Giving me a wink, she turned and headed back to the kitchen, her jean-clad butt swaying. I rolled my eyes. “She’s single, you know.”
“No kidding.” He shrugged out of his blazer, revealing a nice white button-down shirt. When he rolled up the sleeves to reveal strong forearms, my hardly dormant libido flared awake.
I shoved it away. Between Aiden and Nick, I just needed to stay single. “Tell me about the drugs,” I said.
Nick waited until Tess had delivered cups of coffee and sweating water glasses before he cleared his throat. “Okay. You know how opioids and prescription drugs are the new problem on the streets?”
I nodded. “Yep.” Everyone who watched the news was aware of the epidemic.
“Well, apparently somebody finally figured out how to cheaply mass produce opioids that are twice as strong as hydrocodone. It hasn’t been a problem up to now because of the difficulty in doing so.” He took a big drink of his coffee. “It’s called Beast as kind of a joke. Baking and yeast.”
I frowned. “I don’t get it.”
“There’s a new drug on the street called Beast. A lab in Portland was able to synthesize opioids from yeast cultures grown in a lab instead of using poppy flowers. It’s like when all of a sudden everyone could cook meth in baby bottles in microwaves. It’s a disaster.” He shook his head. “The yeast had to be engineered as well. They have a hell of a lab somewhere.”
I blinked. “Portland?” Why was that significant? Something hinted at my consciousness.
“Yeah. Where the Diablo Riders were located before being patched over by the Lordes,” Nick said.
Ah, crap. Aiden again. “Okay?”
Nick sighed. “The DEA shut down the Portland lab and arrested two scientists, but a lot of product had already been produced, and we believe there’s a brand-new lab somewhere around here. The Riders, and now the Lordes, are the key component in the distribution, we think, along with Scot Peterson, your former boss.”
“Melvin Whitaker is a chemist,” I said slowly. “You think he’s making more of the drug?”
Frustration drew down Nick’s brows. “Whitaker has the pedigree to do so, but the only reason we’re even looking at him is because of his location—that the Lordes are here. And we’ve been through his entire lab on the border, while the cops have been keeping an eye on him. He might just be dealing pot to the Lordes as a side job. I’m not sure.”
I took a drink of my coffee. “You think Cheryl was killed with this Beast drug.”
Nick nodded. “The DEA and the state police are working together, and I was brought in from Boise to coordinate trial strategy—pending arrests. The DEA can take down the manufacturers, and we get the distributors and dealers, so everybody has a piece of the pie.”
That made for a good election strategy, now didn’t it? “You were working on this case in Boise?”
“No.” He took another drink of coffee. “I’ve had a couple high-profile drug convictions and was brought in the loop right before the DEA arrested Scot Peterson. It didn’t hurt that I have connections in the area, as do you.”
“All right.” I played with my napkin. “Here it is. Say Melvin Whitaker is somehow and somewhere manufacturing more, ah, Beast.” What a stupid name for a drug. “And the Lordes are distributing it along the drug pipeline. How are they doing it?”
“Dunno.” Nick sat back. “Both the DEA and the state police are investigating, and so far, we’ve got nothing. There’s a definite puzzle piece missing.”
Tessa brought our pancakes, and I snorted at seeing a smiley face drawn with huckleberry syrup on mine. She was the best. After she’d flounced away, and after I’d taken two big bites, I mulled over the case again. “When the Lorde’s apartment building was raided, I assume you found Beast?”
“Yep. Not a lot, but enough.” Nick shuddered in pleasure at his first taste of huckleberry pancake. “God, I missed these. Serving in DC and then Boise, I really missed these.”
Yeah. To think most of the world thought a huckleberry and a blueberry were the same thing. Sad. Truly sad. “Why arrest Aiden? There have to be many members of the Lordes. Why him?”
Nick flushed and focused on his rapidly dwindling pancakes.
I chewed thoughtfully, and as the reason hit me, I choked. Nick gingerly nudged my water glass toward me, and I grabbed for it, sucking down half the liquid. Then I set it down and wiped my eyes. “No. Come on.