Divine Justice

CHAPTER 73

THEY'D ALL CAUGHT a few hours' sleep at Tyree's home about two miles from downtown Divine. It was a modest-size plank house on a nice piece of land set on a hill with a long meadow behind.

Tyree made a big pot of coffee and put together some breakfast. The big sheriff's eyes were red and puffy.

"I apologize for the sorry state of the vittles. I'm not used to having this much company."

"This is all the vittles I need," said Reuben, gulping from a large mug of straight java.

They'd gotten to Abby Riker's place and the scene there had easily told them what had occurred. Front door busted in. Furniture overturned and the deputy sitting in the middle of the floor with blood running down his face. Besides that there was no clue who had taken Abby or where they'd gone. Tyree had put out an APB but they'd heard nothing yet. And every hour that slipped by did not bode well for the woman's safe return.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that," said Tyree guiltily.

"You had a man posted to guard her, Sheriff," Annabelle pointed out.

"Earl isn't much good in situations like that. But he's all I had. I should've been the one to protect her. If anything happens to her-" He broke off and stared down, and a tear fell from his eye onto the kitchen table.

"Why do you think they took her?" Alex asked quietly after an awkward silence.

Tyree wiped his face and looked up, clearing his throat loudly. "Been thinking about that. Danny's out there somewhere. Maybe they were afraid of what he'd do. So they took his mother as insurance. That boy loves his mother."

"Do you think Danny was involved in the drug-running?" asked Annabelle.

"Don't know. Fact that they were using that old barn makes me think the answer to that might be yes."

"But you said he left town."

"After Debby died. Maybe he drew the line at folks murdering his friends."

"Any word on the judge?" asked Alex.

"Surprise, surprise, he's gone too."

"So he must've been in on it and got tipped off," said Harry.

Tyree nodded. "He'd been a judge down in Texas. And he spent time in South America, least that's what he told me."

"They know drug dealing real well there."

Tyree added, "See, I been reading about how easy it is to ship stuff up from Texas that comes over the Mexican border. Seems there's two ways to deal prescription drugs. Steal it or make it."

"Make prescription drugs?" said Caleb, looking astonished.

"Drug labs in Colombia in particular have been producing oxycodone knockoffs by the ton and smuggling them in here," Alex explained. "The stuff isn't pure, of course. It's not like a filthy drug lab has the same quality control as a legit pharmaceutical manufacturer. And that's why it's so dangerous."

Tyree nodded. "So maybe our friend the judge had connections down there. Maybe the place was too hot to hold him. And when he stumbled across old Divine he thought he'd found a good place to lie low for a while."

"So the judge has the pipeline connections. Would your brother have big-city connections for distribution purposes?"

"Eighty percent of the prisoners up there are from big cities and most of 'em were in the drug business and killed somebody. That's what got them to Dead Rock. So, yeah, he might have distribution contacts."

"But if your brother is involved in this, how did they get together? Were they friends?"

"Mosley went up to the prison once a month to mediate. I thought that was right funny when I first heard about it."

"Why?"

"My brother's not much into compromise. It was always his way or the highway."

Annabelle said, "You don't seem all that surprised to learn your brother might be a criminal."

Tyree gave a weak smile. "I was the son who won all the sports awards and Howard was the one who got all the academic scholarships. The dumb jock and the smart older brother. But he had another side to him. Cruel, I guess you'd call it. Before I got bigger than him, he would put the hurt on me if I did something he didn't like. That's why him and me have never been that close. And he always liked to live well. And while he's the top dog up there, it's not like wardens make a ton of money, even at a supermax."

"Peterson was an accountant. Maybe he was doing the books for the ring. Maybe he was skimming and they found out," Alex suggested.

Tyree rubbed his hand along his chin. "There might actually be more to it than that."

"What do you mean?"

"We have a town fund here. An investment fund that Peterson was doing the books on too."

"A town fund?" said Annabelle.

"Yeah, people and businesses pooled some money. Abby kicked in quite a bit; she had more than anybody else. It's done real well over the last few years. Paid quite a dividend."

"Which is why Divine is a lot more prosperous than other towns like it," added Reuben.

"But it might not be because of great investments," ventured Harry.

"No," said Alex. "It might be for another reason: they're using the town fund to launder the drug proceeds."

Annabelle said, "And it's a perfect way to do it. Lots of little checks cut. A town in the boonies. Who'd suspect? The cash comes out pure white."

Tyree said, "What if your guy is up at that prison, how do we get to him? It's not like we have enough to get a search warrant."

Annabelle snapped, "Screw a search warrant. What we need to do is just get up to that prison and get him out fast if he's there."

They all stared at her, Tyree looking the most nervous.

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea, ma'am. My brother is a pretty smart guy. And if he is involved in all this, you can bet he won't let us waltz into the place and look around."

"That's okay, Sheriff, I rarely go in the front door. Shirley told me about those miners getting killed and that's why they call the prison Dead Rock. She mentioned a parallel shaft. I wonder where it is and how far it went in?"

Tyree said, "I don't know the particulars."

"I can check at the local library," Caleb offered.

"And find out everything you can on Dead Rock prison," she added. She looked at Tyree. "And I'd appreciate everything you can tell me about the place too."

"I'll be glad to, but there're lots of places to hide folks up there," Tyree pointed out.

"I'm sort of counting on that," said Annabelle.