Dead Drop

by Emma Rose Watts

  “Excuse me,” Skylar said.

  “Excuse you?” he said in a joking manner to his three pals who were dressed in nothing more than cut-off shorts, flip flops and bandannas. Their skin was lobster red, and they had the remnants of zinc cream still on their noses which meant they were likely fishermen or just really particular about skin care. “Hey darlin’, how about you sit on my lap and I’ll buy you a drink?”

  Skylar turned and smiled. “Tempting but I’ll pass.”

  As quick as a flash he was up and in her face. “Oh don’t be like that.”

  “Davis!” a voice bellowed from across the room. Both of them looked over to see a tall guy with slicked-back hair, wearing pants, well-polished shoes and a crisp shirt, shaking his head. The guy in front of Skylar stepped to one side and sneered allowing her free passage. Skylar flashed a smile and walked on up to the bar.

  There was a gorgeous young gal, blond hair, dark eyes, wearing a bikini top with tight yoga pants, behind the bar. Skylar glanced down to the stranger who had intervened and gave a nod. He made a gesture back by raising his glass before returning to speaking with a long-legged woman beside him.

  “Can I get you anything?”

  “Who’s that?” Skylar asked, nodding to the guy.

  “That’s Rich Brown. The owner.”

  Skylar pulled out her phone, and badge.

  “Oh you’ll want to speak to him,” the bartender said.

  “Actually I was hoping to speak with you. Were you on last night?”

  “I was.”

  “Until?”

  “Eleven.”

  “Do you remember this guy?” Skylar pulled up a photo of Nick on her phone.

  She cocked her head sideways and glanced at it. “Yeah. Hard to forget a face like that. A real douche bag. He has come in here many times over the last couple of months. Always stays until the end and tries to pick up single girls. He never bothers to take off his ring. I mean, can you believe that?”

  “Oh I’ve seen it,” Skylar said, thinking back to the dating company that was operating in Carrabelle for a while until it was closed down due to numerous complaints. That had brought a smile to Harvey’s face because Callum Jackson was funding the place and anytime he could bring him down a notch was a good day.

  “Anyway, he looked drunk when he came in here. He ended up groping a few too many ladies’ asses in here and Rich had one of our guys toss him out.”

  “So he left alone?”

  “Not alone. I saw him walk off with Trish. How he managed to pull that off is beyond me but whatever he told her couldn’t have been good as she returned a few minutes later cursing under her breath.”

  “Did she say what happened?”

  “No, she grabbed up her stuff and left.”

  “You have a number for Trish?”

  “We get a lot of customers, detective. I know some by name but that’s it.”

  “So this Trish got a last name?”

  “Dawson.”

  Skylar took down a few notes and thanked her. “So you said he would come on to women in here. Did he ever hit a home run or was striking out the norm?”

  “He landed a few. Again, they must have had too much to drink or it must have been that money he was flashing around.”

  “Money?” Skylar asked.

  “He offered to pay for all the drinks in the bar. It was his usual method. He would show up and buy a round for everyone in the house. From there he had women coming up to him all night hoping he was going to buy them drinks.”

  “And did he?”

  “Of course.” She pointed over to the corner where there was a booth. “He used to sit there and have us bring bottles over throughout the night. He ran up a large tab. Though he always paid at the end of the night, that’s why Rich never had any problems with him. But he overstepped the line last night.”

  “In what way?”

  She glanced over to Rich who was now looking at her.

  “Look, it’s probably best you go speak with the owner. All I can tell you is that he was here and in my books he was a dirty old man who liked to hook up with twenty-year-olds. Hell, some of them were young enough to be his daughter.”

  “He has one?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a figure of speech.”

  “Right.” Skylar tossed down a few coins for a cold drink and was about to head over to speak with Rich when Harvey came in. He spotted her from across the bar and stuck his hand up. She waited and he came over out of breath.

  “You run here, Harv?” she asked with a smirk dancing on her face.

  “No, but I nearly ended up in a fight out front.”

  “Three guys with no tops on?”

  “Yeah.”

  She laughed and walked on toward Rich. “Mr. Brown, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. Can I get a moment of your time?”

  He turned on his barstool and smiled. “By all means. I always have time for Franklin’s finest. Can I get you two a drink?”

  Harvey looked as if he was about to say yes when Skylar replied, “Already have one.”

  “So what can I do for you?” Rich asked.

  She showed him the face of Nick Hammond. “You familiar with him?”

  “Nick. Yeah. Please tell me that photo is not what I think it is.”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  Rich sighed and shook his head. “I knew he’d eventually piss off the wrong guy.”

  “So you knew him well?”

  “Listen, detective, anyone who comes into my bar and drops the kind of cash he did on a weekly basis was more than welcome. Heck, he spent more in one night here than most of these bums do in a week.”

  “So last night. What happened? Gal behind the bar told me that you had a little trouble.”

  “Oh he’d just had a few too many to drink. You have to know what Rich was like. He liked to party.”

  “You knew he was married?”

