Dead Drop

by Emma Rose Watts

  His eyes bounced between them and he placed down the bag of drinks. Jenna stepped forward, a bag of nerves, and made a gesture to Skylar.

  “Darryl, this is Skylar, she works for the police department.”

  “The police?”

  “We work together.”

  “You didn’t tell me you were inviting anyone over.”

  “I didn’t. She dropped off some soup.”

  He looked at her unconvinced. Skylar knew he was probably connecting the dots in his head and thinking that perhaps Jenna had called her to discuss abuse.

  Darryl pulled a face. “Yeah well, nice to meet you but we have a lot to do today so if you don’t mind,” he said, stepping to one side as if to indicate that it was time for her to leave. When Skylar didn’t move, Jenna spoke up.

  “She’s a guest.”

  “I understand and don’t take this the wrong way but this is really not a good time.”

  Skylar was about to pipe up when Jenna said, “She’s staying.”

  Darryl flashed her a look of death. “Jenna. A word with you in the kitchen.”

  He turned and marched out. Jenna glanced at Skylar with pursed lips and followed him. Skylar waited listening to the conversation. He wasn’t exactly trying his best to keep his voice down.

  “I want her out of here now.”

  Surprisingly, Jenna began to stick up for herself.

  “She’ll go when I say so.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yeah. I pay for this apartment. In fact I pay for everything,” Jenna said.

  “And I told you that once I get a job again things will change.”

  “That was seven months ago.”

  “It’s tough out there.”

  “You turned down three job offers.”

  “Working at some fast food joint?”

  “It’s a job.”

  “Yeah, I’d like to see you do that.”

  Skylar peered into the bag and looked at the alcohol. There had to be over fifty bucks’ worth.

  “Then go back to college and get trained.”

  “And how do you expect me to do that?”

  “It might help if you didn’t sit around drinking all day.”

  “Careful,” he said.

  “You know, Darryl. I’m getting tired of all the excuses you keep making. Meanwhile I’m paying for you to drink yourself into an early grave. Well it stops today. I want you out of here.”

  “What?”

  “You heard. Gone. I want you to move out. And while you’re at it, I want the keys to my vehicle back.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “I can and I have.”

  Skylar smiled. Although she knew that Jenna had let this issue with her boyfriend go too far, perhaps showing up here had been a good thing after all. Maybe the realization that someone else knew and that it was no longer a secret was enough to snap her out of whatever hold Darryl had over her.

  “You know things can get real difficult, Jenna.”

  “Get out.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, acting all big because your cop buddy is here. Let’s see how you are this evening when she’s gone. You’ll come creeping back. Begging me to return.”

  Skylar stepped out into the hallway and looked down towards the kitchen. Darryl had his finger in Jenna’s face. He glanced at Skylar and then pushed past Jenna and made his way back to the living room. He scooped up the bag of alcohol and brushed past Skylar on the way out. The walls shook as he slammed the door.

  Jenna appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, tears rolling down her face.

  “You know I can arrest him right now and you can press charges.”

  “I don’t want to, he didn’t do it,” she said as Skylar made her way into the kitchen and put the kettle on to make some tea. Jenna slumped down onto a chair at the kitchen table and put her head in her hands.

  “Jenna. I know you probably don’t want to hear it but there are far better men out there in this world who will treat you better. I know you think he’s only doing this because he’s out of work but that is no excuse to hit a woman.”

  “He’s a good guy, just a little lost.”

  “That’s what a lot of women say about men who lash out at them.”

  “He didn’t lash out.”

  “Oh c’mon, Jenna. I didn’t just graduate from the academy. Good men don’t hit women. It’s as simple as that. They can make excuses all day long about the drink made them do it but that’s just a cop-out for accepting responsibility for their actions.”

  She nodded. “I just…”

  “Don’t want to be alone?” Skylar said walking over and taking a seat across from her. She placed her hand on top of Jenna’s as she nodded. “Join the club. But I would rather live alone than under the thumb of a tyrant.”

  “Was Alex a tyrant?”

  “Alex? No, he was one of the good ones,” Skylar said getting this faraway look in her eye. “But I dated my fair share of numbskulls before I came across him. And there is someone good for you out there.” Skylar squeezed her hand.

  Jenna nodded and pulled a few tissues from a box to wipe her eyes. “You miss him?”

  “Every day,” Skylar said. “But enough about me. You know he’s probably going to show up here tonight. Why don’t you go stay with your mother or better still stay over at my place tonight?”

  “Thanks, Skylar, but no, I’m not going to be driven out of my own place. I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I’m tired of it.” She looked at her for a second. “I just wish I’d told him sooner.”

  “It’s not easy.”

  “No it’s not,” Jenna said.

  Skylar glanced at the clock. She needed to get back to work and find out what Harvey had managed to dig up. “You going to be okay?”

  “Yeah. Thanks for coming by.”

  “Look, I really think I should bring him into the station. These things can escalate.”

  “It won’t. Like I told you. He didn’t do it.”

