By the time they pulled into the parking lot, Charles had got back to them on their idea of staking out a bar. “Just one bar. One night. Keep the radio on.”
Rosie welcomed them again. “Hey, girls. Back so soon? I bet you remembered you didn’t have pie! Am I right?”
“You’re a regular psychic,” Kathryn teased.
“No mumbo jumbo about my cherry pie. You never left before without having some or taking a slice with you,” Rosie reminded her.
“Some memory, you have.” Kathryn smirked.
“I know my customers.” Rosie gave them a wink. “Coming right up!”
It dawned on Kathryn that maybe Rosie had some info on the mysterious property. She leaned in and whispered to Yoko, “We should see if Rosie has the lowdown or some info on that place.”
“Good idea. I’ll start the conversation.”
Rosie lumbered across the room, carrying a pot of coffee in one hand and two slices of juicy cherry pie in the other. “You girls spending some time in our lovely county?” She was half joking.
“Kinda,” Yoko answered. “We were talking about what a beautiful state Michigan is and how it gets a bad rep because of Flint and the ups and downs of Detroit. So she wanted to show me some of the countryside.” Kathryn rolled her eyes as Yoko continued. “It’s sad to see abandoned property and buildings.”
Rosie stood with the coffeepot and sighed. “Yep. Way too many of them around here.”
“I noticed one place that had BEWARE signs. Beware of what?” Yoko asked innocently. “Are there dangerous animals around here or something?”
“Or do most people put signs like that up?” Kathryn asked.
“You mean the place about thirty minutes from here? With all the barbed wire?” Rosie asked.
“Sounds about right,” Kathryn said.
“Not sure. They say it’s some kind of secret government location. Hardly nobody goes out that way.”
“Do you ever meet people who work there?” Kathryn asked. “But I guess if it’s top secret, they can’t tell you!”
The three women laughed at the idea.
“You’re right about that.” Rosie leaned in closer to the women’s faces. “But I did hear two guys talkin’ one day about ‘pill man,’ but they shut up as soon as I got closer to the table. Ain’t been back since.”
“Do you think they worked there?” Yoko asked casually.
“Hard to say. But that’s all the secret talk I ever heard personally. Everyone else in here is bitchin’ and complainin’ about work, no work, kids, and what team lost in sports.” Rosie noticed two more patrons entering the diner. “Better get back to work.”
“Pill man?” Kathryn’s eyes sparkled. She pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and put it on the table.
Back in the parking lot, Kathryn replaced the license plate on the car and left an envelope beneath the visor with the spare key and five hundred dollars. She locked the car, knowing her friend had her own key. Kathryn had a few friends around the country who had keys to each other’s cars, apartments, houses, boats, and so on. Just in case. Like now.
Since they already had the information they might have gotten by staking out a bar, they decided to stay in a motel before heading back to Pinewood and reporting everything back to Charles. The pieces were definitely fitting together.
Chapter 32
Pinewood
Charles and Fergus sat in front of the monitors, viewing the latest information. While the brief flight of the drone did not yield any solid evidence, the compound itself was suspect. Charles watched the short footage again. Solar panels and generators. That kept the electric bill from becoming too high, which would draw suspicion. Many drug busts occurred simply because of enormous electric bills for property that didn’t seem to warrant it. So obvious. So stupid, Charles thought to himself.
He looked over at Fergus, who was reviewing surveillance footage from the offices. “Besides greed, the common denominator appears to be the pills. The property in Michigan is most likely their pill mill. Learning that droplet of information about ‘pill man’ from Rosie was nothing short of serendipitous.”
“Should we bring in Jay Sparrow?” Fergus asked, referring to their contact with the FBI, who at one time happened to be the Bureau’s director. “This could be one of the biggest drug busts in history if they play it well.”
“True. But timing is everything. I don’t imagine they will close their operation in Michigan anytime soon. At least not for a few weeks.” Charles grinned. “I know Annie and Myra want everything to go down at the same time.”