Chapter 35
THIRTY-FIVE
“Ihope he’s okay.” Ferd grabbed a plastic zip-top bag from Duke’s backseat, put the can inside, then labeled it.
“He’ll be fine. I can send someone over there later today to check on him.”
“A friend? Who?” She tucked the bag by her feet.
“He’s a firefighter, but also the head EMT. I trust him. He’s a good guy.”
She laid her head back against the seat rest. “I’m running out of days.”
“That’s okay. You can always come back after you talk to your boss.” Duke backed out of the parking spot, then headed toward Kevin and Heath’s farm. Maybe they wouldn’t get to Kelly today.
“You think they’ll be out there after trying to ransack a guy’s house?” She avoided his statement. There was a very real possibility she wouldn’t be able to return.
“We won’t know until we get there. Do you want to come back here, or do you want to stay in Cody?” He stared straight ahead, his face unreadable.
“I don’t know.” That was one thing her heart and mind had been unable to reconcile. Even prayer hadn’t given her an answer yet. “I guess I’ll know after I talk to him.”
“Did you say Brendon gave you a note?”
She fidgeted with her blazer. “Yes. He feels I need at least another month of therapy. With him. At least twice a week. But just because he recommended it doesn’t mean my boss will agree to those terms. I’m on leave.
There’s only so long they’ll be willing to pay me without getting something out of it in return.
They could suggest I take on a desk position until I can physically get back to my job.
I don’t know.” Sitting at a desk all day sounded like the worst torture.
“I hate desk duty. Some people are really good at it. They like the detail and helping without putting themselves in danger. It’s a good fit. I’m not one of those people.”
“I could tell from the moment I met you.” She laughed. “Your shoes look like you never give them a day off. You don’t do doughnut runs.”
“Runs, yes. Doughnuts . . . occasionally. I like staying healthy. Fit. But it’s not an obsession or anything.” He shot a glance at her.
“I know. If anything, I’d say you are one of those guys who likes moderation in all things.” When had they become friends?
“Pretty astute. If you don’t come back, I think you should request investigator training. You’d be good at it.”
She let the compliment settle over her. Police work hadn’t been a culture that offered her pats on the back. It was a job, not a pageant. “Thanks. I’m still pretty new. I don’t think they’d even let me ask for that yet.” She folded her hands in her lap. Where could the conversation go after that?
Before long, the deep growth of trees denoting the farm where Heath and Kevin lived came up on the right side of the road. Ferd laid her hand over her weapon. If I need this, can I use it? What if they jump us?
Duke pulled to a stop in front of the old house and turned off the engine. The goose was nowhere in sight. “Their truck is there. You know what’s odd about it?” He frowned as he stared at it.
“I hadn’t thought about it before, but you’re right. It doesn’t fit. Everything else around here is old, but that truck is brand new with tinted windows and it’s sparklingly clean.”
“Exactly. I just noticed that. Not sure why it didn’t occur to me last time. Not that people who have old, run-down houses can’t have new pickups, but it seems odd.”
“Especially with the cost. If I had to make repairs on my house but still needed a truck, I’d buy a used one to save a little money so I could still make the repairs.”
Duke slowly nodded. “That’s my way of thinking too. Wonder what it means, if anything?”
“I think we’re both at the point of really wanting that break in this case, the thing that makes everything else make sense. Trouble is, none of the suspects stand out to me above any of the others.”
“Agreed. Let’s go talk to them.” Duke got out of the car.
Ferd followed him as they headed to the front stoop. The steps creaked loudly, and Duke’s knock was so loud in the quiet that birds flew from their perches in the trees above.
Heath answered the door, holding it mostly closed. “Yeah? Did you figure out what happened behind my barn?”
Duke paused and waited until Ferd stood beside him. “No, but we did just witness you roughing up Carl Johanson at his houseboat. Care to share with us what is going on, or do I need to arrest you both for assault?”
Heath frowned and rolled his eyes. “There was no assault. The man can’t handle a few questions?”
“What right do you have to be asking him anything?” Ferd stepped forward.
Duke’s arm snaked out in front of her, stopping her. “She has a valid question.”
Heath stared at Duke’s hand as if he wished she would’ve stepped into his space, so he could’ve taught her a lesson. A shiver ran down her back. He didn’t appreciate being questioned.
“I think you’d better tell them, Heath,” Kevin said from somewhere behind him.
“Fine.” He stepped back and opened the door.
