Close to the Broken Hearted (27 page)

“Okay, so where did he hide them?”

This one didn't take much thought. Orwin had come and checked to make sure his stash was still there once and not closed the crawl space door properly behind him. That's why the wind had blown it open.

“Under Sylvie's house. In the cellar,” she said. Then she remembered the last time Sylvie had called her out to show her both doors thrown wide open. That hadn't been because of Orwin checking anything and not closing something properly. “Only,” she said, “I think we're too late. I think he's already got them.”

“Because he left those cellar doors open?” Chris asked.

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Why wouldn't he close them on his way out?”

“Two reasons, I reckon,” Leah answered. “One, he didn't need to. He got what he was after. But the second is more disturbin' to me. For one reason or another, Orwin Thomas is tryin' to make Sylvie Carson look crazier than she is. Or make her more paranoid than she is.” And the scariest part about that to Leah was that the man knew she had a loaded shotgun leaning up beside her back door.

Chris was already halfway out of his chair, grabbing his keys and heading for the door by the time Leah finished her sentence. “Well, we're damn well gonna check and make sure those drugs ain't still there,” he said. “Come on. You can come with me in the cruiser.”

 

It was midmorning when they arrived at Sylvie's. They found her home, running around like a dog chasing its own tail. For once, the baby wasn't sleeping. In fact, it was downright cranky, and didn't seem to want to eat, or be burped, or be held, or be put down. Or nothing. Even Leah gave it a try.

“Well, I don't know what she wants,” Leah said, handing her back to Sylvie.

“Let's go check that cellar,” Chris said, walking past.

Leah followed him outside. Sylvie trailed behind, baby wailing in her arms.

“So, which of us is goin' under?” Leah asked nervously.

Chris gave a small chuckle as he opened the cellar doors and shined his flashlight inside. “It's just dirt. Doesn't even look wet. It does look like someone's been under here recently, though. What are you 'fraid of, spiders?”

“I ain't afraid of nothin',” Leah said, not wanting to admit he'd hit half the equation directly on the bull's-eye. “I just don't relish the thought of bein' squashed up in that two-foot-high space while I wiggle round like a snake searchin' out the area.”

“That's okay, I wanna go anyway. If the coke
is
down here, this is still part of my bust.”

Leah let that one go by. Far as she could tell, she'd done all the work.

“It's all yours,” she said.

Chris started to go in stomach first. He made it in about as far as his feet, then turned around and came back out.

“What's wrong?” Sylvie asked from the porch.

“Nothin'. I think it would be better to go in on my back.”

He went at it again, on his back this time. It did seem to give him more leverage with his feet. Soon he was out of sight. Leah squatted down and watched through the doors, but all she could make out was the occasional sweep of his flashlight. Then, from beneath the house came a loud, “Eww!”

“What is it?” Leah called out, a little worried.

“Found the cat puke!”

More time passed while his light went from one side of the house to the next. After about fifteen minutes, he finally yelled, “I found something!”

“What?”

“Looks like . . . bags of coffee. Twelve of 'em. All stuffed around in a circle. The middle of the circle is empty, but it looks like it used to have somethin' in it. I'm guessing that's where the coke was. There's a white powder sprinkled all around the outside of the ring of coffee bags.”

“Is it coke?”

A pause and then, “No. I think it's brodifacoum. Orwin was probably worried about rats getting into his drugs. It was a good thing to be worried 'bout too, on account of it looks like they got into at least two of the sacks of coffee. There's fruit flies everywhere.”

“Well, that explains why they're under your house,” Leah said to Sylvie.

“I think that's it,” Chris said. “There ain't nothing else under here.”

“Okay,” Leah said, “You may as well come out then.”

“I don't understand,” Sylvie said. “Why is there sacks of coffee in my cellar?”

“Because your ex-boyfriend is a dumb shit,” said Chris, pulling himself through the crawl space doors. Standing up, he brushed dirt off his uniform. He turned and let Leah get the dirt off the back. Most of it cleared away, but there was some that would stay until his uniform was properly washed. “Sometimes drug traffickers pack cocaine in coffee to throw drug dogs off the scent in airports.”

“Does that work?”

“Hell if I know. But I have no idea why he thought using coffee under your house was a good idea. I guess he suspected we might come round with some airport drug dogs and send them into your cellar lookin' for coke. Unfortunately, the closest thing to that happening was your cat goin' in when that door was left open and eatin' some of that brodifacoum.”

Sylvie looked about ready to cry. “That bastard killed my cat. He killed my goddamn cat.”

Leah came up and gave her a hug. “Hey, at least you don't have to worry 'bout him comin' round here no more. He'll be gettin' outta Dodge as quick as a cat with its tail on fire. If he even suspects we're onto him, he won't hang round Alvin a minute longer than he has to, and I got a hunch Orwin's a pretty suspicious guy. When we made all them arrests last year, he was gone before the sun came up.” She looked Sylvie straight in the eyes. “You're safe now. This is the last place he'll turn up again.”

