Baron pressed the barrel against Ross’s forehead and held it there until the old man started to shake with fear and tears spilled out of his eyes.
Then he uncocked the hammer and handed it to Decker with a smile. “You can’t be serious. I’m far too high-and-mighty to fall for that.”
Ross cursed and spit at him, even as Baron righted the wheelchair, lifted the old man up, and placed him back in it.
“Come on, Mr. Ross, I’ll even push you right up to the paddy wagon. You can ride to jail with your son. Two peas in a thoroughly rotten pod.”
Decker leaned down to stare at Ross.
“You were wrong.”
“About what?” snapped Ross.
“There are some things illegal in Baronville.”
As they headed back up through the woods Baron looked over at Decker.
“The only friend I have is Cindi Riley.”
“I know.”
“Until now, that is.” He paused and stopped pushing the wheelchair. “I count you and Alex as friends. It’s very clear where I would be without both of you caring enough to figure out the truth to all this.”
Decker glanced over at him. “I believe in second chances, John, because I got one, right when I really needed it. How about you? Do you believe in them?”
Baron looked around at the grounds that were once part of his family’s elegant estate.
“I didn’t, until a few minutes ago.”
“Well, that’s all that really counts.”
Chapter 75
IT CAME TO well over six hundred million dollars in gold. Even after various taxes are paid, it’ll be a huge sum.”
Baron was sitting in his study with Riley, Jamison, and Decker.
Decker and Jamison had returned to Washington for a few weeks, but had traveled back to Baronville for a visit.
“I’d call that quite the turnaround in prospects,” said Decker.
“What are you going to do with all the money?” asked Jamison.
“Well, knock this place down for starters, and put up something a little more minimalist and a lot more tasteful. And then I thought I’d invest in Baronville.”
“How so?” asked Jamison.
“Put money into local education, retraining centers, and a new opioid addiction facility. Try to get new businesses to come here and employ people. Have an incubation place for start-ups. Whatever I can do to help turn this place around.”
“Pretty nice of you to help a town that’s been spitting in your face all your life,” said Riley.
Baron’s features changed from light to somber. “I really wanted people to believe that none of their vitriol affected me, and so I returned their anger with witticisms and quips.” He paused as they all stared at him. “But behind the façade was a man filled with nothing but anger.” He let out a sigh. “That’s no way to live.” He smiled. “Especially after life drops that much money in my lap. It’s funny, I’ve never been rich, though everyone seemed to think I was. Now that I am actually rich, I certainly know first-hand that it’s a short path from being rich to being poor. And I should use it to help others. Hell, it’s not like I did anything to earn it. It’s only because I happened to be born into a certain family. But the truth is, the first John Baron was an awful man, and both the town and I have suffered at his hands through no fault of our own. And it really is the sweetest sort of irony that I can use his money to try to fix both injustices.” He glanced at Jamison. “Beginning with your family. Even though I know your sister’s going to sue Maxus, her case is complicated by the fact that Ross was really behind what happened, and Maxus may use that as a defense. So I’m setting up a trust for your sister and niece. They won’t have to worry about money again.”
Jamison said, “She told me, John. That is really very generous of you.”
He glanced at Decker. “I can’t afford to waste a second chance.”
“Where are they thinking of moving?” asked Riley.
“Well, as of right now, they might stay in Baronville,” replied Jamison.
Baron said, “I have to say I’m surprised.”
“Me too,” echoed Riley.
“I’m not,” said Decker.
They all looked at him, but he didn’t elaborate.
“How do things stand with Ted Ross?” Baron asked Decker.
“He’s cooperating, and for that he’ll get life without parole. Ross’s operation was a major conduit for the drugs being distributed across the country. Based on his information the DEA has already broken up rings in four other states. Kemper told me that the Mexican government has arrested two cartel chiefs. And the head of a large Chinese pharma company committed suicide before he was about to be taken into custody.”
“How did Ross get hooked up with such heavy hitters in the drug business?” asked Riley.
“The guy has always lived on the edge. Whether he was doing construction or running a paper mill he was either committing fraud or embezzling funds. He told us that when the opioid crisis took off he sensed an opportunity and started some small-scale distribution in the Baronville area. Through that he told us he met Brian Collins and they did some deals together. After he was hired to run the fulfillment center Ross went back to Collins with the idea of using the place to run the fentanyl through. The authorities have been cracking down on smuggling and the distribution of the drugs through the mail, but the FC business is enormous and with its volume it provided a really clever way to run the drugs without anyone catching on. Through Collins’s connections they were able to set up a truly massive drug ring. When Ross went to collect the packages on his rounds, he only went to areas where he had people working for him. The tracking system had been rigged to make sure the drug packages went only to those sectors of the facility. And he had someone in the IT department cover his electronic tracks when the packages were taken out of the system. They all did it for far more money than they could make anywhere else. Hell, they were paying Alice Martin six figures a year for basically looking the other way. That shows how much cash this thing was throwing off.”
