The Reed Ferguson Mystery series Box Set 3 Read online

  “Like how much?”

  “Over sixty thousand. And she’s had trouble finding work, so she gets a job at a weed store.”

  “Bet it doesn’t pay much.”

  I thought about the salary Jodie said I’d be “making”. It wasn’t much. “She gets this new process, she can pay off her debt.”

  “And be sitting pretty afterward,” he said. “No job worries.”

  “It’s too easy,” I said. “She’s practically served herself up on a platter.”

  “Criminals aren’t cunning. Most of them, anyway. I’ve got to get back to work. You need anything else?”

  “As a matter of face, yes. I need you to come down to Blue Light and look at Jude’s computer.”

  His sigh was audible through the phone, long and put-upon. “How am I going to get in?”

  I thought about that, then snapped my fingers. “I’ll call Jodie and she can let us in the warehouse. We’ll sneak past everyone that way.”

  He moaned. “I’ve got a bad feeling about it.”

  “Hey, remember what you said about wanting a challenge?”

  “I withdraw it.”

  “Too late,” I said. “I park in a lot on Blake Street. Meet me there tomorrow morning at eleven.”

  “Is that all?”

  “Did you hack into Jude’s network computer?”

  Another sigh. “I’ll do it tonight. Are we finished?”

  “One last thing.”

  “Reed…” he whined.

  “Thanks for the help. Sincerely.”

  A long pause ensued.

  “Yeah, okay. No problem.” He hung up without fanfare.

  I sat for a moment, mulling over the day and what I’d learned about Ivy. It was too easy.

  Turns out I was correct.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I called Jodie the next morning at nine. Willie was having breakfast with a friend, and I’d managed to avoid the conversation about cleaning the condo. For now.

  “Hey,” Jodie said wearily.

  After a quick conversation about her friend and the uneventful remainder of her evening, in which she assured me that she did not get high, I launched into my plan for the morning.

  “Can you let Cal and me in through the warehouse, around ten?”

  “Sure, I’m here now. Why don’t you call when you get to the alley door and I’ll come down and let you in?”

  “Great. Will Wes or Heath be in today?”

  “They usually don’t come in on Sundays. Everyone else will be in.”

  “When do your employees get a day off?”

  “We’ve got too much to do right now. That’s why we’re hiring, but until then, it’s all hands on deck. It’ll smooth out eventually, but we’ve been swamped since legalization.”

  “Okay,” I said, not thrilled that so many people would be around. “We’ll have to be careful getting Cal upstairs. I don’t know how long it’ll take him, but I’ll stay with him until it’s time for my shift. Then I’ll go through the warehouse and out the back, walk around and come in the front. When Cal’s finished, he can text me and you or I can make sure he gets out unseen.”

  “You’ve got it all figured out,” she said.

  “Piece of cake.”

  Cal’s beat-up Honda Civic rolled into the lot on Blake Street right at eleven. For all of his posturing about how annoyed he was to help me, he was prompt.

  He parked and got out. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

  “Are you kidding? Hacking into computers is your forte,” I said. “This’ll be fun for you.”

  He frowned, but he wasn’t fooling me. He was looking forward to the challenge.

  “Uh-huh. How’s this going to work?”

  “Jodie will let us in.”

  “Where?”

  “There’s an alley entrance.”

  “Who’s going to see us?”

  “Would you re-lax?” I said. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

  “I’ve heard that before,” he muttered. Then he said, “I did a background check on Wes and Heath.”

  “What’d you find?”

  “Did you know that Wes was sued?” he asked.

  “Really? What for?” I asked as I guided him across the street.

  “He started a new business, oil speculations, and got into trouble with that. One of his partners sued.”

  “That’s interesting. I wonder if Jude knew that.”

  “Or Jodie,” he said. “He had to pay back a lot of money.”

  “Then how did he have money to invest here?” I pulled out my phone.

  “Who’re you calling?” he demanded.

