The Morelville Mysteries Collection

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The Morelville Mysteries Collection Page 14

by Anne Hagan


  “Okay. I’ll head to my desk and catch up on email and stuff... let my subconscious work on it for a while.”

  I just nodded. Another dead end.

  ###

  Starvation, at least, wasn’t in the plans for me during my self-imposed confinement to the station. Dana and one of her teammates, Special Agent Tim Singer, arrived shortly after noon with enough subs to feed my whole department. Introductions were made all around then I showed them to the conference room that we’d set up for them. Two more men arrived minutes later and were introduced as Jason and Phil.

  Dana, though dressed very casually, was the picture of professionalism with her team. It was hard, but I kept my smile to myself. The girl really can hold her own! My admiration for her grew.

  We all chit-chatted a bit as we sat and ate, but lunch was polished off quickly and we got down to business. Laptops started appearing on the table and a mini LCD projector was hooked up and aimed at one white wall. Holly produced a large paper map of the area as well for our use as the discussion progressed.

  “Sheriff, would you please fill the team in on your counterfeit investigation and where it stands?”

  I nodded to Dana then I turned and spoke to the team. “Mel is fine or however you all are accustomed to addressing each other.” The guys all chuckled. “Okay, then Mel or Sheriff.” I grinned as there were smiles all around. This would be an easy bunch to work with.

  “About a month ago, counterfeit bills started showing up in the county. We made a concerted effort to alert the local media and all of the merchants but there was little payoff as far as intel from bills that were collected. It seems they got into general circulation around here and most of the people passing them didn’t realize they had fake bills. We even got one that was so good, an ATM machine didn’t reject it as phony and passed it along.” I shifted my eyes toward Dana but didn’t turn. Holly didn’t know what was going on but the guys on the team all laughed.

  Tim elbowed Holly. “I’ll fill you in later.”

  Dana jumped in. “Very funny Sheriff. If you’re done with your little dig, please continue.” She was smiling though so I knew I hadn’t offended her, just maybe wounded her pride a little.

  After the first few bills had appeared, I was in touch with the Secret Service. They sent an agent to investigate. About the same time, I got a local tip about a potential bill passer. One thing led to another and, currently that man, a local by the name of Travis Stearman, and two other men DeWayne Dawes and Bryant Quinn out of Chicago, are being held in federal custody for questioning.”

  Jason cleared his throat. “If I understand correctly, you were run off the road by one of them, weren’t you Mel?”

  “Not quite. They were already in custody here awaiting transfer to the feds when that incident occurred. I’m told the two men in the vehicle that ran me off the road and took shots at me and at other local law enforcement officers were apprehended. They’re also out of Chicago. They’re currently being held by the Zanesville PD and due to be indicted today. Other than giving my statement and explaining what I’m personally working on, I’ve been kept out of that investigation.”

  Dana turned to Tim. “We’ll need to question them.” He wrote something on a notepad and then nodded toward me to continue.

  “That’s all I have with regards to that particular investigation. There are certainly crossovers into your smuggling investigation but I’m sure you’re all already up to speed on all of that.”

  Dana got to her feet and took the floor. “Actually, we’re going to go over all of it from top to bottom. Everybody has bits and pieces, including you and your department. When we lay out everything we have, we may see connections we couldn’t see before. Let’s take a few minutes to gather our thoughts and collect up our notes and let’s pick this back up. Mel, I believe we should talk first about an inquiry you were doing, am I right?”

  “Uh, yeah. True. Holly, you need to be a part of this too.” The three of us quickly adjourned to my office.

  As soon as the door closed, I began to speak; “Dana, I’m afraid we probably don’t have a lead for you...”

  Holly interrupted. “Hold on Mel. I’ve been mulling things since you and I talked a couple of hours ago. We may be able to connect some dots.”

  Dana looked back and forth between us. “One of you please tell me what’s going on!”

