A Time to Live and a Thyme for Murder! (Outer Banks Baker Mystery Series Book 3) (7 page)

The plan to infiltrate the party worked like a charm. Tanner even gave Logan an impromptu lesson on how to walk and talk like a beach bum stoner. Logan wasn’t comfortable in the role, but played his role well for a novice. There was a DJ blaring tunes from a makeshift stage at the front of the warehouse and beer kegs set up all around. Within minutes both boys smelled like stale beer as other party goers sloshed their drinks on them as they passed by. Logan inwardly cringed. He knew he would have to throw his clothes away before Aunt Mel got a whiff of them. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the tell-tale odor of pot being smoked wafted around the enclosed warehouse. Yes, this was not Logan’s scene. He desperately wanted to find Derek and get out of there before trouble ensued. Tanner shoved a red Dixie cup into his hand filled with the unmistakable amber liquid of beer. At first he tried to hand it back, but realized he needed something to blend into his surroundings.

The boys walked around aimlessly trying to not look like they were looking for someone. Logan was sure everyone there could tell he didn’t belong. Tanner, on the other hand, knew a bunch of kids. There seemed to be two types of people at the party – beach-going surfer types and the more hard core partiers. Ages seemed to range from early twenties to preteens. Logan didn’t want to know how the younger ones got into the party. As they made their way around the outskirts of the warehouse to scope out the scene, they passed by one tween female in a skimpy tube top and Daisy-duke shorts just as she turned towards the wall to vomit. “Yes,” Logan thought, “this is lovely.”

Tanner appeared to be having a good time as Logan struggled to pretend. It was all he could do not to bolt out the door. Suddenly, Tanner grabbed his arm and hurried towards the far right corner of the warehouse. “There’s the dirt bag,” he proclaimed. He was right. Just a few yards away was Derek McCallie, along with a couple other dudes that looked like they were up to no good. Tanner tried to get closer without revealing themselves so they could listen in on the conversation.  He took out his phone, which he’d just gotten back from his father, to try to snap a picture to prove Derek was in town and who he was hanging with. At least they could prove he was still in Kill Devil Hills. Tanner held the phone down as if he is just hanging onto it, so as not to appear he’s taking pictures. Both boys noticed one of the other guys hand something over to Derek in a small plastic bag as Derek handed back an envelope. Both boys nodded to each other and simply walked away from each other without another word. Logan realized he had just witnessed a drug deal going down. Both boys hoped Tanner caught that on his phone’s camera.

They didn’t have time to check the images captured as there was a loud commotion at the front of the warehouse. All they heard was “Cops!” being screamed as hundreds of teens and tweens tried to vacate the building without getting caught. In the melee, Logan thought he saw someone he knew escaping out the side exit. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought it was Kyle Vega whose sister still remained in the hospital after becoming sick from X15. “Doesn’t he work at the moving company with Derek?” he thought before Tanner grabbed Logan by the arm and hurried towards a window in the back of the building. Unfortunately, before they could climb through it to run off, a uniformed cop stood waiting just outside the window.

For more times than he cared to count, Logan was hauled off to the police station in the back of a cop car. Their plan worked – they found Derek, but the price was going to be high. He had no idea how he could explain this away to Aunt Mel and Jason. Neither boy wanted to get Krissy in trouble either, but their situation did not look good as they were escorted into the precinct along with a long line of other party-goers. Due to the small size of the police force, they had not been able to round up a lot of partiers, but Tanner and Logan had been caught. As he walked towards the back waiting room of the precinct, Logan passed by Jason’s desk. Unfortunately, the detective was there working late that night. The shocked expression on Jason’s face as he saw his girlfriend’s nephew at that moment was a look Logan knew he would never forget.

Logan guessed his relationship with one of the lead detectives got him an early interview with the lead cop from Narcotics, as well as the lead DEA agent. He had been immediately separated from Tanner as soon as they entered the building. He hoped that Tanner used the same story he did, otherwise they would be in serious trouble. Logan knew it looked bad. It certainly smelled bad with beer and pot smoke stinking up his clothes, even though he didn’t take even a small sip of the beverage and didn’t dare touch pot or even cigarettes. After the usual questions to cover the basics – name, age, etc. the DEA agent took over the interview. He didn’t get to ask his first question as Jason knocked on the door. He escorted in a visibly upset Melissa. Seeing as Logan was still a minor, she insisted on being present during his questioning. “I certainly would like answers to some questions myself,” she stated with the closest thing Logan had even seen to disappointment in his aunt’s voice. Agent Garland agreed and the interview continued.

