She punched in Arnold Terry’s preset number into her phone. “Arnold, I’m down at the Civic Centre again. Are you at the detachment? Great, go over to Home Depot and bring Eddie Hoyne in for questioning. I think he could be involved in Urban’s poisoning, and we need to know why.”
~ * ~
Eddie recognized the big plain-clothes OPP cop and wondered why he was talking to his supervisor. He’d recently been assigned to the hardware section and was re-stocking deck screws when both men approached.
“Eddie, this gentleman needs to have you take some time off.”
The other, whose name Eddie remembered as Terry, extended a hand. “Hi, Eddie, remember me?”
Eddie took his hand but said nothing.
Terry continued. “We need you to help us clear up some questions about what happened at the Civic Centre today.”
Eddie said, “Maybe after work?”
“No, Eddie. Right now. It’s important.”
“Go on, Ed,” his supervisor said. “You can make up the time.”
Eddie followed the detective to his car for the short ride up Great Northern Road to the OPP detachment. He was led to a small room with a table and four chairs and left alone. Fifteen minutes seemed like forever before Terry returned in company of that nice-looking woman detective he’d talked to.
Terry said, “Detective Blake has some questions, Eddie. Just relax and tell us what you know.”
Eddie watched Detective Blake turn on a recorder and make some comments about time and place, citing Eddie’s full name.
“Mr. Hoyne, you are not under arrest and are free to go at any time. You are not obligated to say anything that might incriminate you.”
“Incriminate! I thought you said—”
“Relax,” she said. “I have to tell you that. We’re interested in what happened at the Civic Centre this morning. Specifically, the seizure Mr. Urban experienced. Can you tell us, first, why you happened to be there?”
“I don’t know, I was just there, and I heard about the hearing. So, I went.” He watched the two detectives exchange glances. They didn’t believe him.
“You just happened to be at the Civic Centre,” Terry said.
“Yeah.”
Detective Blake said, “It doesn’t look that way on closed circuit TV. It looks like you were with someone else.”
“Hell no!”
“It’s clear you were gesturing to someone, sir.”
“Yeah! Dr. Campbell!” The name seemed to have an impact on both detectives.
“Dr. Campbell,” she repeated.
“I saw him when I first got there. We talked. Then he says he’s gotta meet someone and splits. Later, when Joey’s dad fell, someone yelled for a doctor. I saw Dr. Campbell nearby and called to him to help and he did. I bet he saved the guy’s life. The squad came and took him to the hospital.”
“Why were you there? What was your involvement in all this?”
“Involvement? I’m not involved in anything. I was there because of…other stuff.”
“What other stuff?”
Eddie stalled. “With the clerk.”
Terry said, “Come on, Eddie. What reason would you have to be at the Civic Centre?”
He’d been keeping the marriage license on his person, afraid Marly might find it at home and ruin the surprise. He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled it out, laying it on the table.
“That’s why.”
Thirty-nine
Terry returned from driving Eddie back to work. “All right, Blake, what have you been up to?”
She told him about going to the hospital, learning of Urban’s serious status and the cause of his collapse at the presentation. “It was a massive dose of opioid.”
“No surprise,” Terry said.
“I went back to the Centre to watch the tapes again. Kevin Campbell was undoubtedly there entering the building, and I thought it was him next to Urban seconds before the man went down. Our little conversation with Eddie Hoyne confirms I was right. Campbell was in position to inject Urban.”
Terry finished the thought. “He had the means, certainly. If anyone had access to a drug, it would be the Province’s leading opioid expert. He even had motive.”
“The U. of Alberta scandal,” Andy said. “Think Urban was threatening to expose Campbell as his accomplice?”
“We’ll find out when we arrest him for attempted murder,” Terry said.
“Urban could die. He’s hanging by a thread.” Andy pressed her palms to her face.
Terry nudged her shoulder. “C’mon, Blake, Campbell had me fooled too.”
“Hell, Arnold, I don’t think Campbell came here to murder Dale Urban. He may not have known the man by any other name but Daniel Champion.”
“As I said, we won’t know anything for sure until we bring him in.”
Andy looked at the time. 9:20pm. “What the hell. Let’s go get him.”
~ * ~
They found Dr. Kevin Campbell in the furnished apartment Social Services had rented on his behalf. He offered no resistance nor made comment after receiving his rights. Andy avoided eye contact and Campbell made no effort to engage her. Terry was given the honor of booking the man, and Andy drove home. It had been an exhausting day.
~ * ~
The Sault Ste. Marie OPP has limited space for holding a prisoner. Campbell would be transferred to a larger facility in the area, and would likely be gone by morning, if Andy had any thought of speaking to him. By then he should be lawyered up. She hoped so. If whatever caused him to poison Daniel Champion could be mitigated in a court of law, she wouldn’t care.
What did bother her about not seeing him was not having closure on her feelings toward him that had most definitely taken root.
~ * ~
They spent the next afternoon in Darrell Eaton’s office at the Ministry of the Attorney General laying down their evidence, tying the drugs they’d found on Dale Urban’s property to decoded data on his and Nicholas Savos’ computers.
