Kaz took the document, unfolding it with shaking hands. The impersonal legalese brought home the gravity of Gary's situation. And hers. "You already have an arrest warrant." She angrily waved the search warrant. "Why are you doing this?"
Clint Jackson, who was standing next to Sykes, smirked at her.
"We've arrested your brother in the past and couldn't make it stick," Sykes said. "This time, I'm personally making sure the DA has all the evidence he'll need to convict."
Kaz rounded on Michael. "Did you know about this?" She'd trusted him, been ready to confide in him. Now she could only choke on his betrayal. Why did it hurt so badly?
He shook his head. "I only knew about the arrest warrant." When he reached out a hand, she shoved the paperwork at him.
She wanted to believe him. But he had to have suspected this would happen. Why hadn't he warned her? For that matter, why hadn't Lucy? The betrayal stung, and her eyes welled with tears.
She held out her key ring to Sykes. He took it, telling her to wait nearby, then he and Clint entered the storage building.
To put some distance between herself and the others, she walked over and sat down on the cold, wet concrete curb of the parking lot. She couldn't shake the feeling that events were spinning out of control. If Sykes and Jackson had searched the unit even a few hours ago, they'd have found the money and been able to use it to build the case against Gary.
It made sense that Gary had moved the money—maybe after he'd seen her go into the storage unit that morning. If so, then he had to be hiding out nearby, perhaps using one of the many abandoned warehouses that were strung out all along the waterfront. The crumbling old buildings were some distance from Astoria's business district—only fishermen would've been close enough to see him coming and going, and they wouldn't say anything. Fear for him made her stomach cramp. He was taking insane risks, moving around in broad daylight.
Lucy came over and dropped down beside her, giving her a hug. "I tried to call you several times today—"
"We were out working the lines."
Lucy's expression turned wry. "So I heard, from just about everyone at the Redemption. No one was happy about you taking a newcomer out."
Kaz shrugged.
"The chief got Judge Banks on his cell phone," Lucy explained quietly. "Banks was out elk hunting and was reluctant to issue a warrant over the phone, but after Sykes told him about the blood on the tire iron matching Ken's, he didn't really have much choice."
Kaz relented a little. It was unrealistic to think that Lucy could've controlled what Sykes did. Glancing toward the storage unit to make certain that Sykes was still out of hearing range, she motioned the others over and brought Lucy and Ivar up to date.
"When there's that much money floating around, it's usually related to drugs," Ivar quietly pointed out.
Lucy clearly agreed. "Which gives us the possible connection to the murder of the drug dealer." She told Kaz and Michael about the body they'd found yesterday morning. "The second murder definitely doesn't look premeditated—more like someone who needed a fix turning violent. We've got a local methadone treatment clinic that was burglarized late this afternoon, what looks like a supply disruption on the street bad enough to escalate to violence, and a huge amount of cash." She shot Kaz a disgusted look. "Floating around God knows where."
"What?" Kaz raised her hands. "How was I supposed to know it would disappear while I was out?" Lucy gave her a look that told her she'd already figured out that it hadn't disappeared on its own, but she didn't say anything.
"It's got to be money that would've been used to buy drugs," Ivar said. "Someone stole drug money, and the drugs it would've purchased never got to the street."
Michael spoke up. "So maybe the fishermen are running drugs. Taking money out to sea for a rendezvous, then bringing the drugs back."
"If so, it's a damn near perfect setup." Lucy blew out a breath. "The Coast Guard wouldn't stop those guys to conduct searches—their boats wouldn't be considered suspicious."
"Gary's not part of this," Kaz insisted, sounding like a broken record even to herself. "There's got to be another reason why he had all that money." She appealed to Lucy. "You know he wouldn't be involved, Luce."
"Actually, I agree," Lucy said. Ivar frowned at her, and she shrugged. "I think Gary's being framed, so sue me." But her expression remained troubled. "It's a damn good question, though, what he was doing with all that cash in the storage unit."
"Maybe he got it from Ken," Kaz suggested, thinking out loud. "They could've been arguing that night in the tavern because Ken could've asked Gary to keep the money someplace safe, if he thought someone was after him."
"But if Ken was dealing drugs, why would he need anyone to safeguard the money?" Lucy shook her head. "That's cockeyed—he would've been exchanging the money for the drugs, not hiding it. And we've gone over his bank and phone records. Nada. He doesn't fit the profile."
"Profile?" Kaz looked from Lucy to Ivar.
"He has—had—a stable home life, there've been no dramatic changes in his lifestyle," Lucy explained. "Then again, Gary doesn't fit the profile either, based on our investigation into your financial records."
Kaz glared. "You've been looking at our bank records?"
"Yeah." Lucy sent her an apologetic look.
Kaz looked away. All of the sudden, she was sick to death of the whole mess. She wanted this investigation out of the way of her friendships with the people here in town she cared the most about.
A new thought occurred to her. "What if Ken wasn't involved with drug running but stole the money for some reason?"
"That could work," Michael said, looking thoughtful. "He yields to temptation, then gets in trouble and goes to Gary."
"That would also explain the sudden supply disruption at the street level," Ivar mused.
"Didn't you tell me Ken had suffered more than one beating a few days prior to being killed?" Michael asked Lucy. "So he stole the money, the bad guys were onto him, and they beat him up as a warning a couple of times. When he didn't pony up, they got rid of him."
Kaz remembered what Bjorn had said. "The fishermen think Ken was killed to send a message."
"Yeah, I can buy that." Lucy chewed on her lip. "But that doesn't explain why they framed Gary."
"If Ken went to Gary for help and Gary created heat by asking too many questions…" Michael shrugged. "Framing Gary kills two birds with one stone."
"But why would Ken have been stupid enough to steal drug money?" Lucy asked. "I knew him pretty well—he never struck me as being either stupid or suicidal. Anyone with half a brain knows not to steal from drug dealers."
"According to what Gary told me, Ken had horrific medical bills for Bobby's leukemia," Kaz said. "Ken loved Bobby—he'd have done anything for him." She shuddered, unable to imagine what it must have been like to watch your own child suffer that way. "If the rendezvous with the drug supplier is happening at sea, maybe Ken thought he wouldn't get caught."
Lucy shook her head. "We checked out the medical bills. The mother-in-law is paying for them."
Julie had indicated the same to Kaz, but Kaz wasn't so sure. At the time, it had been her impression that Julie was lying. And Kaz had just gotten Ken and his family signed up for health insurance a week ago, which made the cancer a preexisting condition that wasn't covered. The bills had to have been enormous.
"Whatever the scenario," Ivar said, "Gary is in this up to his neck."
"He's trying to find out who's involved," Kaz insisted. She stopped speaking while Sykes and Jackson locked up the storage unit and walked past them toward the docks, then continued. "At least, that's what Gary told me."