by P. Thompson
Loraine jumped up and said, “Are you alright? You scared me half to death with that phone call.”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just some knuckleheads I guess. They hit that slush out front and covered me with it. Couldn’t get a plate number, but my guess is I’ll be seeing them again. I talked with Sophie this morning and she looks so much better. She was eating when I got there and told me what happened the afternoon she got assaulted.”
“There’s an FBI guy in the conference room having coffee with Jeff and Roy. I think they want you to join them. Bo and Bubba had a call, but are on their way back so everybody will be in the loop at the same time.”
I opened the door to the conference room to the sound of laughter. Jeff looked up and waved me to a chair. “Jenny, this is FBI agent Tim Nelson. He just transferred from Detroit to the Nashville office. He’s staying close to Wang Wei at the Chinese Laundry. So far it’s been quiet over there.”
I put out my hand to shake his. “Jenny Jordan, nice to meet you.”
Bo came through the door with Bubba on his heels.
“Hey, what have you done with your cousin today?”
“My neighbor lady has two boys about his age and when I left this morning they were playing video games. He fell right in with them and them with him. Sure takes a load off my mind, and she can use the extra money, that’s for sure.”
While introductions were being passed around, I snagged Bo’s Coke and downed about a third of it. I passed it back and burped a little fizz up. Bo raised an eyebrow and sucked almost the rest of it down.
Roy looked at Bubba and said, “What, no donuts this morning?”
“Sorry about that. Didn’t have time this morning. Still getting used to being a parent.”
“Okay guys and gal, let’s hear what agent Nelson has to say,” Jeff said.
“Please, call me Tim. I’ve been with Wang Wei for about five days now. He’s scared after what happen to Yan Lee. This is understandable. We set up hidden cameras front and back of his laundry. I’ve brought another agent in and will bring him by so you can meet him later. We’re keeping someone with him at all times. He and his wife, they both work the laundry. They have a son who is there after school. He’s twelve years old and bright, very bright. I believe we have this family covered. Wang tells me he’s had threats before, but never worried about them. I asked him if he told the police about them, but he hasn’t, so that’s going nowhere. Can you tell me what you’ve got on your other cases that involve hate crimes?”
We laid it out for him and then I played the recording of Sophie I took this morning. You could see the steam coming out of Bo’s ears, I swear.
The morning ended with handshakes all around and us going back to the table after he left.
“Nice guy and a snazzy dresser too,” Bubba commented.
We ran over our own operations then broke for lunch. I called Max, but he was going to be tied up with the Yan Lee fire so I thought I would just run home to fix something for lunch and throw a load of laundry in the wash.
~~~
I headed out Horse Mountain Road and picked up the truck following me again. No way was I leading them to my home. I swung off into a residential neighborhood and wound around several streets. This was an intimidation tactic and it was going to end here and now. I stopped in the middle of the road, pulled my Glock out, and stood facing their truck. It stopped a half a block back and didn’t move. I lifted my weapon and yelled, “Get out of your truck and get face down on the ground with your hands on your head.” The truck hit reverse and back down the street again. Still couldn’t get a tag number. I called it in with a description of the truck and my location. We’ll see what comes of that. I left the area and headed once again for home. No truck on my tail this time.
Ming was happy to see someone home before dark. Of course the howling started up the minute I reached the kitchen. She had dry food from the morning and fresh water so maybe a kitty treat would hold her over till tonight. I fished out a fishy smelling treat and she took it and headed for her bed in front of the fireplace. I collected towels and got them in the washer then made a sandwich and ate while checking my e-mails. I ran a vacuum real fast and was out the door and back to work by one o’clock.
I heard fire engines leaving their station, but never gave much of a thought about where they were going. I settled in to look over the murder board and the murder book. Added Sophie’s statement to the book then the second engine came out of the station. I walked out to Loraine to see if she knew anything and she was on the phone going oh no, oh no. She hung up and turned to me.
