“Got no idea what you’re talking about,” Fairchild said.
“This Big Pappy Donovan was in prison with a lawyer named Darren Street. Darren Street won an appeal for Big Pappy and got him out of prison, and then Street got out, too. They’re big buddies, from what I understand. Real tight. What happened was that those two boys you had your buddy asking about, Donnie Frazier and Tommy Beane, they went down to Tennessee and blew up Darren Street’s momma’s house. She was in the house, and she got killed. Street wasn’t there. Then a couple of detectives in Knoxville screwed up and told Street that Donnie was a suspect because Donnie’s brother got killed in prison after he had a beef with Street. So what I figure is that Street went to Big Pappy, who was his old shot caller and is his friend, for help. Pappy came to you because you’re in West Virginia, not too far from where those boys lived. You got somebody—and I know who that somebody is—to gather the information. He passed it along to you, and you passed it along to Pappy. Pappy then passed it on to Street. Then Street came into my state and shot those two boys to pieces.”
“That’s some story,” Fairchild said, “but I’ve never heard of anyone named Big Pappy or Darren Street, and I don’t know anybody in Cowen.”
“Right now, as far as I’m concerned, you could be looking at two counts of conspiracy to commit murder,” Grimes said, “but what I’m really after is Street.”
“Can’t help you,” Fairchild said. “Like I said, I got no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I just can’t tell you how much I hate it when somebody lies to me,” Grimes said. “You just stood there and lied right to my face. You were in the cocaine business with Big Pappy Donovan. I have the records from the federal district court to prove it. I have a copy of your indictment. Do you think I’m some kind of idiot that you can just blow off? Because if you think you can just blow me off, you’re going to wind up right back in the penitentiary, my friend. As matter of fact, at this point, I’m probably the only person who can keep you out of the penitentiary. Talk to me, and I’ll tell the district attorney to cut you some slack. I know you didn’t kill anybody. Street did the killing. I have a witness who can identify him. He’s the one I want. You just did a favor for an old friend, right? You just asked another old friend to ask around a little, got the information Big Pappy asked you to get, and passed it on. You didn’t have any idea those boys were going to get gunned down, did you? How could you possibly have known that?”
“Did I hear you say you have some records from federal court?” Fairchild said.
“That’s right, and they say you know Michael Donovan.”
“They never proved a damned thing about me and this Donovan you keep talking about. It doesn’t matter what that indictment says. But if you check into it a little more, you’ll find out one real important thing about me. I don’t rat on anybody. I don’t talk about anybody to fucking cops. So like I said a few minutes ago, get back in your car and get off my property.”
“You’re making a big mistake,” Grimes said.
“Fuck off,” Fairchild said, and he turned and walked back to the trailer.
CHAPTER 39
Grimes did exactly what Fairchild told him to do. He got in his car and he left. But rather than driving back to Elkins, he decided to pay a visit to the Charleston Police Department headquarters. He walked in unannounced fifteen minutes after he left Rex Fairchild’s, and within another five minutes, was sitting in the office of Sergeant Eric Young. Young was in his late twenties, one of only five black officers in the department. He was the supervisor of the Special Enforcement Unit, a group of four detectives who worked primarily vice and narcotics cases and coordinated with the Metropolitan Drug Unit. Grimes introduced himself to Young, gave him some background on the murder investigation he was conducting, and asked whether Young had ever heard of Rex Fairchild.
“Everybody that works drugs has heard of Fairchild,” Young said. “He went to prison before I even started working here, but when he came back and set up shop in the used car business, we took a look at him. You don’t just put fifty cars on a lot straight out of prison without some money. We thought he might have jumped right back into it.”
“What did you find?”
“The money is coming from his father, or at least part of it. His father is in the insurance business, has been forever, and is pretty well off. He apparently went to his bank and cosigned to have the bank finance the cars. My understanding is that he also put up a substantial amount of his own money.”
“So you guys don’t suspect Fairchild of dealing?”
Young shook his head. “Nah. We moved on. Haven’t looked at him in a while.”
“He may not be dealing, but he’s using,” Grimes said. “Probably coke, maybe meth. I just talked to him, and I’ve seen enough addicts to know that he’s using a lot. His teeth are a mess, and he looks he’s starving. Do you think you might be able to help me out?”
“What do you have in mind?” Young said.
“If I’m going to break this murder case open, I’m going to have to do it from the bottom up,” Grimes said. “Fairchild is somebody I could lean on, but he’s also somebody that I could offer a deal to because he had minimal involvement. He’s a coconspirator in a double murder, but I’m not sure he knew that when he got involved. If you guys can pop him on a drug charge, especially if you can catch him with felony weight, I can come in and testify at a bond hearing that he’s a suspect in a double murder. If we can get his bond set high enough that he can’t get out, or get him held without bond, I think he’ll start talking because he’ll desperately want to get out and get more drugs. Think you could do that for me?”
Young leaned forward and put his arms on his desk. “You say this guy in Tennessee that’s suspected of the murders is a lawyer?”
Grimes nodded. “Criminal defense lawyer. He’s also suspected of kidnapping and murdering a formal federal prosecutor, but from what I understand, they have next to nothing on him in that case.”
“I hate lawyers,” Young said. “I maybe hate them more than murderers.”
“That makes you a part of a pretty large group, my friend,” Grimes said.
“Okay, we’ll get on Fairchild for you. If he’s using a lot, probably all we’ll have to do is a little surveillance. We’ll just follow him to his dealer and then pop him on a traffic violation after he picks up his coke. We’ll ask if we can search his car, and if he says no, we’ll bring in a dog.”
“The old tried-and-true traffic stop,” Grimes said. “What will you stop him for? Speeding?”
Young smiled. “We’ll figure something out. We always do. I’ll let you know as soon as he’s in custody.”
CHAPTER 40