Dead Storm Page 9

  “No, I don’t get into that with my clients. They tell me what they want, and I get it. Look, I’m no criminal. Everyone has to earn a living. I just do mine…”

  “Illegally.”

  “No one gets harmed. I’m helping people. Times are tough. Not everyone can afford health care, and not every doctor will give a person what they want.”

  “So it’s easier to come to someone like yourself? No forms. No questions. No idea how they’ll use it.”

  “That’s not my concern.”

  Hanson leaned against the wall and chimed in. “Of course it’s not. All you care about is getting paid. You sicken me,” he said.

  “What, because I help people? You know I don’t deal in cocaine, heroin or any of that crap. What I give helps people who are depressed, anxious, stressed out.”

  Harvey stared at him. “You meet him in the bar?”

  “No. We met through someone else.”

  “Through a friend?”

  He exhaled hard. “Through an anger management class.”

  Harvey chuckled. “Are you joking?”

  “Look, I got into it with a buyer of mine a while back. I wanted my money. He owed me ten grand. Anyway, I showed up to get what was mine and got into a little disagreement. Words were exchanged, things got heated. I was ordered by the court to attend an anger management class.’

  “In Port St. Joe?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. That’s where I met him.”

  “And what was he doing there?”

  “He had anger issues, detective.”

  “Obviously. What put him there?”

  “What puts any of us there? I don’t know. You’ll have to ask someone else. He’d already given his spiel when I arrived. I didn’t catch it.”

  “So, he came to you for pills back then?”

  “No. He knew I was dealing but didn’t approach me. I’d left there by the time he sought me out. He called me up one night. Told me he needed a few things. He put in an order and I met him. He always paid in cash and for a while he was a good customer.”

  “For a while?”

  “Like I said, I don’t get into it with my clients. What they do with what they buy is their business. For a while the relationship was good and then he started telling me it was a bad batch. He got up in my face about it being tainted. Accused me of selling low-grade product. Which is bull crap. I only source the best. So, I told him he could find another dealer if he didn’t like it.”

  “And so an argument broke out and you hanged him?”

  “What? You are reaching. Hell no! I didn’t do anything to him.”

  “The last time you spoke, it was to get some more?”

  “Yeah. But I didn’t show. He hadn’t bought from me for close to a month. Then he started hassling me. Telling me he was going to blow my whole cover if I didn’t give him what he wanted. He sounded desperate. Certainly not the way he was before. I didn’t want anything to do with him.”

  “No?”

  “No, previously he was always calm and collected. Not that day.”

  “Doesn’t that strike you as odd?” Harvey asked.

  “What?” Randall shot back.

  “Answer this. Are the clients who buy from you relaxed or stressed?”

  “Stressed.”

  “Did he ever say if the pills were for him?”

  “He didn’t say anything. He’d put in an order, meet me, pay and go on his way. That’s the extent of it. We didn’t shoot the breeze. And I sure as hell wasn’t his friend. I keep my personal and business life separate. Listen, detective. That’s all I know. Now are you planning on taking me down to the department? Because if not, I’d like to get back to what I was doing.”

  Harvey blew out his cheeks and gestured to Hanson to keep an eye on him while he made a phone call. He stepped outside and spotted the dog cowering under the truck. He felt a twinge in his arm. The dog didn’t look injured. “Hey pup,” he said reaching into his pocket and pulling out some jerky. He broke a piece off and tossed it. The dog looked but didn’t come out. Probably didn’t help that it was pissing with rain and the wind was only getting worse. He pulled out his phone and noticed he wasn’t getting a signal.

  “Oh come on!” he muttered holding it up and moving around the deck in front of the home. He had to walk out and climb up onto the truck before he finally managed to get two bars. With one finger stuck in his ear and the wind battering him on all sides, Harvey connected with Skylar.

  “Harv. You sound like you’re in a wind tunnel.”

  “Listen up. We got a lead on Lamar Erickson. It seems he also attended the anger management class. There he met Mike Randall who provided him with the pills we found on him. But here’s the thing, the ME said that he didn’t have any trace of them in his system, and his doctor hadn’t prescribed any. So I’m starting to think these weren’t for him. They were for someone else.”

