Page 136 of In Cold Blood

“Just Deputy Thorne. I sent her a copy to get the search warrant.”

He nodded and got this pained expression as if he needed a dose of medication to help with the pain. Parish gestured toward the pad of paper and pen. Noah handed it to him, a littleconfused. He began scribbling then tore a piece off. Noah read it.

Ask her about the argument she had with your brother the day before he died.

He looked puzzled. Did he think his room was being monitored or were the meds playing with his mind? “Argument?”

Parish scribbled again and tore off another sheet.

It was captured on video surveillance at the department.

He brought up a finger to his lips.

Noah cocked his head to one side. Parish wrote out some more.

Go back to my hotel. They will have cleared out the room but you will find a large vent. Open it. What you need to see is there.

37

The evidence accumulated would mark the beginning of the end.

The raid of High Peaks Pub and Brewery that evening would come without any advance notice or the permission of the owner. Unlike a standard search warrant issued by a judge, the no-knock warrant would allow them to forcefully enter the property under the belief that evidence would be destroyed or removed between the time they announced themselves and the moment of securing the scene.

Under the suspicious circumstances surrounding Luke’s death, Noah had prepped State Police in advance to stop all delivery trucks heading out of the town in the hours leading up to the search that evening.

And they would.

Like throwing a wide net over the county, his brothers in arms and several agencies would be involved in one of the biggest takedowns since Operation Heat Wave.

By late afternoon the conference room inside the Sheriff’s Office was packed. Noah stood at the end of a table, flanked by Thorne, Hendrix, and Sheriff Roberts.

Nearby, Michael Bailey from Narcotics and six state troopers, three SWAT guys, and a handful of sheriff’s deputies who had just started their shifts for that evening were present.

Roberts took a thick black pen and began marking out the areas on a map that would be targeted. “A patrol on the water will hit Hawk Island, the rest of us will be over here at the brewery.” He dragged the pen around the establishment and marked out key areas of the town that would need to be monitored. The last thing they wanted was another high-speed pursuit. Roberts glanced at Noah as if to suggest the last one could have been avoided. Often pursuits were called off if law enforcement believed there was a danger to the public or they crossed into another county.

“SWAT will head up Team A, who’ll be positioned here,” he said, marking an entrance. “Team B will come in from here. The premises are under surveillance as we speak. Noah and Axel will go with Bailey from Narcotics. Any questions?”

He addressed concerns as they arose.

“Okay. You’ll be leaving here at twenty-one hundred. Be safe. Good luck, guys.”

Before leaving, Roberts took hold of Noah’s arm and pulled him to one side. “I have to say I was surprised by what you managed to unearth. I hope you are right about this. This might be our last chance. If we come up empty, we are going to have civil lawsuits coming out of the yin-yang.”

Noah agreed.

On the surface everything appeared to be going to plan, however, there was much that was occurring beneath the surface to which only a few were privy.

All of it was done for good reason: to confirm evidence he’d uncovered.

Like peeling back the layers of an onion, it couldn’t all be done at once.

As darkness fellover the town, Noah sat in the back of a SWAT van, Axel at the ready. He pressed the comms unit into his ear. The earpiece connected with a shoulder mic. That night he was wearing a black windbreaker with the words STATE POLICE on the back. Beneath that were a dark shirt and ballistic vest. The air was humid that evening. Sweat trickled down the side of his face. Although he knew they wouldn’t come up empty-handed this time, nervousness roiled in his stomach.

“What’s the SITREP?” he asked over the comms.

“Still on the phone,” a state trooper said. Unbeknownst to the Sheriff’s Office, there were troopers in unmarked vehicles both at the Sheriff’s Office and throughout the town. The heavy presence of State at the office also served a purpose. It was a simple matter of keeping people on their toes and forcing out the individual who they expected to tip off Harry Carter.

“Coslo?” Noah asked.