“Like what?” I asked uneasily, thinking it could have been one of us that had blundered into it instead.
Frowning, he said, “If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say some sort of potent synthetic drug. The fact that a substance like that was in Wonderlich’s suckers, which he never seems to be without, points to the idea that someone is trying to off him. What do you want to bet this has to do with his extracurricular activities?”
I nodded. “One of his sleazy minions got tired of doing his dirty work, maybe?”
“And what a poetic end to him to be killed by the very thing he’s trafficking.”
Gasping, I said, “You think they’ve been moving drugs?”
“I thought it was the most likely scenario, but I didn’t have any proof. Technically, I still don’t, but that’s what my instinct tells me is going on. Now, here’s my problem with the whole thing—we have to call in Laura’s death. Once we do that, you and I are on the record as being here. Stafford gets wind of this, which he will, and he’ll badge himself in and insert himself into the investigation. Worse, he’ll know we’ve made him. One word from him, and Wonderlich shuts down the operation. We’re left with nothing. Oh, and we have Su-Lin running around, who’s either a suspect or a witness. Why the hell else would she leave in the middle of her shift unless she saw or did something bad?”
My head was spinning from the barrage of information. “What do we do?”
“You’re going to leave.”
“The hell I am. We’re partners. Don’t shut me out like you always do.”
He stared at me for a moment, then said kindly, “I’m trying to protect you.”
“I know. It’s sweet and all, but I can take care of myself. Besides, the minute the police bring Gentry in on this, my name is going to get mentioned. I’m in it whether you like it or not.”
Ryder pinched the bridge of his nose. “I see your point.” He began pacing for a moment, and I could see him formulating a plan in his head. He stopped abruptly. “I got it. I’ll call Cromwell—”
“Not him.” I groaned.
“I know he’s not your favorite person, but we can trust him. If anyone will know how to keep a lid on this, it’s him. With his help we can figure out a way to keep Stafford from sticking his nose in and getting information we don’t want Wonderlich to have. We may have to get creative here.”
“I’m all in.” He was looking rather pale, so I asked gently, “Are you okay? I know you’re a big, tough cop and all, but it’s not every day you stumble on a dead body. If you need someone to talk to about it, I have some expertise in the field.”
He laughed mirthlessly. “Yeah, you do. In fact, the only other time I’ve discovered a body was with you.”
Wrinkling my nose, I said, “Oh, right. I guess I’m your bad luck charm, then. You should probably quit hanging out with me.”
Shaking his head, he said, “Not a chance.”
—
We didn’t talk much as we waited outside nervously for Cromwell, who showed up grumpy, no surprise there.
“I swear, every time you two are near each other, someone dies,” he complained, looking more casual than I’d ever seen him, in jeans and a polo shirt. He’d (sort of) graciously agreed to come in on his night off. He stared at Ryder. “What the hell do you have on, son?”
I gestured to Ryder’s shirt. “See? I told you the wife-beater looked ridiculous.”
Ryder clenched his jaw. “It was an undercover costume choice, okay? Can we please talk about the real problem here?”
Cromwell frowned. “You say John Stafford is mixed up in this somehow?” He turned to me. “Aren’t you two…”
“Not anymore,” I replied. “Which is another reason this whole thing needs to be handled with care.”
Ryder filled Cromwell in on everything we knew up to this point, allowing me to jump in where needed and offer the information I’d uncovered. Cromwell nodded, his bristly mustache twitching as certain upsetting facts were revealed to him. After Ryder was finished telling the story, Cromwell rubbed his jaw, deep in thought.
A few minutes passed, then he said, “To keep this quiet, I’ll make personal calls to get a skeleton crew of the people I need out here—the coroner, the lead crime scene investigator, an old uni friend of mine, and a narco cop I trust. Hamilton, you call the captain and explain to him how this is going to go down, then you two skedaddle. We need to process the scene and find this Su-Lin person before we worry about taking your official statements. I’ve heard enough of your story that if you try to change it you know I’ll bust your chops for it. Now, I’ll hold off as long as I can on filing any kind of report so Stafford can’t get hold of it. But we only have so much time before we have to alert Wonderlich, seeing as how his name’s on the door. You say the place opens at six?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“Then I need to get to work. Excuse me.”
—
Pacing the sidewalk, Ryder made the call to his captain explaining the situation while I sat in his car trying to wrap my head around all that had happened. As for my investigation, I guessed I was pretty much finished. Now that the murder had occurred, the police would tear into every aspect of Wonder-Gen as well as into the employees. I had enough to give to Gentry to show that Wonderlich had been laundering his ill-gotten money through the company. The only thing left to verify was that it was indeed drugs they were moving in the fake Wonder-Gen shipments, but once the police investigation got in full swing, the answer would come out.
The next step for me was to go to Maya’s office and type out a pretty report to hand over to Gentry and to the police, gather and make copies of my findings, and then sit back and toast to my first success as a full-fledged investigator. It wasn’t part of my task to figure out who might have been trying to kill Wonderlich, so I would gladly let the police handle that.
