“But why would Tyrell pay a local guy?” I asked. “Let’s say Eddie betrayed Jimmy. That would have been to the guy who hired Tyrell. Eddie didn’t have the stomach for murder. He was Judas and told someone of Jimmy’s plan. That person brought in a professional hit. Then the trouble at the cemetery gave them an opportunity to throw any investigation in a completely different direction. But there were two loose ends that could link the murder back to the casino construction. Danny Swift who saw Jimmy and Eddie with the artifacts and Eddie who might not have bargained for murder.”
“Why not kill Eddie the same night as Jimmy?” Romero asked.
“Eddie was probably making the runs to get the artifacts away from the site. Skye said he didn’t come back here when she expected him. He told her his cleanup shift ran long, but I think we’re going to find just the opposite.”
“So, maybe the search here was for the artifacts. If the plan was to get them back to Jimmy’s, it didn’t happen in time.”
Romero’s conclusion made sense. But there must have been quite a few boxes, given the size of Panther’s collection and the span of empty shelves in his house. I looked back at the trailer. It sat on cinder blocks with latticework covering the gap between ground and flooring. Laurel bushes were spaced across the front.
“Come with me,” I said.
Romero followed me around to the rear of the mobile home. The latticework continued along the side, but there was an open gap in the rear. Here, the ground had been dug out to provide more storage space for a lawn mower or other yard tools. The clear height was at least four feet.
A dirty blue tarp had been thrown across something stored beneath. Romero and I wrestled it free. Wooden apple crates were stacked three high. Those on top held pieces of pottery, some broken, some intact. We had found Jimmy Panther’s collection.
“Now that soil sample is more important than ever,” Romero said. “If we get a three-way match—Jimmy’s body, these artifacts, and the construction site—we’ll have a clearer picture of what happened.”
“Yes. What, where, when, and why. But who?”
Romero turned and headed for the front of the trailer. “Let’s see if we can avoid a warrant to search Cransford’s car.”
The first words out of Darren’s mouth were, “I want a lawyer.”
“Fine,” Romero said. “But you’re not being charged with anything, and I thought you’d like to be on your way.”
Darren looked at me as if to say, “Is this guy kidding?”
“You and I can go back into town,” I said. “You’ll still need to make an official statement and answer any follow-up questions that might arise.”
“You’ll go with me?” Someone plucked from the deck of the Titanic couldn’t have looked more relieved.
“That’s right,” Romero said. “As soon as we get your car cleared.”
“Cleared for what?” Darren asked.
“Well, it’s at the scene of a murder and owned by the man who was found next to the body. You were concerned about our having a warrant before searching your car, so I’d be irresponsible to allow the vehicle to leave the premises without checking it.”
“How long will that take?”
“Hard to say. I’ve got to get a judge, then have the search warrant delivered for you to see, plus we’ve got our hands full here already.” Romero looked at the Infiniti. “Of course, you could just open the car voluntarily and then you and Barry would be on your way in five minutes.”
Darren’s jaw worked back and forth as he thought about Romero’s proposition. “I just didn’t want people to know I brought them.”
“Brought what?” I asked.
Darren pulled a remote key from his pocket and pointed it at the Infiniti. A short beep sounded and the trunk popped open. “Signs and placards I had made in Charlotte.”
The trunk was full of poster boards and wooden rods.
“I thought Eddie could organize nailing the signs to the handles and then lead several carloads of protestors to Raleigh.”
Romero picked up a stack of white placards. Red lettering spelled out short messages: Cherokee For Catawba, Casino Rights For Catawbas, Stand Up For Tribal Equality.
“Eddie Wolfe asked you for these?” Romero asked.
“No. Jimmy Panther. Since his death I’ve left voice messages for Eddie but he wasn’t returning my calls. Yesterday I got his address from the Boys Club and came out to learn once and for all if he was serious about the Raleigh demonstration.”
“Did he know you were coming?” Romero asked.
