Dead Drop

by Emma Rose Watts

  Harvey raised his eyebrow and she noticed. “Of course I wouldn’t kill him but I had to say that to get him out of here. The guy was like a fly in the ointment, he just wouldn’t go away. Now you would think this would stop him, well it didn’t. He ended up stalking me, sending me flowers and gifts and apologizing profusely and confessing his undying love for me. It was beyond sickening.”

  “Why didn’t you go to the cops?”

  “Bo had a no-cop policy. Can you imagine them showing up here asking questions? They would want to know what he did for a living, and if they turned their attention on Keith who knows what he would have said.”

  “About?”

  “About our business.”

  “So he knew about the Outlaws funding it all.”

  She was hesitant to respond to that.

  “It’s okay, we already know. I’m not gonna bust you over being involved in an illegal operation that no longer exists. We are trying to get to the bottom of this murder.”

  She nodded. “Not at first.” She walked across the room and collected a vape pen and began sucking on it before blowing a cloud of smoke. “Detective, most of the people that walked through our doors just wanted cash until their next payday. We did a lot of payday loans. Beyond that it was folks with bad credit. Those who were turned down by banks. It was easy for us to approve them as we always had the Outlaws ready at our beck and call. In many ways it was the perfect kind of operation to run.” She took another hit on her vape pen. “Anyway, Keith was a different kettle of fish. He went through money like water. He always paid back until the last time. He’d withdrawn a huge amount of money from us. I wasn’t even involved in the transaction, I just know from Bo that it was a lot. Far more than he’d ever done. Usually Keith would want a couple of thousand, twenty thousand tops. But this was up somewhere in the six-figure range. That’s all Bo told me.” She walked over to the window and Harvey studied her. “Bo was gloating about how much interest he was going to make off this deal.” She took a deep breath. “Anyway, I told him it wasn’t a good idea to lend out that much but he trusted Keith. We had already been through like sixty or more transactions. He was one of our best clients, you could say. Now I think he was preparing us. You know, trying to gain our trust.”

  Hanson was listening but at the same time admiring some of the sculptures in her condo. At one point he accidentally nudged one and it toppled. He caught it at the last second and thankfully Wendy wasn’t looking but it was close. Harvey scowled at him and Hanson tossed his hands up like a kid that had been caught with his fingers in the cookie jar.

  “Go on,” Harvey said.

  “So the day of payment rolls around and Keith doesn’t show up. At first Bo doesn’t sweat it. He thinks he’ll get a call the next day. Next day — no call. No show. No money. Bo phoned him and left countless messages and then by the third day he flew out to Carrabelle to find him.”

  “And did he?”

  “No. He was in a state when he got back. Cursing, smashing up furniture and then he started to panic. You see, the way it worked was depending on the loan arrangement, if they had a couple of years to pay it back, we would get a visit once a month from Brent Rutz, one of the guys in the Outlaws. He would make sure that everything was flowing nicely, clients were paying back, discuss any late payers and leave us with more money for new clients. Well, in all previous loans, Keith had said he would pay back within a month. He’d become such a good client that even the Outlaws knew about him. It was like a running joke down here that he was probably using the money down at the casinos and had some gig on the side that made sure he made back his money. That’s the only way we could think he was able to come up with the money again so fast. I swear it was uncanny. What you need to understand is nearly all of the people who come to us for loans pay back but there is a fraction that don’t. In which case the Outlaws step in and handle it. Sometimes that is all it takes to get that person back in here the following month with money, sometimes…” She trailed off and Harvey picked up on hesitation to continue.

  “They killed them?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is that I didn’t feel safe in that environment. It was toxic. If it wasn’t the Outlaws flying off the handle when they learned about someone who had missed several payments it was Bo. He was literally riding the razor’s edge. I knew one of these days it would go wrong and they would come after him.”

  Harvey threw up a hand. “Okay, I understand what you are trying to get at here but it was Nick Hammond that was murdered, not your ex-husband. Now Keith told us that he had fallen behind on payments and that he recorded your husband in the arms of another woman. Why didn’t he just give you the tape?”

  “I don’t know, maybe because he thought he could trust Nick. Maybe he wanted to store it in a safe place just in case Bo came knocking? Maybe he knew that Nick needed the money. How would I know?”

  “A lawyer that needs money?” Hanson chuckled

  “He makes a good point. Why would Nick need money?” Harvey added.

  “Look, I don’t know. All I know is that after he handed that video over and Nick got me out of this situation, he and I were intimate.”

  “You and Nick got together?”

  “Nick was a good man with a shitty wife and even worse friends. You have to understand, detectives, if it wasn’t for Nick I would either still be in that relationship or dead. Once I saw that video, and Nick promised me he could help me win a nice settlement, I knew I would have the means to walk away and start a new life.”

  “But not before you wiped his database.”

  “My ex-husband is an idiot. Oh he knew how to talk his way into the big game but he had no idea when it came to finances, paying taxes, doing books. He left all that to me. I knew exactly what to do to screw him over.”

  “But by wiping that database you must have known that the Outlaws would come for you.”

