Page 124 of The Session

“I’m not sure I understand how things work on the island. Sweeting seemed like a nice guy. I have no idea why Morris brought him to the meeting and not Pinder. And no offense, but I don’t know why they asked you,” Mark said.

“Maybe so he wouldn’t waste the chief constable’s time,” Rolle suggested.

“Probably. But they had no trouble wasting your time, especially given the fact that you weren’t even working here when Kevin died. Other than Pinder, are there any other constables who were working here back then?” Mark asked.

“All of them.”

“And yet they ask you to come,” Mark noted. “Was the first time you heard that Kevin died of a drug overdose today?”

“Has that been confirmed?” Rolle asked.

“That’s the problem. Officially, no. Given that the acting medical examiner works for the company owned by Kevin’s father, it’s been explained to me that it was in everybody’s best interest to not make the actual cause of death widely known,” Mark told him.

“That’s not good,” Rolle admitted.

“That’s putting it lightly. It also makes it hard to take anything else they say seriously.”

“I wish I knew more. And since the case is closed, there’s not much I can do. And to be honest with you, there’s not much I should do.”

“I’m not asking you to stick your neck out. I just have a couple questions. Sweeting—what do you know about him?”

“Every island has a guy like him. He’s a person who gets things done and knows everybody.”

“How well do you know him?”

“Somewhat but not all that well.”

“Do you trust him?”

Rolle laughed. “Do I trust you?”

“That’s a good question. Should I trust him?”

“There are rules and then there are rules. As far as I know, I don’t think he breaks the rules,” Rolle said carefully.

“What about a financial connection between him and Summit Strategies?”

“Your father’s company? I wouldn’t know anything about that.”

“Mr. Morris told me the only thing they owned on the island was Kevin’s beach house, but they also own the medical clinic Dr. Moss worked for. It bothers me that he didn’t mention that.”

“It sounds like you have trust issues with Mr. Morris,” Rolle observed.

Mark shook his head. “I’m beginning to have trust issues with everybody. And I can’t tell if he left that part out because of the overdose cover-up or because of another cover-up.”

“Again, this all happened before I got here, and I’m still figuring things out,” Rolle said. “I wish I could be more helpful.”

“Well, just one more question,” Mark said.

“Let’s have it.”

“Where would I get drugs around here?”

“You do realize you are in a police station,” Rolle said.

“The cover-up everybody can agree on is that there were drugs in Kevin’s system when he died—apparently fentanyl or something along those lines. I’m trying to figure out where he would have gotten that. Either he was using or not. If he was using, then that would imply he was buying. Who would he have bought it from?”

“If you find out, please let us know,” Rolle said brightly.