Roman

by K. J. Dahlen

  He turned and glared at Briar and Quinn. “How the hell did he get this number?”

  Briar shrugged.

  Quinn shook his head.

  “The only other person who knew the girls were here was James Kingston of the Boston police,” Cade reasoned. “Yesterday when we left Boston he was taking Gretchen Hawks into custody as a person of interest in the Jenna Kramer murder.”

  “Maybe he told her too much and she passed the information onto her son,” Briar suggested.

  Cade shook his head. “Kingston’s too good a cop for that.” He sat there and thought for a moment. “Something must have gone very wrong. He wouldn’t have just told them about the witnesses.”

  Cade glanced at his watch. “I’m going to try and call the Boston PD. Maybe they can tell me something.” He went back into the house.

  “If Kingston told Gretchen about you and T.K. there had better be a good reason. Otherwise he’s going to kill the man,” Quinn remarked.

  When Cade joined them a few minutes later he looked pale. He grabbed his coffee cup and took a swig, but before he could swallow the liquid he spit it back out. “Damn, its cold.” He growled.

  Briar picked up the coffee pot and refilled his cup. “What did you find out?”

  Cade sat down at the table. “James Kingston died yesterday on his way back to Boston from Gretchen Hawks’ place.”

  “What?”

  Cade nodded. “We watched him leave with her in the car. Moments later, we were on our way back here. Damn it, Flynn and Cooper must have been inside the whole time. They heard everything we said. According to Kingston’s deputy, they waylaid James on the way back to Boston. His car was found in a rest area just off the highway. Gretchen was gone and James fought hard but they killed him anyway. They took the files he had and that’s probably how they found out about the two of you.”

  “So where does that leave us?” T.K. asked.

  “We don’t have a choice anymore,” Cade said. “We have to get to Flynn and Cooper before they get to us.”

  “Meaning?” Briar asked.

  “The best defense is a surprise offence. Remember what your girl said? As soon as Elliot and the others get up, we’re going to Sunbury, PA. He won’t expect us to come to him.”

  “Weren’t you in Sunbury just yesterday?” Briar asked.

  “We stopped briefly but I think we need to go back and this time we aren’t going to be put off by the locals.” Cade said.

  “What did you find out yesterday?” India asked.

  “I spoke to Sheriff Jonathan Dillman. He told me Flynn Hudson had a place just outside of Sunbury. They don’t come into town very often but they are nice enough when they do. Flynn has lived in Sunbury all his life. He even brought Gretchen to live there for a while after they got together but she didn’t stick around too long.”

  The phone began ringing inside the house and Cade got up to answer it. He came back out a few minutes later with a thoughtful expression on his face. “Well, well, well this is new wrinkle.”

  “What is?” Briar asked.

  “That was Special Agent Hank Parry, DEA. It seems we are stepping in on his investigation.”

  “What investigation?” Briar frowned.

  “The DEA has Flynn Hudson under investigation for manufacturing and distributing a designer drug called Egyptian Gold. He asked what our intention was and when I told him he asked us to wait until this afternoon to go there. That would give his men time to get into position. I told him we would go there and find out as much as we could but that we wouldn’t go near the Hudson place until he got there. Parry said that would be okay.”

  “How much more are we going to uncover about this guy?” T.K. asked. “Is there nothing he isn’t into?”

  “Parry said that for the twenty years, Flynn Hudson has had no taxable income yet the place he lives in is not exactly run down and he has the latest security in place,” Cade said.

  Makes you wonder how he earns his living and why would a man with no job need top notch security, doesn’t it?” Briar asked.

  Chapter Thirteen

  It was around ten a.m. when Cade, Elliot, Kanan and Briar pulled into Sunbury, PA. It was a scenic medium size town with a population of just under ten thousand people. Some of the buildings dated back to the 1700’s and it was also the county seat for Northumberland County.

  They parked just down the street from the police station and as they walked to the station house, no one paid them any attention. When they got inside, they asked to see Jonathan Dillman.

  A few minutes later, they were sitting in his office. Dillman was sitting behind his desk and when Cade and the others sat down opposite him, he stared at them for a moment. Jonathan Dillman was an older man with almost white hair. He was slim but you could see time had begun taking its toll on the man. He wore thick glasses and a handlebar moustache. “After your visit yesterday, I did some digging and what I found started me thinking.”

  “Thinking about what?” Cade asked.

  “Sunbury isn’t really that big of a town. I’ve lived here all my life. Some families around here you just know enough to stay away from. That’s been my experience with the Hudson family. When I was a boy, Leroy Hudson lived on the old place out by the river. Leroy was not exactly the kind of man you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. He was big and when he drank, he was mean. But he didn’t come to town very often, which was a good thing. People were afraid of him for good reason.”

  “What does that have to do with why we are here?” Elliot asked.

  Jonathan turned to look at him. “If you’ll listen to an old man, I’m trying to give you some background on the family history. Now Leroy had a couple of sons and a daughter living with him out there and those two boys of his were always in trouble. The oldest boy, Beau took right after his daddy, big and mean; Sam the younger boy he followed his brother and his father every time and then there was Loretta. Now that girl never had an easy life. Leroy’s wife Elena died when Loretta was about five. They say she got bit by a snake but they never brought her into town for medical care or nothing. They just buried her on the property.”