  “Of course. Listen, he shouldn’t have been married and spending his weekends hooking up with single women here, but tell me how many people have you seen with money who are faithful?”

  Skylar noticed the woman draped over Rich’s shoulder, and the ring on his hand.

  “Okay, so?” Skylar asked. Harvey took a seat and Skylar handed her drink to him. He sniffed it as if expecting to find alcohol. It was just orange juice.

  “Like I said, we get all types showing up here. It can get rough at times. Nick would take offense to anyone who didn’t treat him like the center of attention. We had a few new guys here last night. Gangbangers, I think you call them. Well he got slapped down by one of them. I had my guys break it up and toss them out.”

  “And this girl called Trish. What about her?”

  “Trish Dawson is a dancer here at the bar.”

  Harvey looked around. “You’re telling me all those women on the dance floor aren’t paying customers?”

  “A busy house attracts customers, detective. I know you’d call it smoke and mirrors but I call it running a profit. I pay a few girls to dance here every day. It attracts in the single guys who go on to buy drinks, food and well, I think you get the picture.”

  Skylar continued her line of questioning. “So Nick comes on to one of your dancers.”

  “Yeah, groped her ass. Had it been anyone else he might have got a free pass. It’s not like we are hard on rules in this place but the girls on the dance floor are off-limits. That’s a no-no. I warned him on two occasions but he had way too much to drink.”

  “So he left with Trish.”

  “No, he was tossed out. I never saw him hook up with Trish after, that’s news to me.”

  Skylar nodded a few times. “And what about this guy he was with?”

  “I didn’t know him. I remember him but I don’t recall getting a name.”

  “Did he buy anything?”

  “No. Nick buys everything. That’s why people flocked around him.”

  Harvey piped up. “Okay so back up a bit. You mentioned he
groped one of your dance girls and then he was tossed out and yet you said earlier that he was slapped down by one of these gangbangers, which one was it?”

  He looked awkward and uncomfortable and if Skylar wasn’t mistaken, she was beginning to think that he was lying.

  “He got a slap down from this guy, it was broken up and both of them were tossed out. Nick came back about ten minutes later.”

  “And you let him in?” Skylar asked.

  “Like I said, he was a paying customer.”

  “So was the other guy, which by the way raises questions. How did you know he was a gangbanger?”

  “He’d been in on a few occasions. People gossip. Word gets around.”

  “Whose crew does he run with?” Harvey asked.

  “I have no idea.”

  There was a long pause. Just the sound of music pulsating out of large speakers filled the void while scantily clad women swayed to the rhythm, attracting eyes from every corner of the room.

  “Do you at least recall what this gangbanger looked like?”

  “Bald, had a tattoo of a dragon on his neck. Sorry, I can’t be much more help than that, however we do have CCTV.”

  Skylar pulled out a card and tossed it on the table. “Call me if he returns or you remember anything else.” She turned to leave. “Oh, and one last thing. Beyond Nick spending money in here, did you ever speak to him?”

  “Only when he stepped out of line which was quite often.”

  Before they left, Harvey said he wanted to get a copy of their surveillance footage from the previous night. Rich told them to come back in a few minutes.

  Outside, Skylar and Harvey stood by their vehicles, glancing back at the bar.

  “You think it’s a member of the Latin Syndicate?”

  “Possibly,” Skylar said, her eyes scanning the crystal-clear waters.

  “Skylar, if you don’t mind me saying. You seem distracted. Like your heart’s not in this. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “Because we can always let Hanson and Reznik handle this.”

  She shook her head. “No, I just need to get some sleep.”

  “You not sleeping?”

  She reached inside her pocket and pulled out some pills that her doctor had prescribed. Skylar gave them a shake. “These help but they leave me feeling groggy.”

  “And not with it, I know. I used to take them,” he said.

  Her brow pinched. “You did?”

  Harvey leaned up against her truck. “A year before you showed up here I got called out to a meth lab that was operating on the outskirts of town. Hanson and I were there. Reznik had the day off. And yes, I didn’t enjoy having him as a partner for those few days. Anyway, this guy pops out of nowhere and opens fire. Hanson took a round to the back. Luckily he was wearing his vest. I froze. I don’t know why. Had it not been for another officer who arrived a minute after us, I think I would have been dead.”

  “I don’t get it. What happened?” Skylar asked.

  “The shooter was just a kid. He was seventeen years of age.” He paused looking into space as if he was reliving it in his mind. A few seconds later he shook his head. “Anyway, an officer from Carrabelle took him out. The kid died that night. After that I couldn’t sleep for months. It kept replaying in my head. You know, over and over again.”

  “So how did you manage to get over it?”

  “I didn’t. Time eventually did its job and I got therapy.”

  “Are you telling me you went and saw a shrink?”

  Harvey suddenly realized he’d said too much and he’d placed himself on the same level as her. For months he’d been acting like going to a shrink was for people who were mentally unstable and here he was pouring out his heart not realizing that he was no different than her. The fact was no matter how strong a person was, all of that could change in a heartbeat on the job. No training could prepare a person for it. Seeing a kid get blown away, or hearing your fiancé was killed on the job could damage anyone’s psyche.

