“Thank you.”
“I’ll keep you updated on what happens. When we find Jonah, we’ll call you. You should give Doris at Children’s Services a heads up. Until Katie is located, you’ll take care of Jonah, as far as I’m concerned.”
“I’ll give her a call and let her know what’s going on.”
I hoped—prayed—that I would have little Sweet Pea back in my arms soon.
That was the only thing that would make all of this worth it.
Anxiety still buzzed through me for some reason as I picked up the phone to call Doris. I’d checked the windows and doors. Turned on the alarm. And remembered Chase’s words: People who learned about this ended up dead.
I couldn’t get the look on Officer Truman’s face out of my mind. He’d looked so . . . stunned. Perhaps he’d thought he would never be caught. But was he ignorant enough to leave evidence in his house and in his bank account?
I didn’t know. I didn’t know him well enough to know. But I hated the thought of breaking the news to my mom.
Jamie sat across from me at the kitchen table, tapping away on my laptop computer. Thankfully Mom was doing a closing on a house right now and would be occupied for a while.
I pushed those thoughts aside and called Doris. She answered right away. “Holly, are there any updates?”
Maybe beneath her chilly exterior she did have a heart. She sounded genuinely concerned. “The police arrested someone who’s supposedly linked with the man who took Jonah. They’re hoping to have some answers soon. Chase wanted me to let you know that. When Jonah’s found, I’d like to take care of him again until his mom is located.”
“Of course. That would be best for Jonah. He’ll have to be checked out, naturally.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“Bethany will want to be your caseworker again, I’m assuming, so I’ll put the two of you in touch.”
Her words made me pause. “She’ll want to be?”
“She requested that she work the case,” Doris said.
“Is that right?” I hardly knew Bethany. Why would she request that?
“I’ll keep you updated,” I finally told Doris before hanging up.
Before I could talk to Jamie, she called me over to the computer.
“Check this out, Holly.” She pointed to the screen. “These random ads that kept popping up in the wrong places on GregsList? Something was bugging me about them. Out of curiosity the other day, I responded to one. I thought maybe there could be a story in there somewhere. Anyway, I just got a response. The seller claims to live near 15th and Vine.”
“That’s where . . . where Morgan Bayfield was killed.”
She nodded, satisfaction in her gaze. “Exactly. I read these ads again. Five hundred cases of juice boxes. Bought in bulk. I’ve got loads of it for sale. Come get yours for cheap, Friend.”
“I remember that one.”
“Or this one: You’ll hit the jackpot with this little monkey. She’s like TNT but you’ll love having her around.”
“They’re weird, but what about them?”
“Little monkey, TNT, juice, friend. Those are the street names for prescription drugs. Opioids, to be exact.”
I gasped as the truth rolled over me. “Jamie, you’re brilliant. You’re right. These guys were selling their drugs through GregsList. I’ll pass this on to Chase. Maybe he can track down the sender through their IP address. In the meantime, I need to look up something also . . .”
I found Bethany Ellis’s social media profile and scrolled through her pictures until one in particular stopped me. It was a photo of her beside a man with dark hair.
The fake Children’s Services worker. Jim.
He appeared to be her boyfriend. His real name was Jim Andrews.
Could Bethany be the other link to this? She went into people’s homes in her role as social worker. She would know—with a little snooping—if they used prescription drugs. Had she passed that information on to the drug ring in order to get some extra cash?
Again, another person I’d trusted who ended up being dirty.
I was really going to have to watch whom I trusted.
I clicked on Jim’s profile. It appeared he was currently out of work. That would fit the profile of someone who might be involved in this. How all of it had come together, I wasn’t sure. Somewhere down the road, these people had made connections with Bo, with Officer Truman, with Morgan Bayfield.
What had started as something to earn more money had obviously turned into something deadly.
“I can’t believe all of this,” Jamie muttered. “Some people are the lowest of the low.”
“Some people are just desperate.”
“Agreed.” I tapped my finger.
My phone rang. It was Chase, and his voice sounded urgent.
“Don’t let anyone into the house,” he said. “Not even police officers.”
“What’s going on?”
“I found evidence to indicate that Mclean is also involved in this.”
Mclean? He was the officer stationed right outside the door.
Before I could ask any more questions, a gun clicked behind me.
I didn’t have to turn to know who it was.
Chapter 32
“How’d you get inside?” I stood and raised my hands in the air, dropping my cell phone in the process. I hoped Chase could still hear what was going on.
“I picked the lock out back. I’ve seen you type in the alarm code enough that it was easy to bypass.” Each word came out as a bark. “I don’t have much time to dispose of you two.”
My stomach roiled at his words. He’d kill us if it meant getting away with his crimes.
I turned around slowly until Mclean’s face came into view. His scowl was deep and brooding. He gripped the gun in his hands, but it was the vengeance in his eyes that scared me the most.
“It’s a good thing I came inside when I did,” he muttered. “Although, I must say, I have some time. The police are going to be tied up with Truman for quite a while.”
“How could you do this? Your job is to uphold the law, not to use it to your advantage.”
