TUESDAY 9:11 A.M.
WE LEFT SLADE’S, HEADED DOWN PRATT, THROUGH FIVE POINTS, and swung by Mullins for breakfast. Mullins had been a Huntsville institution for decades. A low brick and metal building with a bright blue and yellow checkerboard sign out front and a noisy crowd inside. Pictures of old Huntsville decorated the faux brick interior walls.
We settled in a corner at one of the Formica-topped tables. Claire had a bagel. I had scrambled eggs and wheat toast. T-Tommy went for the Country Boy Special: three eggs as you like them, T-Tommy going for over easy, four strips of bacon, four link sausages, hash browns, pancakes, and toast.
“He’s got the tools and the skills,” T-Tommy said. “I’d put Slade at the top of the list.”
“He’s not alone up there,” I said. “He’s too shy to con someone into his car. He’s small and seems frail. Doubt he could overpower anyone. Definitely not Alejandro or Eddie. Maybe not even the two girls.”
We sat quietly for a minute, and then T-Tommy said, “If Alejandro grabbed girls for him, then how did Slade, or whoever the cutter is, take down Alejandro? I’d bet Alejandro was a pretty tough customer. And, as you said, Slade doesn’t look like a warrior.”
“Fentanyl?” Claire asked. “Like the two girls?”
“Good thought,” T-Tommy said. He grabbed his cell and made a call. Lasted about two minutes. He snapped the phone closed. “That was the lab in Birmingham. They were just finalizing their report. Eddie had fentanyl on board, too.”
“Well, well,” I said. “We have a pattern.”
“They’ll check Alejandro, too, won’t they?” Claire asked.
“Unfortunately, tox testing on Alejandro is worthless,” I said. “I’m sure he had a ton of drugs of all types during his surgery and his resuscitation. It would be a pharmaceutical soup.”
“What about the other victims?” Claire asked.
“They’re testing the ones with enough tissue left. It’ll take weeks if not months.”
T-Tommy took a gulp of coffee, the cup hidden in his massive hands. “Slade might be the cutter, but he didn’t do it at his place.”
“Everything points to Talbert,” I said. “No other explanation for Alejandro turning up nearby. Which means that Talbert and Kincaid are involved.”
“Hell of a conspiracy,” T-Tommy said.
“You saw that place,” Claire said. “Looks like a tight ship. Don’t think any of them could pull this off without the others knowing.”
The waitress swung by and refilled our coffee cups. “Anything else?”
We all declined, and she headed off to the kitchen.
I added some cream to my coffee and took a sip. “What I can’t get my head around is why? What’s the payoff for Kincaid and Talbert?” I glanced at T-Tommy. “As you said before, it can’t be for a handful of two-hundred-dollar surgical tools.”
“Then what?”
I shrugged. “No clue.”
“Only one way to find out,” T-Tommy said. “Answer’s somewhere inside Talbert.”
“Break into Talbert?” Claire asked. “I thought you’d decided that was a bonehead idea.”
I looked at T-Tommy.
He smiled.