“No. I figured if I left that on his phone, he’d make a point of not being here.”
I thought about the fifteen grand in Eddie’s bag. “Were you paying Eddie to organize this rally?”
“No. The idea started with Panther and he never mentioned money. If there was even the slightest hint that the Catawba proponents were funding their Cherokee support, the effectiveness on the legislators would be severely compromised. They’d just be another group of lobbyists.”
Darren and I watched Romero rummage through the trunk and then the car’s interior. Other than the sign materials, he found nothing else of interest.
Romero opened the driver’s door. “OK, Mr. Cransford. You can go with Barry to the station and write your formal statement. Be sure and leave a cell number with the duty officer and don’t leave Cherokee until I call you.”
Darren got in the car without comment.
“Do you have the manpower to collect that soil sample?” I asked.
“Yes, but probably not till this afternoon.”
“I’d like to go with you.”
Romero laughed. “Don’t worry, Barry. I won’t let you miss a single minute of this mess.”
Darren turned the car around and we headed down the gravel road.
“Mess. This is a god damned nightmare,” he said. “First I lose my job, then my mother, and now I’m a murder suspect.”
“Do you know your dad’s up here?”
“In Cherokee?”
“Sandra drove him up yesterday. He wanted to get out of the house.”
Darren said nothing.
“Mind if I ask why you haven’t told him about your job?”
“Because there’s nothing he can do about it. He’s upset enough without telling him Mack Collins ratted me out. What a weasel.”
“He’s up here too.”
Darren snapped his head around. “Collins is here?”
“Yes.” I started to say he was with an anxious Cherokee gaming commissioner, but I was afraid that might not be appropriate to mention to someone on the other side of the casino fight.
“Then I guess he’s with Sandra and my dad.”
“Not that I saw.”
Darren pulled his eyes off the road a second time and studied me. “But they were all here last night?”
“Yes.”
Sirens wailed up the hollow, forcing Darren’s attention back to his driving. He edged near the right ditch as two Cherokee patrol cars rushed by.
When we hit the blacktop, we simultaneously returned to cell coverage. My phone emitted a string of vibrations signaling multiple messages had tried to penetrate what was literally a dead zone. One was from Tommy Lee. Four were from Kevin Malone and had all been left within the past twenty minutes.
I highlighted the most recent and pressed play. “Barry, I don’t know why you’re not answering, but call me immediately—and I mean immediately.”
I pressed callback and Kevin answered on the first ring.
“Where are you?” He barked the words, his voice pitched high and tight.
“Headed with Darren Cransford to the Cherokee Police Station. Eddie Wolfe’s been murdered.”
“Cransford killed him?”
“No.”
“What’s your ETA?”
“I can’t meet you there. The casino’s also out. Somewhere else.”
“There’s Oconaluftee Islands Park,” I suggested.
“Good. I’ll find it.”
I was surprised he didn’t pepper me with questions about Wolfe. “Kevin, what’s wrong?”
“I’ll tell you when I see you.” And then he added in a low whisper, “I overplayed my hand.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. Those words from Kevin could mean only trouble with a capital T. Trouble that had to have started with whatever Kevin did in Frankie Tyrell’s hotel room.
I accompanied Darren into the police station and made sure he connected with the duty sergeant. From the looks we received, the whole department was focused on Eddie Wolfe’s murder.
When I stepped outside, it dawned on me that I’d either have to walk to the casino for my jeep or go directly to the park. I phoned Kevin.
“Where the hell are you now?”
“Just leaving the police station. I’m on foot.”
“Fine. Just another tourist. I’m on the island. There’s a stand of giant bamboo with a path cut through it. Looks like I’m back in Southeast Asia. Come there and I’ll find you.” He hung up.
I dialed Tommy Lee and started walking down the hill toward the park in the middle of the Oconaluftee River.
“Did you sleep in?” Tommy Lee asked, half-joking and half-annoyed.
