Page 6 of The Smart Killer
“Felix, I don’t have time for this right now.” He glanced over his shoulder at her office, waiting for her to call him in and read him the riot act.
Noah brought up a map of the sewer system throughout High Peaks; he hit print, got up, and went over to the printer to get the sheet.
“She wants to speak to you.”
“And she will; I have things to do.”
“I would not recommend that, buddy.”
Noah glanced at the paper sheet and then at an address on his phone.
Felix continued, “You know how long they’ve been working that case. Why on earth would you—”
“Blame it on the humidity,” Noah replied, cutting him off. “Which reminds me, when are they going to get the damn air conditioning fixed in this place?” He turned away, heading out of the office and into the changing rooms.
Felix fell in step. “Where are you going?”
“To do my job.”
“No. No. No,” he rattled off. “She’s been busting my chops for the last hour on account of you because I told her that you were working the Leeman case and…”
Noah glanced back. “You told her the truth?”
Felix came to a grinding halt. “I had no choice. Have you ever seen the look Savannah gives? You know, the one where you’re unsure if she’s peering into your soul or trying really hard to cause you to burst in flames.”
“You watch too much TV, Felix.”
Noah continued on and pushed his way into the changing rooms to get out of the sewage-filled shoes and pants that were splattered with all manner of shit, literally.
“Damn, Sutherland, you stink.” A cop wearing nothing more than a towel said as he passed him. Noah trailed a path of brown goo across the tiled floor before removing his shoes and clothes.
For a brief second, he thought he might be home free.
But the instant he heard the sound of her voice, he knew it was over.
“Sutherland! Where the fuck is he!?” Savannah yelled.
“Oh, I’m out of here,” Felix whispered, skirting around the steel lockers.
“Huh. So much for loyalty,” he muttered.
Noah could hear the clatter of heels as she approached. Savannah didn’t care that several state troopers were butt naked and towel drying off after getting out of the showers.
“Clear out of here,” she said to the other staff as she charged toward him.
Noah raised a hand. “Look, I know what you’re going to say and…”
She stabbed a finger at him. “What the hell were you thinking?” she said, slamming one of the locker doors so hard it bounced back out again. “You never got authorization from me to work with that unit. You even had Felix lying for you. He told me you put him on the Leeman case.”
“He wanted the experience.”
“Experience?” She threw her hands up in the air. “Noah! You know how long those guys have been working undercover? TheDEA has been waiting on us to deliver some evidence, something to add credibility to this, and now you go barging in there, and all we have is a garage full of stolen vehicles.”
“Full of liquid morphine. Yeah, you can thank me later.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it does,” Noah said, matching her volume and stabbing his finger at the floor. He was the only one that could get away with it. Long before she was his supervisor, she was his closest friend. “You know how this would have played out. They would have delayed, delayed, delayed. It would have turned into a buy-and-bust sting operation. And we all know how that would have gone. They would have arrested the addict instead of targeting the dealer. We needed to find out where it was coming from and going to, and I think I know…” he said, swiping up the map. “Look at this. The chop shop is here. In the sewers, they had tracks installed just like the cartel used below the Mexican border. They are bringing it into High Peaks and then funneling through the sewers. Everything is below ground. The informant was wrong. It’s not going out from used dealerships; it’s coming into dealerships and then distributed underground, and had I been given the chance, I think I know where those tracks were heading.” He brought up his phone and showed her. “The Ashford Royale Casino.”