“Yeah,” Chris said. “If he's smart, he'll stay as far away from Alvin as he can possibly get.” He thought for a moment, and then turned to Leah. “Which reminds me. I better call the DEA in Arkansas and give them a heads-up on what's goin' on. He probably won't be stupid enough to keep the stuff at his house, but I bet they'll put him under surveillance and, sooner or later, catch him tryin' to push it.”

“What 'bout the guys you arrested?” Leah asked. “Can't you get one of them to swear to selling it to him? Might be enough to take him in on. Then I've got Jolayne's financial records . . .”

“Maybe. They'd want a deal, though. I'd have to talk to the DA. Right now, we need all the states between here and Arkansas to issue an APB on the plates to Sylvie's Skylark he's driving.”

“I'll get that done,” Leah said. “Although, he took the stuff out of here. He's gone. No question 'bout it.”

L
eah decided to take the kids out for supper at Vera's Old West Grill at the west end of Main Street. It had been a while since they'd been out together as a family. Two days ago, all the stress of the Orwin Thomas case she'd been working on had come to a rather unsatisfying end. Sure, the law would probably eventually catch up to Orwin Thomas, but Leah wanted it to happen here and she wanted to be part of it. She wanted to show Sylvie that the bad guys don't always get away. She thought it might help with the girl's paranoia. At any rate, Leah thought the next best thing was to spend some quality family time and just get out of the house for a nice meal and unwind a bit.

The weather was horrible. Rain washed through the town, and black clouds hung so low and heavy in the sky they seemed like they might almost touch the tops of some buildings.

At dinner, the kids appeared to enjoy themselves. At least they weren't arguing—not
really
arguing, anyway—which was a welcome change. They did banter back and forth a lot, but that was something they always did, whether they were happy or not.

Abe had ordered a hamburger and fries, and Caroline had gotten barbecued ribs with coleslaw and white bread. Leah ordered a sirloin steak, medium well.

“So are you kids enjoyin' your summer?”

“I was,” Abe said.

“Not anymore?” Leah asked.

“Not so much. I ain't got my sword.”

“That's cuz you broke it,” Caroline said. She had barbecue sauce all around her lips. Her fingers were covered in it, too.

“How do
you
know I broke it?” Abe asked her.

“Dewey told me. He was outside in our backyard having a sword fight by himself and I asked him where the heck you were, and he said he didn't know and that it didn't matter anyway on account of you broke your sword over your knee cuz you threw a little fit.”

“It wasn't a fit.”

“What was it then? Dewey said it was a fit. He called you a girl.”

I was surprised my sister didn't consider that a sexist remark. “Dewey says lotsa stuff that ain't true. You know, he thinks he's a genius.” Abe took such a big bite of his burger, Leah was worried he might choke on it.

“Maybe he is,” Caroline said. “Ever thought of that?”

Abe laughed. “You've
met
Dewey, right? He tried to get satellite TV by using up all our aluminum foil.”

“At least he
tries
stuff. He's smart for tryin'. Don't you think so, Mother?” Caroline put a rib in her mouth and pulled out a clean bone and set it upon her plate.

“Leave me out of this.”

“Mom don't like Dewey,” Abe said. “She thinks he's weird.”

“I never said that.”

“You have too. Lotsa times.”

Leah cut off a piece of steak and had it ready on her fork to go into her mouth. “Well, he's a bit
different
at times,” she said. “But I've never said I don't like him.” She put the steak in her mouth.

“Well, I
like
Dewey,” Caroline said. “I find him quite interestin' and entertainin'.”

“I like Dewey well enough,” Abe said. “If I didn't, why would I hang round with him?”

“On account of you only have one friend?” Caroline laughed.

“That's not true.”

“It's not? Name two more.”

“I can name lots more. I just don't wanna.”

“You're so full of shit your eyes are brown.”

“Hey!” Leah snapped. “Language.”

“ 'Sides,” Abe said, “my eyes are blue. Just like my pa's were, ain't that right, Mom?” He took another bite of burger. He was definitely starting to grow up. There was a time not so long ago when Leah could remember Abe not being able to get through half a Vera's Texas Burger. Now tonight it looked like he might finish this one entirely.

“That's right,” Leah said.

Caroline studied Leah as if her hair had turned into rattlesnakes. “You're talking 'bout Pa now?”

Leah smiled. “We're testin' the waters.”

“Huh,” Caroline said. “That's new. It's a nice change. I miss him sometimes.”

“I do too, honey,” Leah said sadly.

“I wish I could,” Abe said. “You guys are lucky to have known him good enough to miss him.”

Leah's heart almost broke then. “I'm sorry.”

On that note, they all went back to finishing up their food.

 

The rain was coming down like marbles being poured out of a bucket from somewhere in heaven when they walked outside of the restaurant. Luckily, they weren't parked far away, or they'd all have been soaked by the time Leah quickly unlocked the car doors and everyone piled inside. As usual, Caroline got the front seat and Abe got in the back.

