Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4) by Bob Blanton (open ebook txt) 📗

“It is.  And I managed to learn more about the first Malcom. His real name is Frankie Sutton, he’s a student at Mesa Community College, andhas a job at Target.  He looks legit, but I don’t know about his grades andattendance.”

“Hmm, it would be nice to be able to figure that out.  Can’tyou check on him a few times?”

“Sure, I’ve got nothing but time,” Matthew said,sarcasm dripping from each word.  “Besides he’s out of it.”

“I guess we should focus on the new guy.”

“We?!”

“Sorry, but you’re the one who can pop in anytime he wants.”

“I guess,” Matthew said with a sigh.

“So the messages that Malcom typed in yesterday told hiscustomers where and when to do the exchange.”

“Yes, the package of money that they gave Malcom had a codename for them and an order for the number of pills they want.  Then he tellsthem when and where to come pick up the drugs on a Facebook page.  They have atightly orchestrated method for the exchange.”

“What?!  Explain that.”

“Oh, I guess we didn’t talk about it.  They meet at therestaurant, the buyer passes Malcom the cash, and he hands them a bag ofM&Ms.  Then when they leave the restaurant, if they’re carrying a bag ofM&Ms, a skateboarder puts a flyer on their windshield and drops the drugsinto the space under the hood.”

“A bag of M&Ms?”

“Yeah, I think that’s so that if the cops are watchingthey’ll think the bag contains drugs and bust them in the restaurant, like whathappened yesterday morning.  Then Malcom can claim it was just the buyer payinghim back or something.”

“So won’t the cops be more careful next time?”

“Maybe, but it looks like Malcom is out of the program.  Hehanded all his stuff off to Malcom II.”

“Oh, right.  Good thing he has a job and is going tocollege.”

“Right.  It’s well orchestrated.  Malcom hands the drugs offto the skateboarder right after he arrives at the restaurant.  They haveidentical backpacks and switch them.  Then they switch them back on the busafter they’ve made all the sales.  So, if things go correctly, Malcom never hasthe money and the drugs at the same time.”

“Except at his apartment.”

“True, but he’s got an excellent hiding place.  I had to dosome research on plumbing to figure it out.  He puts the money and drugs in thevent pipe for the bathroom in his apartment.  Actually, it’s the vent pipe forthe apartment next to his, so I guess he could claim it wasn’t his if theyraided him.”

“That sounds clever.  Do you think Malcom figured this out onhis own?”

“No, I’m pretty sure this is part of a master plan that wasdeveloped by the top guy.  I bet he has every dealer in his network doingexactly the same thing.”

“But this new guy, he’s got to be like the old Malcom’s boss,right?”

“That makes sense since he got the text and they immediatelymet to hand off the stuff.”

“So if he’s like the distributor, then how does he work withhis dealers?”

“I don’t know.  I haven’t been able to search his apartmentto figure out much about him yet.  I’ll do that later today or tonight.  Thismorning when I checked on him he was entering stuff on different Facebookpages.”

“What kind of stuff?”

Matthew grabbed the pad they were making notes on and wroteout the first four entries he’d seen on Malcom’s list.

Waldo - 9780340928653

Mary – 9780553593549

Billy – 9780241323410

Oliver – 9780517524480

“There were eight entries on the list, but you get the idea.”

Emily rotated the page so she could see the list.  “Hmm, whatdo you think the entries are for?”

“I’m guessing he’s using a similar code to the restaurantcodes, but with a coordinate?”

“Makes sense since we think he’s a distributor.”

“Sure, so this would be a code for his dealers.”

“I agree, so what would the number be for?”

“A coordinate?  A time and date for the pickup?  It could beanything.”  Matthew started rewriting the numbers breaking them into differentgroupings.

“Google thirteen-digit numbers,” Emily suggested.

“Are your fingers broken?”

Emily rolled her eyes at Matthew, but picked up her laptopand googled ‘thirteen-digit numbers’.  “A bunch of references to the fact thatthere are no thirteen-digit phone numbers, something about sim cards.”  Emilypaged to the next set of results.  “Here’s one, ISBN numbers are thirteendigits.”

“Okay, then google ISBN and one of the numbers.”  Matthewrecited the number for Emily.

“I get Of Mice and Men.”

“For this one?”  Matthew recited the second number.

“The Bourne Identity.”

“That can’t be a coincidence.”  Matthew grabbed Emily’slaptop.

“Hey!”

“I can type them in by memory, or do you want to play dataentry tech?”

“Go ahead.”

Matthew typed the eight numbers he remembered.  “They allcome back as real books.”

“Cool, but won’t any thirteen-digit number come back as abook?”

“No, we couldn’t have used them all up.  But let’s try one.” Matthew had his computer generate a random number, 64459462604835, then heentered it in the ISBN search.

“See, comes back as no document found.”

“Okay, so if they’re ISBN numbers, what does that mean?”

“They’re using books to swap things?”

“Or using the library as a blind drop,” Emily suggested.  “Itwould be perfect, but how would they avoid someone else picking up thepackage?”

“I’ll have to try and figure that out.  But we now know, orthink we do, that this drug distribution system is using Facebook to coordinatedelivery of the drugs to the users and dealers.”

“So how does Malcom get the drugs?”

“I don’t know.”

“And?”

“Yes, I’ll try to figure it out.”

“What about the money?”

“I said they paid him.”

“So Frye was his first client?”

“Why do you ask?”

“He only had her money.  If she wasn’t his first, then heshould have had more money on him.”

“I don’t think she was his first.”

“So where’s the other money?”

Matthew gave Emily a pensive look.  “You know, Malcom toldhis contact he’d have to go back to Starbucks.”

“You mean the money is still there?”

“Maybe.  Darn, we should have talked before.”  Matthew openedhis portal at the Starbucks and started searching the area where Malcom wasseated.  It only took him a minute to find the stash.  “I think it’s stillthere.  I need a flashlight.”

Emily grabbed her purse and handed Matthew the pocketflashlight she carried.  “Here.”

Using the flashlight, Matthew was able to examine his find.  “There’sa box mounted under the counter