Chapter 18
Paul watched Petra read the board from the corner of his eye as he set up the laptop on a high table so the people in Washington could see what he had discovered. Three minutes later, Petra turned to him with wide eyes.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
Paul shook his head, and looked at the screen when Flynn and Kessler rejoined them.
“Is he kidding you about what?” Kessler asked.
“Can you see the board clearly?” Paul asked, and when the other two agents leaned in, they nodded.
“We’re good.”
“Okay, I’m starting from the beginning, please bear with me.
” He looked at them and they nodded. “First is Fred Dawson, the guy high up with the Iowa State Police department. His name was all over Eddie’s notebook.
My research indicates that Fred is married to Pamela Dawson.
Pamela grew up in the foster care system.
Not that there is any problem with that, but there might be.
” He held up his hand as he looked at the two agents watching him.
“Please hold your questions until the end.
“Anyway, Pamela grew up in the foster care system, while there, she met another girl at one of her placement homes. Same age, same set of circumstances. They both aged out of the system. Pamela was able to keep her nose to the grindstone and graduate with honors. Her grades allowed her to receive several scholarships. She went off to college, got a degree, met Fred Dawson, married, and got on with her life.” He looked between Petra and the computer before he continued.
“The friend and fellow foster child didn’t fare so well.
Her name was Sara. Where Pam kept her head down and studied as much as she could to get into college, Sara was the total opposite.
She barely passed any of her grades, and though she walked across the stage at graduation, she didn’t receive her diploma. ”
“How was that possible?” Flynn asked.
“According to my research, she had to go to summer school for two courses before she could get the diploma. They didn’t want to embarrass her in front of her classmates.
She took the two courses, but only passed one of them.
When the fall semester started, she had to take the final course.
She passed and received her diploma the following January.
During the time she took those classes, she started working.
Due to the lack of a significant diploma, they were dead end jobs. ”
He looked at the others and saw Kessler and Flynn taking notes.
“What else?” Kessler asked.
“Because Sara had aged out of the system the summer after graduation, her current foster family kicked her to the curb. She was on her own, homeless, jobless, and with no diploma. That’s why she started working those dead end jobs.
Oh, in case I didn’t mention this she worked three jobs in order to keep a roof over her head.
When she finally got her diploma, two of the jobs gave her a pay raise, but it wasn’t enough to quit either job.
” He sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck.
“For the next three years, Sara worked and saved. She was able to enroll in the local community college, but because she didn’t qualify for any financial aid, which I don’t know why she wouldn’t have, but anyway, she enrolled part time.”
“Let me get this straight,” Flynn said as he looked up from his notes. “Sara worked three jobs and also attended college part-time?”
“Yes. Fast forward five years, that’s how long it took her to get a two year degree, but she got the degree. With that piece of paper, she was able to get one good paying job, with benefits, and was able to quit the three dead-end jobs.”
“This probably isn’t relevant, but did she keep in touch with Pamela?”
“Not that I’m aware of. My research didn’t reveal anything like that.
But that friendship will be important in a few minutes.
Fast forward another couple of years, and Sara finds herself pregnant.
No clue how, again, I’m still researching.
” He saw their expressions and heard Petra’s small snort.
“Fine, I know how a woman gets pregnant, I just don’t know who got Sara in the family way. Again, still researching.”
“Go on,” Kessler said with a grin.
“Fast forward to when Eddie was a little over one-year-old. Sara became sick and was able to make a will. In it, she left Pamela custody of her son.”
“Is Sara’s last name Brickman?”
“No, neither was Pamela’s. This is where my clearance ended. I tried to access Eddie’s birth records, and the adoption after Sara passed, but I don’t have access to that information.”
“Damn, we’ll look into it.”
“Thanks, anyway, that’s the brief history of the key players here.
Speculating here, but everything seemed to be fine in the Dawson household with Pam, Fred, and Eddie.
No other children were ever born of the two of them.
Just Eddie, whom they adopted. I don’t know when he reverted back to his birth name of Brickman, all I know is that his school records growing up, and his first driver’s license had the name of Eddie Dawson. ”
“Eddie, not Edward?”
