by Thomas Scott
Virgil pulled the phone away from his ear and frowned at it.
“Who was that?” Murton asked.
“Ben Holden.”
“The Shelby County Sheriff?”
“That’s the one.”
“What’d he want?”
“I don’t know,” Virgil said. “He told me he needed a favor, then hung up.”
Murton lowered his eyelids to half-mast, and said, “Uh-huh…right after you said we’re a little tied up right now. Do I have that right?”
Virgil gave his brother the brow, then called the sheriff back. When Holden answered, Virgil said, “Maybe if you weren’t so grouchy all the damned time, people would be more willing to help you out.”
“I wasn’t asking for your specific help. I said I needed a favor.”
“Right. And then you hung up. What’s the favor?”
“I need that hotshot pilot of yours and his helicopter for an aerial search. We’ve got a deputy missing. And not just any deputy. He’s the undersheriff and no one has seen or heard from him—except for his radio calls—since the start of his shift last night.”
“How many calls did he take?” Virgil said.
“Looks like it was a slow night. He only took three. A couple of speeders, and a roll-through.”
“Which one was the last call?”
“The roll-through. Why?”
“Any chance that went bad…like maybe someone got over on him?”
“None whatsoever,” Holden said. “He called in after the stop and reported he was resuming patrol. It’s in the logs.”
“GPS tracker on his squad?”
“Not in the budget,” Holden said, his irritation evident. “Can we use the damn chopper or not?”
Virgil knew Holden was upset so he didn’t take offense to the words he used or the manner in which they were delivered. “Give me five minutes and I’ll call you right back.”
“What is it?” Murton said.
“The Shelby County undersheriff is missing. Holden wants Cool for aerial recon.” Virgil dialed the governor’s cell, and when Mac answered, he said…very quietly, “I’m in a meeting, Jonesy. Make it quick.”
“I need Cool down in Shelby County. The undersheriff is missing.”
The governor didn’t hesitate. “Do it.” Then he hung up.
Virgil was about to call Holden back when he had a thought. He scrolled through his contacts, but he didn’t have to scroll very far. “Hey Bell, it’s Jonesy.”
“I know. I have Caller ID. What’s going on? The family okay?”
“Everyone is fine, Bell. But the Shelby County undersheriff has gone missing. Sheriff Holden is requesting aerial recon, so I’m sending Cool in the state chopper. But then I thought two helicopters are better than one, so I was wondering if—”
“Say no more, Jonesy. Tell him I’m on my way. I’ll coordinate with Cool when I get there.”
“You’re the best, Bell. Thanks. We’ll figure out the reimbursements and all that later.”
“You got it, Jonesy. I’ll let you know what we find.” And then Bell was gone.
Virgil called Cool and told him the situation, then when he was done with that, he got Holden back on the line and said, “I’ve got you covered, Ben. The state helicopter is on the way, along with another helicopter piloted by a civilian I’m friends with. You’ll have two choppers in the air covering your county in less than an hour. Ben? Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not. But you can forget anything bad I’ve ever said about you, Jones. It’s quite a list, in case you were wondering.”
“Good luck, Ben. Let me know.”
Ross and Rosencrantz followed Agent Martin to the plant, which was about twenty minutes away from the hotel. On the way over, Rosencrantz said, “I think she sort of digs me.”
“Who?”
“Who else? This Martin chick.”
Ross, who was driving, gave his partner a quick side glance. “Where do you get that? She didn’t even say anything to you.”
Rosencrantz shook his head. “Ah, but she did. I was the first one she asked about.”
“Only to establish that I was the one she wanted to give some grief to.”
“My point is, I got a little vibe from her.” Then, “Watch out for that horse and buggy up ahead. You’re closing in pretty fast.”
“I see it,” Ross said. There was too much oncoming traffic to pass the buggy right away, so Martin had to slow, which meant Ross and Rosencrantz had to as well.
Ross pointed out the front windshield and said, “Man I can’t believe people still live like that.”
“The Amish? There’s a bunch of them up here. If you think about it, I’ll bet it’s a peaceful life. Grow your own food, no TV or radio blaring a bunch of horse shit at you all the time, no electric bill, like that. Plus, they’re completely nonviolent. I think it’s pretty cool.”
The oncoming traffic cleared and Martin pulled out to pass the buggy. Just as she did, the horse decided to poop in the road, and as Ross pulled to the left to go around the buggy, his right side tires drove right over the poop. He looked at Rosencrantz and said, “What was that you were just saying about horse shit? Because now my car is covered in it.”
Rosencrantz laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s organic.” Then, “Looks like we’re here. She’s turning in.”
After they were parked, Ross got out and went to inspect the right side of his car. The sidewall of the front tire was covered with manure. He swore under his breath and tried to scrape it off with the bottom of his boot, but all that got him was a boot covered with fresh poop. He scraped his foot across the cement and tried to get it clean, but was mostly unsuccessful. Fucking place, he thought. When he looked back out at the road, the horse and buggy went clopping by, the young Amish driver smiling directly at Ross.
Ross looked at his partner and said, “They may be peaceful, but they know how to salt the wound. Did you see that guy? I think he was laughing at me.”
