A Time to Live and a Thyme for Murder! (Outer Banks Baker Mystery Series Book 3)

by Phoebe T. Eggli

  There were only three floors of the building. They disregarded the main floor since it was clearly utilized just for the moving business. Boxes and bubble wrap filled the tiny hallway. The trio mounted the stairs to the second floor. The odor of burned popcorn and food rotting in trash cans permeated their nostrils. The floor seemed to be a dedicated snack room and hang out area with an old giant box television in the far corner. Krissy cocked her head to the side to indicate they should keep going to the next level.

  The third floor was mostly unfinished with rough wood planks for the flooring and an open ceiling that revealed the wires and pipes running throughout the building. One lone fluorescent light hung down in the middle of the hallway. At the end of the corridor was a closed door. All other doorways were minus actual doors. These were packed full of more moving supplies and trash. One small room contained a filthy toilet and small sink that looked as if it had never been introduced to the “scrubbing bubbles”. Melissa couldn’t believe that Derek lived in these conditions while he was in town. It made her feel sympathy towards him. Perhaps he dealt drugs just to get by.

  Krissy didn’t need to pick the lock on the door at the end of the hall. It was unlocked. There was trash strewn all over the floor – mostly fast food wrappers and soda cans. Although not in plain sight, they all assumed the place was crawling with roaches and other bugs. There was a dilapidated dresser in the far corner and a lamp missing a lampshade on the floor. There wasn’t much to inspect in the room to provide clues to Derek’s associates. Krissy checked out the dresser, pausing when she came across his favorite Stone Temple Pilots concert t-shirt and faded blue jeans shoved into a drawer. In the back pocket was a sticky note with the name “Ricky” scrawled on it with a phone number. Krissy recalled that “Ricky” was one of the names of the dealers that Tanner met up with the other night. Well, at least they had a number for him now and could connect him to Derek.

  She didn’t have time to inform Melissa and Cheryl though before they heard the downstairs metal door bang shut and the sound of footsteps coming up the stairwell. There were only two ways out of the building – those stairs and the fire escape outside the window. Without any place to hide and with the stairs option not viable, Melissa motioned for the others to climb out the window. She nearly had to shove Cheryl outside as the footsteps came closer and closer. Cheryl’s fear of heights had the poor woman in a near panic and on the verge of hyperventilating as she looked down through the metal bars of the fire escape landing. Unable to get Cheryl to budge any further, they couldn’t escape down the rusty ladder so they ducked under the window sill. Melissa prayed whoever coming down the hall didn’t peep outside.

  Without attempting to look inside, they heard the door bang open. Whoever was there stomped around loudly. They could hear drawers being opened and thrown to the ground, as well as the lamp crashing against the wall. Krissy stumbled back against the railing when the mattress smashed against the window right above her head. Melissa tried to grab her, but the rusty railing broke from the impact and the young woman fell backwards. Luckily, she grabbed the platform to stop her fall three stories to the ground below. However, the noise alerted the person inside to their presence.

  A young man with an acne-scarred face and long greasy hair poked his head out the window to find Krissy dangling from the fire escape and Melissa desperately trying to pull her back up. Cheryl was still frozen in place with a death grip on the railing. The women thought they were goners. Even if this guy wasn’t a drug dealer, he wasn’t going to take kindly to being caught trashing the place. He started to climb out the window to get to them, but the sudden blaring of police sirens coming down the backstreet stopped him. He hoisted himself back inside and attempted to escape down the stairs. Unfortunately for him, squad cars had already blocked off all exits from the building. Melissa turned her attention back to Krissy’s predicament. She vaguely heard a voice over a bull horn instructing Richard “Ricky” Tavales to give himself up peacefully. There was the sound of a scuffle as Ricky tried to bolt out of the building but was tackled by two officers before he could get ten feet away.