Ryder threw himself into the driver’s seat and let out a sigh. “I feel like I should be doing something to help break this case, but I’ve been ordered to go home and sleep.”
“It’s not the worst idea. About an hour ago, weren’t you the one who said we should bail on tonight so we could get some sleep and pick it up in the morning?”
“That was before there was a murder to solve and a missing person of interest.”
Placing my hand on his, I said, “But there are lots of capable police officers who’ll be working on the case in the meantime. You don’t have to solve the whole thing single-handedly.”
Staring at my hand, he said, “Speaking of that, there’s something I want to ask you. Now that you’ve pretty well got what you need to satisfy your client…um…you won’t need to work much more on this case.”
“That wasn’t a question.” When he turned his haggard face toward mine, I took pity on him. “I’m sorry for teasing you. If you want more of my help, such as it is, you’ve got it.”
His tired smile said it all.
—
I got some sleep, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Not only that, but Thomas Gentry’s agitated phone call woke me up before my alarm. It went something like this:
“Laura is dead? How on earth did this happen? Were you there? Was your colleague there? Why am I only finding out about this now? How did she…no…I don’t want to know. Is anyone else hurt?”
I said calmly, “The police are handling it, and that’s all I can tell you at this time. Mr. Gentry, I know it’s a shock losing Laura, but given the situation, you’re going to have to find a way to be calm about this.”
“Be calm about this? A woman is dead! Does this have anything to do with Jim? Should I be worried that my employees and I could all be in danger now? Who could be next?”
“There’s no reason to think that anyone is next…but then again there’s also no reason to not be cautious and on the alert.” My “bedside manner” could have used some work. Maya was usually the one who handled coddling and handholding our clients. She owed me big-time when she got ho
me.
“Are you telling me I should find a way to protect myself? Should I buy a gun?”
Where did he get that idea? This conversation was getting worse, not better. “No, Mr. Gentry. Under no circumstances would I ever advise you to buy a gun. I’m only saying please be careful. And you probably shouldn’t speak about our investigation or Laura’s investigation to anyone except the police.” Thinking about Stafford, I added, “And only the police assigned to those specific cases.”
“This is too much. I need to retire.”
“Keep your chin up. I’ll talk to you soon.”
—
I yawned as I poured some more coffee in Gertie’s mug at Java Jive the next morning.
She eyed me. “I know that look. You’re burning your candle at both ends again, Juliet.”
“Working two jobs hasn’t been easy.”
“So don’t.” There was no question where Gertie stood on the issue.
“But you’ll be happy to know it has been much safer and much more boring lately.” Except for finding a dead body.
Pete walked in, all smiles. “How are my two favorite ladies this morning?”
Gertie gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Your two favorites? Shouldn’t that girlfriend of yours at least make the top two?”
“Not anymore,” I muttered.
Pete shot me a look. “Gert, I think Brooke and I are over.”
Frowning, Gertie said, “But she’s such a nice girl. I actually liked this one.”
I started to laugh, but when Pete glared at me again, I covered it with a cough. “So have you talked to her yet?”
He said, “Soon.”
I rolled my eyes. “Gertie, would you please explain to your grandson that it’s not good manners to start dating another woman when you haven’t got around to dumping the first one—even if you’re only dragging the relationship out in a misguided attempt to spare her feelings?”
She gave him a cuff on the back of the head. “Hell’s bells, Peter James Bennett. You have another one lined up already? I raised you better than that.”
Backed into a corner, Pete tried to diffuse some of Gertie’s wrath onto me. “Well…Juliet dumped Stafford.”
“So what? He put a wet blanket on her piss and vinegar.” She looked at me pointedly. “You need a man who can challenge you. I say you’re better off without him.”
“She’s not wrong.”
My mouth dropped open. “What do you mean? I thought you two were bros.”
“I like him, and it’s not like anyone thinks he’s a bad guy or anything.” The jury was still out on that. “It’s just that he’s…I don’t know…not that fun at parties and not someone we expected you to be interested in enough to date for an extended period of time,” Pete said apologetically.
I stared at them. “So no one thought Stafford was right for me?”
Both of them shook their heads.
Crossing my arms, I griped, “Well, it would have been useful to know that a few months ago!”
Pete said, “It’s not like it was a terrible thing that you went out with a nice guy for a while.”
Gertie smiled. “He’s right, dear. There’s nothing wrong with a rebound. You know, now that you’re back on the market, maybe you and Ryder should give it another go. He told me you two are on speaking terms again.”
Pete’s eyes got dark. “Over my dead body.”
I held my hands out in a “calm the hell down” gesture. “Yes, we’re on speaking terms again. Which is nice, because I have to admit I missed him. But as for a relationship, I think that ship has sailed. We’re doing great as friends right now. We never did well as anything more.”
“Horse hockey. You could never wipe the smile from your face the morning after a roll in the sack with him. He made you happy.”
I blushed at the thought of a “roll in the sack” with Ryder, as she put it. Too bad we couldn’t continue doing that without any of the stress of making a relationship work.
“He made her miserable,” Pete said through gritted teeth. “New topic of conversation, please.”