“Boy, am I full,” he said, lying across the cushions as if the entire backseat were a sofa.

But Leah shushed him. As soon as she opened her door, she immediately heard Chris on her radio trying to reach her. Quickly, she picked it up and answered it. “Chris. It's me. What's up?”

“Leah! I've been trying to reach you for half an hour.”

“Sorry, I was out for dinner with the kids. What's up?”

“Well, it was one thing, then it became two things, and now it's three things.”

“Uh-oh. Sounds like a disaster. Go ahead.” Leah didn't start the car, she just sat there, parked, talking on the radio. The rain continued pelting the windshield. It made a ruckus, splattering on the roof of the car.

“First, we got a credit card transaction flag for Orwin Thomas for a purchase he made
yesterday
.”

“Okay.”

“Ask me where he made it.”

“Where?”

“Fast Gas. In
Alvin
.”

“In
Alvin
? Why the hell is he still
here?
”

“Well, we don't know if he's
still
here. It looks like he filled his tank, so he may have been heading back to Pine Bluff. But he was here yesterday.”

“Why would he have hung round all this time? He got them drugs
days
ago.”

“I can't answer that.”

Leah's mind raced. It made no sense. He should have left town immediately upon getting what he came for. It was the only logical thing to do.
And people always do the most logical thing, unless there are other variables at play you don't know about
. Now
that
was the detective in her thinking.

“What's the second thing?”

“About fifteen or twenty minutes ago Miss Sylvie called.”

“What did she want?”
This is new,
Leah thought.
Chris calling her
Miss
Sylvie
.

“She said she reckoned she saw the shadow of someone outside her house lookin' in her window.”

“Was she panicky?”

“She sounded a little upset.”

“Did you go check it out?”

“Er—” Chris stumbled. “No.”

“Did Ethan go?”

“No.”

“Why didn't anyone go? If you can't get hold of me, it's your responsibility to go.”

“I just, um, figured since you've always gone before that you'd want to be the one to go this time.” He sounded fumbly and embarrassed and Leah was glad. He deserved to be embarrassed.

“Okay, I'll stop in there on my way home. Now, what's the third thing? Your things are gettin' me progressively more and more irked, by the way.”

“Not my intention.”

“I know.”

“Third thing is you got another fax. This one is the medical records for Jolayne Thomas in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.”

“Do you mind givin' me the highlights? Go from most recent events first and head backward please.”

“That's easy. This year there's only two things of note, really, an' they're both the same thing.”

“What's that?”

“She had two visits to some place in Little Rock called Forever Fertility. The last one was just shy of two months ago and the time before that was around four months ago.”

“Sounds like a fertility clinic. That explains the two fifteen-thousand-dollar withdrawals from her account. So Miss Jolayne's tryin' to have herself a baby.”

“Yeah, but by the looks of this, it don't seem like she's havin' much success.” Chris laughed.

A thought suddenly struck Leah like a brick bein' dropped on her from a fourth-story window. “Oh dear God,” she said.

“What is it?”

“Chris, I gotta go. I'll radio back when I can.”

“Um . . . okay.”

Cutting off their conversation, Leah clipped the radio back into its holder and started the car. “Buckle up, kids.”

“Aw,” Abe complained from the backseat. “But I'm so full.”

Reaching down beneath her console, Leah pulled out her blue-and-red light and plunked it on the dash. It lit up the street around them. The falling rain reflected the light like colored sheets. She hit the siren. “I don't care,” she told Abe. “This might be a bumpy ride.”

“You ain't takin' us to a crime scene, are you?” Caroline asked from beside her, quickly clipping her seat belt on while Leah peeled out off the curb and did a U-turn right in the middle of the street.

“I dunno yet,” Leah said. “I just might be.”

“Do you really think that's a good idea?”

“Oh, trust me,” Abe said. “After a while, you get used to it.”

Leah picked up the big telephone that sat in the console of her vehicle and dialed Sylvie Carson's home number. “Please don't let me be too late,” she said under her breath as she heard it ring on the other end. “Please, God, don't let me be too late.”

Leah had realized during her talk with Chris that Orwin had indeed come back for his drugs, but he'd also come back for something else. There was a reason he'd been trying to make Sylvie look insane. He'd been trying to make her look like an unfit mother, but it hadn't happened fast enough for him. He'd tried pushing her over the edge, but what he hadn't realized was that Sylvie was already so far over the edge there wasn't much farther for her to go. She was used to living over the edge, if that was even possible. So used to it, Orwin Thomas had failed to make her any crazier.

But now, Leah knew, with a full tank of gas, Orwin was ready to finish the job he'd come down from Arkansas for and then truly get out of town. And the real job hadn't just been to get his drugs. That had been
half
of it. The other half was to get something else. Something much more precious than seventy-five-thousand-dollars' worth of cocaine. Something Joylane wanted for her very own but couldn't have, and so Orwin Thomas was going to provide her with one.

And that thing was Sylvie's three-month-old baby girl.