  “Patience isn’t her strong suit,” I informed Holly.

  She laughed. “I see. Let me get right to it then. Mel got a tip that there’s a local Morelville woman who’s in her late sixties, whose nickname is ‘Relic’. She’s a character in the village and she knows Mel well.”

  “I checked her out online,” I supplied, “and found some interesting things out about her as far as the machinations of her family and its holdings go. They own a few farms and quite a bit of land but nothing that appears out of the ordinary.”

  Dana leaned forward. “Farms?” Her heightened interest was very evident.

  “Er, yes. They have a small family farm where they focus on horses, a crop production farm and a large dairy farming operation. Delores... Relic, and her brother are the trustees that operate all of the family farms. Heath is the day to day operator though. Their parents, though still alive and living on family lands, don’t seem to be in the operational picture. Delores herself doesn’t live on any of the family land. She lives near me in the village. The whole arrangement all seems a bit odd.”

  Holly nodded toward me. “She didn’t think Delores was really the person you’re looking for but we devised a little mission for me to get into her home and check things out.”

  “She didn’t find much that’s of any value to your team, unfortunately.”

  “On the contrary! You may have just blown our case wide open.” Dana’s excitement was obvious. “A farm, I’m told, is where all of the action is happening.”

  Holly spoke up again. “Mel, does Delores keep the books for the farms?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I remembered something else. She had a stack of old fashioned style but pretty new looking financial ledger books in the house and she has office supplies out the wazoo in her totes.”

  Dana gave me a quizzical look.

  “Delores is a highly organized hoarder.” I eyed Holly. “She’s also a retired bookkeeper. She spent 30 some years with some firm.”

  Dana asked, “Is she an accountant or CPA; someone we could trace?”

  “Unfortunately, not that I’m aware of. She’s up there in years. Women just didn’t get into those sorts of positions back in her day. It’s possible she could be doing the books for the farms but two of those operations are huge and complicated...”

  “Or she could be keeping the books for something else entirely not farm related. Let’s all head back to the conference room and put our heads together on this. I think our puzzle is starting to form.”

  Chapter 22 – Dana’s Game

  “Gentleman, would one of you be so kind as to pin up that map Holly brought in?”

  Jason jumped up and tacked the county map to the wall.

  “Thanks Jay. I’m sorry if I’m repeating myself on some of this information but, in the interest of getting everyone on the same page, I’m going to put everything we know so far out there.” There were nods all around.

  “I had a conversation with an inmate at Stateville in Illinois, DeShawn Dawes. Dawes was a truck driver for a company that’s owned through a holding company by the Chicago based street gang, the Gangster Demons. DeWayne Dawes, one of the men the Secret Service is holding for questioning in Mel’s counterfeiting case, is DeShawn’s older brother and a known member of the Demons. The other man in Service custody, Bryant Quinn, is also a known Gangster Demon and he drives for the same gang owned trucking company that DeShawn drove for before his incarceration.”

  I paused and looked at each face in the room. “Here’s where the two cases collide, folks. Quinn has a regular run delivering to a farm off of S
tate Route 44 here in the county. Dawes has run it several times too. Mel, can you point out where 44 runs?” I waited while Mel got up and pointed the route out on the map.

  “Mel and Holly are telling me that a woman in this area, Delores Chappell, who is also known as “Relic”, is a trustee for her family’s farms. Where are those farms located Mel?”

  The room was quiet. All eyes were on Mel as everyone waited for her to move the finger that was pointing to State Route 44 somewhere else. She didn’t move it.

  “They’re all along SR 44...”

  “Relic is a woman?” Tim interrupted.

  “We believe so. All indications seem to point that way.”

  Phil whistled low. “I didn’t see that coming!” The other men nodded.

  I turned back to Mel. “We’re going to have to find out a lot more about her, but my gut says she and the family businesses are where we need to focus. Phil, pull up satellite please and give us the bird’s eye view of that area.”

