David Baldacci - Divine Justice

"Don't touch that!" snapped Tyree.

She stood quickly. "But Shirley's car was red."

Tyree grabbed her by the arm and hustled her away from the accident scene and across the road while several of the men looked on curiously.

She exclaimed, "Sheriff, what is going on? That wasn't an accident. Someone hit her car."

"I know that. I just don't want other folks to."

"But why?"

"Because I said so, that's why! Now, what did Shirley tell you that would get her killed?"

Annabelle nervously licked her lips. Shirley had made it clear that she trusted no one in this place. So how could Annabelle?

"Ma'am, I want to get to the bottom of this whole thing. It's my town and I need to make things right."

Annabelle had a great BS meter and it was making no noise. "Come over here."

She led him to the van and opened the back door, revealing the others inside. She introduced them one by one and said, "Sheriff, you got some time to hear what we know? It's going to take a while."

"Let's get on over to my office then. Too many ears 'round here."

An hour later, sitting in Tyree's office, the lawman rubbed his face, stood and glumly stared out the window. "So he's not your father but he did work for the government and has been underground for years. And you and your friends are FBI agents tasked with bringing him safely back?"

"That's right," said Annabelle. She'd of course made no mention of Joe Knox being after Stone for the murders of Simpson and Gray. Yet she had told the lawman as much of the truth as she could, which for Annabelle was a new way to operate.

"You lied to me once and now I'm just supposed to believe you? How about I call the FBI in D.C. Will they know who you are?"

Alex stood and held out his ID. "I'm not FBI. This is a joint task force. So how about you call my headquarters in D.C. and verify I am who I say I am. We'll wait here while you do. But if you're going to do it, do it now. We need to find him, fast."

Tyree eyed Alex's creds and then shook his head. "I believe you." He stepped back to his desk and perched on the edge while Annabelle shot Alex a grateful look. "And you think it has something to do with Abby Riker's farm?"

"The clue clearly referred to her place," said Caleb.

"But you're not saying Abby has anything to do with it. That's crazy."

Annabelle said, "I'm not accusing anyone of anything. But her son is missing."

"A drug ring operating out of Divine," said Tyree. "And if Shirley said the boxes were coming to the courthouse with some missing, the judge must be in on it too. Pretty slick, because who's going to check legal documents going to a courthouse? And using the miners going to get their methadone? Who the hell thought of that?"

There was a knock on the door and a man came in. Charlie Trimble was dressed in khaki pants and a striped button-down shirt.

"I know it's late but I saw your light on, Sheriff-" He broke off when he saw the other people with him.

"I'm sort of busy, Charlie."

Trimble looked keenly at Annabelle. "Ah, the daughter. Still looking for your father ?"

Annabelle did not like the emphasis the man put on the last word.

"No, he's actually not my father." She turned to Alex. "He's the man I was telling you about. The reporter looking to make a fast scoop."

"I see. At the expense of national security, I don't think so."

"National security?" said Trimble, taken aback. He glanced at Tyree. "What are they talking about?"

"Apparently Ben isn't who we thought he was."

"I know that," said Trimble excitedly. "But I think I do know who he is. I've got the story all ready to go. But I-"

He shut up as Annabelle shoved her ID in his face. Alex did the same. "Trimble," she began, "you're not going to print one syllable of anything having to do with this matter."

Trimble said in a defiant tone, "Don't think you can intimidate me."

"We're not trying to intimidate you, just give you a fair warning," said Alex.

"Warning, about what?"

"If you print your story and something happens to our guy, your butt will end up at the Castle."

"The Castle? What castle?"

" Leavenworth."

" Leavenworth? That's for military crimes. I'm not in the military."

"Actually," said Alex, barely able to conceal a smile, "it's also for national security crimes. And just for the record, you're anything I want you to be."

"What about the first amendment?"

Reuben towered over him. "What about the second amendment?" he said menacingly, the pistol in his belt clip clearly visible.

"I… I mean, uh, nothing, nothing."

Annabelle hooked him by the arm. "Trimble?"

"Yes?" he said shakily.

"Go home. Now! Before you get hurt."

The journalist nearly shot out of the room.

She turned to Tyree. "I think it's time we go to see where a bottom turns into an ass."

TYREE LED THE WAY in his patrol car with the van behind. About a quarter mile from the farm he pulled off and the van slid in behind him.

Getting out of the car, he said, "We'll make the rest of the way on foot. Don't want to spook anybody. We got time before the miners come."

They threaded their way through the woods until they came to the outskirts of the farm and set up an observation post near the house, which was dark. Abby's pickup truck and the Mini Cooper were parked out front.

Tyree said in a near whisper, "There's another back road into the farm that leads to an old barn. We should probably post some folks there too just in case."

Reuben, Harry and Caleb headed that way following directions Tyree gave them.

Both groups hunkered down and waited. And waited some more.

Finally, Alex checked his watch. "Four in the morning. I don't think it's happening. Maybe they don't transport every night."

Tyree stretched his limbs. "They killed Shirley so maybe they postponed the shipment."

At that moment Harry came hurrying up to them.

"Did you see anything?" Alex asked excitedly.

"Not a person, but we did see something. Come on."

They hurried after him. When they reached the spot where Caleb and Reuben were waiting, Harry pointed to the woods at a spot right across from the entrance to the barn. "You can see somebody's gone crashing through there. Brush and low tree limbs all busted up."

"Let's follow it," said Tyree, taking the lead. He pulled out a flashlight and slipped another off his belt and handed it to Alex.

"Never worked with a fed before."

"It's sort of a first time for me too, Sheriff," Alex said wryly.

They came to a dirt road in the woods.

"Look," said Annabelle.

It was Joe Knox's truck.

They ran to it and looked inside.

"No rental docs," said Tyree. "Any idea who it belongs to?"

Annabelle glanced at the others, her thoughts moving rapidly. Does this have nothing to do with the drug dealers? Has Knox gotten to Oliver, killed him already? But why would Knox's truck be here then? Has Oliver killed Knox?

"No," she said.

Tyree saw the bloodstains in the woods a bit later. "There, and there, and over there," he said, making stabbing motions with his light.

"That's not good," Caleb said quite unnecessarily.

Annabelle's spirits sank further. It seemed like one of the men had been hurt or killed. But which one?

They followed the trail across the road and up the slope. There were more bloodstains here. They moved across some more ground and then stopped. There were lots of footprints in the soft mud and more dark stains. Annabelle's gloomy expression changed now and she became more alert. As they followed the marks they came to a spot where it appeared as though the people had marched in lockstep.

"Or carrying something. Or somebody," Alex deduced.