Logan tried to explain what had happened – that he and Tanner had gone to the warehouse in search of Derek McCallie because Krissy had been upset after finding out he was back to dealing drugs. The boys agreed to help her out and thought the party was as good a place as any to begin the search. “Let me get this straight,” Agent Garland interrupted, “You, as a minor, went to an illegal party in search of a known drug dealer?” Logan realized just how bad that sounded, but had to nod ‘yes’. His heart nearly broke when he saw Aunt Mel tense and close her eyes in dismay.

Not knowing what else to do, or that he should probably just shut his mouth and claim the Fifth Amendment, Logan continued. He told them how they did see Derek and they tried to get his picture with Tanner’s phone, but didn’t know if they got the image or not. “It certainly looked like a drug deal going down, but we weren’t close enough to see for sure and we couldn’t hear the conversation.” Melissa, sitting beside Logan at the small table, groaned. Agent Garland sent the local cop back to the waiting area to find Tanner and his phone. Minutes later the interview became more crowded as Tanner arrived with his visibly annoyed father in tow. The phone was confiscated, much to the young man’s dismay as he just got his phone back from his father. Agent Garland flipped through the images on the camera roll – mostly shots of the dirty floor and people’s legs. However, there were two pictures that aroused his interest. One was still mostly legs but a small plastic bag was seen exchanging hands – just couldn’t see the faces that belonged to the legs. The other image was a head shot of Derek as he turned to walk away after the exchange.

Agent Garland sent the boys off with the uniformed cop for blood tests for alcohol and drugs. Jason joined Melissa and Tanner’s father in the room to discuss the situation with the agent. “Listen,” Agent Garland addressed the group, “if their tests come back negative for alcohol and drugs, they can go home. We won’t pursue charges for being at an illegal party. But…Tanner’s phone is now going into police custody as evidence. This isn’t enough to indict young Mr. McCallie for anything, and it’s not enough to clear anyone else. As far as we are concerned, both Tanner and Logan put themselves in a very precarious position by attending that party. If it’s true they only went to search for Derek to help out a friend, that’s one thing. But there’s nothing to prove they weren’t just there for the party or to find drugs for themselves. We are going to keep an eye on them even more so now – just so you are aware.”

A short time later, both Logan and Tanner were returned to the interview room to await the results of their tests. Melissa crinkled her nose at the foul odor emanating from the teens. Tanner’s father was beside himself at the trouble his son had gotten into. If he held to his threats, Tanner would be grounded until the end of time and find himself enrolled in a military institute come fall. Logan sensed Aunt Mel was holding back on what she really wanted to say to him. At this point, he knew he deserved whatever she had to dish out. He hadn’t even considered what his dad was going to say when Melissa had to make that phone call.

A couple hours later, the boys were cleared to go home with no charges against them. Aunt Mel sternly led her nephew out the door without saying a word all the way back to Jason’s house. However, Jason made it clear that as soon as he got off work later that night, they would all sit down for a nice, long chat to discuss this conundrum they were now all in.

It was s somber group sitting around the kitchen table the next morning at Jason’s house. Most had not slept at all. After the detective arrived home from work around 4 a.m., everyone was still up discussing the events of the evening. Logan was in hot water with his aunt for several reasons, but mainly for putting himself in such a dangerous situation. She had not called his father yet and was dreading that little chat. Krissy spent the hours a nervous wreck as she waited for her dad to get back home.

A weary Jason filled everyone in on what transpired at the police department after their departure. Melissa could tell something had him very upset and it was more than Logan getting busted at an illegal party. He kept looking over at his daughter with concern, but was reluctant to spill whatever news he was withholding. The raid last night rounded up several kids with drugs on them, as well as some intoxicated minors. The DEA had hoped to uncover someone with X15, but only found weed and a couple guys with some more high powered drugs. Jason related that Agent Garland was not happy about Logan and Tanner’s attempts to investigate on their own. However, he got the feeling that the agent suspected the boys’ motives to go beyond finding Krissy’s boyfriend. Without saying in so many words, he seemed to believe the boys were more interested in covering their tracks or helping someone cover their tracks. Additionally, with the victims becoming sick after eating at Cheryl’s restaurant and Melissa’s bakery being her bread supplier, the DEA seemed intent on focusing on the two women and anyone who worked with them or was related. Logan’s little adventure last night did nothing to dispel that notion.

