Page 116 of Trouble Comes in Threes

I presumed his decision to sell drugs was the stupid decision she was referring to. I refrained from suggesting he’d made a few others. It wouldn’t help anything, and it would only hurt her.

“So what do you want me to do with this information, Darlene?” I asked.

Her head jutted back in surprise. “I want you to find out who killed my brother.”

“And if I find the person, what do you want to do then?”

Her eyes hardened. “Then I’ll take care of him.”

I shook my head. “No, I can’t condone that.” When she started to protest, I held up my hand and calmly said, “I won’t be doing this on my own. When Neely Kate and I did this before, we weren’t married, and we didn’t have kids. But I have someone who will help—” I jutted my hand forward to prevent her from protesting. “I worked with him to take down Hardshaw, and he’s not with law enforcement. I can’t give you his name, but I promise he won’t be turning over the information to them either. Once we find out who this person is, I’ll let you know, and we’ll all decide where to go from there.”

“I want him to pay for killing my brother,” she said through gritted teeth, anger burning in her eyes.

“I know you do, and I’ll do my best to make sure he does.”

She watched me for a moment, then wiped her cheeks and nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay. Now I need more information about those parties and who else might have attended.” Were Selena and the woman from my vision part of the party group? Could the man in my vision be the drug dealer?

“I really did tell you almost everything I know,” she said, her voice becoming steadier. “The parties were held at that garage south of Pickle Junction.”

“You said these parties were on the weekends. Did they have them on Saturday and Sunday?”

She nodded. “Although I don’t think as many people came on Sundays.”

“Some people are better than none,” I said. “Do you think Harvey’s friends Scott or Hugo will be there tonight?”

“I don’t know.”

“What about his previous dealer? Derby Sloan. Did he attend the parties?”

“I don’t know that either.”

“Do you know if Harvey sold any of the drugs the dealer gave him?”

She shook her head. “If he did, not many. I’m pretty sure he took them himself.”

“If a new guy was trying to break into the county, it would be stupid for him to kill his first dealers. Especially that soon after they started to work for him. Seems like he’d threaten them first because I doubt anyone’s gonna want to work with him if he so trigger happy.”

Darlene reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope. “Harvey left this at my house. I don’t know if he intended to, or if he just forgot. It doesn’t make sense though.”

She handed it to me, and I took it, opening the flap and pulling out a piece of paper. A name, address, and a bunch of numbers were handwritten on the notebook page.

Thomas Benton

Dallas, Texas

00011458935

My blood ran cold.

Hardshaw had been based in Dallas.

I looked up at Darlene. “I take it you don’t know anyone named Thomas Benton?”

“No, and I doubt Harvey knew anyone in Dallas. He’d never left the state, and all his friends were from high school or the county.”

Could this be the “package” the murderers had been looking for?

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