  Phil tapped a few keys on his laptop and pulled up Google maps. He focused the projector toward the wall beside the map and then quickly zoomed in on the area.

  “Sheriff, show us the three farms in question, please.”

  “The crop farm takes up a lot of acres, and it’s along here,” Mel motioned, “going mostly away from the road. The horse farm is in the middle surrounding the homestead. It’s pretty small except for some pasture area. The dairy farm is further along.” She moved her hand further northeast on the road. “It’s got several hundred acres of pasture, and several barns and other buildings to facilitate the milking and hauling operation.”

  “Dawes said he delivered to a very large barn. Phil, zoom in on the buildings on the dairy farm please.”

  “Well, I see that there are several large barns on the property. Mel?”

  “These two have been around a long time,” she said as she pointed. “Then this one is the one they run the cows through to milk them.” Running her hand slightly away from those buildings she landed on a big one. “This one is newer. I’m not sure what its function is.”

  “It has a loading bay which appears to have a dock seal that would seal off the back end of a freight truck while it’s being loaded or unloaded,” Tim said. “What would a dairy farm need with a freight loading dock?”

  Dana stood. “Bingo! That’s what we need to find out. That said, Dawes told me that the times that he has hauled there he’s had freight marked equipment or machinery which could very well be for a dairy operation but that other times the load is marked clothing or it’s not specified on the manifest.”

  Jay smirked. “There’s no need for a truck load of clothing at a dairy farm unless cows are into high fashion now.”

  “If that’s even what’s in the load. We have no way of really knowing for sure but I think we’ve figured out where the smuggled goods are getting broken down for distribution. We need surveillance on that farm.” Tim made some notes.

  “Holly and Mel have brought it to my attention that “Relic” is a retired bookkeeper who may be doing the books for the family businesses or who may be keeping the books only for the illicit gang businesses the family appears to be involved in. She’s a trustee for the entire estate but she doesn’t live on any of the properties. She appears to be maintaining un-computerized financial records for something in her home, well away from the action, so to speak. We need to get those ledgers but we can’t subpoena them or get a search warrant at this stage of the game and tip our hand. Let’s get that drawn up to use for the end game.”

  “Getting a peek at them sure would be nice Dana; let us know if we’re on the right track,” Jason said.

  “We can’t do it legally...” I looked at Mel and Holly and they looked at each other.

  “We’ll see what we can do but, no promises. I’m trying to run a clean department here.”

  “Roger that, Sheriff. Okay everyone; we have our work cut out for us. We need to get a hold of the chopper pilot, get him up and get an aerial recon done of that farm then we need to set up surveillance. We need to follow up with Gene and see if he has a line on the lawyer that skipped, Jonathan Joseph, yet. I have an informant in the area I need to track down to find out what he knows and maybe see if I can get him inside that farming op. Mel, we’re going to need a little surveillance support from your department and we also need you to find out everything you can about the Chappell’s, especially Delores. We have to figure out the gang connection and her role.”

  “On it.”

  “One more thing, Mel.”

  “Yes?”

  “We need to know where the Secret Service is on the counterfeiting case. This has the potential to get really ugly if it becomes an interagency case.”

  Tim nodded. Jason and Phil both winced.

  “I think it would be better,” I continued, “if, at this point, you contacted Agent Webb to see what he knows. He may be more forthcoming with you than he would be with me.”

  “I’ll give it a shot but I don’t expect much.”

  “Duly noted. All right everyone, noses to the grindstone!”

  ###

  I needed to get right on tracking down Brice Buhler to see what he knew about operations at the Chappell farms. He’d been a hand most of his adult life, as he’d once told me. Chances had to be pretty good he’d run across the Chappell’s, at one point or another. I called his cell but my call rolled right to voice mail. I decided to drive over to his place and see if I could catch him at home. I hadn’t even started my car to head out on my search when my cell rang.

  “Hi Gene. Please tell me you have some good info for me!”

