Long Simmering Spring by Elisabeth Barrett Read Free Book Online Page A

with dark blond hair, was a rookie, and so far he’d been working out nicely. A former theology student, he had a quiet, calming presence and was good under pressure. Pete, a middle-aged man with a salt-and-pepper buzz cut, was Star Harbor born and had already been with the department when Cole left for the army. It hadn’t taken that much effort on Cole’s part to convince Pete that he’d changed from a hell-raising boy to an upstanding citizen, and once he had, his older deputy was behind him completely.
    Val was seated at the large wooden table across from him. On official business, he was dressed in a black suit and blue French-cuff shirt instead of his usual tee and jeans, but he didn’t look uncomfortable in his dress clothes. They merely served to accentuate how lethal he really was. Val had brought only one of his team members—a dark-haired agent named Thalia Rivera. She looked to be in her late twenties, but she seemed much more mature than that with her sharply cut suit and wise-eyed gaze. Cole hadn’t met the woman until today, but he had heard Val say only good things about her. She was sitting next to Val, her laptop up and running and a medium-sized stack of papers neatly arranged nearby. Introductions had been made and they were just about to get down to business when there was a knock on the conference room door.
    “Sheriff?” Rhonda Lee Petrelli, the department’s secretary and dispatcher, said, peeking in, her poufy blond bouffant swaying from side to side. “I’m off the phones for fifteen. Would you like coffee brought in?”
    “Sure, Rhonda Lee,” Cole said. “That’d be fine.”
    The woman beamed. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
    When Cole had taken over the department, the old, retiring sheriff had left behind two things: immaculate case files and Rhonda Lee. A woman in her late fifties, she’d been working in the department for over two decades and was an invaluable resource. She also knew practically everything that went on in town, which was definitely an asset to the department. Inside information was always useful.
    “Getting back to the business at hand,” Cole said, “I’m going to let Agent Grayson begin. Addressing his brother, he said, “I believe that you and Agent Rivera have some information you’d like to share with the Sheriff’s Department.”
    Val cleared his throat. “Yes,” he said, his deep, low voice resonating in the room. “So far, the DEA has been pleased with the cooperation you’ve given us on the monumental task of shutting down the drug cartel tied to Star Harbor. It’s clear that the drugs are originating in town—the distribution center we shut down at the Grange and the Coast Guard’s interception of the vessel picking up drugs from the caves underneath Star Harbor Point make it clear that Star Harbor is ground zero for the manufacturing of this stuff.”
    What Val didn’t need to mention was that Lexie and her line cook, Buster, had stumbled upon the Grange operation, and that Theo, who was staying at the Star Harbor Inn to write his next novel, had accidentally uncovered the cave plot.
    Cole nodded at Val, and his brother went on. “We chose to focus on the drug’s unique synthetic makeup. Since then, we’ve conducted numerous tests and have confirmed that the drugs coming from Star Harbor are ‘bath salts’—mephedrone and MDPV—laced with something else, which I’ll get to in a minute. I’m sure you’re aware that the components of bath salts are now illegal to possess, make, or distribute. Bath salts are a powerful stimulant as well as a hallucinogen, and overdoses present like amphetamine ODs. Coupled with other drugs, they’re a recipe for disaster. Which brings me back to our test results. The manufacturers are lacing the mephedrone with prescription drugs, primarily oxycodone. You know this drug by the brand names OxyContin or Percocet.”
    At that moment, Rhonda Lee came back through the door with a pot of coffee and a