Two days later, Matt held a meeting in the conference room in the basement of the station with his deputies. Matt only had five deputies. Normally, that would be fine for a small town with the occasional disturbances, but for a murder investigation - it was going to be tight. “Okay, men, I have a strong lead in the Jetsen case.” Matt pointed to a mug shot he had taped on the whiteboard. “This is Darren Josiah Jones, goes by the nickname D.J. This is a mug shot of him from two years ago. He was arrested for obstruction of justice. He got one year of community service. According to my sources, he was Joe’s supplier.” Matt moved his finger down to the mug shot under D.J.’s. “This is his cousin, Dexter Jones, goes by Dex. This mug shot was from an arrest a year ago. He was busted for running a dog fighting ring. Dex is the enforcer to D.J.’s business. Dex has been arrested twice before for assault and battery. Both times the judge found it to be self-de
If Matt could duplicate himself, he would. The sting was going down tonight. He should be at the sawmill setting up with the men. He also should be tailing D.J. and Dex as they explored the town. He should be at the station holding down the fort. He should be with Jodi with her legs wrapped around him.Since he couldn’t do all of that at the same time, he had chosen to help Williamson tail D.J. and Dex. According to procedure, one deputy had to be at the station and on duty at all times. Matt got Carter to stay behind since he had the least amount of experience being a cop. George, who Matt deputized so he could legally work undercover for the department, was at the sawmill waiting for the Joneses. Goldman was acting as George’s wingman. The rest of the boys were in position in various spots at the sawmill.The meet up was happening at nine. It was 7:30. Matt walked along the sidewalk in jeans and a blue polo shirt. He didn't want to spook these guys by wearing his uniform. He would s
Matt impatiently waited for Williamson to pick him up on the corner. The Joneses got stopped by a stoplight, but it wasn’t going to stay red forever.Williamson’s truck appeared in the distance. He quickly pulled up and stopped the truck Matt hopped in. “If they go through the last stoplight at the end of Second Street, pull over and let them get some distance. That’s the way to the sawmill. We don’t want to follow them too closely on a back road. It might spook them.”“That’s a big 10-4,” Williamson said and pulled off.“By the way, if you ever text me again saying you can’t talk now, I’ll throw you through a fuckin’ window,” Matt threatened. He had waited and waited on Williamson for information on what was going on in the diner. Matt had finally cracked and texted him.“I told you she was fine and she was getting something to eat before I told you I couldn't talk,” Williamson said defensively.“I didn’t know what happened. What the fuck went on in there?”“The Joneses ate and left.
Matt and Williamson were covering the door from the outside. They were able to hear the whole conversation from George’s listening device in his belt buckle. Matt couldn’t believe it when the gunshot went off. He signaled for Williamson to move in.Matt heard one of his men in the rafters yell, “Sheriff’s department nobody move!”Williamson cracked the door open. “They’re heading for the door.” Williamson kicked it the rest of the way open. “Sheriff’s department! Stay where you are!”Matt rushed behind Williamson to back him up. He aimed his shotgun at the Joneses. Williamson had a glock. The Joneses had their guns drawn, but they weren’t pointing them at Matt or Williamson. “You got no moves, Jones! Put the weapon down!” Matt ordered. D.J. slowly put his pistol on the ground, but Dex still had his. “Don’t do anything stupid, kid,” Williamson said seriously.Matt glanced around. George was nowhere to be seen. Goldman had turned over a st
It was 10:13 p.m. David laid in bed waiting for Danielle to come back upstairs with whip cream. They started their online show at 10:45. David and Danielle had been having sex and filming it for an online site for two years.The 2008 crash had really hurt David's financial management business. They had struggled to pay their household bills. They had also got behind on the mortgage. They had tried to refinance, but their credit score was shot because of late payments on credit card minimums and other bills. David did accounting for the local church, but that didn’t pay enough.Out of desperation, Danielle had started looking for a job online. She came across a Craigslist ad that asked for couple’s to have sex on camera. The site splits half the proceeds with the talent. The more live shows they did, the more they got paid. David hadn’t wanted to do it. He had been afraid of the wrong people finding out, and then their reputations would be in the gutter. Danielle had told him that they
Matt quietly sat in the passenger seat in Williamson’s truck. They were almost back in town. The Joneses had gotten back in their Escalade and left. Lawrence and Dalton tailed the Joneses to make sure they left town. Goldman took George back to Garvey’s. Matt thought about his next move in the investigation. The static of Williamson’s radio on his dashboard interrupted Matt’s thoughts. “Officers respond. We need officers to respond to 112 Oak Avenue,” a female voice said over the airwaves. It was Patty, the switchboard operator. Matt grabbed the receiver. “This is Sheriff Kirby. What’s going on, over?” he said and clicked off the button. “Home invasion, Sheriff. The suspects are gone. Wife dead, husband badly injured,” Patty said. “Shit,” Williamson said and pressed on the accelerator. “What was the address again?” Matt asked with a furrowed brow. “One-one-two Oak Avenue, David and Daniell
David and Danielle were buried in the town cemetery. David’s brother decided to have a graveside funeral. Dalton received so much comfort food from the community that he invited everyone to his house for lunch after the service. Jodi approached Dalton in the kitchen. “Hi,” she greeted. “Hi,” he said back. The poor man was still in shock. “I’m sorry about your brother.” “Thank you.” “You know, they were friends of Jackie and me.” “I do. David told me that he and Danielle had become good friends with the famous Garvey twins.” Jodi flinched at the comment. Regret fell on Dalton’s face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. Hell, I don’t care what these old crows say about you two. David and Danielle were fond of you and that’s all I need to know.”Jodi smiled. “Do you need help cleaning their house out?”Dalton gave her a faint smile. “No, Jodi. I’m not going to touch that house
Matt tucked his shirt into his pants. Jodi put on a pink satin robe and tied the sash into a bow. She kept facing the mirror, watching him getting dressed.Matt zipped his pants and then bent down to pick up his gun holster. He put it around him. He glanced up at her and caught her looking at him through the mirror. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he fastened his belt. She turned her head. She had to do it. It was for the best, the best for him. “We can’t do this anymore,” she spat out.He smiled. “Jodi, I promise I won’t come here in the middle of the day like this again.” Jodi squeezed her eyes shut, willing to black out what she was about to say next. “No, I mean, it’s over. I don’t want to see you anymore unless it’s by accident.”Dead silence.She slowly opened her eyes and turned around to look at him. Matt’s jaw was tight. His eyes were almost as big as quarters.“It had to end sometime. We both knew this couldn’t last forever,” she pushed out of her mouth.“Did we?”She could te