Jamison said, “She told me, John. That is really very generous of you.”
He glanced at Decker. “I can’t afford to waste a second chance.”
“Where are they thinking of moving?” asked Riley.
“Well, as of right now, they might stay in Baronville,” replied Jamison.
Baron said, “I have to say I’m surprised.”
“Me too,” echoed Riley.
“I’m not,” said Decker.
They all looked at him, but he didn’t elaborate.
“How do things stand with Ted Ross?” Baron asked Decker.
“He’s cooperating, and for that he’ll get life without parole. Ross’s operation was a major conduit for the drugs being distributed across the country. Based on his information the DEA has already broken up rings in four other states. Kemper told me that the Mexican government has arrested two cartel chiefs. And the head of a large Chinese pharma company committed suicide before he was about to be taken into custody.”
“How did Ross get hooked up with such heavy hitters in the drug business?” asked Riley.
“The guy has always lived on the edge. Whether he was doing construction or running a paper mill he was either committing fraud or embezzling funds. He told us that when the opioid crisis took off he sensed an opportunity and started some small-scale distribution in the Baronville area. Through that he told us he met Brian Collins and they did some deals together. After he was hired to run the fulfillment center Ross went back to Collins with the idea of using the place to run the fentanyl through. The authorities have been cracking down on smuggling and the distribution of the drugs through the mail, but the FC business is enormous and with its volume it provided a really clever way to run the drugs without anyone catching on. Through Collins’s connections they were able to set up a truly massive drug ring. When Ross went to collect the packages on his rounds, he only went to areas where he had people working for him. The tracking system had been rigged to make sure the drug packages went only to those sectors of the facility. And he had someone in the IT department cover his electronic tracks when the packages were taken out of the system. They all did it for far more money than they could make anywhere else. Hell, they were paying Alice Martin six figures a year for basically looking the other way. That shows how much cash this thing was throwing off.”
Jamison added, “And smaller towns like this with not nearly as many cops and oversight resources as the bigger cities have made it ripe for infiltration by these criminal organizations. Couple that with the fact the unemployment rate is so high and you have people desperately looking for any way to make money, and it’s a recipe for disaster.”
Riley said, “I wonder how many other places like this one have the very same thing going on?”
Decker said, “I think it’s a safe bet that Baronville is not the only one.”
Baron said, “Okay, but if Lassiter and Green were both in on it, why did they work with you on the case?”
“Green didn’t know about Lassiter’s involvement, although Lassiter was aware of Green being part of it. As she told me, she was Ross’s fail-safe. Green didn’t tell us that there had been other murders in town. Amber told us that. But when we directly asked him about it, Green probably made a snap decision to bring us in so he could watch us closely and take necessary action if we seemed to be getting on the right track. And it would throw suspicion off them too. At first, Lassiter didn’t want us on the case, but then I guess she came around to the idea so she could keep close tabs on us too. But it’s not like they helped us solve the case. They were just hovering and checking in from time to time to see how we were progressing. Lassiter knew the ME here was a dud. And experienced homicide detectives should know about things like livor mortis and blowflies, but both of them played stupid on that. I didn’t really suspect anything because I have run across people in law enforcement who actually didn’t know much about those things. And I’ve certainly encountered part-time MEs who don’t know what they’re doing. But my bet is Green and Lassiter were playing ignorant to confuse the matter and slow down the progress on the investigation. And they neglected to tell us that Toby Babbot’s injury happened at the FC, because they didn’t want our attention to be drawn there. But later it was anyway, for a terrible reason.”
He looked at Jamison, who said quietly, “Ross told us why they killed Frank.”
“But I thought he died from some robot going nuts,” said Riley.
Jamison said, “No, Ross said that Frank had seen him going through his daily ‘rounds.’ He was actually collecting the latest shipment of fentanyl powder. He had a special vest made up with interior pockets that matched the drug shipment boxes exactly. Then he’d hide them in his secret closet before periodically taking them out of the facility and delivering them to the pill presses they’d set up in town mostly in empty houses.”
Decker picked up the story. “Frank apparently started asking questions about Ross’s daily rounds. Like I said, Ross had people at the fulfillment center in his back pocket, and Frank had the bad luck of asking one of them about what he called Ross’s suspicious behavior. That guy told Ross. So after the construction crew had gone for the day, Ross had Frank go ‘check’ on the addition. But he had a couple of guys there who knocked him unconscious. Then they carried him over to the robotic arm, and the rest we know.”
“I’m surprised that Frank didn’t mention something to us about his suspicions,” said Jamison.
Decker shrugged. “The last thing Frank would want was to make trouble for his new boss when there might be a perfectly sensible explanation for what Ross was doing. And Ross used that to his full advantage.”
“What a bastard!” exclaimed Riley angrily.
Decker nodded. “Ross also told us that it was Marty Green who almost fried us at Babbot’s trailer. Ross said Babbot started getting weird and talking about knowing things that Ross was up to, outside of the treasure. That was the reason he had to die.”
“So did Lassiter plant the gun at my house?” asked Baron.
Decker nodded. “That was all part of the plan to get you out of the property. When everything was ready, Ross had Lassiter pull the trigger and search your place. She had the gun with her and did the deed. Your butt ended up in jail. Later, they used the subterfuge of the hostage exchange to try to get us out of the way. They made the exchange spot far away to give them time to search for the treasure at the two possible locations, the potting shed and the mausoleum. That way they could look for it without worrying about us showing up.” He glanced at Riley. “If Cindi hadn’t called and told me that Lassiter had checked herself out of the hospital, things would not have ended the way they did.”
Baron gripped Riley’s hand. “Well, Cindi has always been smarter than me.”
Jamison shook her head. “I thought Lassiter was a good cop.”
Decker said, “She was a good cop, and then she was a bad cop. Ross didn’t entirely trust Green, and he wanted another cop on the payroll that he alone knew about. Lassiter already hated Baron and she wanted money. It was easy for Ross to persuade her. And she ultimately paid the price for it.”