School of Fish (Fish Out of Water #6) - Amy Lane Page 0,24
everyone else followed suit.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s hear it. What do you have for me?”
“Henry first,” Jackson prompted.
Henry nodded, making quick notes on his own legal pad.
“First thing, that Townsend kid was definitely a hit. There was nothing about that bust that was normal.”
Ellery met people’s eyes and got a general nod.
“I’d want to look into the drugs: Who was the distributor? Where did they come from? Who just shows up at a party with a backpack full of three-treat baggies and starts passing them out? Was this someone the whole school knew or just the guy who invited them?”
“No Neck, the dead guy,” Jackson prompted, and Henry nodded again.
“So that’s a place to start. No Neck’s parents, No Neck’s friends, the kid with the party favors—”
“Ziggy Ivanov,” Ellery supplied, meeting Jackson’s eyes. They were still waiting on Ty’s return text.
“Yeah, those guys.”
“But let’s start with someone friendly,” Jackson said. “Nate Klein. He’s in the file as Ty’s buddy who tried to tell the cops that everybody had a baggy and the bust was no fair. Nobody listened to him, and he’s not mentioned in the police report, but Ellery mentioned him after the interview with the kid.”
“Ooh,” Henry said, making his lips do the pursing thing. “Good catch. Make him a priority?”
Jackson nodded, still studying the sheet in front of him. “Yeah.”
“Solid.”
“Okay, the cops,” Jackson said. He grimaced and looked at one of the files in front of him. “Not the two cops on the Dobrevk case. The two cops on the Dobrevk case were not excited about arresting this kid—you can tell. And they called forensics in and are processing the entire scene in spite of the kid’s apparent willingness to go down for the crime.”
“So they know something’s hinky?” Henry asked.
“They do,” Jackson said, then grimaced. “And this is where we’d need a department contact to get hold of them for an interview.” He looked up at Henry. “Nobody knows you yet. Maybe you should take that one, over the phone first. Ellery, do we have an interview with the Dobrevk kid lined up?”
“End of the day,” Ellery said. “You owe Jade something really awesome, by the way.”
Jackson gave his sister-of-the-heart a smile. “We might get a new kitten. Want to help us pick it out?”
Jade grimaced. “No. No. And no. And don’t ask Mike to come with you either. You two go into a shelter and the shelter will walk out with you. You’ll have cats, he’ll have dogs, the world will be pandemonium.”
Jackson gave her a fond smile. “Okay, well, I’ll think of something. Thanks for getting that interview, sweetheart.”
“He’s a baby, and he’s in jail,” she said simply.
“Yeah, but you’re still made of awesome.”
She gave him a pert grin, and he winked at her.
“So,” Ellery said, interrupting their byplay because that interview was looming near. “Jade, any impressions?”
“Mm, they singled Ty out because he was Black, but not because he was Black.”
Ellery’s brain popped. “Excuse me?”
“Okay, so, you invite a party full of white people and one Black person. Why?”
“I’ve got nothing,” Jackson said. “Ellery? You talked to this kid.”
“He said that usually the school was much more diverse than that party,” Ellery said. “Why?”
“It’s like they invited one Black kid so the police could arrest the one Black kid. It didn’t matter which Black kid. They just wanted the cops there to take care of that.”
Ellery tried to wrap his brain around the idea, and then Jackson put it into perspective.
“Like the whole setup was a diversion?” he asked, one eyebrow up.
“Yes!” Ellery said, finally seeing it. “Like… like they wanted those cops there, instead of where they would normally be.”
Jackson nodded slowly. “That is a theory.” He looked at Henry. “Okay, Henry, put that on your list of things when talking to the police. Where would those two officers normally have been? What duty did they get pulled off of to make that bust?”
“Okay.” Henry chewed his lower lip. “How about you guys go to the jail and I’ll make some phone calls. Then you and me go to the police department this evening.”
“Was gonna go visit Kryzynski,” Jackson said. “They took him to Med Center. I texted Dave and Alex to buzz me when they know anything.”
“The morning, then,” Henry said firmly. “Jackson, I don’t know the department. I know they may hate your bisexual ass, but at least they know you. Some of them have got to have a soft spot for you there, you think?”