Heartbreaker Hero: Eddie's Story (Maine Justice Book 4)

by Susan Page Davis

  He started on the call records. The last call was made Friday evening, to Misty. Shortly before that was a call to the burner phone. Before it, there were none for several hours, and those from earlier in the day and on Thursday seemed routine—Misty, his friend, Misty, his dad, Misty. There was one call around four a.m. Saturday. Eddie circled it. The number was Jordan Quinlan’s.

  He had Misty’s phone, too, and she had grudgingly given them her password. Eddie had gone through it once already, and nothing struck him as vital to the case, but he hadn’t had the call records then.

  He gave her call list the same treatment he had Kyle’s, checking off the times they phoned each other. When they’d questioned her, she’d identified most of her contacts for the detectives—Kyle, the store, her sister, various friends. Eddie matched most of the calls with them now and checked them off.

  One call early Friday evening wasn’t to anyone in her contact file but seemed familiar. Eddie pulled up Kyle’s list and stopped cold.

  He double checked the number and spun his chair around. Harvey had gone to Stroudwater on a case of his own, and he wasn’t back. Eddie called his cell.

  “Yeah, Ed?”

  “Are you coming back soon?”

  “Yeah, I’m nearly there now. What have you got?”

  “Where’s Misty Carney?”

  “She made bail yesterday Do you need to talk to her again?”

  “Harvey, the last person she called Friday was Kyle’s brother, Jordan.”

  Chapter 10

  When Harvey got back to the station, Tony was with him. Eddie waited for him in the garage with a folder containing all the phone records. Harvey got out of his SUV and told Tony to try to get a lead on that burner phone. They probably couldn’t learn who had sent the text to Kyle, but with help from the phone company, they might be able to tell where the phone was located when the message was sent.

  “Climb in,” Harvey said.

  Eddie got in and buckled up. “So, Misty or Jordan first?”

  “Jordan, I think. He should be at work. We’ll catch him off guard.”

  Jordan Quinlan lived in Berwick, about twenty miles away, but he worked as a team leader at a medical equipment company in Riverton, barely within Portland’s city limits. Harvey set his GPS and drove right to it.

  Harvey asked the receptionist if Jordan had a private office. She said he didn’t but offered to call him out to the lobby.

  A minute later, Jordan came through a door to one side looking curious. His gaze landed on the detectives, and he stopped for a moment then came toward them.

  “Captain Larson. Is there news about Kyle?”

  “We’re following up on a lead,” Harvey said. “Is there someplace we could talk?”

  “Uh, sure.” Jordan turned to the receptionist. “We’ll be in the conference room, if anyone needs me.”

  He led them down a hallway and turned in to a room with a long table and a dozen chairs around it. He closed the door, and they all sat down. Eddie slid the folder across to Harvey.

  Harvey opened it and glanced at the first page, then closed it.

  “Jordan, we’ve found something I thought was a little odd about Friday night.”

  “Oh?” Jordan shot a glance Eddie’s way, dismissed him as small potatoes, and concentrated on Harvey. “Like what?”

  “You said you haven’t had much contact with Kyle over the last few years.”

  “Well, some. I mean, I see him once in a while. I just haven’t spent a lot of time with him.”

  “I see. Do you e-mail or text each other?”

  “Hardly ever.”

  “How about phone calls?”

  He shook his head. “Now and then, like if we’re going to meet up at Dad’s or something.”

  “What about Misty?”

  Jordan’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Misty called your phone Friday. What was that about?”

  “I don’t remember.” He looked off down the room.

  “Because I didn’t think you knew Misty,” Harvey said. “On Sunday, you sounded as though you thought she might be history, as far as Kyle was concerned.”

  “I only ever met her once,” Jordan said. “I wasn’t sure...”

  “That she was still living with your brother?” Harvey asked.

  Jordan’s eyes snapped to his. “Oh. All right, I guess so. I didn’t realize...”

  “Didn’t you? You’ve never been to their apartment, then?”

  Jordan looked very uncomfortable and didn’t answer.

