Chapter 33

Matt pulled his car up to where he could unload their bags. “Jess, Kip will pick you up at the airport. He’ll meet you at baggage.” He took their bags out of the trunk of the car and pulled her close.

She sighed in his arms. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I’ll be back as soon as the interrogation part is done.” He searched her face, taking his fill. “I’ll call you tonight. I’m going to miss you, too.” He gave her a quick kiss. He hated goodbyes. “I need to move the car. I’ll see you in a few days. Dylan promised to keep an eye out for you. If you need something, don’t hesitate to call him.”

“Okay,” She smiled and turned to collect her belongings.

He pulled her back into his arms and kissed her one more time. “Jess, keep your eyes open. I don’t think there should be any more trouble, but I don’t know.”

She nodded at him and walked away. Dropping her things by Sadie’s feet, she ran back to him, pulled his head down, and kissed him passionately. “Goodbye, sweetheart.” She strolled away, collected her things again, and turned to wave.

He stood staring at her, his mouth open, barely holding himself back from running after her. It might be nice to take things up where she had just left off.

“Hey, fella, let’s move that car out of here.” The officer smiled at him.

He got in and started the car. What was that about? He would take it up with her again the next time he saw her. He smiled and was still smiling when he walked into the station.

The volume of Irwin’s angry shouts could he heard in Tony’s office. “Has he been going on like this all night?”

“Yes, sir, all night.” Tony handed him a pair of earplugs. “We’ve issued them to everybody.”

Matt grinned and put them in his ears. It made the noise manageable. “Did you have time to do some checking on the text I sent you? I sent it to a couple others, and I’ve gotten some replies.”

“I have, and I think Jessie was in the ballpark with her guess.”

“I figured she nailed it. Maxwell found some links between the new group and an old FBI agent from the Harvest Club who’s in prison. Jeremy found out that Irwin traveled a lot overseas. That’s how he began to dabble in the darker arts. He’s into it and knows enough to scare people. We know now that he killed with it, too. Two men died in their beds, apparently both of them healthy, with expressions of terror on their faces. The autopsy said respiratory failure.”

“I wonder if that’s what almost happened to me.” Tony rubbed his neck. “If Jessie hadn’t riled him, maybe I wouldn’t be here.” Tony looked thoughtful. “I’ve never believed in this stuff, but now I’m not sure.”

“From every indication of what we have right now, Irwin may have been hired to keep the recruits under control. He screwed it up because of his weakness for Adriana.”

“Did I tell you a couple of other stores that had explosives, too? One is a famous restaurant here in town. They hadn’t set the timers yet. Whoever they were, they had some big plans.” Tony opened the file on his desk.

“I got an email from Tom Maxwell. They confiscated Zach’s computer from his prison cell.” Matt noticed Tony’s perplexed expression. “Zach was an FBI agent who tried to have it both ways. He gathered information from the cops and fed it to the club. It held a description of a display for the weapons buyers. It looks like it was planned to coincide with some major event in late spring. Maxwell figures it has to be something televised. An event that cable news would pick up and it could air around the world.”

“It has to be our Annual Golf Tournament in the spring.” Tony frowned. “That would have gotten them noticed, that’s for damn sure. How did Mallory fit in?”

“He was in prison with some of the members of the old Harvest Club for a while. I think they hired him as their muscle man. Irwin was going to use and control him. They have a kind of sick history together. But, Irwin messed it up by finding and wanting Adriana.” Matt handed Tony a copy of the file. “We’re still piecing it all together, but we should know soon who the control person is outside of the prison. Right now, I do know that a few of the HC members in prison are getting some payouts to offshore accounts. Someone is running the operation from prison, and someone is on the outside.”

“It sounds like another big case. We were able to find out who owned the trailer, but he checked out okay. He had leased it out through a leasing agency to someone out of state. Here’s the information. We’re checking on it now.”

“I don’t think I’ll be surprised by anything anymore.” Matt smiled crookedly. “I probably shouldn’t say that. Each time there is some surprising element involved.”

“What did Jessie do to rile Irwin up?”

Matt told him what Jessie had relayed to him. “That’s when he came bursting through the door.”

“She’s one gutsy lady even though I don’t understand any of it.”

“The truth is, I don’t think she does. She’s just learned to live with it.”

Tony answered his phone. “Okay, we’ll be right there.” Tony stood up. “They’re ready for us. We have something to hold over Irwin’s head. The body we found was that of his late wife, and hers was death by asphyxiation. “

“What about the other one?” Matt asked Tony.

“She was a missing coed from NYU. It looks like Irwin had a bit of a problem.”

“Makes you wonder if there are any more missing girls. Let’s hope Irwin is ready to talk.” Matt followed Tony to the interrogation room. The closer Matt got to the room; the louder the yelling was. “This is liable to be bad.” He saw Tony nod.