The Harvest Club (23 page)

“I’ll be to work on Monday, and I’d be happy to help you any way that I can.” She leaned forward in her chair.

“The service is on Wednesday, July 3
rd,
so that family can get here and take a few days going home with the long weekend. It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around this.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

They continued to talk for a few more minutes. A couple from the church wanted to talk to John and stood by his chair. Jessie said her goodbyes and got ready to leave. It was still a major and time-consuming ordeal for her to move anywhere.

Standing, she grabbed her crutches and leaned on them. “John, feel free to call me any time you need to talk. I can’t imagine how hard this is for you.”

Jessie looked up to see Matt talking on the phone. His facial expression told her something was up. She made her way toward him talking to people along the way. Her phone signaled an incoming message. It was from Pam Bradley asking her to call as soon as possible.

Her purse kept slipping off her shoulder as she hobbled over to join Matt, banging against her crutches. Every few steps she had to stop and push the strap back up, only to have it slide down again, a few feet later.

He walked toward her. “Here, let me take this stupid contraption before you hurt yourself.”

“It’s called a purse, Matt, and aren’t you just a little worried it’ll hurt your manhood carrying it and being seen as semi-chivalrous?” Her eyes sparkled with amusement.

“Nope, I haven’t got all day to watch you trying to get here. All our suspects are on the move and seem to be headed somewhere for a rendezvous. Dylan and those watching in this area are waiting to see if their guys go.” He took her purse and motioned her toward the doors. “How’s John doing?”

“As good as anyone can under the circumstances. He’s getting a lot of support from people here.” She walked by Beth and said hello.

“Your meal will be there at 6:30, and you need to go home and put that ankle up,” she scolded. “Your toes are a little purple. Matt, you help her get that foot elevated. You hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am, consider it done.” He picked Jessie up in front of everyone, handed the crutches to Melinda, and carried her through the doors. She smacked him on the shoulder, which he ignored, and those around them laughed. After getting her situated, he put the crutches in the backseat on the floor next to her and thanked Melinda.

“Take care, Blondie. I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Okay, Red.”

As soon as the door closed, Matt began a new lecture. “Damn it, Jessie, you’ve got to tell me when you’re tired or hurting. I won’t know it by just looking at you. I’m going to take you home and let Gary watch over you. You need to keep your foot elevated all day.”

“Yes, Dad,” she said sarcastically.

No more vinegar, she reminded herself, try using a little honey. She smiled. “That isn’t necessary. Some of the purple is from when I hit my foot on the tree root. I actually feel fairly good, not nearly as sore as yesterday.” She looked at him in the mirror. “I forgot to tell you the funeral is on Wednesday, which gives the family time to get here and the holiday gives them a little more time going home. I was thinking we need to wait to drop our hint until after the funeral and have the benign article show up after the Fourth celebration. I have a feeling that, as egotistical as some of these guys are, they will come to the funeral.”

“Good idea, I think you’re right about that, but I’m still going to take you home. Katie has been trying to get hold of you, and I’m sure you have better things to do than sit in the back seat. You are not putting that foot down or hobbling on those crutches unless it’s to take care of business. Besides you need to get busy writing that article.”

Jessie called Pam back, and they’d loved the first draft of Gina’s story. They didn’t see the need to change a thing. When the call was finished, Jessie felt a certain pride in the praise Pam had given her about Gina’s Story.

She looked at Matt. “I think we should do Gina’s story first, followed by the black market organs story.” She was excited to have others read it.

“Okay. I already talked to Max at the local paper, and he said he would print anything we send him. I’ll write his email down so you can send him Gina’s story. You send it to Neil too, so we can get exposure in other areas as well. Now, let’s get you home.”

“Hey, Gary, I’m bringing Jessie to the house. You’ll need to keep an eye on her, and I’m going to send Kip to act as backup. Make sure she stays down with her foot elevated. Don’t let her get up unless it’s necessary. Her foot is swollen. I can tell you right now she’ll probably fight you, but you hang tough. We’re almost there. Would you open the door?” He could see her giving him the look in his mirror.