  “When was the last time you spoke to her?” Harvey asked. He waited about twenty seconds before adding, “I know she called you Friday around six o’clock.”

  Jordan let out a deep sigh. His shoulders slumped, and he stared at his hands. “She was worried about Kyle.”

  “Why?”

  Jordan shook his head.

  “Had she called you before?” Harvey asked.

  “No, never. I swear.”

  “So, why that night?”

  Slowly, Jordan lifted his chin. “She thought Kyle was in over his head. She hoped I could help him.”

  “What was he into?”

  Again, the silence and evasive eyes.

  “We know about the drugs,” Harvey said. “Help us out here, Jordan. What did Misty want from you?”

  “She wanted me to talk some sense into him.”

  “That’s a start. What was it all about?”

  “Look, I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “Did you phone him?” Harvey opened the folder and flipped over a couple of pages, scanning the printouts. “Misty’s call to you only lasted a couple of minutes. You didn’t talk to him on her phone, did you?”

  Jordan shook his head. “I went over there.”

  “You didn’t mention that when we talked at your father’s house.”

  He nodded a few times, like a bobble-head doll. “I didn’t want to get Mom and Dad more upset than they were. This has been really hard for them. For us all.”

  “I’m sure. So tell me about when you went to the apartment Friday night. Were they both there?”

  “Yeah.” Jordan folded his hands on the table and looked all around the room. Finally he said, “Look, he was in trouble, but he was my brother, okay? I had to go.”

  “I’d have gone,” Harvey said, as though that was only reasonable. “What were you trying to talk sense to him about?”

  Jordan blew out a breath. “I guess I might need a lawyer.”

  “Then I guess you need to come with us to the station.”

  Kyle looked at Harvey for a long moment. “Can I call my dad?”

  “Later.” Harvey stood. “Who do you need to tell that you’re leaving for the day?”

  Jordan did a double take then said, “My boss. Are you sure I have to leave work?”

  “Unless you tell me everything right now,” Harvey said, “and I can’t guarantee it then. It depends on what you tell me.”

  Another pause during which Jordan squeezed his hands together and cracked his knuckles. “Okay, Kyle was running drugs for this guy.”

  Harvey sat back down. “What guy?”

  “Al Something—Alfred, I think.”

  Harvey’s gaze met Eddie’s, and he nodded. They knew of a powerful drug dealer in the West End who had built himself quite a drug empire in the city. Only trouble was, they’d put him in jail several years earlier.

  Eddie slid out his notebook and wrote down “Al or Alfred.”

  “What kind of drugs?” Harvey asked.

  “I don’t know. Whatever was going. Coke maybe, or meth. Something new, too. Kyle mentioned something I’d never heard of.”

  “And?”

  “He owed this Al guy big time. Somebody held Kyle up and stole a bundle of his drug cash. He was supposed to give most of it to Al, but he lost it all, and they beat him up pretty bad.”

  “When was this?” Harvey asked.

 
“A couple weeks ago.”

  Eddie hadn’t seen any bruises on Kyle’s face, but the M.E. found contusions on his torso.

  “But Misty didn’t call you until Friday,” Harvey said.

  “No. I didn’t know anything about it until then. Well, I knew Kyle was dealing. That’s one reason I stayed away from him.”

  “You’re not into that?”

  “No. I never did drugs, and I told Kyle he was stupid to start, but he never listened to me. I don’t know why Misty thought he would now.”

  “So, what did she want you to do, exactly?”

  Jordan grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged on it. “She wanted me to stop him from going out that night.”

  Harvey waited.

  “He was going to do a favor for this Al guy, and Misty was scared he’d get himself killed.”

  “What sort of favor?”

  “She didn’t tell me at first. I went over there, and Kyle was mad that I’d come. He threw a punch at me, and I clocked him.”

  Again, no bruises, Eddie thought. He wrote more notes.

  Harvey frowned. “Jordan, I think you do need to come to the station with us. If you’re in the clear about this, you’ll be free to go later today, but this is something we need to have on tape.”

