Kit Ehrman - At Risk

First Elsa's bag, now this. Yet, I was certain I'd seen it before. But where?

After work, I made it to the library five minutes before they locked the doors for the night. When I got home, I picked up the phone and flipped through the pages of my notebook until I found the number for James Peters' nephew. I punched in his number.

When he answered, I told him who I was and said, "Do you remember the name of the company that's developing the land that used to belong to your uncle?"

"No. Not offhand. Some kind of initials. Oh, wait a sec. There was something about the name, made me think of… Oh, yeah. Something to do with explosives. Something like that."

I exhaled through my mouth. "T amp;T Industries?"

"Yeah." I could almost see him nod. "That's it."

Despite having been up all of Saturday night, I spent most of Sunday night lying awake in the dark. Around three in the morning, I woke from a restless sleep and remembered where I'd first seen T amp;T Industries.

When I called Detective Ralston at seven o'clock Monday morning, I was told he was unavailable. I left a message for him to call me ASAP and got through the morning's work on auto pilot. During my lunch break, the phone rang in the office, and the answering machine picked up. I half-listened to a voice I didn't recognize. It took me a second to realize the message was for me and that the voice belonged to Ralston. I swallowed the last bite of my ham and cheese sandwich and snatched up the phone.

"Steve here."

"Officer Dorsett told me you mailed out a bunch of letters about the truck and trailer last week," Ralston said.

"Yeah, but-"

"You shouldn't have done that," he snapped.

"What does it matter? We found the trailer."

There was a long pause before he said, "I wish you'd talked to me first because I don't think Drake's trailer's the one."

"It is. I'm one-hundred-percent certain. Have you found him yet?"

"Maybe it is the trailer, but we haven't found the men who are behind it, and that letter was just plain stupid."

I clenched the phone cord in my hand. I wanted to scream that somebody had to do something, that he didn't know shit about what it felt like to be a target. I clamped down on my anger and said, "What about Drake? Have you talked to him?"

"I just finished interviewing him. He has an iron-clad alibi which I've already verified with his C.O. Every weekend a trailer was used in a theft, he was on duty."

"What about what happened in Pennsylvania?"

"He backed up his fishing trip with receipts for gas, food, and lodging. He was in West Virginia, all right."

"So," I heard the bite in my voice but didn't care, "he's lending the trailer to a buddy."

"That's a possibility I'm working on. But I tell you, Steve, it doesn't feel like it. In your own words, 'the guy's clueless.'"

"Who's the trailer registered to?"

Papers rustled in the background. "Laura Anne Covington, Drake's girlfriend. Mean anything to you?"

"No." I sat on the edge of Mrs. Hill's desk. "But I know who owns the truck-"

"What?"

"— and I think I know why they're going after Foxdale." After a brief pause, I said, "Do you remember a guy named Sanders, one of the owners who had his horse stolen back in February?"

"Yes."

"I'm pretty sure he arranged for the theft or at least made sure his horse was targeted by the thieves." I told Ralston how he'd owned a horse that was stolen from a Carroll County farm, and how I suspected that the same horse had ended up at Foxdale two years later where it was stolen again. "He's been making a habit of scamming insurance companies, and I bet I know who helped him. In between the Carroll County farm and Foxdale, he boarded his horse with our hay dealer, John Harrison. Harrison's not above pulling scams of his own."

I told him how he and his brother had doctored the hay invoices and that their own sister had warned me that they were dangerous. "Her name's Elsa Timbrook. I checked the files at the library. Her husband is part owner of a land development company called T amp;T Industries. Remember when you said that the obvious is often the most likely?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Foxdale sits on five-hundred prime acres that back up to the Patuxent River State Park, and-"

"The same park where Peters' body was found," Ralston said.

"Yeah. Eighteen miles northwest from here. I checked, but I think that was just a coincidence or an indicator that they know the area. Anyway, over the past year or so, realtors have been pressuring Foxdale to sell. The farm next door already sold out and is being developed by-"

"T amp;T Industries," Ralston said.

"Yep."

"And the truck?"

"T amp;T industries owns a white, dual-axle pickup. It was on your MVA list."

Ralston snorted.

"My guess is that Mr. Timbrook, knowing full well what kind of scum his wife's brothers are, went to them when he needed someone to damage Foxdale in an effort to force the owner to sell out. And if Harrison's been teaming up with Sanders in the insurance swindles like I think he has, it would only be natural for him to fall back on stealing horses as a way to shake up the boarders. Only problem is, Timbrook didn't bargain on running into an owner who couldn't care less if his profit margin went down the tubes. And guess what?"

When Ralston didn't respond, I said, "Harrison's father, Buddy Harrison, used to deliver hay to James Peters' farm which, by the way, just so happens to border Piney Run Park. John Harrison might have delivered to him as well, but I couldn't verify that because Mrs. Peters' mind is stuck in the past. Anyway, the farm was sold and is now being subdivided and developed by T amp;T Industries."

"Damn."

"Ask Drake," I said, "if he knows John Harrison."

The six o'clock lesson had just begun, and I was on my way home when Mrs. Hill flagged me down.

"It looks like you were right about Harrison," Detective Ralston said when I took the phone from Mrs. Hill.

I turned my back to her and leaned against a filing cabinet. "He's involved, then?"

"John Harrison is Drake's cousin."

I exhaled slowly. "So Drake knew all along."

"I'm not so sure about that. I do think your visit got him thinking. He admitted that his cousins borrowed his trailer from time to time, but he never suspected it was being used for something illegal. What is clear is that he's afraid of them. If he knows something incriminating, I doubt he'll tell us. I'm on my way over to the Harrison farm now. It belongs to their father, but both brothers still live there." He paused. "Do you know where it is?"

"No idea."

"Montgomery County, about eight miles west of where you escaped from the trailer."

I didn't say anything.

"I'll let you know what I find out." He hung up.

I lowered the receiver onto the cradle.

When I didn't move, Mrs. Hill looked up from her paperwork. "How'd the guard work out last night?" she said.

I smoothed my palms down my jeans. "Good."

She leaned back in her chair and waited for me to continue. I walked into the lounge and stood in front of the soda machine. My throat was dry. I fumbled the coins into the slot and pressed the Coke button. The can rattled into the slot at the bottom.

I didn't go home. I watched a little TV, bits and pieces of the next three lessons, and otherwise hung around until the guard came in at ten. When the barns cleared out shortly afterward, I accompanied the guard on his first walk-through of the night. Like he'd done the night before, he had ignored the sign at the entrance to the lane and had parked his vehicle outside the office door. That was fine by me. It was more visible there and would hopefully serve as a deterrent.

I watched him settle into Mrs. Hill's chair, then headed home. I turned into Greg's driveway and was halfway down the lane when headlights flashed in my rearview mirror.