Once there, Matt parked and carried her into the house, put her down on the couch, went back out and got her crutches, then set them where they were easy for her to reach. “Stay where you’re put.” He grinned at her and walked into the room with Gary.

About fifteen minutes later, Kip was coming in the door, and Matt was running out the door. “They’re on the move. I’ll let you know about it later.”

****

Matt headed out of Blue Cove, following Dylan’s directions. The command post was on a hill across from the site where the Harvest Club was gathering. At the fork in the road, he was to bear to the right. The club members would continue straight.

This was the perfect spot, nestled in the trees and underbrush, where they could watch undetected. Joe had a camera with a telephoto lens. He was getting close up shots of each of them as they arrived. Matt crouched low with his binoculars and watched.

“Who is that guy? I don’t remember seeing him before.” He tapped Joe. “Be sure you get a close up of him.”

“I don’t remember him, either.” Dylan squinted. “There’s Jason Cummings and Ed. We’ll have to see if we can get a hit on the other guy’s photo, through the system. I doubt if he’ll be in there. I’m sure he has no record, if he’s like the rest of them.”

“Wouldn’t you like to be a fly on the wall and hear what’s going on in that room? I’m sure they’re worried about what Rick put in that suicide note. I’ve always said they made a big mistake when they killed Gina. They overplayed their hand, and we’re going to get them.” Matt stood up and leaned on against the open door of his car.

The Harvest Club’s meeting lasted a couple of hours. One by one, they emerged giving Joe a perfect full-face photo shot. The officers left only after the club members had all left, and they waited ten minutes beyond that.

Joe hurried back to the station and loaded all the photos into the computer. By the time Matt got there, he was able to see the entire series of close-up shots of the men in attendance. One of the other detectives from the county recognized the new man.

“I know that guy. He’s Gordon Stockton, the mayor of Rocky Pointe.”

Matt took a closer look at the picture of the mayor. “Let’s find out what we can about this guy.” He pointed at a tall man that stood in the background. There was no frontal shot of him.

“The Harvest Club has a recruiting site and a bank account. From the looks of it, there are some pretty high rollers backing the actual cost of the organization. Gordon Stockton seems to be paid by the club itself.” Dylan showed them a printed spreadsheet with figures on it.

“It looks like Stockton is paid pretty well for whatever it is he does. Look at those deposits.” Matt reached for his calculator and added them. “Well over a million in deposits in the past six months.” Matt pointed out the number totals to them.

Joe let out a low whistle. “A nice tidy little sum. I think I could live pretty well on that, thank you very much.”

“The question is, is he the head of the club? Does he have the muscle to make these other guys dance to his tune? Joe and Dylan, find me everything you can on this guy.”

Matt worked in his office for the next hour putting together his thoughts and observations. To him, Gordon Stockton was just the sort of nondescript person who could be the head of the club. He could use Buddy as one of his muscle men, and there probably was a hit man somewhere, too.

He contacted the Philly police and LA to see if they had any knowledge of Harvest Club operations in their area. If the club had been operating there, it was under the radar, and so began an exchange of information.

His thoughts were interrupted by his phone. “Hi, this is Matt.”

“Matt, Jeremy here. Jessie told me I should call you with this information.”

“What’s up, Jeremy?”

“It took me a while, but I found the name of one of the key players. His name is Gordon Stockton. He’s being paid pretty damn well, a whole lot more than the rest. He’s the mayor of Rocky Pointe, but that’s not the interesting thing. He has the smarts to run the operations. He walked out of a specialized medical program he’d gone into after medical school. Do you want to know what his specialty was?”

“Let me guess,” Matt said. “A surgeon.”

“Not just any old surgeon, but one specializing in kidney transplants. His transcript said he was a brilliant and skilled surgeon but couldn’t handle the stress of waiting for donors. He saw too many people die while waiting for their donor organs. He gave it up. Not too long before he would have been the lead doctor on a team, he simply walked away.”

“We’ve been looking for someone to show up who had a medical background and a good reason to start the Harvest Club. Great work, Jeremy. My gut tells me this is the guy we need to be watching.” Matt told Jeremy about what he had learned earlier in the day and their plans to flush them out.

