“So, why didn’t you come forward a month ago when the names Chad and Chris were released to the public as possible witnesses to Brittney Travis’s disappearance?”
“I, uh, I wanted to,” Tommy mumbled.
“Why didn’t you?” Rafe tried to remain patient.
“Because the same time I heard about Chad, I heard about Derek. I’d been at that farm earlier, before it blew. It could have been me.”
“And having a friend die because of meth isn’t enough to get you off of it?”
“You don’t understand,” Tommy practically shrieked. “The meth got me through Derek’s death.”
“And will lead you to your own,” Rafe said, standing. Before he left, he had one more question. “How did a journal with Amanda’s name on it get into Patricia Reynolds’s house? Did you put it there?”
“I didn’t put it there.”
“Did you know that the book showed Brittney’s murder?”
Tommy sat up. “Not possible. Amanda couldn’t have been there.”
“How can you be sure, Tommy? Do you know when Brittney was taken, where, how?”
Tommy slumped. “If Amanda had been there, she’d have been a nervous wreck. She cries over TV movies and commercials. She only started crying when she started worrying about not seeing Derek.”
“Anything else you want to tell me?”
“Chad’s not really a bad guy, but his girlfriend changed him, and she pretty much calls the shots. If he really did shoot Brittney, it was on her orders.”
“Her name?”
“He just called her ‘the girlfriend.’ I got the sense she was older, a cougar, you know, and didn’t want her name bantered around.”
“Why?”
“She’s the one who controls the meth. She has power and friends. Chad called her a ‘subcontractor’ once. I have no idea what that really means. If I actually met her, I’d pee my pants.”
That was quite possibly the wisest thing Tommy had said yet this day.
“Why would she want Brittney dead?” Rafe asked.
“No idea,” Tommy admitted, suddenly looking his age again, vulnerable and scared. “But it’s why I didn’t come to you before. If Brittney had been killed because of what she’d seen, maybe Amanda would be next. I didn’t want Amanda’s name anywhere.”
Rafe understood. He felt the same way about Janie. And, unlike Tommy, Rafe had a very good idea of what a subcontractor was and how closely they were aligned with the cartels in Mexico.
Rafe couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt the type of fear that could take him to his knees. He felt it now.
Because Janie’s name had already been etched on a virtual tombstone by someone very dangerous.
CHAPTER NINETEEN