The Morelville Mysteries Collection

by Anne Hagan

  “I was a truck driver.”

  “Did you do that long?”

  “I did a training school and then drove maybe 6 months.”

  “All for the same company?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What company?”

  “Just a freight company that hired new drivers.”

  “How’d you hear about the job?”

  “Wayne set it up. He paid for me to go to the school and I started as soon as I finished school.”

  I smiled. “He was trying to help you out...”

  “I guess.”

  “Who was your boss at the freight company?”

  “It was a company man. We had a dispatcher. He’d assign the loads. I’d just drive it where it needed to go.”

  “Did you help to load the trucks?”

  “Nah. It was just a terminal. Trailer would come in, get dropped. I’d hook up and take it, like I said.”

  “Where were the trailers that were getting dropped coming from?”

  “All over man. Local, Michigan, Canada, Mexico.” He shrugged.

  “Did you have any regular runs?”

  “A couple.”

  “Where did you go on your regular runs?”

  He was getting restless. He started trying to shift around in his seat. “What’ this got to do with Wayne?”

  “Honestly? I don’t know for sure. You might know something that could help him out, you might not. I’m just trying to figure out what all you know.”

  “What was your question again?”

  “Where did you go on your regular runs?”

  “Atlanta, mostly.”

  “What did you haul to Atlanta?”

  “I dunno.”

  “You don’t unload or stand by while it’s unloaded either? You don’t get a manifest for your load?”

  “Look lady...”

  “It’s ‘Agent’ Mr. Dawes.” I was being formal now. He was stonewalling and I needed answers.

  “Agent, I don’t know! I pick up a sealed trailer. The seal don’t get broke till I get it where it’s going. Sometimes they don’t unload me right away. I drop the trailer, hook onto another empty one or a full one and haul it somewhere else or back to Chicago. That’s all I know.”

  “Ever been stopped by the highway patrol anywhere while you’re driving a load Mr. Dawes?”

  He laughed. “Oh yeah.”

  “Don’t you have to show them your logs and manifest?” I had him!

  “Yeah...” He knows I have him!

  “So what does the manifest say you’re hauling?”

  “To Atlanta?”

  “That’s what we’re talking about right now, yes.”

  “Mostly clothes. It’s boxes stacked on pallets that are all wrapped up usually. No labels on the boxes.”

  I changed gears. “Do you know Bryant Quinn?” His eyes flashed. He was at least familiar with the name.

  “He’ a driver too.”

  “You ever run with him?”

  “Nah, he mostly run’ to Ohio and back, short haul. Sometimes picks up a load in Detroit and runs it to Ohio.”

  Interesting! I tried not to show that anything he was telling me had wheels turning in my head. “Where in Ohio?”

  “East of Columbus.”

  “Zanesville?”

  “Nah, near some little town. Don’t remember the name.”

  “You’ve been there yourself?”

  “Only four, five times, with a load. Not my route.”

  “Do you drop your trailer at a terminal?”

  “Nah, some big farm.”

  “Isn’t that unusual?”

  “Depends on the load agent and I don’t ask no kinda questions. Stuff’s usually in crates strapped on pallets.”

  “So the manifest is different for those loads?”

  “Sometimes, yeah. Usually says ‘machinery’ or ‘equipment’ but sometimes ‘clothes’.”

  “Does it show what company it’s coming from?” I knew it did but, of course it could be falsified. Still, there would at least be a fake paper trail to follow somewhere!

  “Different companies.”

  “When you get to the farm with these loads, what happens? Who’s in charge?

  “They got some big ass barns out there. One’s got a bay. I back into that and drop the trailer. The foreman starts unloading it with a skid loader. I pick up an empty if there is one or I wait for them to unload me and then I head back to Chicago.”

  “Do you know the foreman’s name?”

  “Hell no!”

  I couldn’t tell if he was being truthful or protective. “What about the name of the farm?”

  “No clue.”

  “Isn’t it on the manifest?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t remember it.” Okay, he’s definitely being evasive.

  “Where’s it located?”

  “Off 44.”

  “State Route 44 or Interstate 44?”

  “Back road, it’s a state route, I think. Are we done here agent?”

  “Almost. Just a few more questions.” I’ll take a shot, “Have you ever heard the name Relic?”

  DeShawn Dawes hadn’t been around the block as many times as a guy like his brother ‘Wayne’, as he called him, had been. His face gave him away when I said the name Relic. He’d not just heard it before, but judging by the way he swallowed hard, he wasn’t too fond of him.

  He shook his head ‘no’ but his eyes and his shaking hands said yes. Whoever Relic is, he has the power to scare men locked up behind prison walls.

  “You’re sure you haven’t heard of him?”

  “I’m done answering questions agent. Call the C. O. back in here.”

  I went back to being his friend. “DeShawn, do you want to help Wayne?”

  Chapter 19 – A Plan Forms

  Deshawn Dawes hung his head and stared at the interview room floor. I knew that he was probably torn between his own fear of gang repercussions and the family loyalty that gave him the desire to help the older brother, a member of the gang, who helped him. I waited patiently for his response. It finally came.

