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“Such as?”
“Such as helping other addicts, even drug dealers. Like Michael Swanson? You said you didn’t know him, but I’m pretty sure he was living in your potting shed.”
Baron looked unfazed by this revelation.“Was he? Didn’t know. It’s a big property. And the Barons haven’t had anything to ‘pot’ for decades.”
“So you’re saying he was coming and going a hundred yards from your house and you had no idea?”
“You said you were ‘pretty sure,’ which means you have no proof.”
“Are you saying you had no inkling someone was squatting in your potting shed?”
“‘Someone’ and‘inkling.’ Very broad terms. Are you trying to catch me in another lie?”
“It will not end well for you if I do.”
Baron cocked his head. “Your tone has become a full degree more serious.”
“I just want to impress upon you that a federal penitentiary is not the place you want to be.”
Baron thought about this for a few seconds while he stared up at a bird floatingalong on thermals. “Mike Swanson was…a loser on many levels. I can relate to that. I can understand that. Now, there are losers who are bad people. Really bad people.”
“But Swanson wasn’t one of them?”
“He was an idiot. But he was a nice idiot. He sold some pot. He sold some pills. He was basically harmless.”
“So you gave him a place to stay?”
“I found himin the shed one day sound asleep. He’d been kicked out of so many places, he apparently biked all the way up to my property just to see if there was a place he could land for a while. He ended up staying longer. I voiced no objections. It’s not like I lacked for extra space.”
“We found his stash in the shed. It wasn’t just pot and pills. It was harder stuff than that. And he had a gunand a big roll of cash.”
Baron spread his hands. “I didn’t condone it. But if I cast out everyone who sold drugs around here, well, I’d be as lonely as I apparently am, if that makes any sense.”
“Okay, you knew Swanson and Tanner, after you told me you didn’t. And Costa? The banker with the picture of your Little League team in his home?”
“Under penalty of perjuryand going to that federal pen you mentioned, I did not know him. What I have, I have in cash and other negotiable instruments, which I keep hidden at my home.”
“Is that wise?”
“I don’t know. But it’s how I do things. The banks did not treat me or my family very well when we needed some help. I had no reason to entrust them with the little I had left.”
“So you canthink of no reason why Costa would have that photo of you and your team in his home?”
“Other than he was proud we’d won the championship? No.”
“What about Toby Babbot?”
Baron shook his head. “Didn’t know him.”
“He was on disability. Had a metal plate in his head from an industrial accident. Lived in a ratty trailer, because he couldn’t afford anything else.”
“He’s not alone in that in Baronville.”
“His place got torched while Jamison and I were inside it.”
Baron’s eyes widened. “Someone tried to kill you?”
“That’s usually the case when you try to burn down a structure with people inside.”