  “Jodie. She needs to let us in. Cal, it’s okay. Calm down.”

  “Oh, all right. It looks like he borrowed money from some family businesses,” Cal continued. “There were lots of transfers from some Texas businesses to his accounts, and then he transferred the money to Blue Light.”

  “So he needs Blue Light to pay out big,” I said. “Or, he steals their new process and sells it.”

  “And he pays off those he borrowed money from,” Cal finished. “I checked Blue Light’s network, too.”

  “And?”

  “Pretty standard stuff. I didn’t have time to go through all of the documents, but I didn’t see anything telling either. No files that appeared password-protected or anything like that.”

  “Well, if it comes to that, I guess I can search the documents,” I said.

  “Now that I’ve helped, can I go home?”

  I was laughing when Jodie answered my call and said she’d be down in a moment. We paused near the alley entrance and I looked around. No one was on the street, and the alley appeared empty.

  “Let’s go,” I whispered, although I wasn’t sure why. The scene dictated it, I guess.

  We stole into the shadows and hurried to the back entrance. After a few moments of tense waiting, the door opened outward.

  “Come on,” Jodie said. We stepped past her and into the warehouse.

  Cal gasped when he saw the growing operation. “Wow.” He shielded his eyes and looked around. “I’ve read about this, but…wow.”

  “You want some?” Jodie asked. “I can get you some samples. Kind of a thank-you for helping out.”

  Cal turned deep red. “No, haven’t used…I mean…uh…”

  Was Jodie making him nervous? I almost laughed. I introduced them and the red flowed up to Cal’s ears.

  “Nice to meet you,” Cal mumbled.

  “Likewise.” Jodie smiled and he remained speechless.

  “Hey, we’ve got to get upstairs,” I said over the sounds of the fans.

  “Oh, of course.” She turned around. “Follow me.”

  We headed down a row between plants. Cal was ahead of me and I watched his head bob back and forth as he took in everything. We reached the front section of the warehouse. Jodie went through the doorway and then backpedaled into Cal. I, in turn, ran into him.

  “What the –” he said.

  “What’s the matter?” I muttered, then stopped because Jodie was frantically waving a hand to shush us.

  She pushed us to the side. “It’s Wes!” she said, just loud enough to be heard over the din in the room. “He’s coming this way!”

  We rushed around behind some tall plants and ducked down. A moment later, Wes entered the back room, looking so different from the rest of the crew in jeans, Izod shirt, and Ray-Bans. He strolled down the aisle next to us and paused just to our left. None of us dared to move. He examined a couple of plants, took out a small pair of scissors and a small Ziploc bag from his pocket, snipped some leaves from one of the plants, then put them in the bag and sealed it. Both bag and scissors went back in his pocket and he continued down the aisle toward the back of the warehouse. I realized that, depending on which way he turned when he reached the end of the aisle, we would either remain safely hidden, or he'd be staring right down at us.

  I pointed to the back of the warehouse, where
Wes might appear, then jerked my head back, indicating we needed to scram before Wes saw us. I scooted to the end of the row, toward the front room, Jodie and Cal on my heels. I took a couple of steps forward and glanced down the aisle next to us. Wes was at the far end of the row, looking at another plant. He snipped a sample from it, then disappeared around the end of the row.

  I jerked my head and we dashed through the doorway to the front room. We had to stop again when we saw Ivy in the doorway to the lab, talking to Pete. After a few minutes, she left for the store. Who the hell else was around? I thought. We hurried through the rows of plants to the hallway and upstairs. We didn’t stop until we were safely ensconced in Jude’s office. I quietly shut the door and locked it.

  “That was close,” Jodie said. Little rivulets of sweat ran down her cheeks. She wiped them away as she struggled to calm herself.

  “I’m going to have a heart attack,” Cal said, a hand pressed to his chest. He leaned against the wall by the door, then slowly sank to the floor. He glared up at me. “Why do I let you talk me into this stuff?”

