Known Dead_ A Novel - Donald Harstad [49]
‘‘No hired guns,’’ I said.
‘‘Right. No hired guns.’’
‘‘All right,’’ said Hester. ‘‘And?’’
‘‘And none of those groups are involved. Positive.’’ Nichols looked at the ceiling, trying to be as precise as possible. ‘‘Since that is the case, we are faced with the possibility that this is a group who have, so far, avoided becoming known to us.’’ He looked back down at us. ‘‘I don’t think that a group with those resources could have gone unnoticed.’’
‘‘I wouldn’t think so myself,’’ I said.
‘‘You have to understand what that entails,’’ he said. ‘‘The resources available at a few hours’ notice. The funds. The arms.’’ He shook his head. ‘‘We’d have heard of ’em.’’
‘‘So,’’ asked Hester, ‘‘who do you think that leaves? Who could do that?’’
‘‘Well,’’ smiled Nichols. ‘‘Us, for one. We could do it.’’
‘‘What? I don’t think I understood that,’’ I said.
‘‘We could. We didn’t, but we could.’’ Nichols looked mysterious.
‘‘Logically,’’ I said, ‘‘what that leaves is the possibility that it wasn’t engineered by some cartel or criminal organization. Maybe it was part of some other government?’’
‘‘Whoa there,’’ said Hester.
Nichols chuckled. ‘‘Yeah. That’s what I was thinking too. Not really time for an act of war, is it?’’
‘‘Christ,’’ I muttered. ‘‘A foreign power on U.S. soil. That’d do it.’’
‘‘No,’’ said Nichols, ‘‘not a foreign power.’’ He shrugged. ‘‘What it really means is that we have no idea, at least not yet. None.’’ He shook his head. ‘‘And I find that very hard to accept.’’
‘‘Maybe,’’ I offered, ‘‘it was planned for a while. I mean, not the hit, but the setup?’’
‘‘They don’t seem to have been there long enough,’’ said Nichols. ‘‘Nice try, though.’’ He hesitated just a moment, and then apparently decided to go ahead. ‘‘We thought of that too. The plants were in the ground for just a few days. Still too fast and too remote for anybody but the best.’’
‘‘So,’’ asked Hester, ‘‘what’s the next move?’’
‘‘We keep digging,’’ said Nichols. ‘‘I’ve got help calls in to everybody but the National Archives, and they’re next. We’ll find out. What I’m afraid we really have,’’ he said, ‘‘is a group that can do this in other areas who’s moving into the narcotics business. We really don’t need that.’’
‘‘Yeah,’’ I said, ‘‘but around here?’’
He grinned. ‘‘I know. Hard for me to believe too.’’
‘‘How much was that dope worth?’’ I asked.
‘‘Oh, not more than a hundred thousand on the street,’’ he said. ‘‘But as a message it may have been worth a whole lot more.’’
‘‘ ‘We can reach you anywhere,’ ’’ said Hester.
‘‘Exactly.’’
Lamar insisted I stick to the regular schedule, so I didn’t get worn out. Consequently, I got the 18th and 19th off.
Saturday, the 20th, I was called out early, and in uniform, for a bad car wreck about six miles north of Maitland. One killed, five injured. Two cars, one pulled out from a gravel road right into the path of the other. By the time we were finished with that, I’d lost six hours. Hester was off, since it was a weekend. I pretty much spun my wheels for the rest of the day.
Sunday morning we got a report of an agricultural chemical theft/burglary from a plant and warehouse just outside the Maitland city limits. Great. I got stuck with that one too. A whole lot of agricultural chemicals were taken, totaling something over $30,000. Usually, that doesn’t take up much room, as you can hold several hundred dollars of certain herbicides in one hand. Comfortably. This one had the added attraction of involving about three hundred pounds of chemical fertilizer. At least we were looking for a burglar with a container bigger than the trunk of a car. That’d help. We processed the scene all day, for very little in the way of evidence. There were so many cars and trucks in the yard of the place on an average day that there were no tracks of value to be found. Just as a for instance.
I went back to the office, after spending about four hours at the plant, ate a couple of my hot dogs, and called some of my cop friends in the surrounding area. They confirmed two things I suspected. One, they hadn’t had any reported