  “The woman who met Matthews?”

  “It’s possible. If there is a connection.”

  A surge of wind knocked him off the truck and he landed hard on the soaking wet ground only a few feet from the Doberman. “Good dog. You just stay right there,” he said quickly rising to his feet.

  “What?” Skylar yelled.

  “Listen, I need you to head over and speak with Harrison. Find out what he knows about Lamar.”

  “You got it.”

  He squeezed his finger harder into his ear. “Skylar. How’s Ben?”

  “He’s torn up pretty bad, has a fractured rib but he’s alive. Though Donnie is the one I’m concerned about. He took quite a knock to that head and he’s still unconscious.”

  Harvey nodded slowly. “Look, I’m sorry to pull you away but we really need to get on this.”

  “I know,” she said. “Stay safe. I’ll be in touch.”

  After hanging up he hurried back inside to find Hanson strangling Randall. “What the heck!” He charged over to him and pulled him off. “Are you out of your mind?” Randall coughed hard, and spluttered as he rolled over. His face was a beet red.

  “He came at me!” Hanson spat.

  “I did not. This asshole wanted to know where I stashed the money. He wanted it for himself. He’s a dirty cop.”

  “Liar,” Hanson bellowed as he kicked him in the stomach.

  Harvey pushed Hanson back against a wall and wagged a finger in his face. “Get a hold of yourself now! You hear me? This is already a volatile situation. You want to put our jobs at risk?”

  “I say we take him in now. Throw his ass in a cell for attacking a cop.”

  “I didn’t attack you. You came at me,” Randall yelled.

  “Just as you didn’t know Erickson? You are full of lies.”

  It was hard to know what the truth was. Randall was a liar but then again it wasn’t the first time Harvey had heard of Hanson acting a little heavy-handed with suspects. Rumor had it money had come up short at several busts, and in all instances, Hanson was involved in the raids. Dirty cops weren’t uncommon and having his own doubts about him after his involvement with his sister’s death, he was more inclined to believe Randall. But without evidence, it meant nothing.

  Hanson shrugged Harvey off him and walked into the kitchen.

  Harvey stood there for a few seconds, one hand on his hip as the other ran around the back of his neck. The home was beginning to shake from the high-speed winds. “I’m gonna need all the names of your clients. You have them? Phone numbers, names, their orders.”

  “Yeah. I have them. Second drawer down.”

  Harvey strolled over and pulled out a notebook. He thumbed through it. Inside were a number of names of sources for his products, and then in the back was a long list of clients. Some of the names he recognized. These weren’t just lowlifes; most were respectable members of the community. Teachers, firefighters and business owners. Incredible, he thought.

  Harvey shook the list in front of him. “I don’t get it. Why did some of these folks come to you?”

&nb
sp; “Why do you think? Depression has a stigma. Some don’t want to talk to their doctor and then have it down on their file. I offer privacy. For others it’s cheaper and more convenient to buy from me. Like I said, detective, I’m no low-life drug dealer. I run a respectable business, dealing for the most part with respectable people. No different than a pharmacy company, except I’m not licensed or approved by the state to distribute. But that doesn’t bother my clients. They get quality for less.”

  He continued flipping through and that was when he came upon a name that stood out to him — Jake Weslo. “Well I’ll be damned; Michael was telling the truth.”

  “Of course I was,” Randall said.

  “Not you. A different Michael,” Harvey replied without looking at him. To think that his daughter had got caught up with this fool angered him. He thought he’d taught her better than this. Oxycontin. Was she taking these? He sighed and grabbed up Randall.

  “You letting me out now?”

  “Can’t do that.”

  “But you said…”

  “I said I would put in a good word. Illegal is illegal.”

  “Oh, c’mon man!”

  Harvey shoved him towards the door. “Hanson. Let’s go.”

  “I’ll catch up with you.”

  “No. Now!”

  “You want more evidence? Because someone needs to go through here. I have a sneaky feeling that he’s selling more than this.”

