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“No. Henry was a supplier. The guy whose house he went to was a dealer. Small-time. Back then, Henry had connections. He’d get a decent supply and then he’d get a bunch of kids to sell it. He collected the money.”
“He was a middleman,” said Josie.
“Yep.”
“Where did he get his supply?” asked Gretchen.
“I don’t know,” Morris said. The cigarette dangled from his mouth as he held both palms face out in the air. “I really don’t. I only know what I know ’cause I heard his dad talking to him about it and some things his dad told me after the fact.”
“Where did he keep his supply?” asked Josie.
“I’m pretty sure he was keeping it in his dad’s garage. He was living with his dad back then. After he got sent up, his dad told me that was the end of that. No more drugs in the house. I think he was always nervous that Henry would get him in trouble. ’Course, then he went and died while Henry was in prison.”
Gretchen said, “How about after he got out? Did he get back into it?”
“Hell if I know. I don’t think so, though.”
“You sure about that?” asked Josie. “You’re up at his place a fair amount. You ever see anything?”
“No. I never did. I don’t think he would do that. It’s what got him sent up. He missed his dad’s death and his funeral and everything. Put a hurtin’ on him. I think he means to stay on the straight and narrow now. He’s got a good job, his own place. Why would he get back into that?”
Josie said, “You told us that teenagers come up his driveway all the time. You sure they’re making wrong turns, and not there to get what they need to sell or to pay Henry what they owe him?”
Morris flicked his cigarette butt to the ground, beside the first one, and smashed it with his boot. “I never saw anything like that. But didn’t you guys search there when you were looking for that girl? You didn’t find anything?”
They hadn’t. Just like they hadn’t found any clear indication that Henry Thomas was behind Kayleigh’s abduction or Felicia’s death and yet, Josie was sure that Henry Thomas was hiding something. Maybe drugs. Maybe Kayleigh. Or both.
“Morris,” Josie said. “If Henry did have a supply and it wasn’t on his property, where would it be?”
“Hell if I know, and that’s the truth.”
FIFTY
“You think that Henry Thomas is still a drug supplier,” said Gretchen.
They were back at the stationhouse after grabbing a quick lunch. Josie stood in front of Mettner’s desk, staring down at his blotter. In the lower left-hand corner, in red ink, in what looked like Amber’s handwriting, were the initials A.W. with a heart under it and then the initials F.M.Amber Watts hearts Finn Mettner.
Josie felt like the breath had been knocked out of her. “Oh God,” she gasped.
Gretchen’s chair creaked. “You okay?”
Josie tore her eyes from the blotter, instead looking at Mettner’s computer screen, dormant for months now. “Yeah,” she breathed.
Gretchen’s chair creaked again, and Josie recognized the sound as her settling back into it. Josie swallowed over the lump in her throat and answered Gretchen’s question. “Yes. Henry Thomas is still in the drug trade. I think that’s how Asher knows him. Asher is one of his dealers. That’s where Kayleigh was getting her stash, from Asher, who got it from Henry.”
She put both hands on the back of Mettner’s chair and held on, trying to get her breathing back under control. Her eyes drifted to a framed photo of his parents, brothers, nieces, and nephews. She quickly turned back to the computer screen. Soothing blankness.
Gretchen said, “That would certainly explain the teenagers in his driveway all the time. He meets them at the park—his legitimate job—brings them on as dealers and collects the money. But you know what else we didn’t find on his property?”
“Large amounts of cash,” Josie said. “I know. Or drugs, for that matter.”
“You think if we find his hiding place, we find Kayleigh.”
“Yes,” Josie said.
“Maybe the snare trap he’s been using, too,” Gretchen added. “Maybe if the DNA comes back from the hair in his cabin, we can arrest him and we’ll have some leverage on him. Maybe then he’ll tell us what he did with her body.”
Josie pulled Mettner’s chair out and slowly sat down in it.
