Justice Lost (Darren Street #3)(57)
“Monday, but before you do, I need to ask you another question. How well do you know the TBI agents in the Knoxville office?”
“I know all of them pretty well.”
“I need an intro. And it needs to be a good one.”
CHAPTER 33
At Granny’s request, that Saturday night Claire and I made a trip up the mountain to visit the Tiptons. Granny hadn’t told me she was planning a party, but that’s exactly what it was. A victory party for the new district attorney of Knox County was being held on top of a mountain in Sevier County by a woman who had committed plenty of criminal acts during her lifetime and would no doubt commit more. It was cold on the mountain that night, so the extended Tipton family, several people I didn’t know, Claire, and I ate in Eugene’s house, which was much larger than Granny’s. It was one of those grand-scale log cabins, and it was beautiful. Once we’d eaten and the table was cleared, four guys started pulling musical instruments out of cases, and before I knew it, a full-blown, knee-slapping bluegrass concert was going on in Eugene’s living room. People spilled out onto the wraparound deck, and Eugene and Ronnie built a huge fire about a hundred feet from the cabin. I tried to stick with beer, but when the Tiptons were involved, moonshine inevitably became a part of the party. Even Claire gave in to Granny’s persuasion, and it wasn’t long before I saw her loosen up and look at me in a way that made me think I’d best keep my distance from her or we’d wind up doing something we’d later regret.
The people at the party were the Tiptons’ friends and employees. A few of them looked vaguely familiar—I’d probably seen them at the last party I’d attended at Granny’s—but for the most part I didn’t know a soul outside of the Tipton family and Claire. Granny had made an impromptu speech before we ate and announced to everyone that I was the new district attorney of Knox County and that some very lucrative new opportunities were going to be opening up for their family “business.” Everybody seemed to be in a fine mood, and I was definitely the guest of honor and the man of the hour.
There was something I wanted to talk to Granny about, though, and I was worried about how she would react. The Tiptons had made a great deal of money selling prescription drugs over the years. The market was huge and growing by the day. I didn’t know exactly how their operation worked, but Granny had obviously figured out a way to secure a reliable supplier because I hadn’t seen any signs that they were manufacturing the drugs. I figured the Tiptons then sold the pills to distributors, who sold to dealers, who sold to users. That was the way other operations I’d seen throughout my career worked, and they were probably the same. Granny had mentioned moving into Knox County when I was elected, but I didn’t want her dealing drugs in the county where I was the DA.
When I was doing the rubber-chicken circuit, I’d heard of all the devastation prescription pills were causing: the suicides, the overdoses, the breaking up of marriages and alienation of extended families, the extremely ugly damage the drugs had inflicted on innocent children. I’d decided I couldn’t condone it. I wanted to spend time and resources going after the people who brought drugs into the county and ruined people’s lives. I wanted to shut down doctors who operated pill mills. District attorneys around the country were banding together and beginning to file lawsuits against the drug manufacturers who made billions and didn’t give a damn about the carnage their products caused. I could handle the gambling, but I didn’t want to stand idly by and look the other way while Granny and her family imported drugs into Knox County.
I walked over to Granny, who was standing by the fire wrapped in a heavy coat and wearing a stocking cap on her head.
“Can we talk for a little while?” I said.
“Sure, let’s take a walk.”
There was no snow on the ground, but it was in the thirties, with a slight, damp breeze blowing. The ground was firm beneath my feet, and the fire cast a warm glow and caused shadows to jump along the ridges and trees that looked like ancient spirits who had come out to dance at the edge of the forest.
“Have you gotten started at your new job?” Granny said.
“I have. Didn’t have any choice, really, and I haven’t gotten much done. But I went in Wednesday and have been pretty much nonstop ever since. We even met with a bunch of employees for most of the day today.”
“Terrible what happened to Morris,” she said. “I suppose I could understand if they thought Morris would turn rat on them, but his wife? That wasn’t right.”
“They didn’t just kill his wife. They killed his girlfriend, too.”
“That young girl that was in the news that got murdered the same night? That was Morris’s girlfriend?”
“Yeah. Morris apparently gave her drugs to sell and to take. Talk about dating the wrong guy at the wrong time. And the lawyer who got shot in his car was Morris’s bagman. They definitely wanted to shut everybody up.”
“You got any ideas on who might have done it?” Granny said.
“I have suspicions. I was hoping you might help me out.”
“It was probably Roby Penn,” Granny said.
“Could have been,” I said. “I’ve been hearing about him for months, and none of it has been good.”
I didn’t know why, but I was uncomfortable sharing what I’d seen when I was sitting on the water the night Morris was killed. I didn’t want to tell her about the pearl-handled pistols. Besides, I couldn’t positively identify anyone. I hadn’t gotten a look at a single face.