Savos had been picked up and charged. When he was shown the evidence they had on Urban, he asked for an attorney, who took little time convincing him to plead guilty and cooperate, advising the evidence was overwhelming. A jury trial would not be in his best interest.
One hour later, constables sent to a certain storage locker returned with four parcels containing varying amounts of fentanyl apparently destined for local and Michigan distributions.
Combined with what Andy had found in Urban’s cold room, that was the smoking gun Eaton had wanted and would be the instrument to stem the flow of at least one drug that was the cause of so much grief in the area.
By late afternoon, they were back in Nolan Roberts’ office helping him write a report to OPP headquarters in Orrilia.
“You might get a promotion out of this,” Terry told him with a wry smile.
“Don’t worry, Detective,” Nolan said, “Plenty of kudos to go around. You two will get yours.”
When they left Roberts’ office Terry said, “You were awfully quiet in there, Blake. Not your usually bubbly self.”
Andy wasn’t surprised Terry had picked up on her mood. They had learned to read each other quite well after years of working as partners. “I’m not so sure I like the way this all turned out.”
“Well hell, we broke up a drug organization that supplied all of Algoma and maybe three counties of Michigan. I call that pretty good. You should be doing backflips!”
“That’s not what I mean. I haven’t come to terms with Kevin Campbell’s involvement. I’m not that bad a judge of character.”
Terry found his chair and put his feet up on an open drawer. “Tell you what…go over and talk to him if his lawyer will let you. Get it off your mind.”
Andy stared at the whiteboard, still loaded with their scribblings from over the past weeks of the investigation. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
~ * ~
The Algoma Remand Centre is literally n
ext door to the OPP detachment, located between it and the Sault Area Hospital. Andy decided to walk.
She flashed her ID and inquired about the availability for interview of Kevin Campbell, a newly arrested prisoner. After a short wait, a guard with stripes and service pins adorning his shirt escorted her inside.
“He’s declined representation,” the guard said, “so I suppose it’s okay to talk to him.”
She was led into a familiar room. She’d interviewed other inmates in here or in one like it. While the Remand Centre was relatively new, the room still had the sterile institutional atmosphere of all prisons.
She didn’t wait long for the door to open on a different guard leading Dr. Kevin Campbell, clad in jump suit and slippers. He seemed shocked to see Andy and dropped his eyes.
“They eat at six, Detective. You got ten minutes.”
“Sit down, Kevin,” Andy said.
Campbell slid into the chair opposite her at a wide Formica-top table. She waited for him to say something, but his gaze remained on his folded hands.
“Kevin. Have you made a plea?”
The sensitive, pale-blue eyes Andy so admired rose to meet hers. “I have, Andy. I’m guilty. I’ve been guilty for a lot of years.”
She let that sink in before replying. “Your internship.”
He looked mildly surprised, then nodded his head.
“Want to tell me about it?”
Campbell exhaled through puffed cheeks. “It seems like a horrible dream. I was so broke at the time. The little assistance I’d received through medical school had stopped. The jalopy I drove died. My parents were going through a money crisis. I was desperately trying to stay in the internship.”
He stopped talking for a moment, then pushed on. “Some of the other interns were taking stuff for one reason or another…to stay awake or help them sleep. There was a lot of that going on. There was a demand for…drugs. When a guy named Champion, a pharmacy student, said he could get me some stuff to sell and split the proceeds, I refused at first. But then something else came up—I can’t even remember what—that must have changed my mind. I told him I would.”
“Oh, Kevin!”
“I went back to the school pharmacy where he worked. By then he only had a few months before the end of term. We did that until he graduated and left the campus.
“I was relieved. The money helped, I won’t deny, but it had been tearing me up. I figured I had dodged a huge bullet by not getting caught. Then all hell broke loose.”
“You mean the investigation?”
“After he no longer worked in the pharmacy, they must have noticed how he’d been falsifying inventory to cover the missing drugs. They had him arrested. A hush-hush hearing was held. Champion admitted screwing up the inventory but wouldn’t admit selling anything.
“There were suspicions, probably gossip among my customers, that I was his partner. It got back to the university, but Champion had to deny it or expose himself. In the end they couldn’t prove anything and decided not to bring charges. But what they could do was take away his degree, even though he’d already gone through the ceremony.”
“Kevin.” Andy reached across and put her hand on his. “Why now, after all these years did you—”
“That day in your house…on TV. This man Urban…I couldn’t believe how he looked like Champion! Later, I got a good look and knew Dan Champion was the same man. My problem was that I’d committed to testify against Urban in a child custody case. Then I learned about Eddie Hoyne’s involvement in drug dealing and his having visited Urban’s house on Savos’ behalf. I put two and two together. I knew he must be supplying Savos. I also knew he would expose me if I either testified on behalf of his son or revealed my suspicions about his dealing drugs.”
Andy was confused. “Why not just leave the area? Why poison the man?”
Campbell put his elbows on the table, his head in his hands. “I wasn’t thinking! I’d told those kids, Eddie and Marly, I’d help them. I’d told Margaret Bryant I’d testify. I’d learned what an evil guy Champion must have become to be bringing pure fentanyl into the city. Then, like all fools who think they have the perfect crime, I thought I’d get away with it.”