  “I thought you said Wes wasn’t coming in today!” I hissed at Jodie.

  “He wasn’t supposed to be.” She stood in front of Jude’s desk with her hands on her hips. “And what was he doing taking samples from the plants?”

  “He doesn’t usually do that?” I asked.

  “No. He’s like Heath, an investor. He doesn’t do anything with the growing process.”

  “Or so you thought,” I said.

  Cal had managed to get back to his feet. “Okay, what do you want me to do?”

  I pointed at the computer on the small wooden desk in the corner. “Get into that computer and let us know what’s on it.”

  He nodded, went to the table and sat down. After a couple of dramatic breaths, he punched a button and the computer hummed to life.

  “How long will it take you?” Jodie asked him.

  “Depends on how hard his password is,” he muttered.

  Cal set to work and I sat down at Jude’s desk. Jodie fell into the chair across from me.

  I shot her a hard look. “I thought you said Wes and Heath wouldn’t be in today,” I repeated.

  “I was as surprised as you,” she said. “I’ve hardly ever seen them in on Sunday.”

  “And you’ve never seen Wes messing with the plants?” I asked.

  “No, never,” she said. “There’s no reason for him to be back there or taking samples. I don’t know what that was about.”

  “Unless he’s experimenting, too.” I rested my elbows on the desk, laced my fingers and rested my chin on them.

  “There’s no way he knows about our new process.” She shook her head vehemently. “No way. All the research is on Jude’s computer.”

  “And in Jude’s notebook in the shed.”

  “But it wasn’t everything,” she insisted.

  “Unless it was in that missing section.”

  She started to speak, then stopped. “No, Jude kept all the important information on that computer.” But she didn’t sound all that confident.

  “Then we better hope Cal can hack into it,” I said.

  “No pressure,” he said as he sat hunched over the keyboard.

  We watched him and waited.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Making any progress?” I asked after a few minutes.

  “He didn’t go with the usual passwords,” Cal said. “I’m having to get creative here.”

  “You can get in, right?” Jodie asked skeptically.

  Cal turned his head slowly and glared at her.

  “Don’t worry, he’s good,” I said quickly, before he snapped at her. I glanced at the clock. “I should be reporting to work soon, so why don’t we leave him here?” I turned to Cal. “You can text me when you get in.” Jodie started to protest, but I interrupted. “It’ll look funny if Wes or another employee comes up here and realizes you’re not in your office or the warehouse, and we can’t afford to have anyone come in here looking for you.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” She stood up. “I’ll lock the door so no one can get in.”

  If Cal heard her, he didn’t acknowledge it. I went to the door and opened it a crack. Even from here, I thought I heard the fans humming down below.

  “No one’s around,” I whispered. “I’ve got to get out the back door and come around the front.”

  “Let me go first,” Jodie said. “If I see anyone, I’ll start talking and you can hide.”

  “Good plan.” I turned one last time to Cal, but he was too focused on the computer to notice us. “Let’s go,” I said to her.

  She moved to the door. I opened it wide and she stole into the hallway. She got to the stairs and motioned for me to follow her. I tiptoed after her, down the stairs and into the warehouse. She was ahead of me by twenty feet and she glanced over her shoulder and waved me on. I made it through the front room and into the back. I momentarily panicked when I didn’t see Jodie, but then I spied her going down the next aisle. I hurried after her and we arrived at the back door without incident.

  “I’ll be around front at noon,” I said. “I need to be around Ivy today, so I can see if she knows anything about the break-in.”

  “Oh, what she’s been up to…” She strung together an impressive array of curse words. “It just burns me.”

  “I know,” I said, looking her straight in the eye. ‘”But you can’t act like you know anything. Not until I figure this out.”

  “Okay, okay,” she said. “I’ll come down at noon and tell you what to do, make it official.”