Inside, the room was dark with a bank of computer screens set up. Kevin sat in front of them, pecking at a keyboard.
“Give me a minute. I’m finishing an email to my supervisor, letting them know what’s going on.”
Supervisor? Weren’t they farmers?
Kevin turned around and stood. “Let’s chat in here. Shall we?” His voice had changed from the backwoods drawl that—now that he wasn’t doing it—seemed over the top. In the living room, he offered them the more comfortable of the two sofas then sat after they did.
“Come on, Heath. Sit.” He motioned next to him. The older man grumbled as he lowered to the sofa.
Kevin took a deep breath. “I’m sure this will come as a surprise, but we’re actually with the ATF.
There’s been a large amount of drug activity in this area for the last two years.
We thought it was on the other side of Red Lake, because that’s where the whole chain seemed to originate, but that wasn’t it.
We eventually realized the shipments weren't crossing the lake. They were being exchanged in the middle. One boat dropped the drugs. Another collected them. That way no single route ever connected supplier to buyer.”
Heath continued, “Whether it’s fish or goods, boats that haul have to keep a register.
And the port, even as small as this one is, knows about it.
We found out which boat was coming to collect the goods from the center of the lake.
That was an easy enough trail to follow.
He even fessed up to the plot, but he didn’t know who had put the plan in place or who put the drugs in the container before he would collect them. ”
“Bailey?” Ferd asked. “He’s dry. Completely. Or so he told certain people.”
“No, that man is already in jail, awaiting trial. Bailey was used. A scapegoat. We were on the water and followed his boat, but he was actually witnessed at work when a drop was made. We still haven’t figured out who owns the supply chain and who’s dropping the goods from this side of the lake to the box you found. ”
“But it’s a pretty good bet that whoever it is killed Bailey?” Ferd said.
Heath glared at her. “Possibly. He may have discovered what was going on inadvertently. I think whoever was doing the drops was stealing his boat to do it, because we checked with Bailey’s boss and the only day he’d missed was the day he used vacation time to take out his boat and found it missing. ”
“The day we met him,” Ferd muttered.
Duke nodded at her. “Why didn’t you tell us when we first came out here? Why did you treat Ferd like she was a threat?”
Heath shifted his focus to Duke. “We’d planned to bring you in on the investigation when we saw you and asked you to come out here to see the damage.
You were potentially working part of our case.
There were tracks, but those were from us in the evening, trying to relax a little after long days.
We couldn’t break security with her there.
None of us knew her, and she wasn’t in any of our case files.
So, we chose not to bring you in, either. ”
“Because I’m not usually around.” She pulled out her badge. “I’m an officer in Cody.”
Heath glared at her badge like she’d faked it.
“Didn't expect that. Well, at least we didn’t break cover for a civilian. Now comes the real question. How far have you gotten, because we’re running out of leads?
Without Bailey’s boat and with the box in the middle of the lake gone, we may never find out who’s the head of the supply chain. ”
“Are you aware of George Edward Ripley III? He made a very strange request for Bailey’s body. He’s in town right now,” Duke said.
“We’ve been watching the inn. No one is there,” Kevin said.
“We noticed that too. I’m wondering if he’s not on one of the rental houseboats. Maybe even anchored in the bay between here and Cottonwood. It’s super still there and perfect for a place to hide,” Ferd said. “Not that I want to go out and check.”
Duke cast her a quick glance of reassurance.
“We should send someone to look. In the meantime, our biggest clue is the fact that a large number of people had a key to Bailey’s apartment.
” Duke leaned back for a second. “One thing has been bothering me.” He tugged out his phone and pulled up the picture of the notes on Bailey’s fridge.
“Is he talking about you guys here?” He pointed to the line mentioning H and F.
“Yeah. When his boat went missing, we met up with him to help him find it. He thought we were just really interested in boating and fishing. Nice guys willing to help a neighbor. Since we had a boat that we used to help him, he probably thought he’d do us a good turn by warning us about the storm.
We never got that message. He had to have died before he was able to talk to either of us about it. ”
Heath squinted at the notes. “Looks like a pretty average guy. Other than the fact that he didn’t have a cellphone. That’s not average.”
“Then all that’s left is to wait on the lab results of the can we just collected from Carl’s and see where that leads. If you find anything new, you’ll let us know?” Duke said.
“Yes, and you?” Heath stared Duke down.
“Absolutely.”