Burn Out (5 page)

It was very tempting to try it out. At
first he thought of it as an experiment to see if he could get the
plants to grow and produce a viable product. He couldn’t believe
how easy it was to get started. Once he got a private post office
box, he ordered the seeds and special lights for indoor growing
through one of the websites. He didn’t want his wife or anyone else
to find out what he was doing. Finding the perfect place to grow
the marijuana was easy too – he had a nice, large pole barn on his
fifteen acres of land. His wife never went out there and it was
practically hidden from view with all the trees.

Within a few months, he had produced a
viable plant to harvest. Now he just needed to figure out how to
market the product. That was the tricky part. One wrong move could
land him in jail.

One night he called Paul and invited
him over. He wasn’t sure how Paul would react because they hadn’t
talked much about it since that first night. He had known Paul
since they were teenagers and sometimes Paul could be a little
unpredictable at times. But Ken didn’t know anyone else who had the
money to invest in such a big operation. After a few beers, Ken
brought the subject up again.

“
Hey, I have something to
show you. Want to take a walk?” Ken asked.

“
Um, sure buddy. As long as
it involves keeping your clothes on,” Paul said.

“
Come on, smart ass. It’s
in the pole barn.”

As they walked along the trail which
led to the barn, Ken asked him, “Remember the drug bust I did, back
a few months ago?”

“
Yes, the local Mexican
mafia. Sure I remember. You got some of those guys hog-tied back in
the barn?”

“
Nope, something better.”
Ken unlocked the door and they walked into the barn.

“
Don’t tell me you are
starting your own little grow operation back here.”

Ken switched on a light. The
florescent lighting gave off an eerie, green glow. Three large
rectangular pots filled with blooming, sweet smelling plants, sat
in the middle of a long table. He could hear Paul swear under his
breath

“
What… the…hell?” Paul
asked.

“
It’s just a little
experiment. These plants are maturing and I’ve already harvested
one. Look over here.” Ken motioned excitedly to another smaller
table. There were three small baggies of what looked like dried
herb inside them.

“
I sure hope that’s oregano
you have in there.” Paul said.

Ken laughed. “I bought some seeds
online and started my own little experiment. This is so easy to
grow. You wouldn’t believe what they sell online. There is one
small problem though.”

“
What would that
be?”

“
I can’t test it. You
know…random drug tests at the department. It wouldn’t look good if
I was tested and came up positive.”

“
Don’t look at me buddy.
You know I’m in the same situation. Are you really thinking of
doing what I think you are doing?”

“
Maybe. I dunno.” Ken
shrugged his shoulders. “It seems like a good way to make some
serious dough. And think about it. I’m a trusted officer at the
police department. I know first-hand when a raid is going down.
This is almost idiot proof.”

“
How much money are we
talking about?”

“
To get started, I need a
few thousand dollars for more seeds and equipment. I figure we
could produce enough plants to net about fifty grand every couple
of months.”

“
I don’t know, Ken. Have
you really thought this out? Who are you gonna sell
too?”

Ken had thought about this for awhile.
He had a plan worked out in his head. After arresting Jason and the
rest of the drug cartel, he found out how the system worked and
thought he could replicate it, but with better results. And less
chance of getting caught.

“
I’m going to sell to Jason
Blum. He was the middleman who worked with Pedro. He was let off
with probation as part of the sting.”

Paul looked at Ken with disbelief.
“You really think that’s a smart thing to do?”

“
Sure. We cut him in. He
has all the contacts with the small time distributors. What else is
the kid going to do? He knows no other trade other than selling
dope,” Ken said, like it was all easy street.

“
Sound like you really
researched this. How do I fit in?” Paul asked. Before Ken could
answer he said, “It better not be what I’m thinking.”

“
I need seed money.
Literally. About ten thousand dollars to get us started. We split
profit fifty-fifty. You put up the money and I’ll take care of
everything else. Your hands stay clean.”

“
Ten thousand?” Paul looked
at him hesitantly. Ken knew he would be a hard sell, but he also
knew Paul loved money. Firefighters didn’t make a lot of money and
most of them had second and third jobs. This would be an easy,
almost fail-proof way to make a buck. And Paul was all about the
easy buck.

Paul had a small inheritance from his
dad and he once confided in Ken he was going to use part of it as a
down payment for a new house. A fixer-upper he found which was a
good deal. He was going to try and make extra money flipping
houses, just like all those mega-rich real estate agents
did.

“
You will get it back after
the first sell. We are talking six months or less.”

Paul didn’t say anything. He just
stared at plants.

“
Come on, man. I have two
kids, a wife and a good job. I know the risk. You are a single guy
– no one depends on you.”

Paul looked hurt at this last
comment.

Ken didn’t want to beg, but he knew of
no one else who he could trust. “This is a great opportunity. All
you have to do is put up the money.”

Paul took a look around at the barn.
“What about Sam?”

Ken looked confused. “What about
her?”

“
Does she know?”

“
No. I don’t plan on
telling her. She never comes out here. For all she knows, I’m
working on building some furniture for the girl’s room.” Ken picked
up one of the plants and held it up to the light. “Let’s say we do
it for one year and when we make a little money, then you can quit.
You’ll get your ten K back with 100 percent interest. You can buy
that house you want and sock the rest away for a rainy
day.”

“
Let me think about it.
I’ll get back to you. Let’s go back and finish off that six
pack.”

Paul eventually came around and a few
months later, they were in business. And now his wife was missing
and he just may be the cause of it.

