“Any idea where they’re delivering it first?” Nolan Frye asked.
Duncan nodded.
“They plan big, initial shipment to go to the Raging Ford Medical Center. We’ve seen these guys before. They clone invoices representing them as legitimate distributors with real bank account routing numbers. Then they do an electronic funds transfer to their real account in the Caymans. It would take the brand or legitimate generic manufacturers to tell the difference. They’re that good. I want to shut them down.”
“We are prepared to move on any plan you want,” said Blaise Winslow, the S.W.A.T. commander. “But keep in mind the logistics in this case. We will have to go through the woods to get to the entry point in the shack. And the blueprints from the county don’t show us the way to the other side of the library, so we originally thought we could only observe from one side. Then we found a door inside the last room on the right at the end of the tunnel that led to the stairway to both mezzanine levels in the hidden passageways on the right. Our surveillance is now from all sides, which turned out to be important because we could only see the leader of the pack from the right side. This is significant because we have to coordinate both ground floor and first mezzanine level attacks.”
“Who’s in charge?”
“Ruby Howe.”
Laura was fascinated with what happened next. The discussion ensued quickly among the group about when, where, and how, often switching among the participants when their part of the shutdown raid arose. Things got really interesting when they spoke of a distraction while everyone got into place and ready to spring their trap on the operation. Eyes turned to Laura.
She felt Connor stiffen next to her.
“There’s enough noise on the floor to cover any sounds the S.W.A.T. team might make, such as creaking floor panels or anything else,” Nolan Frye said. “What we think might be a good idea for a distraction and disruption of their operation to throw them off guard is to play into the rumors that a ghost appears from time to time in this library.”
Laura held her breath. Did everybody know about that?
“Here’s where you come in, Ms. Keene,” Frye continued. “We’d like you to pretend to be the ghost. You’ll need your hair in braids, a dark plaid old-fashioned dress and a white apron. With the way the librarians’ walls can swing inward and to the side, you could slip in and out, and nobody on the floor would see where you came from or where you went. Nothing we’ve seen or heard on the surveillance indicates they’ve even been up on the mezzanines.”
“How long did you plan to have her standing in plain sight?” Mallory asked.
“In short bursts, we were thinking, to minimize exposure to these people. She can pop in and out of several different locations and give us the distraction we need to disrupt their operation so we can move in,” S.W.A.T. Commander Winslow replied. “Her exposure could be even just a few seconds as she waves her arms and moans and disappears behind the panel. Just long enough to catch their attention.”
“And if someone on the floor gets nervous and fires a weapon at her?” Chief Fitzpatrick asked from across the table. “How sturdy are the moveable wall panels that she’s slipping in and out of?”
“She’ll be wearing body armor under her costume, but those walls looked solid,” DEA Chief Corker Duncan responded. “When she’s back behind the barrier wall, she’ll be standing behind officers with ballistic shields that can protect from most hand-held military-grade assault weapons.”
Laura saw Michael Fitzpatrick relax a bit, but she knew Connor hadn’t. He finally spoke up.
“Our advantage to catch them off-guard is only on the first and possibly second sightings of the so-called ghost. After that, whoever has weapons will be ready even if they don’t know where she’ll appear next. They are likely to panic and open fire in random directions at that point. And I presume she’ll be only on one side of the library, the left, which has the easiest access to and from the tunnel. Is that correct?”
Corker Duncan nodded.
“That is a correct assessment, Sergeant,” Winslow agreed. “So we have to move fast at that point and get our civilian out of there as quickly as possible. At the first gunshot, one of your officers will remove her from the passageway, down the stairs, through the tunnel and await further instructions on the other side of the road. This is because we anticipate resistance, chaos, and multiple weapon discharge. We’ll get back together soon. I want to thank everyone for coming here today—”
He was interrupted by Laura.
“Yes,” she said.
All eyes turned to her.
“Yes, I accept and will do my part.”
When there were chuckles around the table, she interrupted them again.
“Never presume, gentlemen. But I think you have a good plan and I’m glad to be part of it.”
“Thank you, Laura,” Winslow said. “We’ll get to our chalkboards now and figure out the details. Then we’ll meet briefly again before the actual date.”
“What’s the target date, Blaise?” Chief Fitzpatrick asked.
“Twenty-one days from today.”
“Let’s get cracking.”
Corker Duncan came around the table and offered Laura his hand. “I worked with your dad on a couple of cases back in the day. I want you to know that we will never give up.”
She liked Duncan. His wild, gray-streaked, sandy hair and the lines on his face put him in the realm of what her father’s age would be today: late fifties.
“Thank you for saying that. By the way, I know your name, Mr. Duncan. That means I must have heard my father talking about you at least once.”
He laughed.
“That could be good or bad. I’m glad you’re helping us out with our shutdown of these folks. Let me know if you need anything. You better head out now; I see Sergeant Fitzpatrick is waiting for you.”
She turned and saw Connor by the door.