  “Look, I’m gonna go get that recording from their CCTV then we’ll head over and speak to the next of kin.”

  “Sure,” Skylar said watching him walk away. There was so much that Harvey held back. There were moments she thought she knew him and other times she thought she was only scraping the surface.

  Chapter 3

  The call came in while Skylar was waiting for Harvey to collect the footage. Skylar glanced down and looked at the caller ID. It was Ben. She took a deep breath and answered as she gazed out over calm waters.

  “Ben. How’s it going?”

  “Good. Should have everything wrapped up by three tomorrow afternoon and then I’ll catch a flight back and be home around six. How is he?”

  “Sam?”

  “I don’t have another child.”

  “Right,” she said. “Fine. I mean…”

  “Okay, what did he do? Did he cover the toilet seat with cellophane again? I told him not to do that but you know how kids will be.”

  “No. He hasn’t pulled any pranks.” She shifted uncomfortably trying to think about how to raise the topic. She wasn’t sure, to be honest, but based on what she’d seen that morning and her own experience she thought it was best to just come out with it. “But eh…”

  “Skylar. Just spit it out.”

  “I think he’s being bullied.”

  “What?”

  “I noticed he had a black eye this morning.”

  There was dead air on the phone, enough to cause Skylar to ask if he was still there. Ben was quick to reply. “I’m coming home.”

  “No, listen, Ben, I can handle this. You just focus on what you’ve got to do there.”

  “But…”

  “Trust me.”

  He sighed. “Okay. Just don’t go making it any worse.”

  “And how would I do that?”

  He didn’t reply to that, instead he said he had to go before hanging up.

  Skylar chewed over what could be done. She hadn’t dealt with bullying before and she’d seen the way her parents had dealt with it. Her father had told her to get thicker skin and her mother had asked her what she’d done to deserve it. Yeah, odd for sure but that was them to a tee. Right then there was a knock on the window. It startled her and she twisted to find Harvey there. After she brought her window down, Harvey raised up a flash drive. “Got the recording.”

  “You checked it out?”

  “I was in there all of five minutes. What do you think?”

  “Salty,” Skylar replied.

  “Anyway, I’ll hand this off to Axl and see what he can find. We should head back to the station and you can jump in my vehicle.”

  “What about mine?”

  He stepped back from it and eyed it like he was at a car wreck. “We’ll go in mine.” That was all he needed to say. “Anyway, you want to grab a coffee before we head out to see Ms. Hammond?”

  “Vagabond?” Skylar asked.

  He sucked in air. “Ooh, can’t be doing that.”

  “Seriously, Harvey, Barb doesn’t have spies.”

  “You’d be surprised at how quickly word gets around. Besides, shouldn’t you swing by there and bury the hatchet with her?”

  “I don’t have any problem with her, she refused to serve me so as far as I’m concerned we are done. Life is too short for drama,” Skylar said.

  “Barb would beg to differ.”

  “Actually I think I’ll just grab a coffee over in Apalachicola.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  He turned and headed over to his truck. “Harv, do you think I make situations worse?”

  Harvey turned and his eyebrows rose. “Where did that come from?”

  “Just curious.”

  He put a hand on his hip and eyed her like he was contemplating either telling her the truth or a lie.

  “You know what. Forget the question,” she said.

  She brought her window up and peeled out of there hea
ding for the station.

  Axl had always been a bit of a mystery figure to Skylar. Since joining the department she’d been told about him and had even spoken to him on the phone but to date she hadn’t met him. When he wasn’t helping the police he was working in his own business, which offered computer support and services. All she knew was he was African American, had dreadlocks and knew his way around technology like the back of his hand. Inside the station that morning it was busy. Phones ringing off the hook, officers tapping on keyboards and several of them dashing in and out of the building.

  Fortunately Reznik and Hanson were nowhere to be seen. Skylar was about to make a phone call to the high school and see if she could arrange a time to speak with the principal when Captain Joe Davenport stuck his head out of his office and made a gesture.

  “A moment, Reid.”

  She nodded, threw her bag down and headed in, closing the door behind her as Harvey came into the main office.

  “Take a seat.”

  “I’ll stand if that’s okay.”

  “Fine. How are things?”

  “Good.”

  He nodded and leaned forward. His desk was immaculate. He suffered from a mild form of OCD so he tended to keep everything in place and if anyone picked up a framed photo or paperwork, he would readjust it to its original position. Davenport scooped up his coffee cup, which had the words I’m The Boss on the front.

  “I was going over your file.”

  “My file?”

  “Don’t be alarmed, Reid. Everyone in this department has one. We like to make sure that things are ticking over nicely and the only way to do that is to keep track of how each of you are performing.”

  “And?”

  He took a sip and flipped open a yellow folder in front of him. It was thick, and full of papers. She glanced to the side of him and saw more folders with the names of officers, though most of them appeared to be a third of the thickness of hers.

  “Things are good. A little rough around the edges but overall satisfying.”

  He leaned back in his chair. “But how are you feeling about it all?”