Ken hit his fist against the
cinderblock wall and cursed. All because of him, his family was
suffering. He would find a way to make it right. He had
to.

Santa Rosa Beach Tuesday
11:00 AM

Rachel entered the address to Nora’s
house into her GPS. After taking several dirt roads off the main
highway, she found the place. Nora lived in a double-wide trailer
on the outskirts of town. She pulled up to the trailer, anxious to
get started. She talked with Janine on the way and gave her the
go-ahead to call the police chief to get permission to put together
a search around the warehouse. She would need Peter and the rest of
the team to head up here. The quicker they found a missing person,
the better the chance of a good outcome.

Two women were sitting on a deck in
worn lawn chairs sipping drinks. Rachel got out of the truck and
walked toward them.

“
Be careful of that first
step. It’s a little wobbly,” the older lady called out. “You must
be Rachel. Thank you so much for coming here. I’m Nora and this
here is Tammie.”

Rachel cautiously walked up the stairs
onto the deck. It looked like the whole thing could cave in at any
second. “Hi. Thanks for meeting me today.”

“
Have a seat. I’ll get you
some iced tea. It’s hot today,” Nora said in her slow, southern
drawl.

Nora looked far beyond her
fifty-five years. She had perfectly coiffed, bleached-blonde hair
and her face was caked with heavy makeup, despite the heat and
humidity. She wore Capri stretch leggings with a long, sleeveless
purple tunic top covered with rhinestones which spelled out
Beauty Queen
.

Rachel sat down on one of the saggy
lawn chairs, its plastic fiber frayed around the edges, as Nora
went inside to get her drink.

“
So you’re here to help
find Sam?” Tammie studied Rachel, looking her up and down. “Nora
told me all about you.”

“
Yes, I’m here to help.
You’re a friend of Sam’s?”

Tammie nodded her head. “Sam and I go
way back. We’ve been friends since the fourth grade. Anything you
need to know about her, I can pretty much tell you.”

“
That’s good to know. The
more I know about her, the better chance of finding her
quickly.”

Nora came back out and handed Rachel
the tea, the glass already sweating with tiny beads of water
rolling down the side.

“
Wasn’t sure if you liked
lemon or not. It also has a little mint in it.”

“
This is fine, thanks.” She
took a sip of the tea. It was delicious, nice and sweet the way her
mom made it. There was nothing like sweet iced tea on a hot day
summer day.

“
Tell me more about Sam.”
Rachel said to Nora. “When we spoke on the phone, you said you
didn’t think Sam would leave on her own accord. Why do you think
that?”

Nora adjusted her heavy frame in the
chair and wiped the sweat from her brow with a damp paper towel.
“Sam was over here the morning before she went to work. I watch
Bella and Gracie while she works at the fire department. That
morning, she came a little earlier than usual because she said she
wanted to borrow my newspaper and look through the classifieds to
see about getting another job.”

“
Why was she looking for
another job?”

“
The fire department put
her on probation when she got arrested as an accessory. Even though
the charges were dropped, I think the department was waiting on the
outcome of Ken’s trial to see what they were going to do with her.
She wanted to go ahead and find something part time to help pay the
bills and as security just in case. The lawyer fees were costing
them a lot of money and they were tapped out. They already took out
a couple of loans on the land and the house.”

“
What else did she do while
she was here?”

“
Well, I heard her on the
phone talking about selling the house. When I asked her about it,
she said she had called a real estate agent because she wanted to
get an idea of what it would sell for. We got in an argument about
it.”

“
Why is that?”

“
Her daddy and I gave her
the land when she married Ken. It has been in the family for a long
time. I didn’t want her to sell it.” Nora wiped the sweat from her
brow again, smearing some of her makeup in the process. “Why would
she do that if she was planning on leaving? And the most important
thing, she loves her kids more than life itself. She would never
leave them. She would never leave me.” Nora started to tear up.
“Sorry, I’m just so worried about her.”

Rachel leaned over and patted her on
the knee. “It’s understandable. I know what you are going through.”
She sat her tea glass down on the deck. “Would Sam make any money
from selling her house?”

“
Not with the market the
way it is. Beside, the IRS froze their bank accounts because of the
dope mess Ken got them into. I doubt she would make anything at
all.” Nora finished her tea in one long gulp. “Sam was never a
person to run from her problems, if that is what you’re thinking.
She always took care of her responsibilities.”

Nora started to tremble, her words
coming out slower and unsteady. “I’ve already lost so much,” she
cried. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.” Tammie helped her up and
watched as she walked into the trailer.

Tammie sat back down in her chair.
“She has been through a lot these past few years.” She told her
Nora had lost Breck, her oldest son, in an accident and then her
husband shortly after that to a heart attack.

“
How awful.” Rachel
said.

“
It’s getting hot out here.
Let’s go inside and check on her.” Tammie got up and Rachel
followed her into the trailer. The living room had a large bookcase
which was covered in trophies and ribbons. There were pictures of
Sam dressed in pageant gowns and bathing suits. She was a beautiful
girl with long blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. Her smile was
huge and bright. Rachel got a closer look.

“
Samantha won more pageants
than any other little girl in Florida,” Nora said
quietly.

Rachel swirled around to find Nora
sitting on the couch wiping her tears away with a
handkerchief.

“
Before the accident she
was a happy, little girl. We travelled all over the south going to
beauty pageants. Samantha won every one of those pageants, hands
down.”

Rachel looked over at Tammie, who was
propped up against the kitchen bar. She nodded her head at
Rachel.