“Thank you again, Mr. Duncan.”
* * *
Connor was quiet when they got into his SUV.
“I guess,” Laura said, to draw him out, “this means I can’t tell anyone what I’m doing, right?”
“That’s right. Mom will be told you just have to be out of the store. She learned a long time ago not to ask.”
“So I have three weeks to find a dark, plaid dress and a full, white apron that looks like a pinafore. Okay, I’m on it today just in case they step up the timetable.”
“Good idea. Don’t you want to know why they didn’t decide to use a female cop or agent?”
“I figured somebody told them I’d seen the ghost in the library before and knew how to act like a ghost.”
Connor was silent for a brief moment.
“That was my question to Dad, and he had to be careful exactly whom he asked the same question. It was Nolan Frye who said Mallory knew of our sneaking into the library as kids and figured we knew more than anyone else about the layout and the ghost.”
“How would your boss know about that? He’s not from this area.”
Connor shook his head.
“No idea. But Raging Ford is a fishbowl where everybody knows everybody else’s business, and he probably heard about it at some point. This is his jurisdiction, even the unincorporated parts.”
“That’s a stretch to think I’d remember much after all these years. The only things I recall are generalities, like how dark it all was, how long those staircases and tunnel were, and the ghost. Oh yeah, and Ian screaming and losing your dad’s lock picking set.”
Connor stifled a grin and changed the subject.
“Made any progress on eliminating any of the four small-animal-using organizations?”
“I eliminated the library because Melba said they didn’t begin using them until a few years after I left with Rose. That brings us down to three: the medical center, the school, and the photographers. I did some research on the medical center using those sterile, bagged animals and I found they weren’t readily availa
ble until very recently. So I’m eliminating them. Besides, we already have one clue to the medical center—the root beer lollies—and it doesn’t make sense to me to have two clues pointing there. I just eliminated all photographers. They only go back about five years. That leaves the school.
Connor was silent a moment, negotiating his way through a left turn in a busy intersection.
“By the way, I hope I didn’t embarrass anyone by speaking up today,” Laura added.
“No, you didn’t. You just have to understand how these guys work. They plan and they execute, and they do it fast. They don’t always ask permission from people. You were fine to speak up. It made them stop and realize nobody had asked you if you agreed to do this in the first place. I told you it was Mallory going directly to Frye. My dad was steaming. He’s very protective of you.”
“More so than you?” she asked.
He huffed.
“If possible. Okay, what shopping area do you want me to drop you at to find a dark, plaid dress and white apron?”
“I presume this is on me because none of these agencies or departments has a closetful of historical costumes waiting around for raids like this one. As for buying the stuff, nobody would have those items at the end of May or beginning of June. Halloween costumes don’t even come out until late July or early August. Wait—I know—Faith’s Fine Fabrics! It’s over by Target. You can skirt Route 4—”
“I know how to get there. You’re going to make your costume?”
“It’s that or the Internet. This way I’ll get exactly what I need. I’ll take a cab home.”
“Okay. Remember, there’s no rush back. Mom doesn’t expect you back until close of business. Drop the bag of whatever you buy in the back room someplace so she won’t see it on her way out. Make sure you get everything you need.”
“Patterns, fabrics, thread, zipper, buttons, ribbon, lace, seam tape—yeah, I think I got it.”
“One of Rose’s classes?”
“No, Mom taught me to sew. I just haven’t sewn anything in a while. Glad I brought the sewing machine up here. I kind of threw it into the truck at the last minute. Connor, I’ll be okay. They’ve thought this through.”
“I won’t be okay until you’re out of there unharmed.”
They rode in silence until he pulled into the Target parking lot. The fabric store was three doors down.
“I’m having lunch with Justin tomorrow,” Laura said, grasping the door handle but not engaging it.
“Where?”
“The Flower Café in Duluth near his hotel. Everybody’s too nosy in my neck of the woods.”
He flashed an I-told-you-so look at her.
“That’s a good place. Just be yourself but don’t share too much.”
“You mean like the operation at the Old Library?”
He gave her a look, but it softened.
“Have I told you recently how greatly my life has improved since you came back?”
“Once or twice, but other people make good coffee and brownies, too. Don’t jump to conclusions too quickly.”
He touched her hair.
“You do remember how to braid this hair, don’t you?”
She brushed his hand away, laughing, turned the handle on the door.
“If I don’t, you’ll have to buy me a wig from the Vikings’ pro shop real fast.”
* * *
The officers had roped off the entire alley in this particular low-rent district in Duluth. The Medical Examiner was inspecting the body of the deceased individual. The victim looked to be in his late forties and was twisted up behind the trash dumpster as if someone had tossed him at it and missed.
The M.E. looked up at the officer in charge.
“Sergeant, this guy looks older than he probably is. You found an ID?”
The officer shook his head.
“I can’t do much more until I get him on the table, but he has a number of OD symptoms. Could be morphine, fentanyl, heroin, something else. We’ll know after I get some lab work done. Cuts on his arm were bandaged, but I see no other obvious injuries or trauma that could be a cause of death.”
