Divine Justice

CHAPTER 77

"MR. TYREE, I think you better come down here, sir," the guard said into the phone.

"What is it?" barked Tyree as he sat behind his large desk with a bird's-eye view of his little kingdom. "I'm busy."

The guard turned to the group facing him.

"He said he's busy."

Alex Ford yanked the phone out of the man's hand.

"This is Alex Ford, United States Secret Service. I'm here with a joint federal agency task force and we have some questions for you, Warden. And if you don't get your butt down here, the next person you'll be talking to is a U.S. attorney as he reads the charges against your ass."

In his office Tyree nearly dropped the phone. "I have no idea-"

"Get down here, now!"

Sixty seconds passed and then Tyree walked stiffly into the front entrance area.

Alex flashed his creds before motioning to the others. Reuben, Caleb and Harry Finn wore blue FBI windbreakers. Annabelle had on a DEA jacket. "Agents Hunter, Kelso, Wright and Tasker."

"What the hell is this about?" said Tyree angrily.

Alex looked askance at him. "You really want to do this out in the open? Wouldn't you prefer some privacy, or is every son of a bitch here in on it?"

"In on what?" Tyree said indignantly.

"Tyree, you can't be that stupid. In fact, I've got a file on you an inch thick that says you're a pretty smart boy."

Tyree glanced at the nervous-looking guards and hurriedly motioned Alex and the others into a small room off the main entrance.

Alex shut the door behind them. "Okay, your little drug ring is falling apart."

"What drug ring?"

Alex looked at Annabelle. "Agent Hunter?"

Annabelle walked up to the diminutive Tyree, towering over him. "I thought you'd be a bigger guy. I rarely see shrimp like you in charge of an op this large."

"I am the warden of this prison. You will address me-"

"Screw you! You're lucky I'm not cuffing your scrawny ass right now. We have the shipments coming up from down south. Either the real oxy or manufactured pills. They're addressed to the courthouse, which gives them cover. That's where the old judge came in. The old judge on the run. When we find his ass he'll turn government witness faster than I can say lethal injection. And you can kiss your butt so long, unless you killed him too. Like you did Shirley and Bob and Willie Coombs. And let's not forget Debby Randolph and your bean counter in crime Rory Peterson. How much did he skim off the top before you stopped him?"

"You're a lunatic!"

"I'm just getting warmed up. Then you'll see how crazy I can really be when I have your ass with a grand jury indictment painted all over it. So where was I? Oh, then part of the shipment is peeled off en route and comes here. Maybe in the chopper rides where you transport prisoners. Then the stuff gets moved out to the back edge of the Riker farm. And the miner train comes by and picks it up in the dark of night, and slings it on up the pipeline under the guise of the poor addicts going to get their methadone. And the money comes pouring in." She glanced at Caleb. "Agent Kelso?"

Caleb stepped forward. "And then the town investment fund is used to launder the drug proceeds. That's where Rory Peterson came in. He kept the cooked books and parceled out checks to the good folks of Divine, with you and your partners keeping the lion's share of the profits. What the citizens of Divine thought were payoffs from brilliant bets in the stock market were really drug monies. I believe that an investigation will show that you all have an ownership interest in all those businesses. Then you dump the laundered funds into offshore accounts. Peterson was killed because he was skimming. Josh Coombs was killed because he got wind of what was going on up here. You killed Shirley because after you killed her son you figured she might just turn on you."

"Why the hell would I kill her son?"

Annabelle looked confident, because Tyree had told them what Stone had figured out. "Because he was close to Debby. She saw whoever killed Peterson because she was working at the bakery across the street from his office. Your goons killed Peterson and Debby and made her death look like a suicide. But Willie never believed she killed herself. He was making a lot of noise. You were probably afraid Debby might have called him back and told him something about what she saw before she was killed. You tried once to get him and failed. The second time it worked."

Tyree slumped down in a chair.

She counted off on her fingers. "So let's see, that's at least half a dozen murders in addition to the federal drug charges. And on top of that we have reason to believe that you're holding two federal agents here against their will."

"What?" Tyree snapped.

"Right, I forgot to tell you that part. Where are they? One answers to the name Joe Knox, the other John Carr."

Annabelle studied him closely. The man was a good poker player, but she saw the truth simply in how his blinking kicked up a notch and his fingers quivered just a hair.

"These accusations are ridiculous. And where's your proof?"

"Our proof will be when we search this place and find our two agents. And the rest of the puzzle is coming together quite nicely. And when we nab the judge we'll have our key witness against you."

"You can't search this place without a warrant."

"Oh, we'll have a warrant. By the crack of dawn tomorrow morning. And just in case you get a hankering to travel anywhere, we have a roadblock set up. So don't even think of trying to slip them out that way. And leave the chopper grounded. Because we've got two of our own waiting to lift off the moment yours does."

Annabelle leaned down close into the man's sweating face. "By the way, we're well aware of your rep as being an asshole to every con that's ever walked through these doors. You like dishing out the pain, little man? Well, after your conviction, our strong recommendation to the correctional folks will be that wherever you go you're to be placed in the general prison population. Might save the Commonwealth the cost of an execution. Get my drift?"

"How dare you!" Tyree suddenly moved to strike Annabelle, but a massive hand was placed on his arm by Reuben.

"I would not advise that," the big man said. "Because then they'll have to shoot you."

Tyree looked around to see Harry and Alex pointing pistols at his head.

Annabelle said, "We'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning, Howie. Oh, and if I were you, I'd definitely get my affairs in order."