  “I want you in your cruiser now.”

  The fact was he couldn’t trust him. If he did find Randall’s cash, would it be gone by the time they returned? It wasn’t like he cared what Hanson did. Everyone had their own moral compass as officers but if he was planning on taking a slice off the top, he wasn’t doing it on Harvey’s watch. That could backfire and it sure would be an easy way for Hanson to get him off his back.

  12

  “Lamar Erickson? Yeah, he came out to the group for several weeks. A nice guy. Why?” Harrison asked, as he carried an armful of material used for boarding up the windows. They exited the building and he dumped it at the foot of a ladder that was being held by two men while a third used a screwdriver to secure a covering over the window.

  “David, use these screws,” Harrison yelled.

  Skylar had to raise her voice to be heard because of the howling winds. “He was found yesterday hanging from a tree.”

  Harrison made a beeline for the door. “Sorry, I missed what you said?”

  She repeated it but got a deadpan expression from him. No shock. No condolences. He pressed on into the building to gather up some more material that was piled in the corner of the room. “Now we think it might be to do with the fact that he was purchasing drugs from a Mike Randall. You familiar with him?”

  “Randall. I recall the name.”

  “Oh, that’s good! So then you should recall them sharing in your cozy huddle — oh, I don’t know — that he was a big-time drug dealer who catered to the general population including Erickson?”

  Harrison stopped what he was doing and looked her square in the eye. “If there had been any mention of drug dealing, I would have informed the authorities. Our discussions are usually related to outbursts of anger, a lack of control, and tools and methods that are effective for preventing such incidents. If drug use was a factor in those outbursts, we would address that and find another way to deal with it.”

  “And yet it wasn’t. He was found with empty bottles, calls to his dealer on his phone and he turned up dead just like Jason Matthews.”

  “And your point?” Harrison asked. He was beginning to look annoyed by the line of questioning.

  “The point is, it all points to you. Jason Matthews, Lamar Erickson and now Mike Randall. All members of your…cozy anger club.”

  He snorted. “I was in meetings all day. I can give you names and numbers of people who will back that up.”

  “Okay, then who else might have known what they shared?”

  “I’ve told you; our group is small and private. What is shared in our sessions is recorded. If you would like to see who was in attendance then I can provide you with that footage, however, you are barking up the wrong tree if you think this is any way linked to me.”

  “Tell me, Harrison,” Skylar said, casually gazing around. “People who attend these kinds of meetings must feel humiliated, hopeless, am I right?”

  “Of course.”

  “Well those were the words found near the bodies.”

  He stared back at her and shifted his weight from one foot to the next. “Look, shouldn’t you be speaking with family members, spouses, girlfriends?”

  “Why, you got names?”

  “Sara Goodman. Erickson’s girlfriend. Maybe you should speak with her as she was the one he had issues with. That’s all I’m saying right now. The rest you need to get from her or you can view the footage and figure it out for yourself.”

  “Or maybe I’ll just attend one of your sessions.”

  She followed him out as he continued to unload product. “You are always welcome but I’m afraid we won’t be having another one until after the hurricane.”

  “You heading out?”

  “Just moving further inland.”

  “Hopefully not too far,” Skylar said in a way to make it clear that he was now on their radar.

  He squinted at her, then brushed grime off the front of his shirt. “You have my number. If you have any questions, I would be more than happy to answer them.”

  “You got a number or address for Goodman?”

  “She lived with Erickson for a while as far as I know. Originally was from here. I can see if I can dig out the address she gave me when Lamar first starting coming out. He would often stay at her place. I wanted a second contact just in case of an emergency.”

  It took him a few minutes to return with the address. Harrison thanked her for coming and returned to his work. Skylar stood there for a few more minutes watching him assist the others before leaving. Even after returning to the truck, she observed Harrison as the weather turned worse and rain battered the windshield. Was there any motive he might have for killing them? The thought crossed her mind before starting up the truck. Just as she was about to reverse out, her phone started buzzing. She figured it was Harvey but Davenport’s name came up on her caller ID.

