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

“Hi, Brea, how are you hanging?” Matthew said, not sure howto ask his girlfriend if she was over losing the final match in the tournament.

“I’m okay.  I have to run or I’ll be late for class.  I’llsee you at lunch.”  Brianna gave Matthew a hug and a kiss on the cheek beforeshe ran off.

“Don’t worry, Matt, she’ll be okay,” Mrs. Winthrop said. “She had so much invested in that tournament that she’s struggling to deal withlosing.”

“But she came in second.  That’s a major deal.”

“It is, but you know Brea.  We’ll see you tonight at theparty, right?”

“I’ll be there.”

Mrs. Winthrop got out of the car and gave Matt a hug.  Shepatted him on the cheek before getting back in.  “Just be patient.”

“Sure.  See you tonight, Cara.  Bye Carl,” Matthew waved atthe Winthrops before heading to the library.

◆ ◆ ◆

That night the party at the Winthrops was low-key.  Just thefew friends that Brianna stayed close to.  Jennifer, Raquel, Alex, Emily, andMatthew.  Of course, Jason was there and Hanna as well.  Brianna put on a goodface and everyone had a good time, but there was an undercurrent of strainthroughout the party.  Matthew was actually glad when it was over.

◆ ◆ ◆

Friday evening, Matthew was checking the news out again. Another news bulletin came up.

“Breaking news, Evelyn Frye, the woman involved in theincident at Starbucks last Friday died suddenly this afternoon at her place ofwork, Timeless Gems, in La Jolla.  Her employer said she went to the bathroomabout one o’clock and never came out.  He says he pounded on the door for aminute before asking another employee to go in and see what was wrong.  Mrs.Frye was found dead on the floor, the cause of death has not been released. Ms. Frye was twenty-three years old.”

Matthew quickly tuned in on Malcom, aka Frankie.  He waswatching the same news program.  Matthew could see tears glistening in hiseyes.

“Bastards!” Frankie growled.

◆ ◆ ◆

Matthew tuned in to the taskforce briefing the next morning. He’d checked the night before and caught Detective Vaughn calling his team tolet them know they would be working Saturday.

“Okay, what do we have?” Detective Vaughn asked.

“We searched her apartment.  We found a stash of Oxycontin,about a week’s worth.  She had a pillbox on her with six pills in it, enoughfor a day.  We’ve sent the pills to the lab, they look the same, both stampedwith the Oxycontin logo.”

“What does the coroner say?”

“He says it looks like an overdose.”

“Intentional?”

“No, he says it looks like just one pill in her system.  He’stesting, but he thinks it’s probably a bad batch.”

The phone rang.  “Vaughn!” the detective barked as heanswered the phone.

“Yes, . . .  Test them all!”  Heturned back to the team.  “That was the lab.  The pills she had were made with Fentanyl,not Oxycontin.”

“That’s wicked stuff.  If the dealers don’t control thequality, you get a bad pill once in a while.  It only takes one.”

“Tomorrow, I want to go over her house again.  There has tobe something that points to her dealer.”

“Tomorrow?”

“This is a murder investigation.  We’ll work seven days aweek until we clear it up.”

“Murder?”

“What are the odds that Ms. Frye would be caught up in oursting, and then, just one week later, OD on Fentanyl?”

“If she was a user, I’d say they were pretty good.”

“I don’t think so.  I think someone was cleaning up afterthemselves.”

Matthew could see several of the detectives in the roomrolling their eyes, but he was with Detective Vaughn.  This really smelled of acleanup, and clearly, Frankie had thought so too.

“I want Frankie Sutton in here now!”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Mr. Sutton, police, open up!”

Frankie came to the door.  He opened it a few inches so hecould see the police officer.  “What do you want?  You can’t be here, I’m suingyou.”

“We’re aware of that, this is not about the lawsuit.  We’dlike you to come to the station.”

“What for?”

“We have some questions.”

Frankie pulled out his cellphone and punched a speed dialbutton.

“Hey, this is Frankie.  The cops just showed up at my door. They want me to go to the station with them.  . . . Uh-huh.  . . .  Okay.”

Frankie hung the phone up.  “My lawyer and I will meet youthere at one o’clock.”

“Mr. Sutton, it’s eight-thirty.”

“Hey, my lawyer is a busy man.  See you at one.”  With that,Frankie closed the door.

Matthew watched as the two detectives looked at each other. “Call Vaughn.”

The second detective pulled out a cell phone and dialed.

“Detective, he says his lawyer and he will meet us at thestation at one.  . . .  Yeah, I know he’s being anass, but what do you want us to do?”

“Well?” his partner asked after the detective hung up thecall.

“We’re to sit on him until he gets to the station.”

“Great.”

“Hey, there’s a Starbucks just down the street.  I’ll stayhere while you go get coffee.”

Matthew figured that nothing would happen until one, so hewould have time to go to the Golden Dragon and do his routine.  His lesson wasat 11:30, so he would be done in time to make it home before one.  He sentEmily a text explaining the situation.

‘Pick you up at 12:45’ Emily texted back.  She wasn’t goingto miss her chance to listen in on the interview.

◆ ◆ ◆

Matthew was just getting out of the shower when Emily showedup.  He quickly dressed in jeans and a polo shirt and ran out to meet her.

“We probably have lots of time.  I’m sure the lawyer andFrankie will talk before the lawyer lets the police question him.”

“But we want to hear what he tells the lawyer.”

“Isn’t that unethical?”

“Investigative reporter, remember.  We’re not building a caseagainst him.”

Matthew shook his head as he sat back in the seat.  He tookthe opportunity to check on Frankie who was just leaving for the policestation.  He got into a beat-up Camaro to make the drive.

They made it to Emily’s house and into the study beforeFrankie met his lawyer outside the police station.

“They’re just checking in,” Matthew told Emily.

“Great, now open it up so I can see and hear.”

Matthew and Emily sat on the sofa next to each other so theycould both see through the portal