Page 51 of The Coppersmith Farmhouse (Jamison Valley 1)
“You could say that.”
“Did you catch any bad guys today, Jess?” Rowen asked.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Not today, little bit.”
“I had lunch with Milo today. He told me you were going out to the Drummond place?” Maisy asked. “Are you still looking for the guy that stole Jack’s fertilizer?”
“Yeah,” he said but didn’t expand. Instead, he turned his attention to Rowen. “Have you showed my mom your room yet, Roe?”
When it dawned on her that she hadn’t, her face broke out into a big smile. “Mommy, can I show Noelle my room?”
“Of course. And while you’re up there, how about putting away some of those toys you took out?”
“Ohhh-kaaay,” she said, her excitement fading a little.
“Come along, Rowen. Show me this room,” Noelle said, grabbing her hand after Jess lifted her off the island.
After they left the kitchen, Jess said, “I went to the Drummond place to see if Jack would finally talk to me about his missing fertilizer. He knows more than he’s telling.”
“Why would he keep it from you? Wouldn’t he want to get it back? Or at least find out who did it?” I asked.
“Wes,” Maisy said.
Jess nodded. “That much chemical could make a fuck load of meth. And if Wes took it, Jack wouldn’t turn him in.”
“I’m confused,” I said.
“Wes is Jack’s son,” Jess said. “Wes has been into drugs for years. Mostly just hanging with that crowd. Getting high. But recently he’s started dealing meth. Started taking over production too. For the last year, I’ve been trying to pin something on him but he’s been careful. I was hoping Jack might finally be willing to give me a lead so I could bring Wes in.”
“Did he?” Maisy asked.
“No.” Jess sighed. “He’s just as tight-lipped now as when I went out to investigate the theft the first time. Which tells me it was Wes.”
“Why did you go out there again? Did something else happen?” I asked.
“Yeah. Last night, Sam busted up another meth deal. The dealer he picked up hinted that the valley’s about to get flooded with product. So I went back out to the Drummond place to see if I could reason with Jack. It was a long shot that Jack would talk but I had to try.”
Jess raked his hands through his hair.
“Word from a couple of sources is Wes built a cookhouse tucked away in the mountains. Never been able to find it and I’ve had guys looking all summer. If Wes is planning a big cooking bender, that’s where the flood will come from.”
“Oh my god,” I whispered.
Spokane had a lot of meth addicts and I’d seen some come into the ER. Their bodies were so wrecked with the chemicals they were inhaling it was a wonder they could even walk. I did not want that for Prescott.
“Don’t worry. We’ll stop it before that happens. I just have to find Wes’s cookhouse or catch him in a mistake.” Jess turned to Maisy, his look stern. “You keep all this under wraps. Last thing I need is Wes getting jumpy because he thinks I’m getting close. Got it?”
“Of course, Jess. I won’t say a thing,” she promised.
“Not even to Milo.”
She nodded in agreement and did her zip-the-lip-and-swallow-the-key gesture.
“Don’t want Ma knowing about this either. Once they come back down, we don’t talk
about it again,” he ordered.
Maisy and I nodded simultaneously