“Eddie. Anyway, this is where the notebook comes in. In some places it reads like a diary, in others there are lists and information. In the diary part, Eddie states that he caught Fred cheating on Pamela, and if he, Fred, didn’t want Eddie to tell her, then Fred had to act as Eddie’s get out of jail free card. Literally.”
“Blackmail.”
“Yes. I haven’t even started in on any police records yet.
I wanted to get the history done first. Anyway, in the book, there are several references to some shady shit that went on in the police department.
Again, Eddie used that as blackmail against Fred.
It’s a twisted road and I’m still researching.
However, in what little digging I did, I found a federal warrant against Eddie.
Don’t quote me on this, but I think it was buried.
No one can erase a warrant like that without turning heads, but it can be buried. Am I correct in that?”
“Yes,” both Flynn and Kessler answered. “What’s it for?”
“Felony drug possession with intent to sell, and failure to appear.”
“Damn. Where was this?”
“Over in Wisconsin.” He waited for several breaths before he spoke again.
“So, gentlemen, I need higher clearance to run these things without it being dinged by the locals. Don’t tell me you can’t do that, because I know you can.
Part of why I started this club to begin with is to get people like Eddie off the streets.
He’s not a patch holder to any club, but with the drugs I found in this pack, there is enough here to issue another warrant for his arrest. Same charges as before.
Felony drug possession with intent to sell.
I would like an agent from the Des Moines office to come here so we can discuss working with them. ”
“Wait!” Petra said as she looked at the screen. “I’m not telling you how to do your job, but if you send someone, for god’s sake do not, I repeat do not, allow them to arrive in a black SUV. That screams government, and we want to keep as low of a profile as we can.”
“What do you suggest we drive then?” Kessler asked with a frown.
“A pickup truck, a car, hell, even a motorcycle will do.”
“Okay, we’ll look into it. It might take us a few days. Do you have a secure place to hold the drugs?”
“Yes, I can continue to do some digging, but I’m going to need higher clearance.” He didn’t want to keep sounding like a broken record about it, but in his mind it was imperative that he have the tools to do his job properly, and that clearance would be a start.
“We can get that to you within the hour,” Flynn said. He sat back and sighed heavily. “Is what you’re doing with this case what you had in mind when you came to us after the take down of Devil’s Scorpions?”
“Yes, so far, the four of us are the only ones that know what I found out. I won’t read Warren into anything until I know that he’s not on the take.
I don’t have concrete proof yet, but from what I’ve read in Eddie’s notebook, Dawson is involved with the drugs somehow.
I don’t know if he’s purchasing them, distributing them, or what. ”
“Or,” Petra said with a shrug when everyone looked at her. “Is he providing them.”
“How?” Flynn demanded.
“From police raids. What happens to the drugs once a case goes to trial? Once they don’t need the evidence anymore?”
“Shit,” Kessler said as he scrubbed his face. “Rankin, in your higher clearance, you’ll have the ability to run the serial numbers off those bills you found with the drugs.”
“Shit, I didn’t think of that. If what Petra says is true and the drugs might be from former police raids, there’s no telling that the money might be involved also.”
“Correct, or it could just be from people who bought drugs already sold. I’m thinking if the money is from a former raid, then is Eddie in possession of it to launder it for Dawson?
We’ll look into how deep Dawson is in this mess, or is he just a pawn in Eddie’s scheme?
But then again, is he the mastermind behind it all, and Eddie is blackmailing him for some reason?
We’ll have to see who is the mastermind, Dawson or Brickman. ”
“I concur,” Paul said. “Thank you for the higher clearance, and I’ll start tomorrow on digging deeper. In the meantime, please keep me informed as to what agent I will be working with out of the Des Moines office.”
“Will do, thank you for the heads up on this. You know, when you came to us about starting your own club, we never thought you would uncover something like this. This is huge. I feel it might have the potential to bring down some heavy hitters. I don’t care if they aren’t part of any one percent motorcycle club as long as we can get these players locked away to where they belong.
I feel that eventually, you’ll get to the people you want or need to take out. ”