“Eddie Wolfe was murdered early this morning.”
Silence. Then Tommy Lee calmly said, “Give me what’s important.”
I highlighted the key points including the discovery of the fifteen thousand dollars and Jimmy Panther’s missing collection of artifacts. Tommy Lee didn’t interrupt.
When I finished, he said, “I want that soil sample from the construction site as soon as possible.”
“I’m going out with Romero this afternoon.”
“No. I’ll get it myself. Then I want a sample from Eddie Wolfe’s trunk and any dirt clinging to the artifacts. Have Romero prep it. Any word on that missing boy?”
“No. And Romero’s worried. We’ve got two murders tied together and the kid might be in the middle.”
“Anything come of last night’s poker game?”
I wanted to tell Tommy Lee about seeing Kevin enter Tyrell’s room, but decided to stick with my promise, at least until Kevin and I talked in the park.
“Not really. Except Kevin taunted Tyrell at the card table. Called him a loser.”
“Good God. What’s he playing at?”
“He’s playing at drawing Tyrell out. Kevin thinks he killed his niece over eight years ago during a mob hit. Kevin wants Tyrell to come after him.”
Tommy Lee’s sigh whistled in my ear. “I knew there was something like this going on.”
“You were right, but that doesn’t negate the possibility that Tyrell was contracted for Panther.”
“But not Eddie Wolfe?” Tommy Lee asked.
“That’s my take.”
“Are you going back to Wolfe’s?”
“No. I’m meeting Kevin in a few minutes. Something’s spooked him.”
“Barry, I can’t say this forcefully enough. Watch yourself with Kevin. There’s nobody I’d rather have guarding my back, but when it comes to a frontal charge, he makes General Custer look like a conservative tactician.”
“I’ll be careful. You got anything for me?”
“Yes. Phone records came in this morning. Luther received a call on his home line from Sandra’s cell at nine thirty on Sunday night just like he said. They talked for thirty minutes.”
“How about Darren?”
“Triangulation of cell towers that Sunday night show his calls came from the Kings Mountain area. He definitely didn’t go back to DC. There are no calls after eight and no indication he returned to Gainesboro.”
“So, all the Cransfords were telling the truth.” Tommy Lee’s information reminded me I’d forgotten to report Mack Collins’ encounter with Frankie Tyrell. I gave him what few details I knew.
“Wayne saw this?” Tommy Lee sounded more astounded by Uncle Wayne’s undercover work than Senator Collins’ clash with Tyrell.
“Yes. It’s something Archie cooked up, but Uncle Wayne claims the two men exchanged heated words.”
“I don’t like that. Mack heads the state senate’s Indian Affairs and he owns a company that does the big-ticket work that could benefit from casino construction.”
“I asked Melissa Bigham to go through the newspaper’s morgue and any other source she might have for a link between Collins and Tyrell.”
“Let me know what she finds,” Tommy Lee urged. “If we have to question Mack, I want to be sure we’re on solid ground. No, make that pure granite. Understood?”
“As they say on the cop shows, copy that.”
“Good. And next time let me know when you’re going out of cell coverage for any length of time.”
“I wasn’t expecting to find Eddie Wolfe’s corpse.”
“And I’m sure Eddie wasn’t expecting to be one. So take care.” He hung up.
I crossed the wooden footbridge onto Oconaluftee Islands Park. On a Wednesday morning in late September, few people were on the small strip of land. I saw a stand of towering bamboo bordering the far side. I didn’t see Kevin.
The bamboo grew so thick the sunlight couldn’t penetrate the leafy canopy. I stepped into the gloom and saw the glow of the path’s exit a good two hundred feet away. The stalks were several inches in diameter. If used for Cherokee blowguns, they would be classified as bazookas.
Kevin didn’t appear so I kept walking. The path became more of a tunnel. Halfway in, I saw sudden movement on my right. I stepped back and Kevin emerged from a small break in the stalks.