Krissy and Logan piped up at the same time trying to explain, but Jason wasn’t interested. He scolded, “What you did last night was reckless and dangerous. Instead of helping, it did the exact opposite.” He didn’t elaborate concerning his own partner’s comments to the DEA agent; about the last two summers when Melissa and Logan had been connected to Mrs. Stevenson’s murder and Mr. Hawkins’ suspicious death. Even though they had been found innocent of any wrongdoing in both cases, the situation didn’t look good.

For a few moments the entire group sat in silence. The expression on Jason’s face grew more anxious. His forehead was creased with worry lines and a vein bulged on the bridge of his nose. Melissa worried about what else there could possibly be making things worse. Jason took a deep breath and stared sorrowfully at his daughter across the table. Melissa’s gut wrenched as she waited on Jason to speak.

Stretching his hand across the table to take Krissy’s hand, Jason steeled himself to deliver his news. “Honey,” he began, “there’s something you need to know.” Everyone stared at him as he paused. “The party wasn’t the only issue we had to deal with last night. The reason I didn’t get home until just now is that there was a murder last night. As uniformed officers scoured the neighborhoods and back alleys for stragglers from the party, or anyone that shouldn’t be out that late that may be up to no good, a body was discovered in the alley behind the Kill Devil Delicacies.” He glanced over at Melissa to see how she took the news that someone was found dead behind her bakery. The shock that came across her face broke his heart. Jason quickly refocused on Krissy though. That awful feeling in Melissa’s gut clenched tighter at the ramifications of the news she now expected to hear. Grasping Krissy’s hands in his own, Jason uttered the words he had been dreading to say to his daughter. “I’m sorry, Krissy. Derek is dead.”

The young woman just stared at her father as if she didn’t hear him. Melissa’s heart broke for Krissy. Even though Derek had proven to be a “bad egg”, she realized the girl cared for him. Logan was speechless. As the news sank in, a single tear slid down Krissy’s cheek. In an obvious effort to control her emotions, she stammered, “How?”

Jason had never held anything back from his daughter. He always thought honesty was the best policy, even if it hurt. Reluctantly he explained what he knew about the boy’s death. Derek was found behind Melissa’s bakery next to the industrial size garbage bin. Based on the condition of his clothes, it appeared he had been dumpster diving. There were bags of uneaten and half-eaten breads strewn around on the ground near him. Logan began to ask a question, but refrained after a quick look from Jason. The detective continued his story. They found a bag of a white, powdery substance they suspected to be X15 – probably the stuff Logan and Tanner witnessed Derek obtain at the party. It appeared that he had been stuffing the breads from the bakery with smaller bags of the drug. “Actually, the only leftovers breads with baggies stuffed inside them were your Thyme Bread Bowls,” he said to Melissa. “All the others were tossed aside.”

While all that information was interesting and strange, he still had not answered Krissy’s question – How? Logan inquired if Derek had overdosed on the drugs, but received a quick shake of the head from Jason. Taking a deep breath, he continued. Early evidence suggested that Derek had been beaten so severely it resulted in death. It would be a day or two before the official coroner’s report, but Dr. Wiggins was already on the case.

All color drained from Krissy’s face as she comprehended everything she had been told. Derek was dead. Murdered. He had drugs on him at the time of his death and it was most likely the X15 drug connected to the recent rash of illnesses and Mrs. Burnside’s death. Her boyfriend – the one who swore he no longer used or dealt drugs and said he had turned his life around – had been involved as she suspected. Now he had paid the price with his life. Despite all the lies, she still grieved for him. However, she admitted to herself that she was also mad as a hatter at him for the lies and for getting himself killed. Lots of emotions tugged at her heart as she processed everything. Finally caving in to grief, she wrenched herself away from her father and ran to her bedroom to cry.