“We’re passing his photo around. Nothing came up on the scan we did of his fingerprints, so he’s managed to avoid the system thus far,” the sergeant said. “Maybe we’ll have better luck from other stations. He’s from somewhere, and somebody in that somewhere knows who he is. Thanks, Doc.”
The coroner’s assistants gently picked up the body and laid it on the body bag on the gurney, arranged him neatly, and zipped up the bag. Then they wheeled him to the back of the Coroner’s wagon and carefully released the wheels and lifted the gurney into the wagon. After locking it in place, the doors were closed.
As the wagon left for the hospital morgue, the M.E. watched and thought it very possible his team had treated the dead man more respectfully than anyone else in his entire life had ever treated him. He’d seen way too many such cases.
It took two hours for the officer who had spotted him in Mercy Tavern recently to receive and identify the picture and recall where he had seen the man and with whom. The officer’s lieutenant passed on the information to Deputy Chief Michael Fitzpatrick within thirty minutes. It took Fitzpatrick fifteen minutes to contact DEA bureau chief Corker Duncan and advise him that one of the men in his surveillance of the fentanyl operation in the Raging Ford Old Library was dead and found dumped in an alley in Duluth.
Which opened a whole lot of other questions and issues.
Duncan had his team running the man’s photo through facial recognition, and it took about forty-five minutes to come up with a name: Elijah Simms.
No criminal record but information nonetheless from a homeless shelter about an investigation in which Simms was not involved. Bounced from foster home to foster home. Mother a drug addict and father unknown. He eventually found a mentor in a school who made a difference in his life. Helped him get into trade school and find employment. Simms had no family that they could track, but it was obvious he’d never been caught doing anything illegal. Amazing and totally due to the mentor, Duncan figured, but that made it all the more tragic, didn’t it?
To end up as he had, dead from drugs and thrown in the trash.
Duncan knew, however, that whatever or whoever had killed Simms might make this upcoming shut-down raid more dangerous for his team.
Now he had to figure out why and what additional, unknown dangers his team might encounter.
Chapter 33
Justin had already gotten them a booth in the Flower Café when Laura arrived. She was ten minutes early, which meant he was even earlier.
He rose when he saw her stop at the reception podium and waved to her.
She spotted the wave, gave him a big smile and joined him in the booth.
That was when she wondered what they would say to each other. She couldn’t tell him she was up late pinning patterns to fabric and cutting them out, threading her sewing machine after filling the bobbin, and beginning to make her costume. Or that she’d been up until one o’clock in the morning doing that so she could finish it by tonight, well, at least the dress. And certainly not what was behind all this effort.
Justin was apparently going through the same concerns.
“How was the drive?”
“Easy. Not many people on the highway this time of day.”
“You have to get back soon, though, right?”
“No, I’m taking a longer for lunch today. I put up a sign that looks like a clock and is marked at what time I’ll be back. It’s a small town; they understand. We’re good.”
They gave their orders to the table server and waited for him to leave.
“This is awkward,” Justin began, “but I’m glad you agreed to meet.”
Laura smiled again.
“I know. I guess I’m still in some kind of shock. Mom would have called it a ‘left-fielder of great magnitude.’ ”
“Would she? Oh, yes, I forgot she was a psychologist. Not a very sc
ientific description, but apt, nonetheless.”
It was then that it struck Laura that even though she felt badly that her parents had hidden and protected her brother and they hadn’t done so for her, he had never gotten to know them as she had. And he never would. And while she didn’t feel anything for or about Justin yet, she couldn’t ignore his sense of being cheated of something far greater.
“Let me tell you all about them, Justin.”
And the look on his face told her it was just the opening for which he had hoped.
* * *
“ ‘Bout dang time you got here,” Laura texted back to Connor as he notified her he was at her back door.
It was seven-thirty in the evening.
“We were busy putting together what our team is doing for the thing we have going,” Connor explained as they marched up the stairs to her apartment.
“No worries! Nothing’s ruined. I figured you’d be late.”
“How’d the lunch with Justin go?”
“Great. I talked about Mom and Daddy so he’d have some information about them. Made him happy, except for the parts about following clues to find my birthday presents. He didn’t know what to make of that.”
Connor chuckled.
“You gave him a gift no one else in the whole world could.”
She stopped and turned to him.
“And you still look preoccupied.”
“Can we do this after we eat? I’m starved.”
“You missed lunch, too? Have a seat, Sergeant.”
And she served him, loading up his plate with Hawaiian ham slices, Brussels sprouts, and what she called “sparkling” rice which turned out to be rice with tiny, chopped sprinkles of minced onion and sesame seeds. It gave the steaming rice shiny bits throughout.
She poured them each a glass of white wine.
He was diving into the food before Laura sat down. She decided to stand behind him and rub his neck and shoulders.
“You can come home with me anytime,” he mumbled between bites.
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