Page 33 of Jason's Justice
“Connected how?”
“Royal got his guns to take Erin down from someone in California. Duane was undercover then. We talked at Thanksgiving and Duane will be talking to the three investigators about how that deal came about, but I’m wondering something else. Please bear in mind that it might not be helpful in this investigation against Grayson, but I had heard that Royal PITA’s trial will be coming up in May of next year.”
“Holy shit, that fast?”
“It’s been over a year already,” Pru said.
“What do you want to hire us for?”
“It might be stupid.”
“Pru,” Jake said gently. “The only stupid thing would be not to voice your concerns. Not only will it help put these people away for good, but it will be helping Erin have peace of mind if there’s other information out there. Tell us what you’re thinking, and we can take it from there.”
“Okay, again, bear with me. It might be backtracking.”
“Pru,” Jake said gently, and nodded when she drew in a breath and let it out in a rush.
“Okay, here goes. Where did Royal get his money? I’m asking because he went around town throwing his weight and money around bragging that he was better than sliced bread, if you know what I mean. Why would he try to go after someone who inherited a successful ranch that had been in her family since the eighteen thirties, with almost five thousand acres. He, Royal, only had one horse worth any money, and only one hundred acres. Did he try to establish his dominance over Erin because he’s a man, or because he had someone backing him?” She drew in another deep breath and let it out slowly this time.
“I know it’s none of my business, but how was he able to get his hands on the guns in California that he drove back over state lines in order to take Erin out? If you recall, Ryan had gone undercover working for him to try and get some information, however, he didn’t go to California to pick up the guns. When Royal returned, he had several FBI agents with him, including Duane, but Royal didn’t know they were agents. That’s when Ryan was reunited with Manny and Scott. I’d like to know how much he paid for those guns, where did he get them from, did someone from the FBI get them for him, and where did he get his money? Where did he come from before coming to Fool’s Gold? We all know that he paid off a judge to get bail for all thefelony charges. Just how deep do his pockets go? If he’s so rich and powerful, then how come his ass has been sitting in jail for the last year, and Erin, the woman he says took everything from him, is free? In my messed up TBI mind, something’s not adding up.”
Both Jake and Stone were silent for several moments before Stone whistled as he looked down at the notes he had taken, then looked up at her. “Wow, that is a lot of questions. I can see why you would ask them. I don’t think we, nor Carter, dug deeper when we found the connection between Biggins, Royal, and Miller. I’m not going to ask what you think, if you don’t mind. Let us do some investigation.”
“Thanks,” Pru said as she rose from her seat, she started toward the door, and whipped back around. “I don’t know if this is important or not, but Jason says that he may be able to make arrests shortly after the new year.”
“We’ll make this our priority,” Jake said, and walked her back up the stairs and to the back door of the bed and breakfast. When he returned to the basement he went to the coffee pot and refilled his mug. With one look at Stone, he shook his head.
“Holy shit, this could be huge.”
“I know, right?” Stone also shook his head as he turned to his computer, while Jake went to his desk and put in a call to Carter Manning over at the Yellowstone office.
In the officeat Erin’s Way, Duane walked in, and saw the three people hard at work. He stood there for several seconds before he cleared his throat. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes,” Jason said as he tossed his pen on the stack of papers to lean back heavily in his chair. “Silly question for you.” Heshook his head and held up his hand. “It may or may not be correct, just an avenue we’re looking into.”
“Okay, what’s up?”
“Do you remember when a man by the name of Jason Royal came to California to purchase guns and ammo, you were undercover and ended up traveling back to Colorado with them?”
“Yes. That’s when Manny and Scott were looking for me. I was undercover, but it was a weird undercover assignment. Not one like I had done before or since with my time in the Bureau.”
“Can you explain that?” Ilsa asked.
“Yes,” Duane helped himself to a cup of coffee and settled in a chair that was across from them. “Normally, when I went undercover, I went under. I mean when the assignment started, I left the office dressed as my undercover persona, which was usually a homeless person, and I wouldn’t return until I had the bad guy. Or if I hadn’t arrested them, then my handler, that I made contact with every single day would make the arrest. I would say that seven times out of ten, I was gathered and arrested along with the bad guys, but once we made it back to the local police station, I was the last one processed, and my handler was there with a clean set of clothes for me. The locals even allowed me to shower in their locker room. By the time people I had been arrested with looked for me, they didn’t recognize me. I would then go back to my office and write up my reports. I would go into the office every day like normal, until the next assignment came up.”
“Okay, but what about this assignment was different?”
“This time, I was only undercover during the day. From like six in the morning until eight at night. I could return to my apartment every night. That’s where Scott and Manny found me, in my apartment.”
“Why were they looking for you?”
“They had just gotten out of the hospital after what they had endured, and were looking into the possibility of maybe joined the FBI once they received a clean bill of health.” He then went on to tell them what had happened.
“Crap,” Ilsa said sadly, then whipped her head around to look at Kevin in shock. “Is that what happened to Ryan?”
“Yes, the three of them were on the same team and captured together. Another team mate was disemboweled in front of Ryan. We concluded that they were looking on the placement of where the kidneys were in the body, because both Manny and Scott had the same blood type as the boss of the group that kidnapped them. They were going to take a kidney from each of them to put into their boss.”
“Wow,” Jason said in shock. He shook his head, and looked at Duane again. “Anything other than being able to go home every night different with that particular op?”
