Page 50

“Cuff them, Virgil.” I held my gun on them while he rolled them over and fastened the cuffs I handed to him.

Ted came in from the squad and cuffed Barb Hamilton. He made another trip outside and secured her in the back of the Bronco.

When everybody was loaded, I left Ted and Tammy on prisoner watch and went back into the house alone for a search to be sure we hadn’t missed anything.

Tammy had checked the bedrooms and every inch of the house and done a thorough job. I headed out to the garage to see if they had a secondary storage area out there and found a big metal lockbox.

A pair of bolt cutters lying on the workbench cut the padlock off pretty quick. I opened the lid, peeked inside and there were six bricks of heroin still wrapped. I carried the box to the squad and shoved it into the hatch.

“We’re all set, Virge. Let’s go back to the shop.”

“What’s in the lockbox?” he whispered to me.

“H. Six bricks.”

“Holy shit. You hit the jackpot.”

“What are you on, Virge?”

“Ain’t on nothing regular. You asking if I’m an addict? Well, I ain’t. Casual user. Just a party guy. Know what I mean?”

“Just wondering if you needed a couple weeks in rehab.”

“That what you were wondering, my long-lost brother? Don’t you wonder about that no longer because I won’t be here for two fuckin weeks.”

“Okay. Don’t freak out. It was just a thought.”

Virgil turned and snarked at me, “Don’t be having no more of those fuckin rehab thoughts. You’re wasting your brain power on that kind of thinking.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

Ted, and I booked the prisoners and locked them in the run while Tammy and Molly went over the evidence Tammy had brought in from Barb Hamilton’s house.

Virge seemed to be fascinated by the quantity of drugs and he leaned on the counter in front of Molly’s desk watching her catalogue the drugs into evidence.

He paid special attention when Tammy locked the evidence bags up in the closet that we used for our evidence locker.

She put the padlock on and clicked it into place and hung the key on the rack in the office. Virge watched her do it, then went to the squad room to pet the dogs. He seemed to like Max and Sarge better than me.

I walked down the hall to the office and put the padlock key in my pocket.

By the time we finished up with the prisoners, it was lunch time and we had to supply our guests with food and drinks.

“Going across the road for lunch, Molly. I’ll bring back food for the prisoners.”

“Thanks, dear. I’ll head home for lunch. See you in an hour.”

Mainliner Diner.

Across the road, the three of us settled in for lunch. Ted lived a couple of blocks from the station, and he usually went home and ate the lunch his father made for him. Made his dad happy and Ted didn’t have to bother about lunch.

Maryanne came over to our table with her order pad and he pen. She stood at the end of the table waiting and I said, “Five lunches to go, Maryanne. Busy morning.”

Her face lit up. “Wow, zero to five in sixty seconds, Harlan. I’ll get the cook on that for you, boss.”

Virge studied the menu and I let him look until he decided. I knew what I wanted. “I’ll have the chicken burger and fries.”

“Turkey club with fries for me,” said Tammy.