  Putting the vehicle in park, she answered.

  “Captain, I had a good reason for the leather pants,” she said.

  “What? What leather pants?”

  She cleared her throat. “My mistake. What can I help you with?”

  “Been an update, it appears there is a third body that was picked up by EMS after someone reported an accident due to the wind. It was made to look like a piece of a sign had struck her but upon examining the body they were able to determine she was strangled. No rope was left behind but a few strands were found by Jenna.”

  “Jenna? I thought she’d left.”

  “She was on her way out when EMS brought the body in. It didn’t take her long to determine the death wasn’t because of the head trauma. And while she still has some tests to perform, she was confident based on the marks left behind that it’s the same kind of rope used on the other two.”

  “Who was the victim?”

  “Carly Michaels, thirty-two, worked at Veterans Village, which has an inpatient program. Time of death indicates she was murdered after Matthews but before Erickson.”

  “Which means Erickson could be responsible for her as well.”

  “There was some writing found nearby, not as obvious as the other two. The word, homeless.”

  “Homeless?” Skylar paused recalling the other two. “Okay, so our killer takes out Jason Matthews and leaves behind the word humiliation, then takes out Michaels and leaves the word homeless, then finishes off Erickson and leaves the word hopeless.”

  “So Erickson killed them both then committed suicide.”

  Skylar pulled a face. “I’m not sure. Something doesn’t add up. Erickson wasn’t
homeless. In fact, I was just on my way to speak with his girlfriend who lives here in Port St. Joe.”

  “That’s where you are?”

  “Yeah. Ben is in the hospital, so is Donnie.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “Which one?”

  “I meant both.”

  “For now. Waiting to hear how Donnie is. But Ben’s awake.” She paused and frowned. “Veterans Village? Any more information on that?”

  “Like?”

  “Well who did she speak to? What was her involvement with Veterans Village? Did she have any issues with any of the vets? Matthews was a Marine vet. Did she ever deal with him?”

  “I’ll look into it and get back to you. Bear in mind, Skylar, we are coming down to the wire. There won’t be many folks looking to ride this one out. I’ll be lucky to get hold of anyone.”

  The line began to crackle.

  “What’s that?” Skylar said as a hard wind slammed against the truck rocking it back and forth. The connection dropped and she looked at the bars on her cell. There was only one. “Oh great.” Skylar tossed the cell phone on the passenger seat and picked up the scrap of paper with Sara’s address on it. She tapped it into the GPS. “I have got to get me one of these,” she thought. Her vehicle was in a state and was in the shop more than on the road. Harvey often offered to let her use his while he used a cruiser. She argued that if she dinged the cruiser the department would pay for it but…well it didn’t seem to matter. Lately Harvey had been on this train of trying to help her as if burdened by some guilt or something like that. She just notched it up to one of the self-help audios he was listening to. It was probably step number eight in becoming a better human. She snorted. Who was she to deny him that experience? Besides, this plush leather interior was hard to pass up. It certainly beat the dated cruisers that often smelled like puke from picking up drunk perps.

  13

  It didn’t take long to arrive at Sara Goodman’s residence on the northeast side of town just off Royal Street. Skylar pulled into the driveway expecting to find no one home and the windows boarded up in preparation for landfall. Instead she pulled up behind what looked like a brand-new red Lexus SUV. Skylar waited a minute or two for the wind to die down before venturing out. It would come in waves like the ocean. A huge surge of wind powerful enough to tear away anything that wasn’t tied down. She squinted at the windows and saw movement inside. She took a deep breath and shoved the door open, fighting against Mother Nature every inch of the way. Palm trees bent over, and just as she turned to head towards the house, part of the fencing broke away, rolled across the front yard and slammed right into Harvey’s truck. “Dang, I hate to say it, but I told you so,” Skylar said referring to Harvey. Skylar made a beeline for the door, angling her body towards the ground as she sliced her way through a wave of gale-force wind. She ducked under the carport and breathed a sigh of relief. As she was about to knock on the door it opened. A tall, strong, blond woman with piercing green eyes answered.