“The woods all around Miss Massie’s place has been set on fire. She’s okay and so is Eric. Our fire department along with Coffee County’s is on the scene. They’ve evacuated them out of there. The smoke is really bad and she was coughing. Eric has taken her to the hospital to be checked out.”
I ran out the door and scared the squirrel half to death as he was sitting on top of my hood. Guess he was getting his feet warm. I headed for the hospital while calling Bo. He answered on the first ring.
“Where are you?” I asked him.
“Headed out to Miss Massie’s place. The woods are on fire.”
“I know. Eric has taken her to the hospital to be checked out so I’m headed there. Please keep me informed and I’ll do the same for you. Where’s Bubba at right now?”
“He’s already on scene. He got the call when he went home to check on Thomas. That made him closer to Miss Massie’s place.”
I arrived at the hospital ER, threw my badge and id on the dash, locked up the Jeep, and dared anyone to have a problem with it. I heard her long before I found her. Claiming she needed to be at her home to make sure it was okay. I turned the corner and found Eric standing outside a curtained-off area, pacing back and forth.
“Eric, is she okay?”
“Right as rain and she’s demanding to go home.”
I stuck my head in the little room and she saw me at once.
“Jenny, get me out of here. I need to see what’s happening at my home.”
“Wait, let me get my laptop out of the Jeep. I’ll be right back.”
I got the laptop and returned to her room. Called Bo and asked him to send me pictures of what was happening out there so I could reassure her all was going well. The pictures flashed upon the screen and I turned it over to her. Bless Bo’s heart, he understood what her place meant to her and he kept it focused on her place and then ever so often showed her the progress of the firefighters. With so much cedar up in the woods, it was going to be hard to get it under control. Bo came across the screen and said they had called for the pick slime before it got any worse. I watched with her as the nurse kept watch on Miss Massie and the laptop. The tanker was over the hill behind her place and dropped a load of mud on the hillside. I can’t say it did a lot of good, but then I’m not a firefighter.
By sunset it was under control with just a few spots flaring up now and then. They didn’t want her back at home yet. Smoke was still thick down in her valley, so I packed her and Eric up and carried them home with me. Max and I have lot of room and I know she’s safe there from more than just the fire.
I put her in front of the fire on the couch with Ming, who really liked the company, and I headed to the kitchen. Eric followed me in, grabbed an apron, and said, “What can I do?”
“In that bin is garlic. Chop me about six cloves. The best knife is the ceramic one over there, but be really careful of your fingers as it’s sharper than any knife I’ve ever owned.” He got to work right away and I got the fixings out for a good pasta sauce.
By the time Max hit the door, the place was smelling good. There was garlic bread in the oven, pasta and sauce ready to serve, and a bottle of good red wine resting on the table. I made a nice hot tea for Miss Massie, but she wanted a small glass of wine.
Max had gone out to Miss Massie’s and threw together clothes and personal articles for her and Eric, enough for a couple of days. A
fter dinner we showed them to their respective rooms. She was out like a light before the door was shut. Eric came to the living room with us and had another glass of wine.
“What happened out there today, Eric?” Max asked him.
“I really don’t know. I had been out for about an hour before checking around. That’s something I do about every two to three hours. No sign of anyone, and I didn’t hear anything, then boom, it all went up in flames. We were playing a game at the kitchen table, eating lunch. I called 911 and packed her up kicking and screaming and got her out of there. By the time I got her in the truck she was coughing so badly I thought I had lost her to the smoke. Went straight to the hospital with her, still kicking and screaming, but I got her there. They gave her a breathing treatment and I’m to bring her back tomorrow for another one, most likely kicking and screaming,” he said laughing.