  Skylar couldn’t believe she was covering for him but it often happened in domestic violence. More times than not it didn’t end well either.

  “If he shows up again, don’t let him in and just phone the station or me.”

  “I will do.”

  Harvey was typing away at his computer when Skylar walked into the office. He glanced over the monitor at her then leaned back in his chair. “Well I managed to get a lead from Jackson.”

  “I told you.”

  “Yeah. Well don’t get your hopes up yet. I tried contacting Keith White and it appears his business, White’s Video Production, is shut down. It hasn’t been in operation for over two months and according to his mother she hasn’t seen him in over a month.”

  “Well that’s not good.”

  “So we are back to square one.”

  “Curious though, did you take her word for it or did you drop around and see for yourself?” Skylar asked.

  “Well I…”

  “You just phoned.”

  He nodded.

  Skylar perched on the edge of his desk. “And Callum didn’t give you any more than that?”

  “Nope. You should have seen his face. The smug little asshole thinks he’s above the law. I can’t wait to finally put the nail in the coffin and put him away.”

  “All in good time,” Skylar said patting him on the chest. “Listen, unless there is anyone else that we can speak to today, I’m going to knock off early. Sam is at home and I don’t want him to be alone.”

  “He’s thirteen.”

  “And dealing with a lot of issues right now.”

  Harvey smiled. “It feels good, doesn’t it?”

  She turned on her way out the door. “What does?”

  “To have someone else’s problems to deal with besides your own.”

  She nodded. “I guess so.”

  “By the way, how did you get on with Jenna?”

  “She kicked her guy out.”

  “Really?”
>
  “No I just said it for the heck of it,” Skylar said in a joking manner. She winked and headed out the door. On the way back to Ben’s home she was passing through town and decided to swing by White’s Video Production. It was located on the southwest side of town not far from the Marathon gas station on Avenue A. It backed onto Carrabelle Harbor. Skylar swung her truck into a parking lot across the street and sat there with the engine idling. White’s Video Production operated out of a run-down one-story building that was made from weathered wood. The only thing that didn’t look like it was about to crumble was the roof, which was steel. Outside there were two large flower pots with dead flowers inside, and an American flag flapping in the breeze.

  Skylar cranked up the air conditioning and waited to see if anyone would show. Multiple vehicles drove by, several stopped at a seafood shop across the street and there was a good amount of pedestrians but no one entered the video production store which had a closed sign hanging in the window. Ten minutes, then thirty minutes passed and Skylar decided that no one was there so she made a decision to head out. As she pulled out of the lot and was about to hang a right, she glanced across the street and swore she saw movement inside the darkened store. Were her eyes playing tricks on her?

  A car behind her honked to get her to move. Making a quick decision, she headed across the street and parked outside White’s store. She pushed out of the vehicle and approached the front, cupped a hand over her brow and peered in. It was dark and the pane of glass was dusty. Nothing. She wandered around the side until she reached the back. That’s when she noticed the rear door was open, and someone was inside clanging around. She glanced down the small steps that led away from the rear to a dock, and a twenty-foot fishing boat. Skylar made her way around. Just as she entered a man with a goatee was coming out. The second he saw her he dropped a large crate of video equipment in his hand and bolted.

  “Hey!” Skylar yelled. “Police. Stop!”

  The stranger darted to the front of the store and within seconds he was out and racing around the east side. Skylar wasn’t that far behind. The stranger climbed over a chain-link fence and bounced off some stacked pallets then darted down the dock heading for the boat. Skylar yelled several times for him to stop but either he was deaf or he wasn’t listening. The guy tossed several boxes used by fishermen behind him to try and slow her down but she hopped over them like an Olympic hurdler. Moving fast as he could he unwound the rope from a post that moored the boat and hopped in. The motor fired up but before he could give the boat some throttle, Skylar raced down the dock and launched herself onto the stern. She landed hard and slammed into him forcing him up against the wheel of the boat.

  “Get off me,” he cried out.

  “Let me guess. Keith White?”

  “And? Who are you?”

  “Franklin County Police.”

  “Ah man. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “Yeah? Then why were you running?”

  “I thought you were with them.”

  “Them?”

  “The Outlaws.”

  Skylar held on to him and gave him a confused look. “Do I look like a biker?”

  “Do I look like a video production expert?” he shot back.

  She pulled a face. “Shut the engine off.”

  Skylar stepped back and let him turn it off before they exited the boat and she led him up to his building. “Am I under arrest?” he asked.

  “You want to tell me why your business has been shut for over two months now? And do you know your mother is looking for you?”

  “Looking for me?”

  Skylar looked at him and then raised an eyebrow before pushing him down onto a chair outside the rear of the store. “She lied, didn’t she? You’re staying with her.”

  “No. Hell no! It’s just she hasn’t been interested in where I’ve been in years. What did she say?”

  “Where does your mother live?”

  “On the east side of Carrabelle,” he replied.

