Deadly Cost of Goods

by Margaret Evans

  “I think that topic has come up before.”

  When she finally sat down to eat, he got up for seconds, rejoined her at the table. This time, he ate more slowly.

  “I was thinking about the fentanyl operation in the Old Library,” Laura said. “What’s that drug that first responders carry with them to counter-act an overdose?”

  “Naloxone,” Connor responded. “All of my officers carry it, as well.”

  “Have you ever had to use it?”

  “Sven did once, but it was too late. Brianna did twice and it worked. It won’t work if the fentanyl is laced with too much heroin or morphine. Fentanyl is highly addictive and speeds everything up, so mix it with another drug, and it’s instant death.”

  “No one should ever be in a position to have to use it, but I’m grateful it exists. Drugs are everywhere, aren’t they, even here in Raging Ford?” she asked.

  Connor nodded.

  “On a smaller scale than big cities but just as serious and deadly. We work with the younger and middle school kids here with the D.A.R.E. program, but there’s only so much we can do. By the time they’re out of middle school, it’s too late, because they’ve already been offered and exposed to drugs. Nobody wants to have to use Naloxone and nobody wants to use it and have it be too late. Sven will never forget he didn’t get there in time for that one fourteen-year-old kid.”

  “I have no helpful ideas,” Laura said with emotion. “Someone makes a huge profit in this. I can’t even think straight over how many children’s lives are ruined over drugs when they might have grown up to be inventors and healers and inspiring people. We’ll never know what the world has lost because someone wanted a lot of money.”

  Connor was silent. He had already worked his way through this, seen the damage first hand, and had the same feelings.

  “They found a body in a Duluth alley by a dumpster. DEA thinks it’s one of the people in the outfit we hope to shut down.”

  “I hope I’m never rich,” Laura said.

  He tilted his head in question at her.

  “Because for people who have lots of money, it’s never enough. They always want more regardless of the fallout. One of those lost kids might have come up with a cure for cancer.”

  “I know. Now don’t think too hard about it; just push your emotions to the side for a bit because we have lots of work to focus on for this raid.”

  Laura changed the subject to her white board.

  “Oh, I recently discovered, through painstaking research, that the maintenance schedule for the Old Library was usually on schedule. Except for one year in one month. Your guess?”

  “When Lorelei disappeared.”

  “And you win. There was a fire in the supply warehouse, and they had to order more whitewash, tar, and tar paper. Apparently, they didn’t get the reorder from the Connecticut supplier until the week before Lorelei went to return her book. And they historically closed off half the mezzanines whenever the maintenance, including interior painting, was performed to minimize potential injuries or accidents. If anyone needed a book from that side, one of the librarians retrieved it. Now guess which side was closed off on the day Lorelei disappeared.”

  “The side where we saw her ghost.”

  “You should be a cop. More wine?” she offered.

  “No, I’m good. Thanks. What’s for dessert?”

  “You have room for something more?”

  “For your desserts…always.”

  “Apple tarts,” she began and watched his eyes grow big.

  “With cinnamon and brown sugar and melted butter smothering the apple slices?”

  “Yes, and if your eyes prove bigger than your stomach tonight, you may take two of them home. I’m giving the other two to your parents for Alison’s help in the shop.”

  Of course, he couldn’t eat more than two forkfuls, and the attempted third took a long time to get into his mouth.

  “Okay, you called that, Keene. Box ‘em up for me.”

  She cleared the dishes and food away as he slowly made his way to her father’s La-Z-Boy.

  “Don’t fall asleep, Connor! We have some more talking to do. You promised!”

  But it was too late. He was out by the time everything was put away. She stood staring at him, knowing one day she’d trap him into telling her what was so heavy on his mind.

  Laura was mesmerized. She’d never seen him asleep and thought he looked so relaxed and like a little boy. Some of her memories of him from years past came back. How happy those years had been with her parents still with her. She had shared some of it with Justin and recalled the brief sadness in his eyes at never knowing them.

  She hadn’t realized how long she’d been standing there or that she had turned inward so intently until Connor spoke to her in a tone that indicated repetition.

  “Laura…” he said, waving an arm at her. “Earth to Laura…”

  “Oh, sorry, I was lost in thought.”

  “Yeah. Saw that. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. That was a good meal. Thank you.” He placed his hand on the arm of the couch next to the lounger. “Sit. Time to talk. I’ve made you wait too long.”

  She curled up in the corner of the couch and reached for the hand he offered her.

  First he shared the information he got from his parents about their student years with the Keenes.

  “Do you want to talk with them? Maybe you have questions I didn’t ask?”

  “Let me think about it, okay? They may have already filled in the blanks I needed.”

  He nodded.

  “Now for the heavy stuff. If you could live anywhere you wanted, where would that be?”

  “Well,” Laura began, “somewhere in this area of Minnesota.”

  “So, would you mind driving about twenty minutes through moderately heavy traffic to get to work?”

  “Not at all. I’ve taken part in the DC traffic idiocy, and there’s no comparison between a twenty-minute drive and that.”