“Be careful. In an operation this big, there has to be a massive protective structure in place. A lot of money is involved and some pretty high profile people as well. It seems the only way out for these guys, once they’re in the club, is death. If Gordon sees you’re getting close, he’ll disappear, leaving the buyers, sellers, and brokers to take the fall. There’s something else.”

“What’s that?” Matt asked.

“A percentage of money is being paid to someone they call the Grimm Reaper. I don’t know who that is.”

“I read about the Grimm Reaper in Rick’s journal, but he didn’t give a name. I got the feeling they were all afraid of him, though.” Matt’s brows creased. “Thanks, Jeremy. Stay in touch.”

Matt told Gary to have everyone come in for an early morning meeting the next morning. Some things needed to be settled before they headed into next week. Jessie was right. Nothing should be done until after the funeral. He wanted the freedom to observe the Harvest Club without them knowing anyone was on to them.

Dylan checked the flight manifestos every day to see if Buddy was headed back into town. Matt didn’t think they would see him back until after the funeral.

He felt he was covering all of his bases. He needed to check on unsolved or unusual murders in the area, also in Philly and LA. What was this hit man’s calling card? They all seemed to have one—that little bit of flair that fed their ego and made others aware that this was their job. Matt needed to go over all the notes and Gina’s file with this in mind—see if anything stood out, something exclusive to him.

Dylan knocked on his door. “Are you done for the day?”

“I was just getting ready to relieve Kip. The ladies bring food for Jessie at 6:30, and believe me when I say I don’t want to miss dinner. There are some great cooks in that church.”

“Do you mind if I show up? I wanted to check in on her. I haven’t seen her yet, today.”

“If she doesn’t mind, you’ll get no argument from me. Plus, if you time it right, you’ll get a great meal.” Matt stood up, shut off his light, closed his door, and walked out with Dylan.

It only took Matt about ten minutes to get to Jessie’s. Beth turned on to Blue Iris Lane right after him. He couldn’t have timed it better. He called Kip and told him to unlock the door, and that he was there.

Matt helped the ladies carry in the food. The aroma was very inviting.

“It seems you timed showing up here to the minute, Mr. Parker.” Beth smiled at him.

“Yes, ma’am, to tell you the truth, the last meal was so good, I didn’t want to miss this one.” He held the door open for her.

“Did you make her elevate her foot today?”

“I brought her home and told her to. You’ll have to ask her to see if she actually did it.” He grinned.

When Matt saw Jessie, she was on the couch, her foot elevated, working on her computer, and Kip was sitting across from her with a besotted look on his face. Another one of his officers had fallen to her charms. He was pretty sure Dylan was somewhat besotted, and Gary had expressed interest. He knew the feeling. What amazed him was she seemed totally unaware and unaffected by it. She treated them all the same. She was pretty cool to just about everyone.

****

She looked up from her computer and smiled. “Hi, Beth.”

Beth looked at Kip. “Young man, did she stay down today, elevating that foot?”

“Yes, she did. We made sure of it.” He smiled at Jessie. “She is a hard patient to handle, but we hung tough.” Kip walked with Matt into the other room to see Gary.

Beth sat at the other end of the couch and pulled Jessie’s foot into her lap. She unwrapped the ace bandage to take a better look at her ankle. “It’s still pretty swollen and bruised, but it’s looking better. I’ll rewrap this, and you need to put ice on it for fifteen minutes at a time for the next few hours. It should help to take the swelling down.”

“Beth is a nurse. She’ll get you back on your feet in no time, Blondie.”

“I thought that was you, Red.” Jessie saved her work and shut her computer down. “How are you all holding up?”

“We’re all busy trying to help John prepare the church for Sunday, help you, and get ready for a funeral, as well as wondering who the new pastor will be.” Beth paused and added. “It’s been an awful few months.”

“I’m sure it has been.”

“All this ruminating won’t change a darn thing.” Beth stood up and walked into the kitchen. “Here comes another one. You’d think these young men never get to eat.”