Whispering Rock (Virgin River #3)(80)

Sadly it was common in police work to realize immediately who the bad guys were, yet not have the kind of probable cause or evidence required for a search warrant or arrest. Mike had deluded himself that it would be simpler in a town so small, where everyone seemed to know everything that was going on. But he faced the same problems in Virgin River as he had encountered in L.A.

After talking to Tommy and to twenty other teenagers, he had lists of names spread across several parties that had taken place from last May to recent months. There might have been even more, but Mike didn’t know about them. Mike made one trip to Garberville to talk to nineteen-year-old Brendan Lancaster, who, along with Tommy’s ex-friend Jordan Whitley, were the only two boys at every party. The few other names that turned up more than twice were probably shills—boys who were at the parties but didn’t have a clue as to what was going on. Mike could tell in the interview—the shills responded with confusion that seemed authentic, yet Whitley’s and Lancaster’s alleged confusion was obviously contrived. Very few girls’ names turned up more than once.

Where Mike got confused was the combination of drugs that caused people—girls, primarily—to pass out and possibly other drugs that hyped them up. It was a weird combination. Could there be roofies and either ecstasy or meth at the same party? Sounded like a smorgasbord—and a deadly one at that.

Mike was easily convinced that Tom Booth had no involvement with this group. He’d gone to one party at the rest stop out of curiosity, stayed less than an hour and had seen it wasn’t going anywhere good. He’d decided to get out of there before it went south in a hurry. He’d been to a friend’s house a couple of times before he met and started dating his girlfriend; beer was available but he’d never seen anyone passed out in any of those instances, probably because he’d never stayed long. He didn’t know many people, but he’d given the names of the ones he did know, and the names added up, once again, to Whitley and Lancaster.

“I’ll give you a clue,” Mel told Mike. “Your boy has chlamydia. If there’s more than one boy with chlamydia, they’re passing it around.”

“But I can’t get to it,” he told her.

“Then maybe you’ll have to catch him.”

“Maybe,” Mike said, and a picture of him staking out a teen party waiting for these boys to drug and rape an unsuspecting young girl was enough to make him want to throw up. He thought he was probably going to have to get some help, which would mean going to the sheriff again, yet all he had was a list of names of teenagers who’d been drinking, maybe smoking a little pot, and had nothing else to say. Until he came across something more significant, he had nothing to report to anyone. He’d just have to keep talking to these kids, get Zach Hadley to sharpen his ears at the high school, maybe catch a break.

It was nearing Thanksgiving and Mike was caught up in this caper when Paul issued an invitation to a dinner at the general’s house for Mike and Brie. It was Vanessa’s idea to welcome Brie to the community—a generous thought that was typical of her. While the general—who had command of his kitchen—and the women were occupied, Paul and Mike stood out at the corral with a couple of beers in the light dusting of a late-afternoon snow. They had just been talking about the fact that Tommy was working hard out at Jack’s homesite, really earning his money by keeping the site clean of construction trash, when he came riding up from one of the back trails with a girl on another horse.

“There’s Romeo now,” Paul said.

“New girlfriend?” Mike asked, squinting into the distance.

“The wonderful Brenda. He’s been after her forever. I think the horses finally cinched it for him.”

Oh, Jesus, Mike thought. This is going to freak her out. “Ah… Listen, there’s a situation. I’ll try to explain later, but do me a favor, okay? When they get up here, drag Tommy out of here. Tell him you need his help—firewood or something. I’ll take care of his horse. I need a minute with the girl.”

“Everything okay? Because she’s a nice girl….”

“Yeah, she’s a real nice girl. But I’ve had a little business with her—she’s not in any kind of trouble, I promise. If I don’t find a way to convince her I’d never talk to anyone about her, Tommy might lose his main squeeze over something as dumb as nerves. Cop nerves.”

“You been flashing that badge around, partner?”

“At the high school, yeah.”

“Oh, crap,” Paul said. “You better make this right because Tommy’s got his head screwed on straight after a little trouble with his dad, and it just might be due to the girl.”

“Yeah,” Mike said. “I can do this. Don’t worry.”

Sure enough, just as Mike expected, Brenda looked stricken when she spied Mike at the corral. She actually pulled back on the reins and slowed her mount. Mike tried sending her a signal, a narrowing of eyes and very slight shaking of his head, but she was a little lost. Scared. No way she wanted this new boyfriend to know what she’d gone through. No way she wanted to sit and tremble nervously through dinner with the cop.

“Tommy, buddy, help me out a sec, huh?” Paul said. “I need a hand getting in a load of wood. Mike will take care of your horse.”

“You sure?” he asked, dismounting. “Maybe Mike should do wood while I help Brenda with the horses.”