  “Was that legal?” Cade asked.

  “Leroy didn’t bother much about being legal, if you know what I mean. My dad and grandpa used to tell me stories about how Leroy had a still somewhere in the woods he owned and how if anybody got too close he’d chase them off with a load of buckshot.” Dillman leaned back in his chair. “But anyway, after Leroy died, the boys took over but they weren’t the same kind of men their father was and before too long Beau got in trouble with the law.”

  “What kind of trouble?” Elliot asked.

  “Leroy was a smart man, when he ran somebody off his property he always aimed the gun a little on the high side. Beau wasn’t the smart man his father was. One day, Carl Drextler was out hunting and he accidentally strayed on Hudson land. Beau shot him down before he had a chance to turn around and go back. When the law caught up with him Beau tried to claim self-defense but the jury wasn’t buying it. They sent him to prison for twenty five to life. He ended up getting into a fight with the wrong man and he was murdered in jail.”

  “What about the rest of the family?” Cade asked.

  “Sam tried to make the farm go but after three years of failed crops, he gave up and moved away. We haven’t heard from him since he left town. Loretta moved to town for a while then she hooked up with a summer bum. He came out here to find himself before he went off to college. He moved her back out to the farm and they lived quietly for a while but then one day around the end of August, he just wasn’t out there anymore. He left her alone and pregnant. She had her baby and named him Flynn. She was the only one of the bunch that turned out half way decent. She got a job here in town and worked hard to provide for her son, but the boy took after the rest of the men in the family. He was no good from the beginning, and he’s been no good ever since.”

  “So what we’re dealing with is a man that knows no
bounds as far as breaking the law. Is that what you’re telling us?” Cade asked.

  “That’s about it.” Dillman nodded. “Oh there’s one more thing I think you should know. It was rumored that Leroy had money, but how he got it is a mystery. The man never did an honest day’s work for himself or anyone else.”

  “OK, you’ve filled us in on everyone but the current Hudson,” Elliot said. “What can you tell us about him?”

  “Flynn is a private man. So private in fact that he went and put up an eight foot fence around the property. He even put in a privacy gate. Now that is his right, but people around here have started to ask what he’s doing behind those walls. There is one man you could talk to while you’re here. His name is Dale Two Moons. He’s a neighbor of Flynn’s and the most outspoken. I’ve got a fistful of complaints from Dale but there isn’t anything I can do legally about them. The complaints are mostly just a pain in my ass, but I have to take a report. He’s the man I think you should start with.”

  “You do know we aren’t the only ones interested in what Flynn Hudson is doing don’t you?” Cade asked.

  Jonathan Dillman nodded. “Yes I know about the DEA. Mr. Parry and I have been working together for a while now.”

  “What do you feel about that?” Cade asked.

  “I’m hoping Flynn is stupid enough to be guilty of whatever the DEA thinks he’s doing. That would rid my county of the entire lot of them. Most folks around here are good people. They work and play hard and they abide by the law. But the Hudson’s are a different breed of folks and it’s been my understanding they aren’t good people. When Loretta died, Flynn just went off on his own. He didn’t have anybody out there to keep him on the straight and narrow anymore.”

  “What do you know about Cooper Hudson?” Elliot asked.

  Jonathan leaned forward in his chair and frowned. “Cooper Hudson is nothing but trouble. He was born out on the farm and he lived there with his parents until he and his mother left. But a few years later, he was back. Flynn let the boy run wild when he was here visiting. He could do just about anything he wanted. Flynn was under the impression that his money could buy whatever Cooper broke or ruined in his youth. Then the boy grew into a man and things got very dicey for a while. There was a spot of trouble on more than one occasion. Then Flynn sent the boy to college and things settled down for a while.” Jonathan took a deep breath. “He became some sort of expert on Ancient Egypt, he even went over there for about six months or so. Flynn used to brag his son found some ancient papyrus or something. There were even rumors flying around that Cooper might have recovered some long lost secrets of the Pharaohs.” He paused and shrugged. “I never paid too much to the rumors but suddenly things were happening out on the farm. They began making improvements to the house and the barn. Flynn increased security and brought in three guard dogs.”

  “What did he need guard dogs for?” Cade asked.

  “I have no idea but that was one of Dale’s complaints against Flynn. He’s called several times about the dogs next door. He called me early one Sunday morning complaining that he just watched the dogs rip apart a doe he’d been tracking.”

  “How did the dogs get the deer?” Kanan asked.

  “The doe climbed the backwash and jumped the fence. The dogs were on her in minutes. The poor thing never had a chance.”

  “You seem to know quite a bit of personal information about these people,” Elliot pointed out.

  Jonathan turned to look at him. “Yes, I suppose you could say that.”

  “Why? I mean why do you know so much about them?” Cade asked.