Jamison added, “And smaller towns like this with not nearly as many cops and oversight resources as the bigger cities have made it ripe for infiltration by these criminal organizations. Couple that with the fact the unemployment rate is so high and you have people desperately looking for any way to make money, and it’s a recipe for disaster.”
Riley said, “I wonder how many other places like this one have the very same thing going on?”
Decker said, “I think it’s a safe bet that Baronville is not the only one.”
Baron said, “Okay, but if Lassiter and Green were both in on it, why did they work with you on the case?”
“Green didn’t know about Lassiter’s involvement, although Lassiter was aware of Green being part of it. As she told me, she was Ross’s fail-safe. Green didn’t tell us that there had been other murders in town. Amber told us that. But when we directly asked him about it, Green probably made a snap decision to bring us in so he could watch us closely and take necessary action if we seemed to be getting on the right track. And it would throw suspicion off them too. At first, Lassiter didn’t want us on the case, but then I guess she came around to the idea so she could keep close tabs on us too. But it’s not like they helped us solve the case. They were just hovering and checking in from time to time to see how we were progressing. Lassiter knew the ME here was a dud. And experienced homicide detectives should know about things like livor mortis and blowflies, but both of them played stupid on that. I didn’t really suspect anything because I have run across people in law enforcement who actually didn’t know much about those things. And I’ve certainly encountered part-time MEs who don’t know what they’re doing. But my bet is Green and Lassiter were playing ignorant to confuse the matter and slow down the progress on the investigation. And they neglected to tell us that Toby Babbot’s injury happened at the FC, because they didn’t want our attention to be drawn there. But later it was any
way, for a terrible reason.”
He looked at Jamison, who said quietly, “Ross told us why they killed Frank.”
“But I thought he died from some robot going nuts,” said Riley.
Jamison said, “No, Ross said that Frank had seen him going through his daily ‘rounds.’ He was actually collecting the latest shipment of fentanyl powder. He had a special vest made up with interior pockets that matched the drug shipment boxes exactly. Then he’d hide them in his secret closet before periodically taking them out of the facility and delivering them to the pill presses they’d set up in town mostly in empty houses.”
Decker picked up the story. “Frank apparently started asking questions about Ross’s daily rounds. Like I said, Ross had people at the fulfillment center in his back pocket, and Frank had the bad luck of asking one of them about what he called Ross’s suspicious behavior. That guy told Ross. So after the construction crew had gone for the day, Ross had Frank go ‘check’ on the addition. But he had a couple of guys there who knocked him unconscious. Then they carried him over to the robotic arm, and the rest we know.”
“I’m surprised that Frank didn’t mention something to us about his suspicions,” said Jamison.
Decker shrugged. “The last thing Frank would want was to make trouble for his new boss when there might be a perfectly sensible explanation for what Ross was doing. And Ross used that to his full advantage.”
“What a bastard!” exclaimed Riley angrily.
Decker nodded. “Ross also told us that it was Marty Green who almost fried us at Babbot’s trailer. Ross said Babbot started getting weird and talking about knowing things that Ross was up to, outside of the treasure. That was the reason he had to die.”
“So did Lassiter plant the gun at my house?” asked Baron.
Decker nodded. “That was all part of the plan to get you out of the property. When everything was ready, Ross had Lassiter pull the trigger and search your place. She had the gun with her and did the deed. Your butt ended up in jail. Later, they used the subterfuge of the hostage exchange to try to get us out of the way. They made the exchange spot far away to give them time to search for the treasure at the two possible locations, the potting shed and the mausoleum. That way they could look for it without worrying about us showing up.” He glanced at Riley. “If Cindi hadn’t called and told me that Lassiter had checked herself out of the hospital, things would not have ended the way they did.”
Baron gripped Riley’s hand. “Well, Cindi has always been smarter than me.”
Jamison shook her head. “I thought Lassiter was a good cop.”
Decker said, “She was a good cop, and then she was a bad cop. Ross didn’t entirely trust Green, and he wanted another cop on the payroll that he alone knew about. Lassiter already hated Baron and she wanted money. It was easy for Ross to persuade her. And she ultimately paid the price for it.”
“And the pig’s blood and the cop uniform?” asked Jamison.
“The pig’s blood was Fred Ross’s idea of a sick joke. And Fred Ross wanted the guy hung because he said that’s what you were supposed to do to spies. Ted Ross told me later that he thought the blood and hanging were stupid, but his old man just wouldn’t leave it alone. Ross especially regretted doing it because it was the blood that led to the electrical short, which was the only reason Alex and I became involved. The idea of using the police uniform was Green’s. There were a number of officers paid off to look the other way. Green didn’t want any of the bad cops having a change of heart. Now all those people have been arrested. The police force has really had to clean house, and it was about time.”
“But how did Ted Ross hook up with Costa?” asked Riley.
Decker said, “Pretty simple. The bank handled the fulfillment center payroll. It was the biggest account they had. So Costa and Ross became friends. Ross said that Costa started talking to him about a possible treasure at the Barons’. It helped that Ross had heard the stories from his father too. Together with Costa’s research, they narrowed it down. It was Ross’s idea to frame John and get him off the property so they could look for the treasure. You saw how involved it was and how long it would take with all the equipment. They couldn’t very well do all that with you there, John.”
