Page 115 of Trouble Comes in Threes

She sat back in her seat as though she felt guilty for veering off track. “I think I might know of a connection between Harvey and the other guy, Noah Parker.”

“Really? What?”

“My brother mentioned meeting a guy named Noah a few weeks ago. And I’m pretty sure he said he worked at the lumberyard.”

“Where did they meet?”

She looked down at her hands in her lap.

“That’s the part you didn’t want to tell me.”

Her gaze lifted, sorrow in her eyes.

“It’s not yourself that you’re trying to protect,” I said softly. “It’s your brother.”

Tears streamed down her face as she nodded.

“What were he and Noah doing when they met?”

She swallowed, then took a breath before she said, “They were meeting with a guy about a new drug he was bringing to Fenton County.”

I read between the lines. “He was recruiting them to sell drugs.”

Her eyes widened suddenly. “Harvey swore it wasn’t like that. He said it was to make a little money on the side while getting the drug for free. I told him he was insane, that selling drugs meant he was a dealer, and he needed to stop.”

“So he started dealing drugs,” I said not unkindly. It made sense why she’d clammed up after Neely Kate had called drug dealers selfish assholes. Darlene hadn’t wanted us to judge her brother, just like she was worried Joe and his department would do if they found out.

She cringed but nodded. “I guess there’s no way to pretty it up, is there?”

“Was Noah dealing for this new guy too?”

“Yeah, him and another guy. But last week, like I told you and Neely Kate earlier, Harvey seemed a little more paranoid than usual. He said someone was out to get him.”

“Did he tell you who it was?”

“No. He wouldn’t say, but after giving him the fifth degree, I figured out it was the guy he was selling for. He never confirmed it, but he didn’t deny it either.”

“Why would the dealer be out to get him?”

“I asked him the same thing, but the only thing he’d tell me was that his friends, Noah and another guy he didn’t name, were also in trouble.”

That fit with Austin’s story. Was the other guy the man Austin had seen murdered? “Was the other guy at the meeting your brother had with the dealer?”

“I think so,” she said. “He didn’t give me many details, but I figured out he met this dealer guy at one of those parties. He brought his drug and shared it with them, then suggested they sell it to their friends so they could get their drugs for free.”

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. “How big were these parties?” It didn’t seem like three guys dealing at the same party was a very good business plan.

“Not that big, and I know where you’re headed with your next question. How could all of them sell to the same group of people? Here’s your answer: They couldn’t.”

“So you think their dealer killed them because they didn’t sell enough?”

“I don’t know.”

I nearly asked her if we could search her brother’s house, but that was dumb for several reasons. One, I couldn’t go there. That was a line I wasn’t willing to cross. Yet. But more importantly, I was certain several people had already searched. Joe and his men definitely would have gone there, and I suspected the drug dealer would have gotten there first.

“Why won’t you tell my husband what you just told me?”

“And have Harvey’s name plastered all over the news, labeling him a dirty drug dealer?” She shook her head adamantly. “No. No way. People will assume he was some drug den, homeless junkie, and he wasn’t.” She swallowed a sob. “He was a good person who made a really stupid decision.”

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