Page 92 of Rules of Engagement

"I know you will."

"Have you seen Solomon today?"

"No. Everyone thinks it's best if I lie low until last night's shooter is caught, so the faster you can find a connection, the faster I can get back there."

"I understand," said Lucas, his voice full of sympathy. "Leave it with me. How do I contact you?"

"Call Garrett. He'll know how to get in touch with me," I said, still avoiding the mention of my exact location. A little paranoia might have kept me safe until the answers became clear.

"Lucas is digging deeper," I said when I rejoined the three men in the office. They were watching the videotape of Mikey Gibb's confession on a small screen on Garrett's desk. Garrett waved me into a seat and I watched it with them. "What were you looking for?" I asked when it finished.

"Any hints that he knows something more," said Garrett, "but I'm pretty sure he's just as stupid as I first thought."

"Did you cut that deal with him?" I asked.

"The DA is still working on it. Anyway, we were waiting for you. Damien has some information about the Niners."

"Yeah," started Damien. "I spoke to my buddy who works in the gang taskforce unit and he says the Niners came onto their radar a few years ago; but if there was any connection to someone in Boston, it's long gone."

"How did they get on the radar?" asked Maddox.

"The unit was looking for any coalitions that might have been helping to move product. With Montgomery being one of the biggest cities near Boston, they naturally checked out this direction. The Niners came up but were discounted quickly as low-level thugs. They don't have any drug connection. I don't see how my brother is involved in anything to do with drugs anyway. Someone probably knew Mooch was a bad dude and could have set something up. It doesn't necessarily mean the Niners were directly involved."

Garrett relaxed into his seat and tapped his pen on the table. "Then where's the heroin coming from? We know its coming into town and the money in Mooch's house suggests he's the official treasurer."

"Not Boston," said Damien.

"Hmm, maybe not then, but it might be now," said Garrett.

"My buddy didn't have any new information on the Niners."

"What if it's coming in via New Hampshire or Rhode Island?" asked Maddox.

"New Hampshire doesn’t have much of a coastline and Rhode Island is too complicated."

"Connecticut then?"

"In that case, Springfield would be the most likely destination for any drug traffickers," I said. "Or they could skip Montgomery altogether and funnel it through New York State."

"We can theorize about this all day," said Garrett when an officer stuck his head around the door and said, "Timothy Mooch's lawyer wants to talk."

"Tell them I'll be right there," said Garrett. "I suggest you all watch the interview, but I don't think I'm going to get much. Why don't you wait here and work on some more theories?"

"I'll call my contacts," said Maddox.

We waited an hour for Garrett to return and by the time he did, we had several sheets of paper filled with new possibilities. It was a fruitless task, however, and my brother's return was more than welcome.

"Well," started Garrett. "That didn't go so well."

"Did you get anything?" asked Maddox.

"Anything at all?" added Damien.

"I got the usual story that he doesn't know where the drugs came from and some crap about the money being his life savings from under-the-table construction jobs that I'm fairly sure don't exist. He says Mikey is making up all the stuff about hiring him as a hit man. He asked me who in their right mind would have hired Mikey to do a job like that anyway? He's got a valid point. I'm not sure the DA could make a strong argument that hiring Mikey was a clever decision for anyone to make."

"Is Mooch going to walk?" I asked.

"Unless I can get some solid evidence to implicate him. Now, it's turning into he said, he said. The good news is: he's definitely going down on possession and intent to distribute. He’ll be charged for the drugs and cash we found."

---