Page 7 of More Than a Hero
Pete groaned. “It wasn’t the right time.”
Jeremy huffed. “Man, you are clueless.”
“You just started dating Cora,” Pete shot back. “Don’t act like you’ve got all the moves.”
Jeremy smirked. “I have enough to know Angie’s into you. And I know you’re into her. So what’s the damn holdup?”
Pete grumbled something unintelligible before taking a massive bite of his burger.
Jeremy just shook his head. “Unbelievable.”
They let the conversation drop, focusing on their food, but Pete knew his partner wasn’t wrong. The real question was, what was he going to do about it?
They’d barely finished when they got a call. Heading out, they drove about twenty minutes north on the main highway, then turned off and traveled several more miles out into dense woods at the back of an old dirt lane.
“Who owns this?” Jeremy wondered aloud.
“I don’t know. The farm hasn’t been worked in years. Probably, the farmer died off, and there are no relatives to give it to, or they are letting it go to seed,” Pete said, looking down at their GPS. They soon came upon many county vehicles, including state police. The firemen were in hazmat suits and moving carefully in the vicinity of an old trailer.
Climbing down, they approached Elizabeth Perez and John Sullivan, two detectives for the county. “What do you have?” Jeremy asked.
“Two men were crabbing in the marsh just behind here. They unwittingly discovered an old meth lab.”
“At first, the men thought the bad smell just came from the boggy mud. They had moved as close to the shore as possible and were digging for clams as well as having their crab pots away from the shore. They didn't even notice there was a trailer here right away."
"They must be new to the area," Pete said, glad he wore a mask. "The sulfur smell we sometimes get from the water is nothing like the ammonia coming from that rat trap."
Jeremy had walked over to speak to the firemen and the state police hazmat team. Pete looked up as he approached. "What did they say?"
"It doesn't look like anybody has been out here for ages," Jeremy reported.
"I wonder if it's safe enough for us to check for prints?"
John spoke up. "I already asked about that. The chief will let me and two of our deputies inside to see if we can snag any fingerprints or anything else that would help discern who might have been out here."
Pete nodded. "Let us know what you need."
Elizabeth said, "I hate to say it, but you know more about this than I do.”
“What were they using?" Pete asked.
“There are still plastic cat litter containers inside and scattered behind the trailer. It's an off-brand, so I'm unsure who carries it around here."
Jeremy exhaled, shaking his head. “Cat litter means they were likely using the ammonia method. We’ll want to check for bottles with tubing, camping fuel, cold packs, and lithium batteries—common household stuff but deadly when put together.”
John glanced at the hazmat team, who were still scanning the site. “Yeah, and if they were using the red phosphorus method, we need to see if there’s any iodine or matchbooks around. If they cooked inside, the walls are probably coated in residue. We’ll swab and test for methamphetamine, but I bet hazmat’s already getting high readings from their sensors.”
Elizabeth frowned. “Best case, we’re dealing with a dump site. Worst case, this was an active lab, and they left in a hurry.”
Pete looked toward the rotting trailer, its windows coated in a sickly yellow film. “You’ll need to find out where they got their supplies. Hardware stores, farm supply places—hell, even gas stations sell some of this stuff. If someone bought in bulk, we might get a lead.”
Jeremy nodded. “I’ll reach out to the local stores, see if anyone’s bought a shit ton of pseudoephedrine or drain cleaner lately.”
John looked toward the evidence team, who had just finished setting up a collection station near the entrance. “We should also check the ground for burn pits. They probably ditched the used lithium strips somewhere close. And if they were shaking bottles instead of cooking over heat, they could have dumped them in the water.”
Jeremy cursed under his breath. “Take care and warn the others. Have some deputies check the marsh for discarded bottles, but treat them carefully. They might explode if you handle ’em wrong.”
“Fuck,” John said grimly.