He looked up and down the path. Satisfied we were alone, he pulled a manila envelope from inside his windbreaker and removed a photograph. “Do you know who this is?”
The familiar face stared at me, eyes wide with terror, cheeks pinched from the duct tape pulled tightly across his mouth.
Kevin Malone had overplayed his hand.
And little Danny Swift had been caught in his deadly game.
Chapter Twenty
“Where did you get this?” I demanded.
Kevin shook the photograph in my face. “Do you know the boy?”
“Yes. His name’s Danny Swift. They call him Swifty and he was last seen Monday at noon. He’s been missing nearly forty-eight hours. We think he witnessed something related to Panther’s murder.”
Kevin grabbed a thick stalk of bamboo with his free hand and shook it like a prisoner trying to break out of his cell. “God damn it!”
His contagious anger set my heart racing. I shoved him with all my strength. “It’s Tyrell, isn’t it? You screwed with Tyrell and now he’s got Danny.”
Kevin fell backwards, landing on his butt. The photograph and envelope fluttered to the ground beside him. At first he made an effort to get up, his hands balled into fists, his eyes flashing with fury. Then his face crumpled and he sat on the path, suddenly looking like an old man.
I stood over him. “What happened in that hotel room?”
“I didn’t lie to you. I didn’t plant any evidence, but I took a satchel I found tucked behind his suitcase in the closet. It must contain Tyrell’s payment.”
“Full of hundreds?”
“Yes. One hundred fifty thousand dollars.”
Ten times what we found in Eddie Wolfe’s Camaro. The reason for Kevin’s “loser” taunt in the poker room became clear. Frankie Tyrell had just lost one hundred fifty thousand dollars and didn’t know it. When he found the money missing, he’d come after Kevin. But Kevin hadn’t counted on Tyrell matching the pot with a thirteen-year-old Cherokee boy.
How ha
d Tyrell found Danny Swift? The connection had to be Eddie Wolfe. When Eddie learned Danny had Jimmy’s ball-play stick, he was afraid Danny might know about Jimmy’s salting scheme. More importantly, Danny could link Eddie to Jimmy and the artifacts. Either Eddie had found Danny hiding at Jimmy Panther’s, or he’d intercepted the boy as he was returning home. Maybe Danny had come to Eddie with questions.
Multiple motives were at play. Eddie must have kept Danny in his trailer while he called for instructions. I didn’t think that call went to Tyrell, but to whoever was paying both of them. That person could have silenced Eddie and abducted Danny Swift. Yet, Tyrell must have his own leverage over his employer if he was using the boy to get his money back from Kevin.
I picked up the photo and envelope. Kevin’s name had been printed in block letters. “How’d you get this?”
“The envelope was dropped at the front desk. No one saw who left it. So I have no evidence it came from Tyrell.”
“It’s as good as a ransom note. We have to take action.”
Kevin got to his feet. “I know. But if Tyrell even thinks I went near the police, he’ll kill the boy.”
“You are the police.”
“I broke into his room. What legal standing do I have? Tyrell knows that and he’s counting on me to deal with him.”
“He’ll kill you and the boy.”
“And if I do nothing, he’ll kill the boy for sure. This is my fault.”
“But it’s not a one-man operation. You try this solo and you’re guaranteeing disaster.”
Kevin paced up and down the narrow path. “I know. I’ve got to bring Tommy Lee in on this. But if his whole department or the FBI gets involved, then there are too many opportunities to spook Tyrell and sign this kid’s death warrant.”
“Any conditions for how an exchange will be made?”
“No.” He pointed to the photograph in my hand. “That’s all I got. I suspect he wants a reply in a similar manner. The fact that there’s no deadline means immediately. Otherwise he’ll cut his losses and move on.”
“Tyrell doesn’t know me or Tommy Lee, but that doesn’t mean someone else in the conspiracy wouldn’t recognize us. We’ve got to keep our distance.”
Risky Undertaking Page 19
