The Fallen (Amos Decker #4)(98)
Probably.
He counted the number of boxes. There were twenty.
He carefully unpeeled the tape from one of the boxes and opened it. Inside was a thin layer of bubble wrap. And under the bubble wrap were a number of plastic bottles. They were all full of a white granular substance.
Thinking quickly, Decker put one bottle in his pocket, closed up the box, carefully retaped it, and put the box back on the shelf. He swung the door closed.
He glanced down at Ross’s chair. The seat was scuffed and marked and he knew why.
Decker was six-five. Ross was about five-nine. Unlike Decker, he had to stand on the chair to reach the spot that would open the door.
After checking through the blinds to make certain the hall was clear and then leaving them open, as they had been, Decker made his way out. Passing by the reception area, he spoke to the same woman.
“I actually couldn’t wait any longer. You don’t have to tell him I was here. I’ll catch up with him another time.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“No, thank you. Oh, one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“Is there a gym here for the employees?”
“A gym? No. Why?”
“Last time I was here I saw a gym duffel in Ross’s office. I thought it might have had workout clothes inside.”
“It probably does. He works out at my gym, right after he leaves here. Like clockwork. I sometimes work out with him. Doesn’t hurt to get in good with the boss.”
“Right. Does he change here or at the gym?”
She looked puzzled. “At the gym. They have locker rooms and showers.”
“Well, good to know he’s keeping in shape,” said Decker.
Really good to know, he thought as he hurried out.
Chapter 56
DECKER GOT INTO his truck and was about to drive out of the parking lot when he turned in the opposite direction and headed over to where the new construction was under way. He parked his car, got out, and walked as close to the construction site as he could. Workers were racing everywhere and forklifts and trucks and Bobcats were hurtling around carrying materials. Obviously, the police had allowed the work to recommence. Decker studied the activity for a bit and then took a closer look around the area. He spotted something, bent down, and picked it up. Examining it for a moment, he stuck it in his pocket. He got back into his truck and drove off.
On the way, he called Kemper and asked her to meet him in front of the Mercury Bar.
He was waiting for her when she pulled up. He climbed into the SUV, pulled out the bottle, and briefly described to her how he’d found it.
“Can you check to see what it is? I think I know, though.”
She looked at the bottle. “It’s almost certainly either heroin or fentanyl. They look the same, which is why dealers lace one with the other. Problem is, it takes thirty milligrams of heroin to kill someone, while it only takes three milligrams of fentanyl to do the same. So, you said you got this from a hiding place in Ted Ross’s office?”
“Yeah. And there’s a ton more in there. I think the shipments are coming in through the fulfillment center.”
“Why ship it there? Why not to his home or a PO box?”
“Far easier to search a home or PO box. The fulfillment center gets millions of packages. Like finding a needle in a haystack, if you’re the cops.”
“But don’t they track all those boxes pretty closely? How is he getting them out of the computer system there?”
“He’s the manager of the place. If anyone could think of a way, he could.”
“How did you even know he had a hiding place in his office?”
“Toby Babbot. He’d drawn plans of the fulfillment center. I found a set of official construction drawings and compared them. Babbot’s version showed only one discrepancy from the construction drawings. A two-foot-deep deviation in Ross’s office.”
“How’d Babbot find out about that?”
“He worked on the construction of the fulfillment center and later worked in the office there. He might’ve discovered it that way. I used a tape measure. Maybe he did the same.”
“Do you think he knew what Ross was going to do with that space?”
“Well, Babbot ended up dead, so chances are he did know, or at least suspected.”
“I’m surprised that Ross would keep this in his office.”
“It’s actually pretty secure. You can’t accidentally open the closet. He had to stand on a chair and turn a part of the molding to do it. And the panel was seamless. You could look at that wall all day and not know a door was there. And he had a Steelers jersey hanging there to disguise it further.”
“How did he have something like that installed and no one know about it?”
“He might have done it himself. He told me he worked construction before he moved on to the fulfillment center. Or maybe one or more of the construction guys is in on this and did it for him. As the manager, he had free run of the space and was overseeing all the construction work.”
“But how would a guy like Ted Ross get mixed up in a drug distribution operation?”
“He once described himself to me as the little guy, the underdog. And he said that when the little guy gets a chance to punch back, he needs to go for it. I think that was the reason he gave me the contact information for a lawyer for Amber to sue Maxus. He hates the big guys. And Alice Martin told me that his father, Fred, treated him and his mother really badly. Ted told me the same thing at the funeral. Maybe that screwed him up too. I can vouch for the fact that Fred Ross is a pretty unpleasant guy. That and a boatload of money would be a hell of a motive. Or maybe they approached him because he was the fulfillment center manager and they wanted to use that as their cover.”