“I didn’t notice,” Rosencrantz said. He was sucking on his cheeks when he spoke.
Martin was standing there, waiting for them. She had her fist on a cocked hip, and it made her look like a female matador. “Hey, Rosencrantz, are you guys coming or what?”
Rosencrantz looked at Ross and said, “See. I’m telling you…she digs me.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The bottom line was this: Green, the plant manager, was not happy about their presence, and even less so of their plan. They were in his office, high above the factory floor, hammering it out. “What nobody seems to understand is that I’ve got a job to do, and that job is to get twenty finished units a day out the door. If that doesn’t happen, my people don’t get paid their full amount, and I lose my bonus. I can’t have cops simply milling about and getting in the way. It’s too much of a distraction.”
Martin took the lead. “You guys are practically swimming in methamphetamine up here and we’re doing everything we can to stop the flow. If I’m being honest with you, sir, it doesn’t seem like you care all that much. Would it be too much of a distraction if I brought in a team of uniformed DEA agents and raided your factory floor? I wonder what we’d find?”
Green put some teeth into his statement. “That sounds like a threat.”
Martin, who had some teeth of her own, said, “That’s because it is.” Then she took the federal cop out of her voice and said, “Look, Mr. Green, we’re trying to do you a favor here. All I’m asking for is two guys on the floor. How hard could that be?”
“Harder than you might think,” Green said, a little softer himself. He looked at Ross and Rosencrantz and said, “Do either of you have any experience working in an RV plant?”
Rosencrantz shook his head without speaking. Ross gave Green a flat stare and said, “No, but I’m a quick study.”
Green rubbed his face with both hands. “It doesn’t matter. The training programs we have in place take at least two weeks to get a newbie up to speed, and that�
��s for the simplest department we have, which is full right now anyway. Even if we somehow made room for you, do you want to spend two weeks learning how to do something before you ever try to accomplish your own goals?”
The thought of two weeks in Elkhart County made Ross shudder. “No, I don’t.”
“How about this?” Rosencrantz said. “Give us a couple of hardhats and clipboards, and we could walk around like we’re efficiency consultants or something. That way, we’d be out of the way, just looking around, which is really all we want to do anyway.”
They batted that idea back and forth for a while, and Green, with no better options or ideas, finally agreed to it. When they were finished, everyone stood to leave. As they did, Green said, “We start at six in the morning. Meet me here in my office. Don’t be late. And for the love of god, check your shoes. I wasn’t going to say anything, but somebody smells like pig shit.”
Outside, Martin told Ross and Rosencrantz she’d meet them later, back at the hotel, where they’d coordinate on their day tomorrow. Then she looked at Ross and said, “I’m going to go see my sister over in Goshen. That’s the county seat, in case you were wondering. Think you can find your own way back?”
Ross let his eyelids droop. “I’ll give it my best effort.”
Then Martin looked at Rosencrantz and said, “Maybe dinner tonight?” She blushed slightly when she spoke.
Once Martin had left, Rosencrantz looked at Ross with an ‘I told you so’ expression on his face. “Can I read a room, or what?”
“Whatever, dude. Good for you.” Then, “Did you catch that comment about pig shit from that asshole, Green?”
“I caught the comment,” Rosencrantz said. “But how does that make him an asshole? You did sort of stink up the place.”
Ross pointed a finger at his partner. “It makes him an asshole exactly this way: I grew up in the country. There’s a decidedly different smell between horse poop and pig poop. We’re cops and he was calling us pigs, right to our faces.”
Rosencrantz gave Ross a genuine smile. “You know, for a guy who can be so direct, you’re pretty sensitive sometimes. C’mon, let’s go find a car wash.”
Virgil gave Sandy a call and asked her if she’d spoken with the superintendent of the ISP yet.
“I did,” Sandy said. “Grant County is covered.”
“Perfect,” Virgil said. “Any chance you could call him back and get a few more troopers? There’s a situation developing down in Shelby County.”
“What’s going on?” Sandy said.
“I just got off the phone with Sheriff Holden. The undersheriff is missing. Holden has every last one of his people out looking for him. Cool and Bell are on their way right now for aerial support. My gut says they’ll find this guy pretty quick, but in the meantime, Holden is going to need some basic patrol help for a day or two, or however long it takes to locate their missing man.”
“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Sandy said. “He said my timing was perfect because the last graduated class hasn’t been assigned yet. Let me check, but I’m sure it will happen.” Then, before she hung up, Sandy said, “Do you think this might be the thing your dad tried to warn you about?”
“I have no idea, baby. But I do know this: I’ve got a job to do, and I can’t keep going around second-guessing myself. I wouldn’t get anything done.”
“I guess so,” Sandy said. “Just promise me you’ll keep it in mind.”
“I will. I promise. I’ll see you tonight.”
Carl Johnson was supervising the repositioning of one of the drill units, something that Virgil and Rick Said had tasked him with as part of the sonic drilling operation. The technicians who ran the drills knew how to operate them, but the units themselves were large cumbersome machines, so Carl, who really could butter a biscuit with his heavy machinery handled the actual move. It took most of the day, and by the time he had everything in place and the technicians told him he was good to go, Carl hopped into his excavator and drove away. When he looked to the south, off in the distance, he could see the Graves farmhouse.