“But you ran into someone who knew you,” Andy said.
A grim smile. “What were the chances that Eddie Hoyne would be at that hearing?”
“He was in the building to get a marriage license.”
Campbell expelled an ironic laugh.
The guard returned. “Time!”
Andy reached for his arm. “Kevin!”
“I’m so sorry, Andy.”
Campbell allowed himself to be led away, but not before saying, “Andy, will you try to help that young boy, Joey?”
The door closed behind them. Andy was alone in the room, staring at the pitiless, pale green walls. The finality of what had just happened felt like a heavy weight.
~ * ~
The sun had set by the time Andy traipsed back to the detachment where Terry’s desk was unoccupied. She asked Alice where he might be.
“Detective Terry and the boss are gone for the day. Said you’d know where. They were in an awfully good mood!”
She knew Terry hung out at the bar of the old Algonquin Hotel. The visit with Kevin had thrown her. Celebrating the success of arresting him was not what she needed just then. It was a bit after six. Maybe she could end the day on a happy note.
~ * ~
Lights blazed in the front room of Eddie Hoyne’s house. Andy parked the Jeep and walked the half-block to the house, seeing no spaces closer. As she approached, laughter could be heard inside. She rapped on the door’s small window.
It took her a second to recognize the attractive person who answered holding a wine glass. Marly Quinn had washed away the bright blue streak in her hair and had pulled it off her face to expose what must have always been there…a confident young woman.
“I…Dr. Campbell wanted…” Andy was at a loss, looking around the small living room filled with people.
“Oh please, Detective. Come on in!”
Andy recognized Margaret Bryant from Social Services and, of course, Eddie Hoyne, who was decked in clean slacks and sweater. There were others. A tailored woman slightly older than herself and a young man in his teens who was showing something amusing to Joey Urban. They seemed to be happily engaged.
“Oh, Detective Blake!” Bryant called cheerily, when she spotted Andy who returned a wave.
“This is my mom,” Marly said. They exchanged pleasantries. “…and my brother, Tim.”
Tim smiled, waved, then redirected his attention to Joey.
Eddie returned from somewhere with a glass of white wine for Andy. “We’re celebrating,” he said.
“I wonder what,” Andy said, accepting the offering.
Margaret Bryant said, “Joey! Tell the lady why we’re having a party!”
Joey looked from face to face and came to a rest on Andy’s. He seemed to be forming a sentence in his head before saying, “Gonna live with Tim.”
“Really!” Andy looked to Marly, then her mother for confirmation.
It was the social worker who spoke. “It’s no doubt the best answer under the circumstances.”
General agreement by all was followed by happy chatter interrupted by Eddie tapping a spoon on his glass.
Eyes turned his way. He hesitated, thinking of the right words to say. “Um…I want to thank Detective Blake for…uh…getting me out of a real jam. I don’t think this would be happening if I was still…you know. Anyway, thanks.” He raised his glass.
Marly’s mother said, “Amen.”
Andy said, “The real hero is Joey!”
“Joey?” Marly said.
“He cracked the case! Eddie’s friend Nick Savos would still be out there if not for Joey’s clues.”
Another toast and Eddie raised Joey up on his shoulders. There was a light in the boy’s eyes Andy hadn’t seen before.
~ * ~
The yellow Jeep Wrangler turned off Hwy. 17E onto the St. Joseph Island Road. The happiness that had pervaded Eddie Hoyne’s house and buoyed Andy was slowly dissipating.
She thought of how missteps early in life can come back and cause havoc in your life as well as those around you. Kevin Campbell’s was ruined. Daniel Champion’s life was over, even if he survived.
Crossing the bridge onto her beloved island home, she thought of her own trivial problems with Grant. If she were honest with herself, she’d have to admit her infatuation with Kevin Campbell had been an influence in her not returning his calls. She owed Grant his chance to be heard and could not deny she was happy he was back.
Dusk was setting in. The sweetness of the breeze off St. Joseph Channel welcomed her return. Grant would be home. A good time to set things right.
Acknowledgment
Dr. Eddie Black, South Carolina Department of Drug Enforcement.
My expert source of detail about opioids
and their use.
Meet Richard Whitten Barnes
Richard Whitten Barnes is a native Chicagoan, who graduated as a chemist from Michigan State University. He retired from a long career in international chemical sales and marketing, which took him all over the world. Barnes is a veteran of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division and an avid sailor. He, his wife Marg and their dog Sparty live in Charlotte, NC, but spend summers at their cottage on St. Joseph Island, Ontario, on the shores of Lake Huron. Steel Town is his eleventh book.
You can make a difference!
Independent publishers like Wings ePress, Inc. do not have the financial or advertising clout of the larger publishing houses.
We depend upon another precious resource: our dedicated base of loyal readers. Please help us get the word out.
What can you do?
Take a few minutes and post a review on this book’s Amazon page . You can post a review on our Wings ePress, Inc page by clicking on the User Reviews tab located in the Review section below the author biography.
Seriously, even a one-line review is helpful.
Thank you!
Steel Town Page 19