Дэвид Балдаччи - The Fallen

“Well, they say God works in mysterious ways,” said Decker disdainfully. “But what are you doing here now?”

“Hell, I ain’t going to prison. Rather drown my ass.”

Baron pulled his gun and pointed it at Ross. “How about I do the honors?”

The old man grinned maliciously up at him. “Yeah, you go ahead, prick. Pull that trigger.”

Baron cocked the hammer.

“Do it, rich boy, do it. I dare you,” squealed Ross.

Decker said, “He wants you to do it, John, because then he knows I’ll have to arrest you. It would be like he’d be killing you too, just like he did your parents. You gonna let him sucker you like that?”

Baron pressed the barrel against Ross’s forehead and held it there until the old man started to shake with fear and tears spilled out of his eyes.

Then he uncocked the hammer and handed it to Decker with a smile. “You can’t be serious. I’m far too high-and-mighty to fall for that.”

Ross cursed and spit at him, even as Baron righted the wheelchair, lifted the old man up, and placed him back in it.

“Come on, Mr. Ross, I’ll even push you right up to the paddy wagon. You can ride to jail with your son. Two peas in a thoroughly rotten pod.”

Decker leaned down to stare at Ross.

“You were wrong.”

“About what?” snapped Ross.

“There are some things illegal in Baronville.”

As they headed back up through the woods Baron looked over at Decker.

“The only friend I have is Cindi Riley.”

“I know.”

“Until now, that is.” He paused and stopped pushing the wheelchair. “I count you and Alex as friends. It’s very clear where I would be without both of you caring enough to figure out the truth to all this.”

Decker glanced over at him. “I believe in second chances, John, because I got one, right when I really needed it. How about you? Do you believe in them?”

Baron looked around at the grounds that were once part of his family’s elegant estate.

“I didn’t, until a few minutes ago.”

“Well, that’s all that really counts.”

“It came to well over six hundred million dollars in gold. Even after various taxes are paid, it’ll be a huge sum.”

Baron was sitting in his study with Riley, Jamison, and Decker.

Decker and Jamison had returned to Washington for a few weeks, but had traveled back to Baronville for a visit.

“I’d call that quite the turnaround in prospects,” said Decker.

“What are you going to do with all the money?” asked Jamison.

“Well, knock this place down for starters, and put up something a little more minimalist and a lot more tasteful. And then I thought I’d invest in Baronville.”

“How so?” asked Jamison.

“Put money into local education, retraining centers, and a new opioid addiction facility. Try to get new businesses to come here and employ people. Have an incubation place for start-ups. Whatever I can do to help turn this place around.”

“Pretty nice of you to help a town that’s been spitting in your face all your life,” said Riley.

Baron’s features changed from light to somber. “I really wanted people to believe that none of their vitriol affected me, and so I returned their anger with witticisms and quips.” He paused as they all stared at him. “But behind the façade was a man filled with nothing but anger.” He let out a sigh. “That’s no way to live.” He smiled. “Especially after life drops that much money in my lap. It’s funny, I’ve never been rich, though everyone seemed to think I was. Now that I am actually rich, I certainly know first-hand that it’s a short path from being rich to being poor. And I should use it to help others. Hell, it’s not like I did anything to earn it. It’s only because I happened to be born into a certain family. But the truth is, the first John Baron was an awful man, and both the town and I have suffered at his hands through no fault of our own. And it really is the sweetest sort of irony that I can use his money to try to fix both injustices.” He glanced at Jamison. “Beginning with your family. Even though I know your sister’s going to sue Maxus, her case is complicated by the fact that Ross was really behind what happened, and Maxus may use that as a defense. So I’m setting up a trust for your sister and niece. They won’t have to worry about money again.”

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.”