I said, “Oh, I have one. Don’t try to turn on the computer in the office. I think we have a virus. Trevor is coming over later to have a look at it for me. Also, we need to consider replacing our espresso machine. It’s being temperamental, and the pressure isn’t right, so it’s making shitty espresso. We’ve been using the backup machine, but it’s old and probably not long for this world, either. I’ve been researching new ones—they’re not cheap.”
Pete’s shoulders slumped. “That’s not a better topic. I was hoping we could talk about the weather or something.”
Chapter 28
Ryder came in shortly after Pete and Gertie left and sat down at the counter, looking even more tired than when I’d seen him earlier.
I said, “Let me guess—you did not follow orders and go home to get some sleep.”
“You got me. I did go home, but instead of sleeping, I researched those addresses you gave me and came up with a few I thought could be searched for Wonderlich’s shipments. Some of those idiots seemed to have had the deliveries made to their homes rather than abandoned buildings and empty lots. I’ve secured warrants, and now I’m only waiting to hear back from the unis I talked into doing the searches for me. Oh, and a couple more unis are trying to track down Su-Lin. She’s not at the address listed in her HR file, and if she really is an illegal, they may never find her. We’re doing all we can.”
I set an empty mug in front of him and reached for the coffee carafe. “Although I would have preferred you got some rest, I do approve of you delegating a few of your investigative tasks.”
Ryder put his hand over the mug so I couldn’t pour anything into it. “Can I have my coffee to go? I only came here to grab you so we can give our statements at the station.”
I quickly made him a to-go cup and bagged up a couple of his favorite scones—bacon cheddar—to take with us, then followed him out the door.
Once we were settled in his car, I handed him the bag. “Eat something, or that coffee is going to boil the acid I’m sure is already hard at work making an ulcer in your stomach.”
“I’d like to say I’ve missed your nagging, but I’d be lying.” When he reached in the bag and found the scones, however, his attitude changed. “But I have missed these.” As he pulled away from the curb, he tore into one of them like a starving dog.
After he’d wolfed both scones down, I said, “You know I can drive myself places. You don’t have to chauffer me around.”
He shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a nice guy. Plus, I thought if you didn’t have a getaway car, you might stay and help me interview your list of shady Wonder-Gen employees about Wonderlich’s missing dope.”
“I told you I’d be happy to help. So we’re sure now that what they’ve been trafficking is ‘dope,’ as you say?”
“Very nearly sure. The field test done on the substance on the suckers in Wonderlich’s candy dish tested positive for opiates, which means it could be heroin that was on them. Lately there have been a lot of shipments of heroin cut with extremely dangerous synthetics like fentanyl and carfentanyl, which can cause sudden death by respiratory arrest. The coroner’s preliminary cause of death for Laura is some kind of respiratory arrest or failure. She was consuming one of those suckers when she died. Put the pieces together, and the whole picture is becoming clear fast.”
“That doesn’t prove Wonderlich was moving drugs, though. It only means that someone used drugs to try to kill him.”
“Are you trying to ruin this for me with facts?”
Smiling, I said, “You must be rubbing off on me.”
Ryder was deep in thought the rest of the way to the station. He parked around back and took me through an unmarked door into a dark, deserted hallway.
“Something wrong with the front door?” I asked.
His jaw clenched. “Stafford is upstairs, making a nuisance of himself trying to learn anything he can
about the homicide investigation. We don’t want him to see you come in.”
He opened another door near the end of the hall and held it for me to go inside. It was an unused office, holding a seemingly empty desk with a few chairs around it, and Cromwell was already seated, perusing a file.
“You holding up okay?” Cromwell asked me, gesturing for me to take a seat across from him.
“Fine, considering,” I replied.
Ryder said to me, “I’ll be upstairs giving my statement to the captain. Let me know when you’re done, and I’ll come back to get you.”
“Okay.”
Once Ryder had closed the door, Cromwell said, “If you can, please get that man to try to rest. He’s in He-Man mode again and refuses to admit he has basic human needs that extend beyond coffee.”
“I managed to get him to eat some breakfast, and I’ll work on the sleep thing. But sometimes it’s like talking to a brick wall.”
“Don’t I know it.” He cleared his throat. “Okay, Ms. Langley. Or should I say Private Investigator Langley these days? Congratulations on your new title, by the way.”
“Thank you. I didn’t expect my second case to collide with one of yours.”
He chuckled. “Considering our track record together, I’m not all that surprised. I’m going to need you to start at the beginning, when Thomas Gentry first contacted your agency to spy on his partner.”
I’d brought everything I had in my file, so I set it out in front of him and walked him through the investigating I’d done, ending with finding Laura several hours ago. He nodded appreciatively as I showed him my evidence. Cromwell was a lot easier to deal with when you were working with him instead of against him.
“Not bad, Ms. Langley. Not that I expected anything less from you. Now come the hard questions. For the record, you’ve been in a personal relationship with MNPD detective John Stafford, correct?”
I sighed. It hurt to have to divulge the details of my relationship with Stafford “for the record.” I felt like I was signing his arrest warrant. “Yes.”
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