CHAPTER 43

THE INTERVIEW with Charlie Trimble was going better than Stone had expected. His questions were polite but prepared. And then it began to change. The reporter sat in his old swivel chair, a piercing expression in his gaze, one that was making Stone extremely uncomfortable.

"You seem familiar to me, Ben. Have we met before?"

"I don't see how."

"You ever been in Washington?"

"Never."

Trimble sat back and drummed his fingers on his desk. "Why'd you come here?"

"Just making sure Danny was okay."

"That's all?"

"Why not?"

Before Trimble could launch another question, Stone pounced. "What do you know about Debby Randolph's and Rory Peterson's deaths?"

At first, Trimble seemed taken aback by this, but his expression became bemused. "Why do you want to know?"

"Some people tried to kill Danny. I think somebody tried to OD Willie."

"I talked to Bob Coombs about that. Do you have any proof?"

"Just what Willie told me and what the doctors found in his system."

"Willie's a drug user, not the most reliable people in the world."

"Have you talked to him about that?" Stone asked sharply. Trimble shook his head. "Then you're not really in a position to gauge his credibility, are you?"

Trimble's face flushed but then he smiled. "You make a good point. I do need to talk to him."

"So getting back to my question. Danny and Willie both are targets. They both knew Debby. Willie was engaged to marry her."

"I didn't know that."

"No one apparently did. Debby supposedly commits suicide. Willie thinks that's impossible. He talked to her the night before she was found dead. She sounded great."

"Sheriff Tyree looked into all that. It did seem crazy that Debby would do that, but all the evidence pointed to suicide."

"It's pretty easy to make murder seem like suicide if you know what you're doing."

Trimble shot him a penetrating look. "You know about such things?"

"I'm just trying to get to the truth, Mr. Trimble."

"Call me Charlie. And why are you so set on doing that? You've only been here a short while."

Stone rubbed his shoulder and then his head. "Let's put it this way, I don't like being pushed around." And then there's Abby. "How was Peterson killed?" he asked.

"Gunshot. Probably during a robbery. There was a safe in his office that had been forced. Cash, some files, and his computer were stolen. Tyree's been working that one too, but he's not come up with much, at least that he's confided in me. He's the entire police force, you know."

"He could call in the state police."

"He might do that." Trimble smiled. "Or maybe his brother."

"His brother?"

"Howard Tyree. He's the warden up at Blue Spruce Prison."

"He never mentioned that."

"Well, I'm not sure the two get along all that well. So my suggestion of him calling in his brother to help was a poor attempt at a joke. Tyree's on his own."

A few minutes later Stone left the Divine Eagle office and headed to see the sheriff.

He found him in the jail building going over some papers.

When he told Tyree what had happened to him in the mineshaft, the lawman nearly came out of his chair. As Stone continued explaining, Tyree started to nod.

When Stone finished he said, "The hospital confirmed that Willie had oxycodone in his system. Willie was allergic to it. He never would've voluntarily taken it. Plus it's pretty expensive without a prescription."

"So somebody did try to kill him," Stone said.

"Looks that way. And a smart way to do it, actually. Prescription drug abuse is rampant around here. I spend a lot of my time with that crap. Black stain on what is otherwise a nice place to live. But you can't lock everybody up who's addicted. Hell, there wouldn't be any miners left to work. You try to rehab them, get their methadone pop every day, but it's not enough. Every cop up and down the Appalachian mining country knows we're fighting a losing battle. But we don't have enough resources. We're overwhelmed."

"This area is pretty remote. Where do they get all the drugs? It's not like there's a pharmacy on every corner."

"They can get it from any number of sources. Sham pharmacies on the Internet, pipeline from the Mex border. Many a miner has sucked away his life savings and his marriage over that crap. Old saying up here is, 'Methamphetamines keep you awake and oxy keeps you high.'"

"Sheriff, I believe there's a connection between Danny, Willie and Debby Randolph's death." Stone went on to tell him about Willie proposing and then him talking to Debby the night before she was found.

"I didn't know about the engagement, but I knew Willie was convinced she hadn't killed herself. He was all over me about that. But all the evidence pointed to suicide."

"Who performed the autopsy?"

"Doc Warner. He's not a full-time pathologist, but he's a qualified medical examiner. And it seemed straightforward. She put a shotgun in her mouth and pulled the trigger."

Tyree didn't look at Stone when he said this last part. Stone noticed this and said, "I'm not telling you how to do your job, but it's rare for a woman to kill herself with a gun. And with so many drugs around here, you'd think she would've just popped some pills and gone quietly."

"I know. That's been bugging me too."

Stone began cautiously, "I saw Danny lying on top of Debby's grave that night."

Tyree looked surprised. "Where were you?"

"Behind the stone wall. I heard something and came to see what. I was going to go to Danny when I saw you walk up."

Tyree looked uncomfortable. "Craziest thing I ever saw. I didn't understand what he was even doing there. I just put it down to Danny being Danny."

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Meaning unpredictable."

"Abby made him leave town."

Tyree sat back in his chair and scowled at Stone. "She never bothered telling me that," he said in a hurt tone. "And she told you?"

"She was afraid for him, I guess. And from what happened to him once he got back, it seems she was right. And maybe she was afraid to tell you."

"Why?"

"You're the law. Maybe Danny was mixed up in something not quite legal."

Tyree's anger faded away. "I guess I can understand that. By the way, that description you gave me of the men, I'm sending it around to the state police and to sheriff's offices in other towns. But they didn't ring a bell with me and I know just about everybody around here."

"Well, it was dark and things were happening pretty fast. I didn't get that good of a look at them so my description wasn't all that great. But I caught Shirley Coombs snooping around Willie's trailer right before Danny was attacked. I think she was looking for something."

"Like what?"

Stone told him about the Tylenol bottle. "And Josh Coombs was shot by his friend, Rory Peterson. Quite a coincidence."

Tyree nodded dumbly.

"Those are a lot of pieces dangling out there," noted Stone.

"But how do you tie it all together? That's the thing."

Stone stood up. "I'm heading over to the hospital to see Danny and Willie."

"Well, you tell Danny he needs to start telling me the truth. He's the way we get to the bottom of all this. I'm convinced of that. And once his story comes out, those boys won't go after him again."

"I'll tell him."

As he was walking out, Stone noticed a long-barreled shotgun resting on a table with a tag on it.

"What's that?"

"The shotgun Debby was killed with."

"Do you mind?"

"Go ahead."

Stone picked up the gun, first holding it by the stock and then by the muzzle. When he laid it back down his face was puzzled.

"What?" asked Tyree curiously.

"Not sure. I'll let you know."