Max set his wineglass down and turned to Eric and me and said, “The woods took a really bad hit. Thank goodness for the snow or it would have traveled down the hillside and to the house. The snow also helped the trees that still had leaves on them, not so much the cedars, but they always come back if it’s not too hot a fire. Again the snow helped there. Inside the house is pretty smoky smelling, nothing that a good airing won’t take care of. We’ll send someone down that’s reliable to do just that. I’ve got a cleanup crew I use for crime scenes. They’re really good people and I trust them.”
Morning came with rain and I had a wine headache. I got out some games and a deck of cards and put them on the coffee table. I showed Eric where all the food was, and chips and soda if they wanted any, and Max and I left for the day.
Jeff met me at the door as I came through.
“How is our Miss Massie this morning?” he asked.
“Doing well. Eric is going to take her for another breathing treatment, most likely kicking and screaming, but he’ll get her there.” Jeff lifted an eyebrow, and I told him and Loraine what Eric had said last night. They got a good laugh about it and knew he wasn’t far off the mark.
“Max said the snow on the ground is what saved her house. Thank goodness. I would have hated for her to have to rebuild again. Anyway, she and Eric are spending a couple of days with Max and I while Max gets the place aired out of all the smoky smells.”
There was a knock at the door and we all looked around in question. Jeff walked to the boarded up door and opened it. A man stood there holding his cap in his hand and said, “I’m Scott’s brother, James. He asked that I come by to let you know that when the glass comes in I’ll be by to put it in. He’s got a ways to go before he’s back to work.”
Jeff was dragging him inside so we all didn’t freeze with the door open and trying to take his coat at the same time. “Come on back and have a cup of coffee and warm up some. It’s cop coffee, but it’s hot.”
“Thank you, but I need to get back to the shop. Scott has things I’m helping him work on. He was concerned about the glass. He said someone named Loraine would be getting antsy about not being able to see out.”
Loraine let out a whoop and said, “You bet I am. You never know whose coming in the door this way. I want to be able to duck before the bomb goes off.”
“Thank you, James, for coming by and if you or Scott need anything give us a call,” Jeff told him. “Someone is always here to take a call.” He shook his hand, gave him his jacket back, and let him out the door.
“Well, that was nice of them.” Then he went into his office and shut the door.
Loraine pulled me to one side and said, “Alan Smart was seen by Coffee County police this morning headed our way. Their dispatch girl called to let me know. She said he was driving a Lexus SUV, black in color, and he had two other people with him. Someone in Memphis gave them a heads up and she was passing it on to us.” She took a post-it note off the pad and wrote down the license number. “I’ve sent this to all the patrols on today. Everyone else will get it in their box.”
“Have you let Tim, that FBI guy, have it also?” I asked.
“No, but I will. Is he still at the laundry?”
“He or the other FBI dude will be there. I don’t know his name off hand, but one or the other will be there. You know if that FBI guy could get his hands on a tracker and if we came across the vehicle, we could keep an eye on his movements. Wonder if you need a court order to use a tracker?”
“Geez, I have no idea. Ask Jeff, maybe he knows.”
“I wonder if you can buy one online. Lord, I sound like a TV show. Damn, let me get out of here with all these weird ideas. Maybe Max is free for lunch today. If not I’ll go check on Eric and Miss Massie.” I gave Max a call and he was too tied up for lunch so I think I’ll run to the house and make a sandwich and talk with Eric and Miss Massie. I can do my reports out there too.
~~~
When I walked through the door the smell hit me. Someone was in my kitchen cooking something that smelt good. I found Miss Massie sitting at the island and she was peeling potatoes and putting them in a pot. Eric was at the stove stirring something and I wanted a taste of it right now.
“Hi, it sure smells good in here. What’s going on?”
“Oh, hi, we decided to have supper ready for you and Max when you got home. I found everything I needed, but if you would bring some lettuce home tonight for a salad, we will be all set,” Eric said, all cute in my pink apron.
“What have you made? It sure smells good.”
“It’s Memphis Mud Roast. My mom was from Memphis and it was one of her recipes. Rest her soul. I love to cook and I guess I got that from my mom. Hope you don’t mind me in your kitchen.”