“But they could have just killed me and then looked for the treasure, or gone and gotten it while I was in jail awaiting trial.”
“I asked Ross about that. He couldn’t be sure that while you were in jail Alex and I or someone else wouldn’t come poking around. That would be disastrous. He also said it was too risky if you went missing or your body was discovered. Costa was going to try to get you on a drug charge, especially after they found out Swanson was living in the potting shed, and use that to foreclose on the mortgage. Ross told me that Costa had no interest in murdering anyone, and he didn’t know Ross also ran a fentanyl ring. But Ross had a different idea. He wanted to get rid of Costa and Babbot for his own reasons. So the moral turpitude clause Ross envisioned being invoked by the bank was your being a murderer. He couldn’t accomplish that by simply killing you. The thing is, you have to understand that he didn’t just want the treasure. He wanted to see you rot in jail or else be given the death penalty. So did his old man. In their warped minds, it was personal with them. You were a Baron, which meant you were everything they despised.”
“And then the bank could sell the property and Ross could buy it through a straw man using his drug profits,” said Jamison.
Decker added, “But when they had to kill the DEA agents and things started going sideways, they changed their plans and kidnapped Amber and Zoe to use as bait to get us out of the way. They had to kill the DEA agents because they had uncovered the fentanyl ring. Ross knew that he had to close things down quickly because once the agents were identified, the DEA would be swooping in, which they did. He wanted to take the treasure and his drug profits and disappear before that happened. Only he never expected us to be involved in the investigation. He was counting on Green and Lassiter slow-walking it. If it had been left up to them, the DEA agents would have remained John Does for a long time. It was only when I suggested that their prints be run through law enforcement databases that the truth of their identities came out.”
“And they almost succeeded with all that,” noted Riley.
Decker said, “And just as I did, Ross got a copy of the senior yearbook and looked through it. They did all the weird stuff at the crime scenes, the Bible verse and the death mark on Costa, based on their learning that John was into mythology and Tanner was his girlfriend and had taught Bible school.”
Riley said, “Which is why you were interested in the genesis of the Mercury Bar. What, did you think I was involved in the murders?”
“Just covering all the bases,” said Decker diplomatically.
“But what about the life insurance thing?” asked Riley. “You said my friend Linda Drews might be in trouble.”
Decker said, “I don’t think anyone is interested in going after Drews. She lost her son and there’s no evidence she knew what was going on. Now, the cops did find and arrest Willie Norris. Turns out he had paid off paramedics and a local lab to fudge the health exams. He also used a lot of different insurance companies so no single one would catch on. When they investigated any of the deaths he used a variety of tactics to throw mud on everything, so most of them ended up paying out on the policies. It seems about two dozen policies are suspect. But if the guy was getting three hundred grand or more per policy, he wouldn’t need more than that. And he used various means to slip pain pills laced with fentanyl to people who’d bought policies. Not all of them died, but many did. Ironically, Norris bought those pills from dealers working for Ross. He’d collect the payout on the policy and take his cut. It was all about the money.” He paused and glanced at Jamison. “And it was also Norris who sabotaged the gas line going into Amber’s house. He apparently got desperate to silence us before going on the run.”
“And Fred Ross?” asked Baron, eyeing Dec
ker.
“He confessed to your parents’ murder. He’s never going to breathe life as a free man. And I don’t see him lasting long in prison.”
Riley said, “You have closure, John, finally.” She gripped his shoulder.
Decker stood and held out his hand. “Good luck with the second chance.”
Baron rose and shook his hand. “There wouldn’t have been one without you and Alex.”
“We all need a little help every now and then,” said Jamison graciously.
Baron took Riley’s hand. “Cindi is going to help me with all this. She’s been a great friend.” He smiled. “Maybe she sees me as a father figure.”
Riley kissed him on the cheek. “Maybe I see you as something else.”
Jamison said, “You guys up for some lunch before we say our goodbyes?”
“Sounds great and I’m buying,” said Baron quickly.
“No you’re not, because it’s on me at the Mercury,” said Riley.
“Sorry, I have to get going,” said Decker. “You guys go ahead.”
Jamison glanced quizzically at him. “You have a date or something?”
“Actually, I do.”
Chapter 76
DECKER STOPPED THE truck, got out and hurried around to the other side, and helped Zoe Mitchell out.
He closed the door.
She reached up for his large hand, which he took.
In her other hand, she held a small arrangement of flowers.
In his other hand was a folded blanket.
They walked along to where they were going.
The sky was clear with not a single cloud intruding upon it. The wind was light but crisp. It was the most perfect day Decker could recall while he’d been in Baronville.
“Thanks for coming with me, Amos,” said Zoe.
“No place I’d rather be,” replied Decker.
“It’s really pretty today,” she observed.
“I think somebody’s watching out for you.”
Zoe glanced at the sky and then at Decker.
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