  Jonathan didn’t answer the question right away. “I’ve lived here all my life. I watched this town grow and I’ve seen people come and go from here. My father used to be a sheriff here seems a lifetime ago. When I was a boy, I used to listen to the stories he would tell. My father was an observer. He watched and learned to read people and he was a damn fine officer of the law. He taught me to love the law the same way he did.” He shifted in his chair. “When I was old enough I went to the police academy and became a cop and I told him I was going to be just like him. He said, ‘No, I want you to be better than me.’ So I went back to school and I graduated with a law degree, but being a cop was all I ever wanted to be, so after my father died, I became a cop just like him.”

  “That still doesn’t explain why you know so much about the Hudsons.” Kanan sat back in his chair.

  “The most valuable lesson my father ever taught me was how to judge a person, and to watch and learn. I have watched and learned everything I could about the Hudson family because in order to stop them you have to know them. Hell son, I probably know more about the people in this town than they do. I watch and I learn.”

  “If Flynn is such a private person how did you learn so much?” Kanan asked.

  “There’s a small diner on the east end of town called Maisy’s. His mother used to work there. Hell, he practically grew up there. He still visits the diner regularly. The owner Maude has a soft spot for him and she likes to brag about how good he’s doing. I just learned to listen.”

  “Is there anything else you think we should know?” Cade asked.

  Jonathan got up and moved over to the window. He looked out over the town. “I’m almost seventy years old. Some people say I should retire.” He turned to look at the door to his office. “I’ve got a whole squad room filled with eager people just waiting for the day I step down and they are all good people, good cops, they just don’t know how to read people.” He went back to his desk and sat down. “The real reason I’m still here is I’ve been waiting all these years for someone like you to come here and tell me you found a way to stop the Hudson’s.”

  “Excuse me?” Cade questioned.

  “Ever since he was born, Flynn Hudson has had a black cloud hanging over him. I can’t explain it or see it but I know it’s there. There isn’t a decent bone in his body but he’s a smart man. He’s more like his grandpa than either of his uncles ever were. He hasn’t done anything illegal around here, at least nothing that we can pin on him. There have been incidents where he was a suspect but people around here are afraid of him for a reason. Every time I think I’ve got him on something, the case falls through. People say they have to live here and they can’t live here always looking over their shoulders. So I’ve waited for the right time. Then he had a kid and I watched the kid grow into a man worse than his father. What do you think Cooper has done?”

  “He’s a person of interest in a string of murders starting fifteen years ago,” Cade replied.

  Jonathan sat there for a long time before he got up and went over to his filing cabinet. Opening the top drawer, he brought out a file. He gave the file to Cade then went back and sat down.

  Cade looked at the file in his hands. The name on it read Helen Leary. He looked at the man behind the desk and asked, “What is this?”

  “Shortly after Cooper came back from Egypt, Helen disappeared. The boy had been interested in her before he left town and when he came back, he was obsessed with her. Helen didn’t want anything to do with him but that didn’t stop Cooper from pestering her, if you know what I mean. The day she disappeared, they had an altercation outside the diner where she worked.”

  “Don’t tell me, the Maisy’s diner?” Cade said.

  Jonathan nodded. “Cooper asked her to go out with him and Helen made it clear in front of everyone that she wanted nothing to do with him, not in this lifetime or any lifetime. She disappeared right after she finished her shift that night. I guess she humiliated him good. That was sixteen years ago now.”

  “And you think he did something to her in retaliation,” Kanan stated.

  “Yes I do,” Jonathan said. “The whole town does but no one will say anything. Flynn has this town under his thumb and he knows it.”

  “Where do you suggest we start looking for answers?” Kanan asked the older man.

  “I’d start at the diner. I think you might find some inte
resting items there. Just don’t tell anyone why you’re here. Word gets back to Flynn real quick if you know what I mean.”

  Cade and the others stood. Cade reached out to shake his hand. “Thank you for everything. Do you mind if I hang on to this for a while?” He lifted the file in his hand.

  “You can have it. If you do find something, please let me know. That’s been the one case in my career I haven’t solved yet. I’d like to know what happened to her before I retire.”

  “We will,” Cade promised.

  About twenty minutes later, they entered the Maisy’s Diner. It wasn’t a big place but it had both booths and tables. It was filled with the noise of people talking and dishes rattling. There were a few people enjoying the food and having conversations. It seemed to Cade that everything went silent for a brief moment when they walked in but then went back to normal.

  They chose a booth half way down the aisle to sit down and as they waited for a waitress to join them, Cade looked around. The diner reminded him of a soda shop of the fifties. There was faded black and white tiles on the floor and red covered chairs. The counter was Formica and it was lined with large glass jars filled with candy. To get to the kitchen, a person would have to go through swinging wooden half doors. It was a quaint little place. Then he spotted something sitting on a shelf beside the cash register and his heart skipped a beat when he realized what the object was.

  He turned his head to his brother and said, “I think we just got our connection.”

  Elliot frowned and asked, “What is it?”

  “Without being obvious take a look at the shelf next to the register. Doesn’t the jar that’s sitting there look familiar?”

  Elliot glanced over to where Cade suggested and his eyes widened. It was the same type of jar India had buried fifteen years ago. When he looked back at his brother, he shook his head. “You don’t suppose there’s a piece of Helen in that jar do you?”