Joe said something to one of them. ‘Not now’, or something like that. The man that had a gun on us grabbed him by the arm and hauled him around to the other side. I could hear voices but don’t know what they were saying, and then I heard what must’ve been Joe getting hit and he cried out.”
“But you didn’t see it? Joe getting hit?”
“No. No, but I wasn’t moving. Not an inch. Not until both men jumped into their truck and started driving away. When I was sure I wasn’t gonna get shot, I raced around to the other side. Joe was on the ground with blood gushing out of his head.”
“Who knows your delivery routes? Are they standard?”
“Standard?” Charlie asked, lifting a shaky hand and rubbing it over his forehead.
“The same all the time.”
“Oh, uh… not like every day. Kilton delivers to pharmacies all over the city, county, and those are just the local deliveries. Hell, they deliver all over the country. Me and Joe are part of the local delivery team… just here in downtown Hope City.”
“So, who knows about your routes?” Alex reiterated.
“Well, the people who make up the routes would know. We go to different places every day, but we tend to have a team that goes to some of the same pharmacies. Well, that brings to mind… the people at the pharmacies know we’re coming.”
“So, other than the employees at Kilton Pharmaceuticals that need to know about the delivery routes and the pharmacies you deliver to, no one else knows which road you take, what times you're delivering, or even what you’re carrying, right?”
Nodding, Charlie agreed. “That’s right, Detective. We’re assigned different routes on different days. And, like today, we were off our schedule due to the accident.”
A detective from the Robbery Division arrived, approaching Kyle, Alex, and Charlie. While Alex continued to get information from Charlie, Kyle stepped to the side.
“Todd, good to see you. You taking the van in?”
“Yeah. Sorry, I’m late to the party. Fuckin’ accident happened right in front of us as we were on the way over. My partner had to stay, so I got over here as fast as I could.” Jerking his head to the side, he said, “You can catch me up. I understand you’ve got a special interest in this.”
“We’d like to follow closely on this one. The delivery van is from Kilton Pharmaceuticals and it was cleaned out. Alex and I are working on the Kilton angle, but I don’t want to step on your toes. We’re looking at fentanyl that’s getting out and ending up in heroin on the streets.”
“You thinkin’ an inside job?”
“Let’s just say I’m not dismissing it.”
Nodding, Todd sighed. “Jesus, all we need is more of this shit gettin’ out and hittin’ the streets. And don’t worry about stepping on toes… we’re buried in cases, so if you want this one, I can talk to my captain. What have you got so far?”
“The driver was carried to the hospital. Not bad. Few stitches in his forehead and maybe a concussion. His name’s Joseph Parson, goes by Joe. I talked to him first. Told him he’d need to come in and make a statement.” Inclining his head in the other direction, he added “Charlie was just giving his rendition, but I haven’t heard enough to know if it was completely aligned with Joe’s.”
“I’ll take Charlie in now and get his statement. As soon as I can get Joe in, I’ll give you a call. You want to sit in on it?”
“Absolutely. If there’s even a chance that this was an inside job, I want to see if we can get one of these men to give us an in to Kilton.”
Two hours later, initial reports finished and Charlie’s questioning and statement given, Kyle and Alex walked into the Celtic Cock. If it wasn’t for the desire to see if Kimberly was at the Cock, he would have just gone straight home. The pub was packed, typical for a Friday night. He grabbed a beer from Maeve, then managed to maneuver through the crowd enough to determine that she wasn’t there.
By the time he finished his beer, he clapped Alex on the shoulder and said, “I’m heading home. If I find out when Joe’s coming in, I’ll give you a call.” With goodbyes ringing out from his other friends, he left the pub. Tired. Pissed off. And alone.
8
“Good morning!”
Kimberly peeked out the window in her back door and could see her