Page 79 of Chasing Justice

“You are using, aren’t you?” Carson asked.

Tears sprang up in Cody’s eyes. Shit, was his only son really such a pussy that he was going to cry over this? Carson thought he’d raised him to be stronger than that.

“Every now and then,” Cody finally answered. “Just when things get rough.”

“Are you stealing product from our shipments?”

“No, of course not. Sometimes Jenna has a little extra left over. You know.”

“No, I don’t know. How would she have extra?”

“I don’t know,” Cody said. “You’d have to ask her. I think she figured out how to make the codeine stretch out a little bit more. Purify the product or something like that. She offered me some a while back. I liked it. Every now and then I get some from her.”

Carson lowered his grip to around Cody’s neck. He gave a strong squeeze and saw Cody wince. Then he let go and unbuttoned Cody’s cuff, rolling up the sleeve. Just as he suspected, there were some track marks and the start of sores.

“You’re going to get clean. Stop this shit right now. We sell it. We don’t use it. You start using it and you start making mistakes like not burying a body correctly. We don’t want that, do we?”

Cody shook his head no.

“Good. At least this explains where you’ve been disappearing to and why you’ve been so out of it some days. I’ll help you, son. You’re going to go through some strong detox, but I’ll get you through it.”

“Okay, thanks, Dad.” Cody wiped his nose with his arm. “I just want to make you proud. I know I need to do better.”

“We’ll do this. Together. Now, where’s your sister? I need to talk to her.”

“I’m not sure. I think she left a little bit ago. Something about starting another batch.”

“I didn’t ask her to do that. I’ll figure out where she is. You get your shit together and then we’ll figure out a plan from here.”

“Okay,” Cody said.

Carson sent him out of the room. How did he ever raise such a wuss? But at least he was loyal.

His daughter? That might be another story.

Chapter Forty-One

Wayne felt like he’d been beat with a sledgehammer. His captor must have given him some more of the drugs. His shoulders ached and he knew at this point his knees were so stiff it would make it hard to get to his feet. They were full of arthritis left over from the years in Vietnam as a young guy jumping in and out of helicopters. His doctor had wanted him to have both knees replaced. Wayne had put that off for as long as possible, but if he got out of this, maybe he’d consider it. The pain couldn’t be much worse than what he was enduring right now.

He’d been moved again. Although, after being drugged, all the places were starting to look the same. It appeared he was in yet another barn or outbuilding. He could see into the next room where his captor was working in what almost looked like a chemistry lab.

She turned around. “I know you’re awake.”

Wayne looked up, carefully opening one eye and then another. “Yes, I’m awake. Don’t suppose I could have some water?”

To his surprise, his captor walked over to him, crouched down, and pulled out a water bottle from her bag. She gave him a drink. The water hit his parched lips and slid down his throat. Cool and refreshing, it was the best thing he’d ever tasted.

“Thank you,” Wayne said.

“You’re welcome. You know, I’m not a horrible person.”

“I know that, Jenna.”

“I saved you from my father and brother.”

“What do you mean?”

“They were going to kidnap you and hand you over to the Russian mob lady we’ve been working with. The mob was interested in torturing you for information.”