  Krissy’s grip on the platform was slipping fast. Melissa grabbed one of her arms and tried to pull her up. Now was not the time to realize she should have continued regular strength training workouts because her arms were just not up for the challenge. In horror she watched as the young woman lost her hold on the fire escape and plummeted down. Thankfully, her fall was broken by a police squad car that had parked just under them in case Ricky tried to escape that route. The squad car broke her fall. Seeing that the young girl was okay, Melissa almost sighed with relief until she saw the two gentlemen get out of the car. One was DEA Agent Thomas Garland. The other was Krissy’s father, Detective Jason Payne. Krissy looked up sheepishly, “Hi, Dad.”

  Chapter 20

  Back at the police station, the two women sat across a small conference table from Agent Garland, Detective Cory Bronson, and Jason. Krissy was in another room having her injuries tended to from the earlier fall from the fire escape. Of the three men, the latter’s face revealed the most anger and frustration. Melissa inwardly worried more about what would be said when they were alone outside of this room. Cory had a smug “I told you they were trouble” smile. He seemed as if he were enjoying this situation. While the DEA agent actually looked somewhat amused. Melissa and Cheryl tried their best to appear contrite. No one spoke as they waited for Janice Littleton, their lawyer, to arrive. Even the agent had insisted nothing be said until the attorney could be present for questioning. While they waited, he checked in on the officers questioning Ricky Tavales in another room.

  It didn’t take Janice long. Melissa had called her earlier that day to inform her of their intentions to track down where Derek had stayed during his time in town, in an effort to find his associates. The attorney had not approved the course of action, but knew better than to attempt talking Melissa out of it. She fully expected to get another call to come to the police station and was prepared. She walked into the conference room with a barely contained smile and slight roll of her eyes in Melissa’s direction. “Seems a bit crowded in here, fellas. My clients aren’t Al Capone and Bugsy Siegel after all,” she began. “Why don’t we have Detective Bronson check up on Krissy and then take care of some paperwork or something while we talk?” Cory immediately began to argue, but Agent Garland cut him off by agreeing with Janice and tersely sending him on his way. He earned an appreciative nod and smile from the pretty attorney.

  Agent Garland started off by saying, “Okay, ladies, how about you explain what you were doing at the moving company office building and how you managed to be on the fire escape outside the tiny room Derek McCallie formerly occupied?” With a nod from Janice that it was alright to speak up, Melissa explained the whole story. How they had wanted to track down where Derek had been staying in an effort to find out as much as they could about his dealings in town. She also threw in a tiny fib that Krissy needed some closure with Derek’s death. Even Jason looked up at her with curiosity at that statement, but he let it slide without question. Melissa told another little lie when she said that the back door of the building was open. No use getting them in more hot water by confessing Krissy picked the lock. She continued to explain what they found, which wasn’t much. Melissa fished out the torn paper with the name “Ricky” on it along with a phone number, which Krissy had given to her, from her back pocket and handed it to Agent Garland.

  “So is that everything you found, Mrs. Maples?” he asked. She assured him that it was and then explained the rest of the tale. They heard footsteps coming down the hall so they exited via the fire escape in order to avoid any confrontation with someone that may or may not be associated with the drug scene that Derek had been involved in. Cheryl nodded her head in agreement with everything Melissa said. After a moment’s silence as the two gentlemen absorbed the information, Agent Garland grinned and started to chuckle. “Ladies, you certainly make things interesting ar
ound here.” Everyone, including Jason, looked at the federal agent in wonder.

  A little while later, Cory walked back in with Krissy in tow. The young woman was bruised, but nothing broken from her fall. Looking sheepishly at her father, she assumed she was in big trouble – not just with the law but with him. Finding the group sitting casually around the conference table and smiling came as a shock. The detective seemed a bit perturbed at the light atmosphere in the room. “Exactly what did I miss?” he asked.

  Agent Garland piped up and said the women were free to go and no charges would be filed. He assured the detective they had been reprimanded enough about going off on their own to investigate a crime. However, he did warn Krissy to avoid fire escape ladders from now on.