  “Well, Jonathan Joseph isn’t lying at the bottom of Lake Calumet. How about that?” He only paused for a breath. “He was, as we hoped, on the run. We picked him up our damn selves trying to cross into Canada with an expired passport.”

  “I love it when a plan comes together! Where’s he at right now?”

  “He’s being detained there pending transport to Chicago. We’re working on charges so we can extradite him back.”

  “Charge him with conspiracy to commit murder for the prison hit. That ought to fly! Does he have to go there? Any chance you can move him to Ohio?”

  “Sorry Dana. Everything’s already in motion for extradition back into the city once the charges are filed. You don’t need to go up there though. I can go and do the questioning myself. We need to attack this from all fronts. That shipment moves in less than two weeks.”

  “We’ve already gotten some great info out of Sheriff Crane and her team Gene.” I quickly filled him in.

  “I’m impressed. An hour on the ground there and you already know more than we found in weeks of investigating. See; I knew it would pay to bring Crane into the loop.”

  I winced at that but then I realized Gene wasn’t taking a dig at my abilities. He was just excited that we might be able to nail this one shut after all. “We’ll see about that.”

  “Be careful Rossi. I’ll be back in touch once Joseph is in our local custody.”

  “Okay Gene, thanks.”

  I called Tim and let him know about the capture and extradition of Joseph and then I rolled out.

  I cruised past Buhler’s trailer first. There were no vehicles parked outside and no signs of life on the premises. Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I maintained my speed and kept going on down the road. Luck, for once, was on my side. Buhler passed me coming the other direction. I caught his eye and held up my cell.

  My wait was short. Just after his rattle trap truck passed out of my sight, my cell rang.

  “Is there somewhere we can meet to chat for a few minutes?”

  “Keep heading in the direction you’re going. Pull off at the Pilot Station about 10 miles on out and meet me in the Hardee’s there. Just let me pull in at the trailer and go in for a few minutes...”

  “Gotcha.”

  After another couple of miles, I crossed a State Route. It was smooth sailing from
that point as I actually entered another county that had bothered to maintain their portion of the road. Ten minutes later, I pulled into an oversized Pilot Station and truck stop just off the interstate. Our meeting here wouldn’t be private but I doubted Buhler would have suggested it if he felt like there would be trouble here.

  I went in and waited in a short line for coffee. I’m not a big coffee drinker and I’d just had lunch but I was trying not to look out of place. I picked a table in an el where I could keep an eye on the door but where we would have semi privacy and not be in full view of the large front windows.

  Brice Buhler walked in five minutes after I sat down. I caught his eye as he went to wait in line. He was dressed much the same as the last time I’d seen him, it seemed forever ago, but in reality had been less than two weeks. He had a little bounce in his step though where, before, it seemed as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. I bet he got a job!

  My suspicion was somewhat confirmed when he turned from the counter carrying a tray piled with food and approached my table. I motioned for him to sit.

  “A little hungry, are you?”

  “I’m a workin’ man now. I gotta eat. Want some? I’ll share.”

  I smiled, genuinely happy for him. “No thanks. I ate. That’s great about the job. What kind of work are you doing?”

  “Farmin’ same as always. Got on with a big dairy outfit out in the county. Buddy of mine work’s for ‘em and hooked me up.”

  Dairy, eh... My ears were pricked but I tried not to look overly interested. I need to find out who he’s working for... “Good deal! Big milk producer or what?” I just didn’t know how to frame my question on the fly.

  Buhler eyeballed me as he downed a burger. “Yeah... dairy, like I said. They do mostly milk for commercial uses though. Cheese making... you know, that sort of thing.”

  “I see. I guess I never really thought about it. Kind of like that Micelli’s operation that does cottage cheese and sour cream and stuff?”

  “Sort of but this is Chappell’s. They sell to national brands though so their name doesn’t go on the stuff ‘what gets made.”

 

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