumphant, but Mindy was absolutely horrified.
“What?”
“Go on, then.” Caprico waved his fingers at her and then threw the bigger bag of stuff in her direction. “Go home and check on the baby. I don’t think mama is going to like what she finds.”
“What did you do to him?” Mindy snarled without thinking. She was so mad right now. So angry with how she and her brother were being treated. Darren was an employee! He should not have to deal with this at his job.
Caprico raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t do anything to him. I didn’t have to. You did.”
“I did? What did I do?” Mindy felt herself staggering back as though he’d hit her. “I’ve tried to keep him heading in the right direction. That’s what I’ve done.”
Caprico gave the deep shadow pools around the shed a sideways look. Even being this upset, Mindy realized this had to mean there was someone else witnessing this conversation. Caprico pointed right at Mindy as though he were condemning her. “Right. You’ve tried to keep him heading in the right direction. But you’re the one who took away his drugs. Do you know how much he hates you right now? He’s desperate, Mindy. And you’re not helping him.”
“Desperate?” She tried to imagine what he meant and her mind touched on the idea of withdrawal. She didn’t know what that was like or what it looked like or what to expect. They were just pain pills. Right? People used those every day. Sure, they were addictive, but how harmful could it be? “Darren is going to be fine. He just needs to get away from you people. That’s all. Leave him alone.”
Caprico shrugged. “He works here. Not a bright kid. Not all that strong either. He’s just a kid. A warm body. They can hire another one. So, I suggest you go home and fix him up before he loses this job like he’s probably lost all the rest of them.”
Mindy snatched up the bag of medications and turned around to leave. She wanted to say something else. She wanted to tell off Sergeant Caprico and make sure he knew he was wrong. But the truth was she didn’t know if he was wrong. Her brother was an addict. That was true. And that’s why she had to keep helping Detective Lowell in an effort to end all of this.
“See you soon,” Caprico called after her with an obnoxious laugh. He retrieved her bag, now miraculously emptied of all hints of cash. Then he waved her off by throwing the bag nearly all the way to the gate.
Mindy didn’t answer. What was there to say? She was too busy stuffing her drugs into the duffle bag and hightailing it home to see if what Caprico was saying was really true. She kept hoping the bastard was wrong. But the closer and closer Mindy got to her apartment, the more she realized Caprico was probably right.
The apartment was silent as the grave when Mindy walked in. She paused just inside the doorway to let the last of the muggy air cycle back out into the hot August night. Finally, she closed the door and tucked the bag of drugs beneath the end table next to the sofa where she slept. It wasn’t a good place to store such a thing long term but she would only need a day to sell the stuff and then it would be back to the same pattern all over again.
The thought was daunting. She didn’t want to hear it. And about the time she thought about sounds and hearing, she heard a groaning coming from the bedroom. Mindy hurried to her
brother’s door and pushed it open. It wasn’t locked. It was as if he didn’t care about keeping someone out. He hadn’t had that much ability to think.
Darren groaned.
Mindy gently perched on the edge of his bed. “Darren, what’s wrong with you? You need to snap out of it.”
“I need medicine,” Darren told her weakly. “Take me to the hospital. They’ll give me some meds and then I’ll be fine.”
Mindy found the suggestion appalling. “I’m not taking you to the ER to beg for pain meds! That’s not the kind of person you are, Darren. Snap out of this!”
“Mindy, shut up!” He snarled the words at her and lunged in her direction. “You don’t know. You’re so perfect. Right? But I hurt. I need medicine to make it better. You got the stuff. Don’t you?”
“No. I don’t.” Mindy felt a strange sort of foreboding. “And what’s this about you getting sent home from work early? You can’t afford that! I thought you were saving up for a car!”
“I spent it.”
Mindy’s blood turned to ice in her veins. Darren had wanted a car for as long as she could remember. He’d been saving. He had a savings account that they had never touched just because it was earmarked for his car. He’d had to have had at least several thousand dollars in there.
“What do you mean it’s gone?”
“I spent it.”
Mindy choked. No. She wanted to choke him. “What do you mean it’s gone? What did you do with it?”
“I spent it.”
“On drugs!” Mindy leaped up from the bed and had to fist her hands to make sure she didn’t pummel him. “What is wrong with you? Do you have any idea how foolish that was? You were so close! You could have had a car and then you could get a place to work far away from here. You wouldn’t have to depend on anyone for rides or for a place to work! That was what you wanted!”
“I needed something else,” he said lamely.
Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset Page 83
