Chapter 18
1002 Words
Nothing was ready. Concrete and paint were drying, plumbing and hardware still needed installed. Curtains needed hung. Tomorrow morning, the cabins would be hooked to water and electricity.
But he didn’t care. He was going to see Crystal tonight if he had to rent a room.
His phone buzzed with a new text.
Mark: Call me ASAP
Uh oh. He dialed Mark’s number.
“Hey, brother. Is Crystal with you?” Mark answered without saying hello.
“No, why?” Mike asked, a sense of dread filling him.
“There’s a federal agent here that wants to speak to Crystal.”
Mike’s phone pinged, alerting him to another text.
Crystal: We’re leaving now. Kristy says there’s a BP truckstop on Hwy. 63. Is that a good meeting spot?
“Crystal’s on her way back from training in St. Louis,” Mike relayed to his brother.
“Hold on a minute.” Mike could tell Mark covered the phone with his hand.
“Ok, I’m back. Do you expect her tonight? The Marshall would like to speak to her immediately.”
“I’ll have to call you back,” Mike told his brother. “She hitched a ride with a new friend.”
Jesus. This is not the Welcome to Your New Home I had envisioned at all.
He texted Crystal back: That’s perfect. Do you have an ETA?
Crystal: 7:30ish if we can get through this traffic!
Mike: Let me know when you’re close! I can’t wait to see you!
Next, he texted Mark: She should be back around 7:30.
Mark: The Marshall is headed your way now. He said he’d be expecting you at the Schuyler County Sheriff’s Department.
Mike: Is it bad news?
Mark: I don’t know. He wouldn’t give me any information.
Mike: Great. Thanks for the head’s up.
**
Marshall Slaughter had done his homework. Crystal had been busy working and putting herself through school back in California. A work or school record covered her whereabouts during all of the dates he had looked into. He was positive she wasn’t involved. He still had to ask her questions though.
Caleb Pierce and Allen Ames’ real estate business was a cover up for a s*x trafficking ring. What Slaughter hadn’t determined yet, was who their investor was.
Outside of deposits from an entry level position Caleb held at an advertising agency, the rest of Caleb’s deposits to the bank were made in cash. Further investigation revealed that Caleb dabbled in coins. Investigators were working to obtain records from local coin dealers and see if there were matches between any of the cash deposits and coin sales. Most of the transactions didn’t amount to more than a few hundred dollars, but if Caleb was finding these coins in his pocket change, he was one lucky man. They already knew one coin had sold on eBay for $3,000.
It was more likely Caleb was being paid in rare coins or was stealing them.
So what was Ames’ story? Investigators had found little to attach his deposits, also mostly in cash, to. He appeared to have no job, no hobbies, no relatives who were sending cash. Nothing. Ames hadn’t even been Caleb’s beneficiary until 2012. About the time Crystal had tracked down her brother and went to live with him. Before that, Crystal had been Caleb’s beneficiary.
Slaughter had traced Ames’ movements around the country, with his dead friend’s sister in tow, living off the insurance money and ignorantly using his debit card everywhere he went.
What was Ames looking for?
**
Mike was at the truckstop shortly after 7 pm. Crystal had texted from Kirksville to say both she and her friend had to have a bathroom break but would make it as fast as possible.
Crystal: I told her how hot you were and that I needed to hurry
He couldn’t help the huge grin despite his worry over what the Marshall wanted. He walked Squeaker around the little truckstop and chatted with a trucker who pulled in for fuel. He had always loved talking to truckers when he got to go out on the road with his uncle.
When the red Corolla pulled in, Mike told the driver, “Keep the dirty side down and the shiny side up!”
“10-4, sir. Go get your lady friend,” the weathered faced driver said with a wink. “Be a good boy, Squeaker!”
The car was barely in park when the passenger side door flew open and Crystal hopped out. They reached each other in equal strides and Mike bent to kiss her as soon as his free arm could grab her.
“Hi,” she said, breaking the kiss when Kristy cleared her throat behind them.
“Hi, back,” he grinned. “Let’s get your stuff so your friend can get going.”
“Yeah.” Crystal introduced the two.
Mike tried to give Kristy money after Crystal’s suitcase and backpack were retrieved, but her new friend refused. “I want an invite to the parties,” she laughed.
“Fair enough!” Mike laughed back.
“I’ll text you,” Crystal promised.
Mike kissed Crystal again. “I’m so happy you’re here! Unfortunately, I have some disappointing news.”
Crystal’s face lost some of its color.
“Am I fired?” She asked.
“Oh, no!! Nothing like that!” Mike sighed. “First, the cabins aren’t quite ready yet. Our sleeping accommodation choices are a tent or a hotel.”
Crystal laughed, relieved. “I’m ok with either one as long as you’ll be there, too.”
“Of course,” he half smiled. “The other news is we have to go meet with a Federal Marshall and neither Mark nor I know why.”
“Tonight?”
“Unfortunately. Yeah.”
“Ugh. Well that kinda kills my plans to strip you down in a tent.”
“Hold that thought. The night’s still young,” he winked.
- Writer