  The door closed quietly behind me and I was alone in the alley. I had about twenty minutes, so I went down the street to a hot dog stand by Coors Field, where the Colorado Rockies were playing. I snarfed down a hot dog and chips, and made it back to Blue Light right at noon.

  Bill and Ivy were at their usual spots behind the counter when I came in. Echo & The Bunnymen, another favorite band of mine, was playing in the background. The slight odor of mint filled the air – not what I expected – but no customers were in the store.

  “Hey,” Bill said with a slight nod of his head, smiling casually at me.

  I nodded back. “You guys have a good night?”

  “It was cool.” The smile never left Bill’s face.

  Ivy’s eyes, on the other hand, carried an ominous threat. “What’d you do?”

  “Not much.” I sidled to the end of the counter and was rescued from further chit-chat when Jodie appeared.

  “Oh, good. You’re here,” she said to me. She played her part to perfection, asking me how I was doing and how I liked working there so far. After I answered, she continued. “I want you to help out here today, okay?” She motioned for Ivy to come over. “Have Reed help you with all the front counter stuff.”

  “Sure thing,” Ivy said. She looked tired and her eyes were bloodshot. “We’ll whip him into shape.” I wasn’t sure I liked her tone.

  Jodie glanced around the store and then left. Ivy rubbed her hands together. “We’re going to have some fun today.” I couldn’t tell if the glint in her eyes was more threat or genuine pleasure at teaching me more of the business. I’d bet the former…

  “What do you need me to do?” I asked, trying to ignore her demeanor.

  “I’m going to have you work on the inventory, and how to weigh and label things. And learn the register.”

  “Sounds good,” I said, inwardly cringing at the tasks. It didn’t seem very exciting, and sure enough, it wasn’t.

  Ivy showed me how to weigh and note various varieties of weed, and after that, she put me in the room behind the counter where I again separated seeds. There was a lot to separate, and I sighed as I sat down. Such a tedious task. I worked by myself for an hour and then Ivy came back in. She shut the door, but stood there, armed crossed, watching me.

  “How’s it going?” she finally asked.

  “Good.” I mustered up as much cheer as I could. I glanced at h
er. “You look tired. Big party last night?”

  “I was up pretty late.”

  “I used to be able to party late and be up early,” I said. “But I can’t do that anymore. Getting old sucks.”

  “I wasn’t partying.”

  “Oh?”

  She sat down next to me. “I was working, conducting experiments.”

  “Yeah?”

  “And,” she said in a low voice, “I figured some things out.”

  I stopped for a second. “Like what?”

  “It’s complicated. You wouldn’t understand.”

  She was right, but it was still insulting. I brushed that off and said, “Do you know the new process?”

  “No, I’ve got some good notes, though.”

  “Uh-huh.” My pulse was racing. Was she admitting she had the missing section of Jude’s notebook? “Do you have them here? I might be able to help.”

  “How?”

  “I have a minor in chemistry,” I lied, hoping I wasn’t digging my grave. If she got too technical, I was screwed.

  “Why didn’t you mention that yesterday?”

  “You didn’t ask.”

  Her eyes bore into me. “This is serious. If you think you can help, we should talk.”

  “Maybe we should,” I said. “I’ve been giving this some thought.”

  “And?”

  I paused. “Let’s talk later.”

  “Okay.” She continued staring at me.

  “Where were you the night Jude died?” I finally asked.

  “Not here,” she snapped. “And isn’t it a little late to ask that?”

  “Maybe.” I focused on my work.

  She opened the door. “I’m going to take a break. Want to join me?”

  I guess “later” meant now. “Sure.”

  I started to clean up.

  “Don’t worry about that,” she said.

  “Oh, right.” I followed her out of the room and into the store.

  “We’re taking a break,” she told Bill.

  “Sure.” He swayed to the music, the smile still on his face.

  Ivy opened a cupboard door under the counter, and grabbed a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her purse. “You smoke?”