He snorted. “Do you know how much cops get paid? Hardly anything. Hardly enough to live on.”
Repulsion caused bile to rise in my throat. “That’s no excuse for you to do what you’re doing.”
“All those drugs we confiscate from crime scenes—they just sit in evidence. Taking that was too obvious, especially since there were other options. There’s a huge market out there for prescription drugs.”
“How did all of this start? Were you the mastermind behind it all?” I kept him talking, hoping to buy time. I knew Chase was on his way. I just needed to stay alive until he arrived.
“You could say that.”
He had an ego, and he wanted to take all the credit he could for this. I had to use that to my advantage. I backed toward the wall, trying to put distance between his gun and myself.
“You got Bo involved, didn’t you? Or did you pull Morgan in first?”
“It’s amazing how you can manipulate people to do what you want,” he continued with that evil glare in his eyes. “I met Morgan through a dating site. At first, it seemed like we could be a good match. Then I heard she worked at the jail as a nurse. I knew I had to use that to my advantage. When I learned her mom was dying, I knew exactly how to give her the motivation she needed.”
He was even more despicable than I thought. “That’s reprehensible.”
He shrugged, no evidence of a conscience in sight. “Maybe. But it worked. Once she was in, she was in deep and couldn’t get out.”
“Until you killed her.”
“Her conscious was getting to her, and I was afraid she was going to spill everything. Especially after that baby was left with you. She was beside herself.”
I took another step back. How close was Chase? He should be here any time now . . . right? “Is that why she kept driving past my place? She
was worried about Jonah?”
Mclean frowned again. “Yeah, she was on the verge of a breakdown. I knew it was just a matter of time before she blabbed everything.”
Did he know that Morgan had met with Chase? If so, why hadn’t he tried to eliminate Chase as well? He must not have known. That was the only explanation.
“What about Bo? How did he get involved?”
“He found us through a friend. Starting buying. Then we found out he worked for GregsList, and we knew we had to get him to help us out.”
GregsList? Violet had said he worked in advertising. I never thought about that connection, but it made sense. He must have made sure those loaded fake advertisements were posted. People looking for drugs would have picked up on the code words.
“I guess Bo had a change of heart as well?” I continued.
“He wanted more medication. Went crazy nearly. There was nothing else we could do. He started talking to that reporter, and he was going to come forward with his story. He said he wanted to make things right.” Mclean straightened.
He wanted us to know just how brilliant he was. His ego hopefully would lead to his demise.
“Enough talking,” he growled. “My friend Bill is going to help us out here.”
Crazy Hands stepped from the kitchen, and he had an even crazier look in his eyes than before. He would kill us.
I licked my lips as my heart pounded in my ears. “Why not just let us go? Why make things worse?”
“We have enough money now that we can run,” Mclean continued. “But we’ve got to get rid of anyone who might stand in our way first. That includes you two. You just kept digging and digging.”
“But you set up Truman. He’s in jail. He took the fall for you. You can get away scot-free now.”
That arrogant glint returned to his gaze. “It was easy to set up his house as a crime scene. I made sure to break into other homes where he’d worked the crime scenes. You’d be amazed at how many people have prescription opioids. That way, Truman’s records would indicate he was on the scene and not me.”
“You’re clever.”
He smiled for the first time. “Yes, I am. Now move. We’ve got to get you out of here before your boyfriend comes back.”
Jamie and I glanced at each other. How were we going to get out of this?
My mind scrambled through the possibilities.
Please don’t let my mom return home. Please. There’s no need to add more casualties to this.
“Where’s Jonah?” I asked as Mclean shoved me toward the back door.
“He’s safe. For now.” He grabbed my arm and squeezed my bicep so hard that I nearly squealed. “Move.”
“Where are you taking us?”
“Somewhere you won’t be found. Don’t worry—we’ll leave evidence to prove you were involved in all of this. Since your mom was all school-girl giddy for Truman, it should be pretty easy.”
He really thought he had all his bases covered, didn’t he? What if he was right? His plan seemed far-fetched to me, though. If we left this house, I knew we’d die. I couldn’t let that happen. However, I didn’t see how Jamie and I could take down both of these men. They were armed and we weren’t.
He’d underestimated us.
As soon as we reached the backdoor, I made a quick decision. I threw all of my weight back into Mclean. Using my feet, I leveraged myself against the door. The action caused Mclean to tumble backward and drop his gun.
Crazy Hands tried to grab Jamie, but she reached for his face. He yelped with pain as her thumbs pressed into his eye sockets.
As soon as Mclean realized what was happening, he put me in a chokehold and dragged me toward the door.
I couldn’t breathe. I clawed at his arm, but he didn’t budge.
I’d made him mad.
I was quickly losing consciousness. I had to break his hold on me.
My gaze searched the room. Nothing. There was nothing I could reach.
I needed to use the element of surprise again.
Using some self-defense moves Chase had taught me, I twisted my body, using it as leverage.
Mclean flew over my back and onto his side.
