What She Found (Tracy Crosswhite #9)(84)
“And you believe he received a reduced sentence because he told the authorities about this raid on his boat in 1995. But as far as you have been able to determine, no charges were ever brought against the drug task force or any of its members.”
“Or anyone else, for that matter.”
Cerrabone gave this some thought as he sipped his pink lemonade. He set down the glass. “Let’s take this one step at a time.
Anything related to the confiscation of drugs from the fishing trawler Egregious would have been within the purview of the FBI or the DEA.”
“That’s what I’d suspect.”
“I’ll ask around, see if I can get a copy of the agreement. As to why no charges were brought, I would suspect it has to do with the statute of limitations. The federal limitation on the prosecution of most non-capital offenses, including all drug crimes, is five years from the date of the offense, in this case the theft of the cargo on board the Egregious.”
“What about arguing it was a conspiracy among the members of this force and possibly others?”
“Then the statute of limitations begins to run on the date of the last act in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
“What exactly is the last act in a case like this?”
“The easy answer is, if the crime is ongoing—meaning they kept the boat and used it or they continue to hide the money—then the statute doesn’t come into play. But you’re talking about more than twenty-five years, Tracy. How are you going to prove the crime is ongoing? I would suspect the money was divided up and spent.”
Tracy thought of Moss Gunderson and Keith Ellis and their purchase of a golf membership. She thought of Rick Tombs living in a $2 million home on a golf course. Cerrabone was likely correct.
“That’s for the theft of the drugs, and all the other things they may have been doing,” Cerrabone said. “The murder of the harbormaster, however, doesn’t have a statute of limitations, nor would a charge of negligent manslaughter, which is what I would likely bring for the deaths of the two crewmen who panicked and jumped overboard, but you said those who took that ship wore facial coverings, that their identities were concealed.”
“True.”
“You have no evidence they were part of this task force.”
“What I was told is that David Slocum overheard one of the officers use the term ‘sergeant.’”
“That’s it?”
Tracy knew it was thin, at best. Especially since it was unlikely Jack Flynt would ever testify and risk violating the agreement he signed.
“The harbormaster can’t testify, and the captain might be able to testify as to the two men who drowned, but you’re not exactly talking about the most credible witness, and you still can’t pinpoint this drug task force. Tell me what you do have,” Cerrabone said.
“What if I could convince Jack Flynt, the captain of the Egregious, to testify that the crewmen jumped overboard during the raid because they thought they were going to be killed?”
“Which might put Flynt himself at risk since he was engaged in an illegal act, and therefore it could be argued he recklessly caused their deaths. If that indeed happened and if, which I doubt, he mentioned it when he made his deal. So again, he isn’t credible. A good lawyer would carve him up and say he was making it up and looking to make another deal. It also doesn’t get you any closer to the Last Line.”
“Del could testify that David Slocum told him that he told Moss Gunderson that there was a raid on the Egregious two nights before the two men floated up to the marina.”
“A lot of ‘he told’ layers. It’s hearsay, but with Slocum dead, it probably comes in, but again why didn’t Del bring this up earlier, and again, it doesn’t put the Last Line officers on the boat. Not enough, Tracy. What else?”
She fought against growing frustration. “What if I could get Moss to testify he told Rick Tombs about Slocum knowing about the raid, and Tombs cut him in on the take?”
“Why would Moss do that?”
“We could offer him some type of immunity.”
“Only if there’s a threat he’s going to jail. There isn’t. If he cut a deal and took the money, the statute bars those claims. You’re asking him to impugn his reputation. There’s no reason for him to do so. You have no leverage.”
“Anita Childress can testify as to her mother’s notes about her meeting with the harbormaster.”
“Do the notes say she was meeting with the harbormaster?”
“No, but we have the record indicating Lisa Childress received a phone call from the Shell gas station earlier that night, which is right up the street from the marina.”
“Again, it’s thin. It doesn’t mean the call was from the harbormaster.”
“Yes, but Slocum died, and Childress went missing on the same night, and I can put the can of bear spray at that site, and Larry Childress can testify he gave his wife bear spray before she left the house that night to meet with a source for one of her stories. Which puts Childress at the site when or shortly after Slocum was killed.
Why would she go unless it was Slocum who called her from the gas station? Dennis Hopper will testify Slocum used the pay phone at the station because he was paranoid he’d get busted for his grow operation.”
“That’s not bad, but the defense will argue you can’t prove it’s the can of bear spray, but a can of bear spray . . . Did you check it for fingerprints?”