“Oh hell no, anytime you want to cook be my guest. I just need to make a sandwich and I’ll be out of your way. Max was tied up so no lunch with him today.” I made a quick sandwich and sat with Miss Massie as she was working on the potatoes.
“How did the breathing treatments go today?” I asked her.
She laid down the peeler and looked right sharp at me and said, “They went just fine.”
So that was that and I didn’t ask again. I’ll talk with Eric later. I got my briefcase and started on the reports I had been putting off. I hate paperwork to no end. It took me over an hour to finish and then I said goodbye and that I would see them this evening with the lettuce.
~~~
The rain had washed a lot of the snow away and it left the air with this crisp smell to it. I sure was hoping our snow days were over. The drive back into town took me about fifteen minutes. Along the way I saw kids that were out of school due to the weather, having a snowball fight. As I passed, one got me on the passenger side window. I honked my horn and kept on driving. I was a kid once and would have loved to have had this much snow to play in.
As I opened the door to the office I saw Loraine yelling into the phone.
“Alright, alright, someone is on the way. Just hold your pants on. I’ve dispatched Tank with his K-9 and they should be there in five minutes. Okay, good.” She hung up and fluffed her hair with her fingers. Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed.
“What was that all about?”
“That was Sam Overcast and he and Hank has been working undercover for some time at that flea bag motel just outside the city limits. There’s a body, some gun fire and he needed some more men for back up. He gets so excited it hard to understand him when his adrenaline is pumping. I need to let Jeff know what going on.” She got up and without knocking went into the sheriff’s private office and shut the door.
I took out my reports and laid them on Loraine’s desk and went back to the conference room. This case was dragging and I didn’t know how to give it a kick to get it started again. There hadn’t been anything since Yan Lee’s murder, all was quiet.
Bo came in munching on a cookie and asked, “Where Loraine?”
“She’s in with Jeff. Something about Sam and Hank going undercover and there’s a body and gunfire. Tank and his K9 pal Butch are headed there now.”
; “That must be that 41A Motel thing they’ve been working on. Somehow I think it will tie in with our cases, but we’ll have to wait and see. There’s a bunch of skinheads staying out there. So far they haven’t caused any problems, but then there are only their kind living out there.”
“What do you mean, ’their kind’?”
“White people, no one of color, no one that hasn’t been born and raised here. They are skinheads, that’s why Sam and Hank went undercover on this one. Some are camped out down by the river in tents. Cold ass way if you ask me.”
“Conner said his friends were outside of town. I think we have found our hate group. By the way, Alan Smart was spotted in Coffee County headed our way. Sam and Hank should get the word on this. That guy is a radical and a nut job on top of it.”
I left Bo looking at the murder board while I got a Coke from the kitchen. I popped the top and took a long drink and walked back in the conference room.
“They’ve been quiet since Yan Lee’s murder. We need to set a trap for them. You got any ideas on that?”
“I need to go talk to that kid, Conner, again. There are pieces missing to all of this. Bubba says the other kids are all clean. He’s been asking around the school and they all say Conner is the bad apple.”
“I have to ask a question. Why are Sam and Hank doing this undercover? Sam made detective and Hank has a new partner, Austin.”
“Austin doesn’t have any experience undercover, so they pulled Sam in on this one. It was too big a job for a rookie.”
Bubba came in carrying coffees from Star Bucks—a man after my own heart. I capped the coke and snagged one of the coffees. We filled him in on the undercover as much as we knew.
The sheriff called for us to meet him in his office, pronto, so we moved swiftly in his direction. He pointed at chairs and we sat. We never talked in his office, always the conference room, so this was something really different.
“I guess you are wondering why we are in my office and not the conference room. It’s because I want to sit at my desk and go over these cases. We need to start with the first one: Anna’s Flower Shop. Carmen is where, Jenny?”