Before I could catch my breath, he was on his feet and had grabbed me again.
His fist slammed into my jaw. I literally saw stars. Struggled to remain lucid.
Just as all the fight left me, the backdoor flew open.
Chase. Chase was here.
Thank You, Jesus.
Chapter 33
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Chase still lingered over me with that concerned look in his eyes as I lay on the couch.
My body ached like I’d just been sucked up in a tornado and then spit back out. In a way, it had been. But we were all alive, and that was the important thing. “I’m just glad you came when you did.”
Jamie looked like she was in reporter mode. She hadn’t been hurt—thank goodness—and now her instinct for a good story was kicking in. She was lingering at the scene, watching everything that happened. The paramedics had already cleared her. I wasn’t quite as lucky.
“How’d you know Mclean was involved?” I asked, holding some ice against my jaw.
“Truman said Mclean was a little too curious about some of the scenes Truman had worked. I started looking into his background. My gut told me he was involved, and I knew I couldn’t chance having him here guarding your house if he could be guilty.”
“Good call.”
He kissed my forehead. “I was really worried.”
“You’re always really worried about me.”
“You should still be checked out.” He examined my jaw. “You hit your head pretty hard.”
“I don’t want to go back to the hospital.”
“Head wounds are nothing to mess with.”
“I’ll go with you,” Jamie called.
“You don’t have to. I’ll be fine. Both of you just do whatever you have to do to find Jonah.”
Chase helped me to my feet as paramedics surrounded me, waiting to check my vitals. No, make that as Evan evaluated me. He had to be the one who was here with his larger-than-life personality. Like things weren’t complicated enough.
“I can take it from here,” Evan said. “She’s in good hands.”
Chase scowled at Evan.
“I’ll be fine,” I said again.
He kissed my forehead. “I’ll send a police cruiser behind you, just in case. We still don’t know how deep this runs.”
“How do you know the officer is clean?”
“Captain Abbott set this up himself. He pulled someone from a different precinct, just to be safe.”
Chase sent Evan one more scowl before releasing me to his care.
Dread filled me. I’d just gone through all of that drama. The last thing I wanted was to have any uncomfortable conversations with Evan about why I should dump Chase for him. I didn’t need that right now.
“That was a close call back there,” Evan said once we were in the back of the ambulance.
I rubbed my jaw, trying not to replay the whole confrontation in my mind. I was ready to put this behind me. All of it. “Yeah, it was. I really don’t think I need to go to the hospital again, though. My medical bills are already hard enough to pay without all these extra expenses.”
“You know how it is. We’d rather be safe than sorry.” He smiled down at me. “We can’t have you getting hurt.”
“It’s too late for that.” I shifted on the gurney, wishing my body didn’t ache so much. “Where’s everyone else? Aren’t there usually a few EMTs back here?”
“The other two guys stayed behind to keep an eye on your friend Jamie and to make sure Mclean was okay. Even though he was a bad guy, we still have to make sure he’s not hurt in our care. Honestly, guys like that . . . I couldn’t care less about. I’m glad I wasn’t the one left behind with him.”
He reached behind him. “Let me give you an IV. We can run some pain meds through that.”
Pain meds? Like the ones people got addicted to and did horrible things to get more of? No, thank you. Not unless I was desperate, which I wasn’t at this point.
I shooed him away. “I’ll be okay.”
He raised the needle, his eyes wide and convincing. “You’re going to be hurting later.”
I lifted my hand to stop him. “I’ll deal with it.”
He shrugged and put the equipment down. “Have it your way, then. Don’t say I didn’t offer.”
“I promise not to hold it against you.” I flashed what I hoped was an affable smile.
“Thank you.” He grinned before turning around to fiddle with something behind him. “That was pretty crazy back there, wasn’t it?”
“You can say that again.” I watched carefully, trying to figure out what he was doing. His shoulder blocked sight of his hands, though. I assumed he was organizing some of the medicine compartments.
“Hopefully they’ll find the baby soon. I know he wants to be reunited with his mom.”
“Moms and babies belong together,” I agreed. “It’s just a shame someone had to use a baby as part of their greed.”
“They do.” When he turned back around, he held a needle in his hands and a strange expression on his face.
Fear exploded in me, and I scooted back. My gaze shot from the syringe to Evan. A new, cold expression captured his face.
“What’s that for?”
“To keep you quiet.”
My throat went dry as reality hit me. Evan was in on this. Evan. “What do you mean?”
I glanced around. There was no way out. I was trapped back here.
“It’s just a matter of time before everyone figures out what’s going on. If I have you as a hostage, it will buy me some time to escape. I certainly have enough money for it now.”
“Evan . . .” How could I convince him this was a bad idea? I couldn’t, could I? His mind was made up.
“You’re so cute, Holly. You don’t really think you’re going to talk me out of this, do you?”
I tried to scoot back, but there was nowhere to go. “You need to think this through. You don’t need me to run. It will be a lot easier if you do that by yourself.”
Random Acts of Greed: Holly Anna Paladin Mysteries, Book 4 Page 21