Page 75 of Fatal Strike
“What kind?” she said.
“OxyContin, Percocet, Ambien.”
“Have you sold to Dylan Ortega?”
“No idea.”
“Where’s your stash?”
“Sold ’em. You won’t find a thing in my apartment.”
She moved on. “How does your boss contact the gang?”
“Texts. He’s smart. He gets me a new phone regularly. Ithink we all get new ones.”
“How often?”
“Depends on how many texts we get.”
“How does the phone transfer take place?”
“I get a text to leave my phone at a spot and how to pick up a new one.”
“Where?”
“Never the same place. Sometimes in Galveston and other times in or around Houston.”
“I’ll need the locations of where you’ve dropped off or received a phone.”
“What I’ve told you is good.”
“I’m going to need more, Henry. Names, places. You know the charges without them.”
“I’m a dead man if I give you a single name. I’d rather take my chances with the cop and a jury.”
She shook her head. “Chief Everson and Agent Colbert won’t like this. What if they choose to put the word out on the streets that you leaked names? Then cut you loose?”
He pointed at her with his cuffed hands. “I said I know about the rattlers. I told you where the farm is. I deserve a break for risking my neck.”
Jon drove his rental truck behind an Alvin police squad car to the location Henry Kantore had given for the rattlesnake farm. Everson drove a pickup behind him.
Leah had been quiet, and he recognized her fear of snakes had surfaced like oil on water. How bad was her phobia?
Her phone alerted her to a text. “Everson sent info about the owner of the property. The man lives in Iowa and inherited the land from his father. Clean record. Everson wants us to contact him now.”
He placed his phone on the dashboard and pressed Speaker. When a man answered, Jon introduced himself. “The section we’re checking is on the northwest side.”
“I haven’t been down there for years,” the man said. “The neighbor runs cows on part of the property. Would you call me if you find a rattler pit?”
“Yes, sir. Do you have a caretaker for the property?”
“If there’s a problem, the neighbor would let me know.”
“I’d like his name and number.”
Leah had her fingers poised over her phone’s keypad.
“Sure.” The man relayed the neighbor’s information.
