Dammit. She knew it was a bad idea for Drake to come to the hospital with her.
“Ms. Eastman, I asked you a question.” The doctor frowned at her.
“I’m sorry.” Karen focused on the doctor.
***
Drake looked at Karen seated in the study. She wasn’t feeling much pain. She’d been right, her ribs were only bruised. But still, to see her more comfortable did his heart good. Of course, he really wished she would go take a nap, but she was stubborn. He looked at his sister Evie. She was stubborn too. He didn’t like the fact that she was sitting on the arm of Aiden’s chair.
The familiar ring of the SKYPE call sounded. He turned the laptop so everybody in the study could see it. Clint’s face appeared.
“You have some problems. This is wider than Jasper Creek.”
Drake’s jaw clenched. He felt like an idiot. “I should have guessed that. I’ve been so focused on this place, I guess I’ve had my head up my ass.” He sighed. “So, tell me the bad news.”
“There were hospital reports that showed the increase in overdoses. Yeah, it went to the sheriff, but it also went to the DEA in Knoxville, but it never went any further. This should have gone up the line. There should have been agents assigned and crawling all over Jasper Creek, but there weren’t.”
Clint gave them a significant look. “We have another problem.”
“What?” Drake demanded.
“Your friend, Judge Kirkland. He knows.”
Drake sat up in his chair. It couldn’t be possible. Not the judge who gave him the opportunity to go into the Navy. “There is no way he knows. He is not in on this shit. He’s one of the good guys.”
“When nothing was done, I did some digging, I found two letters that were sent to him. One from the hospital administrator, and an anonymous source from the sheriff’s office. Both of them went out about last fall.”
Drake stood up and pushed away from the desk. He was beyond upset. Aiden and Karen watched as he did a lap around the study. He picked up one of the crystal glasses from the bar and considered throwing it against the wall, but then put it down. He marched back to his laptop and leaned into it.
“Dig further. There’s somebody in his office who made sure he didn’t see those letters. I’m sure of this. Dig, Clint. You’re wrong.”
Clint held up his hands. “Okay. I’ll check it out.”
“Are you contacting the state DEA office?” Drake demanded.
“Already done.”
“Good. When will they be here?”
“Tomorrow. But they’re not going to take everything you say at face value. They’re going to want to conduct their own investigation. That’ll include conferring with the sheriff.”
“Great. Just fucking great.”
“But they’ll also be talking to the hospital personnel,” Clint said.
Drake sucked in a deep breath. “I’ve got a contact at the hospital. He has a ton of information to provide. But until they’re up to speed, a lot of this still rests on us.”
“Sounds like it,” Clint agreed.
“But the influx of ex-cons is going to be a huge tip-off,” Aiden inserted.
“First we’re going to have to show them where they’re all holed up.”
“Eva?” Aiden asked her.
“Yep, I can probably find them.” She bit her thumbnail. Aiden pulled her hand away from her mouth.
Drake turned his attention back to the computer screen. “What else? I know there’s more.”
“We’re checking some of our contacts down South about the increase in heroin. Maybe we can find out something.”
“Clint. You have that constipated look on your face. You have something really bad to say, so just spit it out.”
“Look, your dad was really in with some of the gangs in prison. I have no idea how in the hell he got out early. It makes no sense.”
Drake didn’t want to ask while Evie was in the room, but he had to. “The Aryan Brotherhood?”
“Yeah,” Clint said quietly.
Drake looked over at his sister. She looked sick. This time he was happy that O’Malley had his hand on her clenched fist.
“I heard that they weren’t showing up until the end of the month. Do you have any idea why, Clint?”
“Right now, there’s a contingent in Kentucky. My guess is that they’re mobilizing.”
“How in the hell do you know this?” Aiden demanded.
“There’s a compound out there. They sold out for a pretty penny. Rumor has it that a coalition got together to buy them out to get rid of bad rubbish. It worked.”
“Great. Now Jasper Creek gets them. Have they bought in?”