  Kyle looked from Harvey to Eddie and back. “I do need a lawyer.”

  “If you want one. I’m not arresting you, but we need your cooperation.”

  Jordan breathed in and out a couple of times. “I’ll come if you let me tell my boss and call my dad first.”

  Harvey didn’t usually bargain, but after a couple of seconds, during which Eddie assumed his brain was in turbo drive, he said, “Let’s go tell your boss.”

  “You’re coming with me?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  Jordan sighed and pushed up out of his chair.

  “Eddie,” Harvey said, “while Jordan and I do this, would you please set some inquiries in motion?”

  “Sure, Captain.” Eddie knew exactly what he wanted. They left the room, and he called the Priority Unit office.

  A few seconds later, Tony said in his ear, perky as ever, “Yeah, Eddie? What’s up, man?”

  “Can you do a quick check for us on a drug dealer named Alfred Hawkins? We put him away four or five years ago. I want to know if he’s still in the state prison, or if he’s out. Somebody named Al is doing his type of trade here again.”

  “Got it. Call ya back, buddy.”

  Eddie called dispatch and asked Charlie Doran if Harvey had called for a marked unit at their location.

  “No, you want me to send one?”

  “Yeah, we need transport for a witness.” Eddie went outside and waited for Harvey. He hoped he wasn’t planning to let Jordan drive his own vehicle. That was a good way to let a witness take a detour. Personally, Eddie would have had the cuffs on him by now, but Harvey seemed to be taking it easy on Jordan. Eddie wondered if it was because of Mike’s friendship with Jordan’s parents.

  A few minutes later, Harvey and Jordan came out. Jordan had put on a gray parka.

  “I called for a unit,” Eddie told Harvey.

  He blinked. “Okay.”

  Eddie shrugged. “I can cancel it.”

  “No, that’s fine. Jordan, we’ll have you ride in with a couple of officers, and they can bring you back here when we’re done.”

  Jordan looked very unhappy, but he didn’t make a fuss. A couple of minutes later, Sarah and Ray rolled up. Harvey gave them instructions, and they put Jordan in their car and left. Harvey and Eddie got into the Explorer.

  “Why didn’t you arrest him?” Eddie asked.

  “I’m not sure he did anything wrong, except lie to us on Sunday. And he just buried his brother yesterday.”

  This new, softer side of Harvey still surprised Eddie, but it seemed to happen more and more frequently. Maybe Leeanne was right, and it had to do with the baby. Or maybe it was all because Harvey had straightened his life out with God, and he empathized more now with people in trouble.

  Harvey pulled out into the street. “You getting along okay with Sarah?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “I haven’t seen you say one word to her, yesterday or today.”

  Eddie shrugged. “I haven’t seen much of her lately.” He’d wondered if they were avoiding each other by unspoken agreement.

  After a few seconds, Harvey said, “You’re not still thinking about her, are you?”

  “Just that it’s too bad it went the way it did. I liked her.”

  Harvey nodded. “She asked me a few days ago how you were doing.”

  “She did?” Eddie wished she hadn’t. He couldn’t think about Sarah now. He didn’t want to, really. But he didn’t want her to be thinking of him, either. Did she feel hurt? He didn’t think he had treated her badly, but after he’d been saved, he’d tried to tell her about Christ. She wasn’t interested, and Eddie had ended the relationship. Maybe she thought he had other reasons.

  “She wasn’t bitter or anything,” Harvey said.

  “Good. So, what’s the plan with Jordan?”

  “I told Ray to take him up to our interview room.”

  “Did you let him call his father?”

  “Yeah. It sounded like Mr. Quinlan will have a lawyer at the station soon, and I want to finish my chat with Jordan before he gets there.”

  When they got to the office, Sarah was sitting at Eddie’s desk. She jumped up when they came out of the stairway.

  Eddie looked over at her and nodded. “Sarah.”

  “Hey,” she said and refocused on Harvey. “He’s in your interview room with Ray.”

  “Thanks, Sarah,” Harvey said. “You want some coffee?”

