Page 148 of State of Suspense

She laughed. “Sorry, but I’d love to see those pics.”

“You might find them in the file.”

“Can George get that for me?”

“Yeah, I’ll ask him to send it to you.” He reached for his phone and winced.

Sam got it for him.

“Thanks.” He sent the text to his deputy. “He said he’ll take care of it right away.”

“Appreciate the cooperation.”

“If it was them, I want them taken down as much as you do.”

“Tell me about what happened after you became friends with Lonnie and the Peckhams.”

“We started hanging out on the weekends. They’d have bonfires and shooting contests, and one of the cousins had a boat we’d take out on the lake to go fishing. I got the sense for that first month or so that they were trying to get a read on me and whether I could be trusted.

“All I knew going in was that they all had lengthy records, going back to when they were juveniles, and it was suspected they were into bigger things. The HHS inspector general had identified irregular Medicaid activities in Whitney, Knox and Laurel Counties. Corbin touches all three, and the Peckham family ties ran deep in that area.”

“What did these irregular activities entail?”

“Excessive billing for routine services, hospital bills that were five times what they should’ve been, people who’d been dead for years, including Willy’s parents, receiving medical care that was billed to the government. They threatened local doctors, forcing them to participate or their families would be harmed. They got away with it for years until President Harrigan came into office, vowing to crack down on fraud, waste and abuse. His HHS secretary and IG were the ones who uncovered the operation in Corbin. The doctors were our star witnesses.”

“If they’re gunning for the people who put them away, those doctors’ lives are in danger.”

He made a call and put it on speaker. “George, I’m with Sam at the hospital, and she just made a good point. The doctors who testified against the Peckhams need to be warned they might be killing, or trying to kill, people involved with putting them away.”

“I’ll alert our office in London, Kentucky, and get some agents out to talk to them right away.”

“Tell them it’s an emergency,” Sam said.

“Will do.”

Avery pressed a button to end the call.

“Who else do we need to be worried about protecting?”

“I’ll have George work on that from our end.”

“Who would they send to do their dirty work with you and Tom?”

“Probably their son Harlan.”

“Freddie, can you call up the video from Tom’s shooting?”

He went to work on his phone and then brought it to the bedside so Avery could see it.

“Could this be him?”

“He’s the right height and size. Willy used to bust his balls about being such a small guy. It made Harlan ruthless. He worked out like a demon and could kill a man with one hand around his neck.”

“Did you see him do that?”

“Twice.”

“Jesus. Why isn’t he locked up?”

---