  “That’s why I live here. It’s safe and I only let up…”

  “Cops you haven’t met?” Hanson said. She stared back and realized the error of her ways. For all her smart talk, she wasn’t exactly smart. She narrowed her eyes at Hanson and continued trying to explain.

  “I’ve seen how the Outlaws operate. They stay clear of places like this. Anywhere there is security, cameras. It’s not their way. If they are going to take someone out they will wait until they leave the building.”

  “So aren’t you afraid of that?” Harvey asked.

  “They don’t even know I’m here.”

  “We found you. Your name, address and phone number were listed among Nick’s client files.”

  She shrugged and laughed. “But you’re the police. It’s your job to sniff around. No, the way the Outlaws view it, it’s Bo who is responsible for the loss of their money, not some brain-dead ex-wife.”

  “Brain-dead?”

  “It was one of the many names he called me in front of them.”

  Hanson put down a glass skull on the table that he was admiring. “I can see why you left him.”

  She puffed away on her vape pen looking even more stressed out. “Anyway, if anyone wanted to kill him it would have been Keith. He’s a lunatic. He flew off the handle once he found out that Nick had handed over his only bargaining chip. That’s who you need to be talking to, not Bo.”

  “But do you know where Bo is staying?”

  “I can phone around. I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to find him.”

  “If it’s not hard for you,” Hanson asked, “then why haven’t the Outlaws found him?”

  “As stupid as my ex-husband was, he knew to keep business and his personal life separate. He was very careful. He never followed the same route into work on a given day, he never left at the same time and he had multiple ways to avoid detection.”

  “Sounds like Jason Bourne,” Hanson said, chuckling to himself.

  Wendy scowled. “It’s called insurance when you’re dealing with a biker gang who can end you faster than a New Y
ork minute.”

  Harvey nodded. It made sense. “Well while you do that I’m going to step outside and have a word with my partner.” Harvey gave a nod to Hanson and he walked away from a huge fish tank and joined him outside in the corridor.

  “So, we’re partners?” Hanson smiled.

  “Figure of speech,” Harvey said, quickly correcting him. “Look, once we have that address we’ll go pay him a visit. I’m gonna make a quick call to Reid and get her to have another word with Keith.”

  They walked down the hallway a little to a vending machine area and Hanson slotted some money into the machine to get out a can of Coke.

  “You know that stuff is going to rot a hole in your stomach.”

  “It tastes good, we don’t live long,” Hanson said.

  Harvey pulled his phone out. “You’ll live longer if you don’t drink that. Have you seen what that can do to a coin? It’s acid in a can.”

  He cracked it open while Harvey made the call. He stood by the doorway watching Hanson struggle to get a pack of chips to drop. It happened all the time to him at the department. Why the vending companies couldn’t come up with better technology was beyond him.

  “Ah, good, Reid. Finally you pick up.”

  “Finally?” Skylar replied.

  “Well you do tend to ignore it.”

  “What do you need?”

  “Keith White. Is he still being held?”

  “As far as I know. They consider him a flight risk but without anything to hold him he might be let out today,” Skylar replied.

  “Well, we might have the smoking gun in the way of Bo’s wife.”

  “I thought you were there for him.”

  “We haven’t found him yet. I did a little digging around and thought she would know.”

  “Right. When in doubt. Ask the wife.”

  “Exactly. Anyway, here’s what you need to know.”

  Harvey updated her on the conversation with Wendy. When he was done he glanced down the hallway and saw the stairwell door open. Two hulking guys wearing suits came out, both of them were holding briefcases. They looked like Mormons, angry ones. He looked away.

  “So you think you can do that?” Harvey asked.

  “Oh come on!” Hanson said kicking the vending machine.

  “Yeah. Leave it with me. I’ll fit it in between my arguments with the school and dealing with Darryl,” Skylar said.

  “Arguments with the school? You know what, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.”

  Right then they heard gunshots. Harvey looked down the hall and saw the two men emerge from Wendy’s condo. They cut him a glance, and he reached for his service weapon. Everything seemed to slow in those seconds as they opened fire and made a dash for the stairwell.

  Harvey pulled back crashing into Hanson to escape the rounds peppering the walls.

  The onslaught of gunfire didn’t last long. Harvey sneaked a peek around the corner and the guys were gone. He darted out heading for Wendy’s condo keeping his gun trained on the stairwell door.

  The moment he stepped through the door he knew it was bad.

  The floor was covered in blood, and lying motionless was Wendy.

  “Hanson, call the cops and an ambulance, now.”

  He rushed out after the men, slipping into the stairwell. He heard the sound of a door closing farther down. Harvey hurried down holding his weapon and taking multiple steps at a time. He landed hard and his shoulder smashed into the wall. When he was down on the fifth floor several residents came out and screamed at the sight of his gun.

  “It’s okay, I’m a cop,” he said pressing on hoping to catch up with them before they escaped. Before he’d even reached the ground floor he heard more gunfire. He hurried, trying not to trip on the way down. When he made it to the lobby, he saw a security guard on the ground. He wasn’t dead but he was gripping his shoulder and his gun was across the floor. The front desk clerk jabbed his finger in the direction of where they had gone as Harvey raced after them.

