Page 31 of Backwater Justice

Ernesto’s departure could ruin all of Oliver’s plans, so they made an arrangement. Ernesto introduced Oliver to a handful of people he trusted, and Ernesto would serve as an adviser from his new location for a small fee. Ernesto’s men needed to get out of Mexico, and Oliver arranged for them to travel to Oregon. The plan was to give them room and board, and a counterfeit green card so they could move about in the community without drawing attention to themselves. The green cards were only supposed to be shown in case of an emergency. Oliver paid the men cash, and they lived in the basements of the Cascade Inns. In exchange, they brought pill- and powder-making skills and the knowledge of how to manufacture counterfeit fentanyl, fifty times more potent than heroin and one hundred times more potent than morphine. They brought the recipe, and it wasn’t difficult for Oliver to procure the ingredients.

But now there was a problem. Two, actually. Someone had stumbled into the first lab, and someone had gotten a look at the goods.

CHAPTERFOURTEEN

Later That Day

Fergus and Charles had their phone on speaker. Annie and Myra were also on speaker, and Annie was talking a mile a minute.

“Slow down, love,” Fergus said calmly. “Start from the beginning.”

Annie proceeded to explain that she had literally found the missing teen huddled in a stairwell. Apparently, she’d managed to escape from where she was being held. They were at the physician’s office, waiting for Vanessa’s parents to arrive.

“I say, it didn’t take long for you to find yourselves in the weeds, eh?” Charles chuckled.

“Charles, this is not funny.” Myra leaned into the phone.

“Sorry. Go on, then.”

“We only have bits and pieces of the story. The poor girl is exhausted, and we figured it would be better if she told all of us the story at the same time.”

“Have you notified the police?” Charles asked.

Myra and Annie looked toward Vanessa, who shook her head vigorously. “Not yet, Charles. There is reason to believe there are some shady things going on here, and we don’t know who is on which side of the fence. We should have more details shortly. Meanwhile . . .” Annie disconnected the speaker, picked up the phone, and moved to the bathroom. She didn’t want Vanessa to hear the rest of the conversation. Not that Vanessa would know what Annie was proposing, but the less Vanessa knew, the better, for her own safety and peace of mind.

When Annie felt she couldn’t be heard by the others, she continued the conversation. “Charles, Fergus, I need you to do some background checks on Milton’s boys, Benjamin and Oliver, but it’s Oliver I’m mostly focused on. Also, check on Patricia, Milton’s wife. There’s something going on there, too. Not sure what it is, but she is hiding something. Then there’s Dickie Morton, and a fellow named Bart. I didn’t get his last name, but I’m sure you can find out easily enough.”

“Right-o,” Fergus said. “We’ll get on it. Do we need to contact anyone else?”

“We’re thinking maybe have Sasha and Eileen come out here to tail whoever comes up looking suspicious.”

“Aye. Dodgy, bounders, and buggers,” Charles added.

“Yep. Now get busy. We have an injured girl to tend to.” Annie ended the call and returned to the examining room. Myra and a nurse were helping Vanessa peel off her clothes; then the nurse began to give Vanessa a sponge bath to clean the wounds.

* * *

“You’re a bit of a mess, eh?” The nurse had a noticeable Canadian accent. She smiled at Vanessa. “You’re gonna be right as rain. Some of this is gonna sting, and you might need a little stitchin’ up, but we won’t be able to tell until we get all this blood off ya.” She tossed the soiled sponges into a biohazard bin. “But we have to wait for yer mum and dad before we can do anything else. They gave us permission over the phone to clean you up, so that’s what I’m doin’.”

Vanessa squeezed Myra’s hand as the nurse continued to wipe her lacerations with antiseptic. There were long scratches on her skin as well as deeper pierce marks. Vanessa squeaked and flinched at every stroke of the cotton balls. It was an excruciating twenty minutes for the girl, but she was beginning to feel better and cleaner in the paper gown she was wearing. She ran her fingers through the glob of hair on her head. She looked up at Annie. “Rat’s nest?”

“Nah. Maybe a mouse.” Annie smiled. She was confident Vanessa would be alright, at least physically.

There was a soft rap on the door. Myra went over and answered it. Before she could step out of the way, a woman and a man pushed past her. “Vanessa! Honey! Oh, my! Geez! Are you alright?” It was hard to tell who was saying what at the moment. The nurse tried to hold them back.

“Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Rowan? Can you just let me finish up here? We don’t want any of these cuts to get infected.”

“Oh, of course!” Julie Rowan tucked herself against her husband’s chest.

Someone tapped on the door. It was Dr. Foster. “How is everybody doing in here? Vanessa, you’re looking a little better than you did when you first got here.”

“I’m feeling better too, thanks.” Vanessa managed a weak smile.

“Nurse Crowley took care of all your cuts, did she?”

“Yep.”

“Just take a look at this one, doc.” Nurse Crowley moved part of the paper robe aside. There was a significant gash running from Vanessa’s knee to her ankle. He scrutinized the wound. “No stitches, but you’re going to have to keep it clean and bandaged.”

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