It was still bothering him that he hadn’t heard from or seen his two friends over the past couple of days. Sure, Mizner liked to fish, but usually only in the early morning, and never in the entire time that Johnson had known them, had either man been gone overnight. To Carl, it felt like they’d simply dropped off the planet.
He got the excavator put away, then, since he was close, he went and checked their houses one more time, but neither man was home. He drove back to the cultural center and when he walked into Patty’s office, he found her speaking with Stronghill. “Hey, Patty. Tony. Sorry to interrupt.”
“It’s no problem, Carl,” Patty said. “Have a seat.”
Johnson sat down and said, “I need your advice on something.”
“Sure. What’s up?”
Johnson sort of flapped his hands in the air and said, “I don’t know. Maybe nothing, but then again, maybe something. I’m starting to get a little worried.”
“Worried about what?” Stronghill said.
“When was the last time either of you saw Graves or Mizner?”
“If I’m being honest with you,” Stronghill said, “I don’t see them all that much ever.”
Patty furrowed her brow in thought. “I saw Mizner about a week ago. I think it was when you were moving one of the rigs. It looked like he was helping you.”
Carl nodded. “He was. And I’ve seen him since, but I haven’t laid eyes on either of them for about three days now, and it’s starting to bug me. They didn’t even bother to show for a free lunch I set up at Nick’s Kitchen over in Flatrock.”
Patty gave him a warm smile. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Carl, but I don’t think I’d show up for a meal at Nick’s, free or not.”
Johnson smiled at her, but there was no light in his eyes. “I take your point, but those guys are regulars there. The waitress says they haven’t been in.”
Stronghill and Patty exchanged a brief glance, and Johnson caught it. “What? What am I missing?”
“We’ve had a number of people walk away from the center lately,” Stronghill said. “Some officially quit, and others just up and left. Virgil thinks one of them is involved in that drug heist and the murder of the delivery driver. Patty and I were thinking it might be time to go talk with the sheriff.”
Johnson nodded. “I’m definitely going to talk with him. I just wanted to know if either of you had seen them or not. You guys want to come with me?”
Stronghill shook his head. “I can’t. I’ve got a group coming down from the Isabella in about an hour. I’ve got to get them settled in, assigned and processed and all that before it gets too late.”
Patty said, “I’ll go with you. Or better yet, you can go with me. It feels like I don’t get to drive much anymore. Do you want to go right now?”
“I think we better,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t seem like waiting is going to help us much.”
Dakota made his run up to Roseburg to deliver another batch of meth, and this time it went off without a hitch. The only real snag happened when he first arrived. His buddy was waiting for him, and when he saw the van painted up to look like a Prime delivery vehicle, he got a little nervous. But once he saw who was driving, he relaxed. “Man, you scared the shit out of me. I thought maybe you were the cops or something, disguised as delivery guys.”
Dakota gave him a sheepish grin. “Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I should have mentioned it before I came up.”
They made the swap, and after that had been taken care of, Dakota’s buddy looked at him and said, “You know what you should do?”
“What?”
Instead of explaining, he said, “Follow me.”
They went inside the trailer and into one of the bedrooms at the back. “My aunt, she didn’t get out much, so she had most of her stuff delivered. Guess who she bought from?”
Dakota looked around the room and saw box after box, some of them stac
ked almost all the way to the ceiling. Every single one was an Amazon Prime box. Dakota caught on right away. “Man, this is perfect. Even if I got stopped—which I don’t plan on that happening again—this is the perfect cover. How many can I have?”
Dakota’s buddy laughed at him. “As many as you want. I’ve been meaning to clean them out of here, but I haven’t had the chance. Come on, I’ll help you load up.”
They carried the boxes out to the van, and when both men decided they had the right amount, Dakota’s buddy said, “Get yourself a blue hat and one of them safety vests, and you can leave your shotgun behind.”
“Good idea. Listen, we’ve upped our production, so I can get you another load as soon as you want it.”
“Give me three days to off-load this batch, then give me a call. My guys are going through it pretty quick. Said it’s the best stuff they’ve seen in a long time. I’m also hooked in with a guy out of Chicago now, so we’ll take it all, man.”
Dakota told him he’d call, then got in the van and headed back south.
Carl Johnson had a casual acquaintance with Betty, the day shift clerk at the Shelby County sheriff’s office. When he walked in with Patty, he could tell by the look on her face that something wasn’t quite right. “Hello, Betty. Is the sheriff in? We need to speak with him.” When she didn’t answer right away, Johnson continued with, “What’s going on? You look like you just lost your dog or something.”
“It’s worse than that, Carl, and the sheriff is probably too busy to see you right now. Undersheriff Allen Hall has gone missing. We’ve got every single one of our guys out searching for him right now.”
Patty and Carl exchanged a quick glance. “Then he might want to make time to see us. We don’t know anything about Hall, but Patty here has lost about a dozen people, and no one has seen Graves or Mizner in three days. You’ve got more than one person missing, Betty.”