  He was close to the revolving doors when more gunfire ensued, this time glass shattered and he hit the ground.

  “Get down,” he shouted to a woman and her young child.

  Glass scattered across the granite floors. He heard the squeal of tires and then it was over. Harvey darted out into the busy street but the vehicle was already gone.

  Chapter 13

  Skylar was on her way to speak to Keith when Reznik phoned her with an update on the surveillance footage he’d managed to obtain. She swerved off to the edge of the road to take the call. “I hope this is good as I’m a little busy.”

  “Even though the footage inside the bar wasn’t good, I did manage to obtain footage from a restaurant across the street. Now while I didn’t see anyone following Nick when he left that evening, I did see someone who said they weren’t there that night,” Resnik said.

  “Who?”

  “You ready for this?”

  “Reznik, just spit it out.”

  “Mrs. Hammond.”

  “What was she doing?”

  “Who knows? She’s seen entering the establishment an hour after Nick arrived and then she leaves before him. I swear I had a hard time getting this footage.”

  “The restaurant wouldn’t hand it over?”

  “No, they were more than willing to help but they had misplaced the backup they had and well, if we didn’t have this there would be no way of knowing she was there. By the way, I spoke to the owner. I told him he needed to upgrade his equipment and get the cameras placed in better spots as it wasn’t just so they could record any trouble but so they could protect themselves. That small ass camera they had behind the bar is a joke. What’s that meant to record? The bartenders’ asses?”

  “You would go there,” Skylar said.

  He chuckled.

  “Okay, thanks Reznik.”

  “I hear Harvey is in Miami.”

  “Gotta go,” Skylar said, quickly hanging up. She knew if she didn’t get off then he would keep yakking for the next half an hour. Instead of heading to see Keith she decided to swing by the Hammond residence and find out why she’d lied about where she was that night. There were few things that frustrated her in a murder case, but lying was one of them. She didn’t like to be played and yet at the same time she knew it came with the territory. Criminals were masters at it, at least those who had something to hide. As she drove over to Bay Avenue she ran through some of the reasons why Nancy might have wanted Nick dead. There was the obvious, his cheating, and then there were financial reasons, he was blowing through her money. She’d certainly seen people murdered for less.

  She was crossing through the main stretch of town when her truck started making funky noises. “Come on, baby. Not now.” She gave the dashboard a pat thinking that might have some bearing on whether or not it would screw her over today or give her another twenty-four hours. She’d considered buying another vehicle and gone out of her way to visit a few dealerships but the process was a nightmare. It infuriated her to no end. The worst one had advertised over forty different vehicles of a certain make and model but when she turned up at the showroom there were only five. When she asked why they were still advertising these models, they said they hadn’t got around to updating their website. Yeah, a likely story. So she asked to test drive one and they told her she was going to have to drive it around the lot because they didn’t have a plate for it. She couldn’t believe it. What dealership required a person to drive a car around the lot to determine if they wanted to buy it? It was around that point that she pulled out her badge and flashed it. All the color in the salesman’s face washed out. Skylar spent the next thirty minutes test driving four vehicles with no intention of buying them just to annoy him for being a jerk. At the end when he asked if she was ready to buy she simply handed the keys over and told him not today, then turned and walked away.

  Yep, the world was full of shady characters. People who would lie to avoid problems or simply to get what they wante
d, the question was… what did Nancy want?

  The truck coughed again, then black smoke started swirling out from under the hood, blocking her view of the road ahead.

  “Goddammit.” Skylar smashed her fists against the steering wheel as it came to a crawl and then the engine cut out. She hopped out and popped open the hood only to be enveloped by black smoke. Skylar waved a hand in front of her face trying to get a better look. “Ugh, I should have taken a cruiser,” she said. Stepping away from the mess she placed a call to the local garage. She’d become a popular customer of theirs bringing the truck in on a monthly basis. They’d asked her why she wouldn’t part with the truck and she would always tell them the same thing — there were sentimental reasons, and she wasn’t lying. It had been given to her by her father, many years ago in what she believed was an attempt at trying to bridge the gap and mend the relationship between them. Back then it had been in good shape, but it was no match for New York winters. The salt started eating away at the metal and problems soon followed.

  “Okay, thanks, Jim. Yeah. I’m just on Bay Avenue.”

  Deflated but determined to not lose her shit, she took a seat on the grass near her truck and looked out across the bay. She wasn’t far from the Moorings of Carrabelle and had considered walking back to her boat until she could get a ride back to the station to collect another vehicle.

  As she sat there minding her own business, laying on her side in the shade and basking in the glorious sunshine, a black SUV pulled up and the window dropped. There beyond the glass with a smug grin on her face was Barb from the Carrabelle.

  “Having a little trouble?”

  “Nothing that the garage can’t fix. How are you, Barb?”

  “Oh living the dream. Living the dream,” she said glancing away and lifting up her oversized sunglasses. “Do you need a ride?”

  “Why, you offering?”

  Barb smiled and shut off her engine. When she pushed out of her vehicle, Barb was wearing a pair of mom jeans pulled up to her belly button and a white blouse, along with flip flops. She had her hair up in a bun, and had dyed it a dark black.