  “I don’t know what I can do. I don’t know what kind of charges you have other than shooting at the officer.”

  “DeShawn, what’s Wayne involved in?” I looked at him intently and felt like I was looking at a small child and not a man. He just seemed to sink into his chair. It was obvious that he didn’t want to answer me but he did want to try and help his brother.

  “I can’t talk about that stuff man!” He was trembling visibly.

  “Okay, okay... It’s all right. Let’s talk about you some more.” I paused and took a deep breath. I gave him a minute to try and compose himself.

  Were you involved in the same stuff?”

  “I just drove a truck man! Wayne thought keeping me out of Chicago most of the time was the best way to keep me out of trouble. Brother’s is dyin’ over turf wars!”

  “Were you aware some of the things you were hauling might be illegal or counterfeit?”

  “If it was, it was all set up legit like,” he answered. “It was a real job, with a real company and I kept real logs and turned in all my papers and got my checks.”

  He didn’t really answer my question. I went a different route. “Where is Relic? Is he in Chicago or is he in Ohio?”

  “I don’t want to talk about Relic. Guys dyin’ in here too within hours just for opening they’ mouths. It ain’t worth it!”

  I leaned in, steepled my hands over my mouth and then whispered, “I need you to give me something. At least tell me, Chicago or Ohio?”

  Dawes looked at me and shook his head. He pursed his lips and said nothing.

  I waited a minute or so but it was obvious that he was done talking. I got up and singled for the guard to come in. He called for assistance and then he and another C. O. came in to unchain Dawes leg irons from the floor and take him back to his cell.

  As soon as the corrections officers entered the room, Dawes started
complaining about letting “stupid agents” come in and hit him up. As he was being led away he turned his head back toward me and said, “Go back to Ohio and your suck ass ball teams. Bet you’re a Browns fan. Buncha’ losers!”

  Relic is in Ohio!

  ###

  Once I’d cleared the prison walls and I was back in my rental car, I ran everything through my head over and over again. I certainly had information that would help my case. I wasn’t so sure that anything I had would be useful for the agent working the counterfeiting case. I had nothing new to add to what they already knew except the hint of a possible staging and distribution location in Ohio for the smuggling and possibly counterfeiting operations. A large farm operation would be a good cover for the occasional truck going in and out.

  As I drove northeast, back toward Midway Airport, I pondered what I should and shouldn’t tell Webb. I didn’t want the Secret Service to step into my case. I was still undecided about what to do when I dropped my day rental back at Midway and prepared to go in and do battle with the airlines to get on an earlier flight back to Cleveland. Man, am I ever beginning to hate traveling!

  The best Southwest could do was to put me on standby on a flight that left Chicago about 2 hours earlier than my original flight. I still had a few hours to kill. I went off in search of food.

  As I settled at a table with my tray, I pulled out my cell, intending to call Webb and get it over with. He’d be waiting on some sort of word about my meeting with DeShawn Dawes. The blinking message light caught my attention. I dialed my voicemail up and was shocked to hear the voice of a very distraught sounding Mel asking me to call her back ASAP.

  Wow, she sounds very upset! Concern cancelled out hunger. I put my as yet unwrapped sandwich in my go bag, dumped my fries in the trash and then took my bag, drink and phone off to find a more private place to give her a call back. The Transportation and Safety Administration came to my rescue. A polite, bubbly young woman, as yet unjaded by the rigors of working for the TSA, showed me to one of their tiny interview offices after I showed her my badge and ID. It was sparse but it would do.

  “Mel? It’s Dana. Is everything okay? What’s going on?”

  “Where are you Dana?”

  “I’m in Chicago like we talked about. Why?”

  “I know that! I mean, where are you, exactly?”

  “I’m at Midway waiting for a flight back to Cleveland.”

  “You need to get to the safest location possible and we need to talk... and not on cell phones!”

  “Yes we do need to talk. I’m in the TSA offices here right now so I’m perfectly safe. Let me go borrow a landline though and I’ll call you back from that. Where are you?”

  “My office at the department.”

  “Okay. Sit tight. I’ll call right back.” I hung up and stepped out into the hallway. There hadn’t been anyone in the front area when I first came in with the TSA officer. I stepped toward the back and found someone who directed me to another office with a phone. I took a deep breath and dialed the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office. Holly put me through to Mel.

  “I’m back. What’s so secretive that I had to call you from a landline?”

  “Dana, two guys in a vehicle with Illinois plates tried to kill me today.”

  “What!”

  “They ran me off the road into a stream and then they started shooting.”

  “Are you all right?” My heart felt like it was about to beat right out of my chest.

  “I’m just a little banged up but I’m fine. The Zanesville P. D. caught the van and took two men into custody. I don’t have any information about them yet. There were witnesses but I don’t have any details from them either. The county prosecutor is already involved so I’ll be kept out of the official investigation. I’m pissed off, stuck in my office for the time being and mega frustrated right now and I’m worried sick about you!”

  “Mel, I’m fine. I’m in a safe place.”

  “Good to know but you can’t stay there forever.”

