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“Why Babbot?”
“He’d gotten hurt working on the FC. I was throwing him a bone. Anyway, he did some poking around. See, Costa had determined that there were onlytwonew structures put up after Baron wrote the letter to O’Reilly ordering those supplies: the potting shed and this place. So Toby came up here and took precise measurements of both. He figured the footprintof either one pretty much aligned with a concrete foundation built with the materials that Baron bought from O’Reilly’s.”
“And Baron caught him trespassing and filed a police report?”
“Well, actually Mike Swanson was also up here when Toby was poking around. He and Baron chased him off the property. Swanson knew Toby and apparently identified him to Baron, and Baron filed thepolice report. But that was no big deal,” Ross added offhandedly.
“Actually, it was averybig deal for BabbotandSwanson. Because that signed both their death warrants, in your eyes,” added Decker. “Baron now had a beef and a possible motive against Babbot, so you could include him with the others you killed in order to incriminate Baron. And because of Babbot, you knew Swanson wasup here, probably with drugs. You could also use that to frame Baron, and you needed to get Swanson out of the picture.” He paused. “And I think you had another reason to get rid of Babbot.”
Ross stared darkly at Decker but remained silent.
“He found out about the space in your office, where you kept the fentanyl shipments. He was obviously good at measuring: the mausoleumandyour office footprint.”
“I thought there was a bottle missing from one of the boxes. That was you?”
“That was me.”
“Donna told me about your finding out Toby had the construction plans for the FC. But I never thought you would put two and two together. You made it sound to her like Toby just had a beef with Maxus because of how they treated him.”
“I gotlucky there because I didn’t know at the time that Lassiter was a bad cop.”
Lassiter barked, “You know nothing about me.”
“I know enough,” said Decker.
Ross said, “So getting back to business, what was in the letter from this Nigel guy?”
“It told about a trip that Baron and Nigel took to Australia.”
“Australia? What about it?”
“They visitedthe typical places. But then there were a number listed that I’d never heard of. I googled them before I came here. Only one of them interested me: Kalgoorlie.”
“What’s so special about this Kalgoorlie place?” asked Ross.
“I’ll show you. You got a sledgehammer?”
Ross glanced at the mausoleum. “Why? The treasure’s not here.”
“I think itishere. It’s whatI meant when I said you’d focused on thewrongparts of the O’Reilly letter. Have one of your guys take a sledgehammer to thewallof the mausoleum.” Decker pointed at the wall right behind Ross. “Thatwall.”
Ross jerked his head around. “Why?”
“Just do it, you got nothing to lose if I’m wrong,” said Decker.
Ross ordered one of his men to grab a sledgehammer and attackthe mausoleum. The man hefted the tool and slung it against the wall. The marble cracked. He did it again, and then again. A chunk of the marble fell off. The man kept hitting it until revealed behind the marble was a large section of mortared bricks framed by the marble.
Ross looked over at Decker. “What the hell is going on? They’re just damn bricks!”
“Loosen one up and takeit out.”
The man did as Decker said, using a crowbar. When he finally pulled out a brick, he stumbled under its weight and nearly dropped it on the ground.
“It’s heavy as hell,” said the man as he set it down in the dirt.
“Gold usually is,” said Decker.
Ross exclaimed, “Gold!You’re saying the whole mausoleum is made of gold?”