  “Okay, what if the short commute isn’t permanent?”

  Laura thought about that.

  “If by ‘permanent’ you mean the commute might change again at some point in the future, then I would hope the commute would not change too much in distance or time, but again, I wouldn’t mind at all if I were not alone.”

  Connor stifled a smile. He had missed this while she was in Maryland.

  Laura continued.

  “You should know that I recently observed a really cute Victorian house off Bladens Highway, which isn’t really a highway, about one-third of the way between here and Duluth.”

  “You don’t mean the one for sale with the balloons and flags?” he asked. “You should stay away from it.”

  “Why? Is it a money pit?”

  “No. It’s haunted—not just a rumor. Owners would probably sell it to you for twenty.”

  “Twenty thousand?”

  “No, twenty bucks. They can’t sell it or keep it rented.”

  Now Laura’s face took on an intrigued look. “I’m deducing that it’s not likely another Rage family ghost since I’ve never been inside the house. What type of haunting are we talking about?”

  “Fireplace fires lighting by themselves, window shades going up and down, lights going on and off—and it’s not an electric problem—water faucets going on and off, doors that were locked are ajar, clean clothes folded and put away in the laundry room when no one’s home, beds being turned down when no one’s in the house.”

  “I would love help with the laundry like that. Is it up to code on everything?”

  “It’s completely renovated with five big bedrooms and new plumbing and electrical wiring.”

  “I will have to think about that. I have some savings that are burning a hole in my pocket. Leftovers from life insurance and other savings accounts.”

  “ ‘Leftovers’ ”?

  “Well, I believe you already guessed how the Comm Center and the dash cams came to be, but you will need to keep that knowledg
e secret forever.”

  “I knew it!”

  Laura grinned as Connor continued.

  “What happens with this apartment if you move?”

  “It’s still part of the rental package, so nothing. Connor, this was hard for you to talk to me about, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, it was. Thanks for making it a little easier.”

  “You know that something should probably happen before we share an abode, right? Like maybe talking a little more about it or…something else taking place?”

  Connor nodded, rose. Pulled her up, held her close.

  “Working on it.”

  After he left, she thought about what he told her from his parents about the days when they were all in school. Two miscarriages, one after the other, made the timing work. But she couldn’t figure out how either her mother or Connor’s mother with three pregnancies and babies could have finished their graduate school work and earned degrees on time, as they had.

  I am woman, hear me roar.

  She could hear her mother singing it, and she laughed. She found Helen Reddy’s song on her phone and turned up the speaker. It made her dance around the room, as in days of old, when she thought no one knew she danced and no one was home. The days when all was well with the world, and she had her parents with her and was free to get annoyed with them whenever she wanted.

  The prom was fun dancing with Connor. She wanted to go dancing with him again.

  But there were still so many unanswered questions about Justin. Unfortunately for him, she refused to think about those things this evening. She would think, instead, about Connor’s shyness around her. He was getting there, but it was very possible she would have to help. And it wouldn’t be with water balloons.

  The man could run a police station, for Pete’s sake. He showed leadership and wisdom beyond his years. He was born to be a cop.

  But when it came to Laura, he was shy.

  Only those few and far between times when he wasn’t.

  Maybe water balloons would work…

  Chapter 34

  Blur described the next two and a half weeks for Laura between selling sparkler caps and fake tattoos, dealing with the idea of a brother she hadn’t known existed, and all the business with the Old Library. She had met Justin twice more for lunch in an attempt to get to know him better and perhaps even build a relationship with him. So far, that feeling of having a brother hadn’t yet happened. Even after he talked about his own childhood, he remained a stranger.

  It was really hard for her to keep on task with the Heritage Days Festival booklet and she was glad Kelly had already sent the coloring books to press; they should be here any day. She already had the crayon packets and the sticky goo to attach them to the coloring books. She spent a little time with Jenna to complete the Heritage Days booklet, and they were ready to go to press. Soon everything would be in stacks in the workroom behind Laura’s shop, just waiting for July 1 when the books would go on sale in Second Treasures as well as other key locations around the town.

  Laura finished sewing the pinafore. She practiced braiding her hair, more than once.

  The New Library display from the Old Library was also taking shape. She helped and spent time after work and on her closed days over there. The old card catalogue was fully repaired and refinished to a sparkling, golden sheen. The brass drawer pulls were also cleaned and polished and looked like new.

  Today, Laura was helping to load some of the cards that the librarians had printed into the card catalogue, threading their holes along the pole that ran from front to back in each drawer. She finished all the drawers in her two-hour spot because they were not fully loading every drawer, just enough to show everyone what they had looked like.

  It was far more interesting to watch Glenda and her librarians discover original documents from the early days of the Old Library in the boxes Laura had asked Max and Nicky to move to the “review” room in the basement. They were like a group of children discovering new treasures on Christmas morning as they pulled one after another item from the box. They would know how to smooth out the paperwork and everything else they found for arrangement behind the locked glass cabinet.