  As the other detective took a seat, the agent continued his explanation. He had hoped Ricky would confess to the murder of Derek McCallie, but the drug dealer had a solid alibi for the night in question – he had been locked up overnight in Nags Head, NC for a DWI (driving while intoxicated). However, he did have some interesting information to impart. Ricky knew all about Derek’s methods of hiding and transporting the drugs. He confiscated bread packages from his girlfriend’s place of employment. He hid the drugs in the bread bowls; however, he mistakenly left a few packages behind one night when his girlfriend finished cleaning up the front of the restaurant early and almost caught him slicing the bread and re-taping the bags. Ricky’s statements cleared Krissy as an accomplice in the drug trafficking. Everyone had been relieved at that news. However, there was still the question of who killed Derek.

  Agent Garland surprised everyone when he asked for their cooperation in a plan to entrap the killer. While everyone readily agreed, Detective Bronson wasn’t thrilled with the plan and Jason didn’t want his daughter involved. Krissy argued with her father. Reluctantly, she showed him the new text she received while she was being evaluated by the medics. It was another threatening note instructing her to keep her mouth shut or else. “I have too much at stake for this to continue, Dad. I’m in this whether you like it or not.” He eventually relented after receiving strong reassurances from the agent that she would be thoroughly protected at all times.

  Chapter 21

  Two days later, Operation Catch the Bad Guy (as coined by Logan) was put into action. Both Logan and Tanner were recruited to help out. Parental permission was necessary. Dr. Wiggins readily agreed, as long as Tanner was protected. Logan’s dad had needed a bit more convincing. John David knew his son could take care of himself, as proven over the last two summers with his Aunt Mel. However, he didn’t like the idea of intentionally allowing Logan anywhere near known drug dealers. After an hour on the phone with Logan, followed by a half hour with Melissa and Jason together, he gave his consent.

  Things had been tense with Melissa and Jason immediately after the episode at the moving company. He really hated that she had taken his daughter in search of Derek McCallie’s drug dealing pals. However, Krissy intervened to explain the situation and that Melissa was not to blame. “Come on, Dad! Melissa just realized there was no stopping me from trying to find out the truth so it was better she and Cheryl go with me than let me go alone.” Melissa was surprised at Krissy’s defense of her, but also delighted. Perhaps there was a chance for them to have a positive relationship after all?

  Tanner was pivotal to the plot to unmask Derek’s killer. He had the connections and had to be convincing in his role. Neither Melissa nor Jason was certain the young man could pull this off, but he was thoroughly excited at the opportunity to prove himself, especially to Krissy. He spent a lot of time down at the beach hanging with Hoss and his cohorts to re-establish himself as a stoner beach bum. Logan and Emily acted as lookouts. They were always close by, but never made contact with Tanner when he was with the group. Logan liked spending more time with his sweetheart, even if it was in the line of duty. Emily readily accepted the chance to work with Logan to solve a mystery. Although she wasn’t Krissy’s biggest fan because of the way the young woman treated Logan and his aunt Melissa initially, she appreciated her predicament and gladly offered to help.

  Ricky Tavales had readily rolled over on his X15 drug dealing buddies. The cops had the names of at least eight known dealers in Kill Devil Hills. They were holding off making arrests until they could obtain more concrete evidence in the Derek McCallie murder. The eight all worked for the same moving company and were under close surveillance, but that was it for the moment.

  It didn’t take long before Tanner made casual contact with one of the X15 dealers. The guy had been the one to insist he snort the stuff in front of them last time to prove he wasn’t a NARC. They agreed to meet the next day at the fishing pier.