  “So why are you running from the Outlaws?” she asked leaning up against a post and keeping a good eye on him.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “Yeah, well I’m all ears,” Skylar said. Keith groaned and looked down at his feet. He reached down and picked up a few loose stones and tossed them down the steps.

  “I owe them money.”

  “For what?”

  He waved to the building, when she didn’t connect the dots he clarified. “I borrowed money from them to get my business off the ground. We worked out a deal where they gave me a loan in exchange for payback over three years along with offering them free services anytime they needed it.”

  “Why would a motorcycle gang be interested in a video production service?”

  “Look, shouldn’t I get a lawyer or something?”

  “Interesting. You have one?”

  “Of course. Everyone does.”

  “Let me guess, your lawyer wouldn’t by any chance be Nick Hammond, would it?”

  He got this confused look on his face. “Yeah. That’s my lawyer.”

  “Was your lawyer,” Skylar said.

  “What?”

  “We found Nick’s dead body this morning. He’d been run off the road.”

  A look of shock washed over Keith. He stared toward his boat. “Oh no. No.”

  “Oh no what?”

  “I’ve got to get out of here.” He bounced up and pressed forward only to be stopped by Skylar. She pushed him back but he came forward again. This time she took a firm grip on his collar and drove him back into the chair causing the whole thing to nearly topple over.

  “Sit down!” She stabbed the air in front of his face with her index finger.

  “You don’t understand.”

  “Well then how about you explain.”

  Keith blew out his cheeks. “The Outlaws have their hands in a lot of businesses. I needed a loan to get my business up and running and the bank wouldn’t give it to me. I sought out a few local loan places but they wouldn’t touch me because of my bad credit history. Then I got chatting to this guy in a bar here in town who told me about a small loan company operating out of Miami. They said they approved everyone and with my skills in video production they would probably work out some kind of deal.”

  “This guy you met got a name?”

  “I don’t remember. I drank a lot that night.”

  “So?”

  “I went down there and chatted to them and they loaned me the money. In exchange for a good interest rate they wanted me to do a few favors for them. You might want to call it undercover work. So they wanted me to video a few individuals, record some footage and whatnot.”

  “And you didn’t think to question that?”

  “I needed the money. Seemed like a fair exchange.”

  “The Outlaws wanted you to do this?”

  “Not them specifically. I didn’t know I was getting involved with them. If I knew that, I would have gone to someone else. No, it seems they are the ones that fund the loans behind this company.”

  “What’s the name of the company?”

  “Rapid Loans.”

  Chapter 8

  Harvey was biting into a sandwich and doing research on the Outlaws when Skylar came into the office with a guy in handcuffs. “Skylar?”

  “Keith White. I thought it was best you heard the story from him while I speak to Axl and see what I can dig up on a loan company operating out of Miami.”

  Davenport stuck his head out of his office and Keith used the opportunity to his advantage. “Hey I want to file a civil lawsuit against this woman. She manhandled me, and busted up my lip.”

  “You shouldn’t have tried to run,” she said handing him off to Harvey. Harvey led him away into an interview room while Davenport had a word with Skylar. The interview room was going through a renovation after an outburst by a guy they’d brought in to question. He smashed the one-way mirror and they were still waiting on the company to come in and fix
it. Fortunately it was supposed to be done later that day.

  “Man, what kind of sloppy operation are you guys running down here?” Keith said as Harvey sat him in a seat.

  “Just take a seat and be quiet.”

  “You know I have rights. I’m entitled to a lawyer.”

  “And you’ll get one soon enough.”

  Harvey headed back out and knocked on Davenport’s door.

  “Come in,” Davenport replied.

  “Sorry to bother you, captain.” He looked at Skylar. “You want to tell me what’s going on with him?”

  “Didn’t you ask?”

  “I’m asking you.”

  “Harvey, don’t stand in the doorway, come in.” Davenport said waving him in. Harvey took a seat beside Skylar.

  “That’s our mystery man. The one that was arguing with Nick Hammond on the night he died. Says he was close friends with Nick and that he’d brought some questionable footage to Nick because he feared for his life and wanted to make sure he had something in place just in case anything happened to him.”

  “By who?”

  “The Outlaws.”

  “I’m not sure I follow.”

  Skylar turned in her seat. “Apparently. It might not be true. Keith went to get a loan from a place called Rapid Loans in Miami. The company is run by a man named Bo Gonzales. Apparently the money for loans is funded by the Outlaws — he wasn’t aware of this — and if anyone doesn’t pay they get a visit. Well it seems that Keith was falling behind on his payments. Now because they wouldn’t give him more time to pay he tried going the blackmail route and turned the tables on Bo Gonzales by recording him having an affair with some woman.”

  “To buy himself some time?” Harvey asked.

  “Exactly. Except he didn’t tell Bo this. No, he handed this footage off to our victim for safekeeping just in case anything happened to him while he tried to negotiate with Bo on his loan repayments. Makes sense, right? Well he trusted the wrong person. Nick showed it to Bo’s wife and used it in court to land her a sweet settlement. It destroyed his marriage and crippled his business.”