  Then she got another visit from Connor about the final, upcoming meeting on Monday for the Old Library raid.

  * * *

  “What is that tunnel there for, anyway?” Blaise Winslow asked Laura as the group was still assembling in the same restaurant room as before.

  “Harry Kovacs could tell it better,” she said.

  “Who’s Harry Kovacs?” Winslow inquired.

  “Head of the Raging Ford town council. He knows just about everything.”

  “Why don’t you give me your version?”

  “Okay. It was originally a tunnel for hiding slaves until they could get them into the Freedom Tunnel in the old cemetery and down to the river to escape up north to Canada. When we got involved in the First World War, people used the tunnel to hide library books, valuables, artwork, and jewelry. They also put in cots and jugs of water and preserved foods. Pillows and blankets, too. All things in case of an attack on American soil. During World War II, the same thing happened. It became a bomb shelter. Jewish people in the area hid there, as well, until the war was over. The tunnel remained a bomb shelter with fresh supplies during most of the Cold War. In more recent years, it’s fallen into the blue bin of oblivion. Most of our younger population in Raging Ford today don’t even know it exists.”

  “What are you doing to rectify that, if I may ask, Ms. Keene?”

  “I’m working on an idea to include the Old Library in our annual Heritage Days tour.”

  Winslow grinned at her. He was barely forty and looked younger. He was also, Connor had told her, not from Minnesota.

  “Better wait until we get it cleaned up.”

  “Oh, that I will, Mr. Winslow. And then the real cleanup begins.”

  “So tell me one other thing. Why are there so many ‘old’ and ‘new’ buildings in this town?”

  “When they expanded the mine to access more iron ore, they had to move part of the town. The story goes that they took buildings apart, board by board and brick by brick, and relocated them to where the center of the town is now. The Old Library was far enough from the mine to be unaffected. But once they moved parts of the town to its new location, the Old Library was more than a quick walk. The town saved up its coins and built a newer one much closer. This one was forgotten. Sad, I think. It’s really beautiful when its brass mezzanine railings are polished and you can see the floor-to-ceiling, stained glass window on the back wall. You should look for it on the Internet.”

  “What’s the picture?”

  “An eagle with words to remind everyone that their learning is their own destiny.”

  He nodded and thanked her.

  The meeting was shorter than the last one because all plans were in place and ready to execute. They went through Laura’s role, again, briefly. And then the meeting was over following a timeline for Wednesday’s operation. Each team would meet and enter the tunnel in sequence. Laura was to be there at a specific time for her role. The timing for each action was down to the finest detail. They were ready.

  * * *

  “Is everything ready to go?” Ruby Howe asked. Bucky and Bronco both answered yes, but their hearts were telling them that maybe they didn’t want to work with Ruby…ever again. Not if she threw people away, as she had with Elijah who had done nothing other than try the product to see if it helped his constant pain. He hadn’t deserved the huge dose of real fentanyl and heroin that had killed him almost instantly, a special gift from the chemist on Ruby’s payroll.

  “Ready to go first thing Thursday morning. The chemists are finalizing the last few batches. After deliveries are done in waves, from bad to good so they don’t find the bad at the bottom of the stack until it’s too late, we pack up and hightail it out of Dodge.”

  “Good. I like certainty.”

  After Ruby went back to her
office in the Old Library librarians’ work room, Bronco turned to Bucky.

  “Not working with her again. The money isn’t worth it. I liked Elijah.”

  “Take your money and disappear. Get a new burner phone she can’t find. That’s what I’m doing.”

  * * *

  Laura twirled, showing Connor all sides of her costume and her two long braids tied with ribbons.

  “Well, what do you think? Will this work? I made it loose enough for the Kevlar vest.”

  He nodded.

  “Now let’s go over how the panels work and your slipping onto the mezzanine and back in a few seconds.”

  “You need Ian for this. He’s the one who opened the door that made the wall move. He would know the pressure and direction.”

  “We can’t do that, but Duncan’s team did try out panels when the targets were not there for a brief time. Don’t know where they all went, but they left the building empty for about thirty minutes. They opened all the panels on both sides, and put WD-40 on them, so they would move easily and soundlessly. The two doors that you’ll be using have a small white ‘X’ taped on them.”

  “Only two?”

  “Trust me. You will only have to do this twice before chaos erupts.”

  They were upstairs in Laura’s apartment.

  “Who’s manning the fort while Sven and Sam are helping on this operation?”

  “Brianna and Mo. I read them in. Back to the plan. There’s only one door that opens inward here in your apartment, and it’s downstairs, so we should do this from your shop door into the workroom. We need to cover your front door and the front window first.”

  “I’m in costume, so can you pull down the shades on the front window and the door?” she asked, grateful she had just installed pull-down shades so she could redecorate the front window for different holidays and seasons in privacy without having to tack up a piece of cloth.

  Laura followed him downstairs when the shades were down.

  Connor opened the door from the shop and explained how the panels worked. Instead of walking straight onto the mezzanine, she would have to slide sideways because they wouldn’t open the panel completely.