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

hundred seventy thousand,” Matthewprovided the exact number as he came back on deck.

“That’s quite a bit.”

“That’s his monthly take.  He makes a trip every fourweeks.”  Matthew sat down on the passageway to the cabin, facing Emily andAgent Peters.

“And you know this how?”

“I checked his calendar.  It shows him making a trip to theCaymans every four weeks and a trip to Catalina two weeks later.”

“How does Catalina fit in?”

“I think he’s smuggling the pills in from Mexico.”

“And what leads you to that opinion?”

“The plane that was supposed to fly from Fallbrook toCatalina landed at Long Beach Airport.  The numbers on its tail were the sameas the numbers on the plane we were on.”

“You can’t have two aircraft with the same numbers.”

“You’re not supposed to.”

“I know, but traffic control would notice right away.”

“Not if the numbers were painted using digital ink.”

Agent Peters gave Matthew a confused look.

“The color switches from white to black when you applycurrent.”

“Oh,” Agent Peters mouthed.  “And they must switch thetransponder codes as well.”

“Right.  I assume they chose Catalina and Long Beach becausethe flight paths intersect, at different altitudes of course.  They must switchover as they cross each other’s path.  Then they just finish the other plane’sflight.”

“And you’re tying him to the drugs because of that and themoney?”

“We were,” Matthew said with a smug smile.

“Matt!” Emily slapped him on the arm.

“I checked the pallet on that plane while we were waiting toget thrown off.  The outer boxes are full of PC boards.  But the ones in themiddle of the pallet are filled with shoeboxes and the shoes are full of pills,at least it felt like bags of pills.”

“Clever.”

“I think so.  And on Tuesday he’ll be mailing them to hisdistributors.”

“And you know this how?”

Because one of the distributors got a new batch of pills lastmonth on a Wednesday.  And I’ve also seen him picking up a bunch of packagesthat look like they have paperback books in them.  I’m guessing that’s themoney from his distributors.”

“Wait.  You mean the distributors ship him the money beforethey get the pills?”  Agent Peters was flabbergasted.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around, but that’s thebeauty of his scheme.  The money and the pills are never in the same place atthe same time.”

“But how does he keep his people honest?”

“Greed.”

“That makes people dishonest.”

“Come on.  If someone made a business proposition that youwould earn fourteen thousand dollars a week as long as you shipped him his cutof one hundred fifty thousand, wouldn’t that keep you honest?”

“I don’t know.”

“You would only be able to steal once, and that’s only tenweeks of your cut, and you’d risk him putting a hit out on you.  You see, he knowseverything about his people, but they don’t know anything about him.”

“I don’t know; I guess you’d want to keep the gravy trainrunning.”

“Exactly, and I don’t think he’s using gang members.  The twodealers I’ve discovered are both college students and the distributor is anaccountant for a big company.  So, they’re probably looking at the bigpicture.”

“I should call this in.”

“Won’t help.  Both planes have already unloaded and flown offto someplace else.  How would you get a warrant?”

“Right.”

“And are you going to check in?  Graham thinks you’re dead. Don’t you think he’s got a source that would alert him if you show up alive?”

“Damn, I know that, but what can I do?  I’ve got nothing withme, where can I stay?”

“I think we can help you.  Emily has a platinum card,”Matthew said with a little laugh.

“Matt!  You’re going to have to pay me back.”

“I can pay you back once we clear this up,” Agent Peterssaid.  “But I’m not sure how long that will take.”

“It won’t be long,” Matthew said.  “I’m pretty sure I have itall figured out.  I’m going to review some things until we get back.”  Withthat, he moved to the deck in front of the boat and lay down.

“What?!” Agent Peters cried.

“Leave him alone,” Emily hissed.  “I think he’s exhausted. It takes a lot out of him to keep his portal open for so long.  He’ll go overthings in his head, but I think he’ll probably fall asleep.”

“Sure, why not,” Agent Peters said.  She was obviouslyfrustrated at not being in control and not being able to get all the facts, butshe figured she had to play along for a bit.

Chapter 13Making a Case

They went to the hotel where Matthew and Agent Peters manageda quick shower before they checked out.  Matthew changed into the clothes he’dbrought along, and Emily gave Agent Peters her extra clothes to change into. She and Emily were almost the same size and anything was better than the salt-encrustedclothes Agent Peters was wearing.

After they checked out, they took the ferry back to DanaPoint.  Fortunately, Emily had opted for the Mercedes instead of her Boxsterfor the long trip so there was room for Agent Peters.

Once they were on the road, Agent Peters couldn’t stand itanymore.  “Okay, are you going to start talking, or do I have to take you in?”

“If you’re going to arrest me, you’ll need this.”  Matthewreached into the pocket of his cargo shorts and pulled out a wallet.

“My badge!”

“I thought you might want it?”

“How?”

“Once they finished searching me, I grabbed our wallets.  Ididn’t want to leave mine on the plane and yours was right there.”

“Whew, at least I didn’t lose my badge.  It’s going to behard enough to explain losing my gun, but my badge would have been anightmare.”

“We can get your gun back.”

“How?!  . . . Where is it?”

“In the warehouse with the pallet that was on the plane.”

“And the drugs?”

“Graham took those with him; besides, how would you get awarrant?”

“Speaking of warrants, are you going to start talking?”

“Sure.  But first, you’re telling me that you had no ideaabout the plane or Graham?”

“No I didn’t, I was just following that idiot Jimmy.  He’s beenselling pure cocaine, and so I was following him to try and find the source.”

“And he just happened to get tapped to replace the sick guyand go get the crate.”

“Weird coincidence.  But let’s get back to Graham.”

“Okay, I think I’ve got it all figured out.  I’ll take youthrough