  Logan arrived at the pier first, well before dawn even though Tanner wouldn’t meet his contact until much later that morning. There were a couple other DEA agents posing as fishermen, too. Logan enjoyed his time reeling in the occasional puffer fish or even a skate, but his nerves were getting the better of him as he waited and waited. His hands shook as he tried to unhook a skate from his line and almost got the wrong end of its barbed tail. Although not poisonous like their stingray counterparts, skate tails have large thorns that can slice up an unwary fisherman. After releasing the creature back into the Atlantic Ocean, Logan took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

  Four hours later, Tanner showed up with his Yeti cooler. A couple years ago, the cooler would be full of beer cans poorly disguised as sodas. Although Tanner had stopped this practice recently, for appearance’s sake he reverted back to the beer cans. He sat down on a bench just a few yards from Logan. Neither boy acknowledged the other. Right on time, Tanner’s drug dealer contact strolled up and slapped Tanner on the back. Logan inched closer by making it look like he simply decided to change his fishing perch. As instructed by the cops earlier, neither boy looked in the other’s direction.

  Tanner and his new “friend” made minimal small talk. It was obvious the guy was not comfortable hanging out in such a public place, even if there were only a handful of fisherman on the pier at that time of day. He reached into Tanner’s cooler while covertly letting a small bag of powdered X15 fall from his clenched hand into the cooler and then extracting a disguised beer can along with a small plastic bag of cash. Shutting the lid, he immediately made to leave the pier, but Tanner stopped him. “Dude, you’ve been such a stand-up guy and all, thought I should let you know what I overheard last night when my dad was on the phone with one of his cop pals,” he began. That seemed to pique the other boy’s interest and he stopped in his tracks. Tanner went on to inform him that the cops had figured out how Derek had distributed the drugs so that everyone got sick. They also had a good idea where Derek got the drugs and that he had been killed because of it. His dad suspected the cops would close in on the suspect later that night. The news certainly rattled the young man. He thanked Tanner for the tip and immediately rushed away.

  True to their recent training in covert operations, Tanner soon left the pier without so much as a glance towards Logan. The other young man continued fishing and whistling to himself. An hour later, Logan packed up his fishing tackle and headed back to his Aunt Mel’s house. The undercover agents on the pier texted a picture of the drug dealer to Agent Garland who was waiting with Jason and Cory in an unmarked car a few blocks away. A surveillance unit was put on the boy. He wouldn’t make a move without them knowing.

  Chapter 22

  Later that night, the unit followed the drug dealer back to the moving company building. He went inside the office for a few minutes, but then left in a hurry. Another surveillance crew picked up the trail a block over. They would follow this guy while the original unit stayed behind at the building. Another unit in a SUV with blacked out windows had joined the stake out with a couple civilians in tow – Logan and Tanner. They needed the boys there for a positive identification of the suspect and in case they met up with someone else the boys may recognize. Agent Garland, Jason, and Cory were a couple blocks over
as well, waiting on someone to make a move.

  A few minutes later, a dark figure exited the building at a fast pace. The person was headed in the same direction as Tanner’s drug contact. Logan tried to get a better look at the guy with binoculars, but it was too dark to make an identification. One of the DEA agents handed him another set of binoculars. These had infra-red technology so he could see in the dark. Adjusting the magnification, Logan nearly dropped the binoculars when the face of the man came into focus. The person chasing after the other drug dealer was Kyle Vega. Both Logan and Tanner knew Kyle. They thought he was a really nice guy. He worked at the moving company, so it wasn’t unusual for him to be there. Perhaps it was just a coincidence Kyle was leaving so shortly after the drug dealer, and in the same direction. When Logan informed the agents he knew the guy and that the young man’s sister was still in the hospital in a coma after accidently ingesting the X15, one of the men radioed the information in. The second surveillance vehicle tailed Kyle just to see where he went, while the other unit stayed behind at the building.

  A few minutes later, a call came over the radio informing them that Kyle Vega had indeed caught up to Tanner’s drug contact in the back alley behind a local convenience store. Another undercover vehicle pulled up to the building with a handful of squad cars waiting a couple blocks away. The vehicle with Tanner and Logan, as well as Agent’s Garland’s vehicle, raced off to the store. Nothing good ever happened in back alleys at that time of night. Sure enough, before they reached the store, another call came over the radio for an ambulance. There had been a stabbing.