  “I’ll have a TSA agent escort me to my gate. Security is tight here. I’ll be fine... at least, until I land. I don’t know that anyone knows my flight arrangements but Gene but I’ll make sure I have an escort when I land in Cleveland too.” I better have someone check out my car in the long term garage too...

  “You might be safer to hide out in Chicago than to come back here!”

  “Be serious! Mel, I can’t hide! I’m a federal agent!”

  “I know, I know. I just don’t want to see you hurt.”

  “I learned some things here that could break my case wide open. They involve some people and places that may be in your jurisdiction.”

  “May?”

  “Yes, may. I don’t have names or exact locations but I do have far more to work with than I had before.”

  “Like what? Give me something to work with myself here!”

  “Well, for one, I know that the ringleader of this operation, Relic, is in Ohio. I don’t know if he’s in your area exactly, but he’s Ohio based which narrows down the scope of the hunt quite a bit.”

  Mel whistled low but didn’t say anything.

  “I also have a line on how the trucks are getting unloaded there and then disseminated from the county and the same location probably ties into the counterfeiting ring as well. The problem there is, I don’t have a pinpoint location and our previous surveillance wasn’t tight enough to get that info but I do know where to start looking.”

  “Well, if your surveillance had been a little tighter, this probably all would have been a done deal by now. We’ll just have to put our heads together and figure it out.”

  “We? Mel, you’ve done enough. There’s a bounty on your head! You just keep laying low. My team and I will take it from here.”

  “You know as well as I do, that I have more knowledge of this area than any ten men on your ‘team’ will ever have. If you want that big shipment, your time is running out. I’m willing to help, so let me help. Besides, I may have some information myself.”

  “What do you know?”

  “It may be nothing or it may be something. I can’t be sure until I do some digging. Just answer me one question?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Could Relic be a woman?”

  I was totally taken aback by her question. I’d never thought about it. “I don’t think... maybe... I honestly don’t know.”

  “Does the gang have female members with responsibilities beyond standing by the male members?”

  “Yes. This gang does. The GD are run very much like a business operation. A woman could be in charge of a crew, a gang branch, an operation... I’m just racking my brain trying to remember if I’ve ever heard Relic specifically referred to as a ‘she’.

  “Does it really matter? I mean, aren’t you just assuming it was a male?”

  She has me there. “Yes, you’re right.” God, I hate admitting that!

  “Look Dana, if you come blazing in here with gang task force officers rousting gang members like you were planning, trying to get to this man or this woman – whoever – you’re going to stir up an even bigger hornets’ nest than we already have and the actual operation you’re trying to find and shut down will just go silent for a while. Meanwhile, we’ll have nothing but a gang war against the establishment on our hands.”

  “If we play this low key, we may catch them thinking they scared me off after my dunk in the creek.” She sighed. “Of course, we don’t know how much they know about you and your team but, if you talked to that lawyer and to the younger Dawes, then it’s likely too late. You’ve probably been made.”

  “The lawyer bolted Mel. We’re looking for him. DeShawn Dawes is a different story. He’s really just a kid they’ve used. If he’s pressed, he’ll spill the beans, but I don’t think he’s gang himself or that he has full gang status in the joint.”

  Mel jumped back in, “Dana, what do you make of the lawyer disappearing?”

  “It appea
rs voluntary but I just don’t know. It implies that he may be in over his head with this gang but it may be completely unrelated. So far, nothing is as it appears”...

  “Tell me about it! Uggh!”

  “What are you suggesting we do? How do we play this “low key”?”

  “You find that lawyer or you have someone there track him down. He may really have carried that hit order. At minimum, he probably knows something about where this stuff comes in and gets transported from.” Mel paused for a minute.

  “Mel?”

  “I was just thinking; you guys know most of the route, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “You know the shipment’s moving on or around the 21st. You use agency assets in the states on the route on and around that date to watch for trucks from the Demons run trucking company. Keep local cops out of it. You don’t want a show of force spooking these guys and blowing your case.”

  “No show of force my ass! Mel think about it. That could take a hell of a lot of manpower! That’s probably not going to happen!”

  “Then find the lawyer ASAP or let’s get to Relic first!”

  “Arrg!” She thinks this stuff is simple... “Let me just run right out and corral them both!” I was being sarcastic but I just didn’t care.

  “I’m being serious Dana. Look, let’s regroup. Let someone else find the lawyer. For your part, you think about this: When you get back to Cleveland, put a small team together for an op here. Come down to the county and quietly set up a task force HQ based out of our offices here. We can provide security for you and an intimate knowledge of the area. You can do ground or aerial surveillance – whatever it is that you do. We’ll nail the distribution point. For my part, I’ll work on figuring out if Relic is who I’ve stumbled upon hearing that she may be. If it is the person my intel gave me, a soft approach may net her fairly easily.”

  “Nothing about this case has been easy Mel.”

  “True. I guess nothing worth doing ever is, Dana.”

  “Also very true.” My mind wandered and I thought about Mel, the woman, rather than about the job at hand. I physically shook my head to clear it. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately but I really needed to focus fully right now. I knew I couldn’t avoid Mel’s obvious feelings for me forever or my own growing ones for her despite all my attempts to squash them but I had to back burner them for a while longer.