  “No, thanks.”

  Paula walked over to Eddie. “Tony asked me to tell you he’s working on it, and he should have some intel for you soon. He stepped out for a minute to check on something.”

  “Great. Thanks.”

  Harvey took off his jacket, threw it into his chair, and poured himself half a cup of coffee. He took two sips while Eddie took off his coat, then left the mug on his desk. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  Sarah watched Eddie with big, somber brown eyes. He didn’t know what to say, so he said, “See ya,” and felt stupid. He followed Harvey into the interview room.

  “Thanks, Oliver,” Harvey said. “I think that’s it for now.”

  “Anytime, Captain.” Ray nodded at Eddie and left.

  Harvey turned on the tape recorder, and Eddie went to the corner and started the video recorder. After the formalities, Harvey sat down across from Jordan, and Eddie took up a post standing next to the door.

  “All right, Jordan,” Harvey said. “Let’s resume our conversation that we started at your workplace. You told me that you went to your brother Kyle’s house Friday evening, after his girlfriend called you, and that she asked you to help her talk some sense into him.”

  “That’s right.”

  Harvey repeated almost word-for-word what Jordan had said earlier about his fisticuffs with Kyle and that he’d run drugs for someone named Al.

  Jordan nodded.

  “Please respond verbally,” Harvey said.

  “Yeah, that’s what I said.”

  “All right, why was your brother so angry with you?”

  “He was furious with Misty for calling me, and mad at me for interfering.”

  “How were you interfering?”

  “I went over there because Misty didn’t want him to go out that night, and I was trying to convince him to stay home. But he wouldn’t listen.”

  “So, where did he plan to go?” Harvey asked.

  Jordan hesitated and then met his gaze. “To Mike Browning’s house.”

  It shouldn’t have surprised Eddie, but it did. Up to that point, he hadn’t quite believed that Kyle was heading for Mike’s house packing a gun. Harvey had insisted on continuing the questioning here so that he had Jordan on tape when he revealed Kyle’s plan.

&n
bsp; “Now, by that you mean the police chief, Michael Browning?” Harvey asked.

  Jordan nodded, then said, “Yeah.”

  “Why was he planning to go there?”

  Jordan let out a big sigh. “This Al guy said that was the only way Kyle could repay the debt he owed him—to off Chief Browning.”

  Chapter 11

  Harvey sat there a couple of seconds, then said. “So, your brother, Kyle Quinlan, planned to kill Michael Browning as a means of writing off a debt to his drug supplier.”

  Jordan looked down. “Yeah.”

  “Why did the dealer want to kill Browning?”

  “An old grudge, I guess.”

  “How much did your brother owe this man?”

  “Misty said about eighty grand. He was going to deliver it to Al before, but he’d been attacked and robbed. Since he didn’t have the money, this Al guy said he’d forgive the debt if he killed the chief.”

  “And you were supposed to talk Kyle out of it.”

  Jordan’s eyes sparked. “Well, yeah. Mike Browning is a family friend. I wasn’t going to let Kyle waltz over there and shoot him.”

  “How were you going to stop him?”

  “I didn’t know. I mean, it was such a shock. Misty was crying and telling me I had to do something. Kyle told me to leave him alone. I think he was high, and I wasn’t sure at first he was serious about doing it.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Nothing. Kyle said he needed some sleep, and he went in the bedroom and slammed the door.”

  “So, he wasn’t going to do it right away?” Harvey asked.

  “No. He said he’d sleep until midnight or so, and then he’d go.”

  “And you just dropped it?” Harvey frowned.

  “No, I knew we had to stop him.”

  Harvey waited. Eddie leaned back against the wall and folded his arms.

  “Misty wanted me to do something to make him stay asleep.”

  Harvey eyed him closely. “What kind of something?”

  “She was wild. She wanted me to, like, hit him over the head or overdose him with cocaine or something. She wasn’t thinking straight. I wasn’t about to do something that could hurt him permanently.” Jordan took a deep breath and looked past Harvey, at the one-way glass.