Chapter 25

Mica and I arrived in Chapel Hill NC at 10:30AM. We were shown right into the vice sergeant in charge’s office. Yes at the time of the meeting I was told his name. Unfortunately it stayed in my mind less than a day.

“So sergeant my name is Mica, I spoke to you yesterday. This gentleman is Ed Rogers he was the former chief of police in Draper NC. Now he is a consultant with the Triboro Police Department where I’m from.”

The sergeant held out his hand. “Nice to meet you sarge. We are looking for a low level drug dealer who went missing a couple of years ago. He is a person of interest in a murder investigation. It looks as though he went into a protection program,” I suggested.

“We never put anyone in that kind of program,” he said. “The most we ever did was give them is a pass on prosecution. If they gave us information on their suppliers. So who was the dealer?”

“Drug users called him The Vampire.” Mica told him.

“For some reason his real name never shows up,” I said. I had warned Mica about playing down Caroline to the vice cops. We were just going for The Vampire.

“You are taking about the summer of 2016. I was just a corporal back then. But I was part of the summer battle against designer drugs. This guy Vampire was the club and party supplier of choice. We heard about him for a while before we got the information that tied him to the designer epidemic. We started to listen to the people who were having problems with the new stuff. They gave up the vampire. He was a dude that only came out at night. Also he only dealt in ecstasy, MDMA, and something called shaved ice. The last one was only around for a few months that summer. It was the real killer.”

“So what happened to him?” I asked. “Did you arrest him. I ask it, because he was obviously on your radar, but I never saw any resolution.”

“He disappeared,” the vice man said. “Here one day, and high up in the dope business, then gone the next day.”

“That sounds a little strange to me,” I said.

“Don’t it just,” the sergeant said.

“I would be willing to bet money that if you found Caroline Moore’s killer? You would find either Vampire’s body, or her killer as well. He was tied to Caroline those last few days at least. There is possibly a business, or a romantic tie between them.” Mica suggested.

“Tell me this, two years later is the Shady Lady shop still under investigation? Or did you guys decided to let the place slide.” I asked.

“We don’t let anyplace slide,” he informed me.

“Oh how would you feel about the video tape I’m making for the Discovery Channel, My tape, filmed while under cover, shows the coming and going of the shop. You know people go in but never come out with anything. I also have the forensic accounting of their books. If I can come up with this in a few weeks, and you have had two years, what are people going to think?” I asked.

“You need to talk to the state people. They are running an operation on them. It must be like grand central down ther when you guys change out the camera’s,” the sergeant said.

“I see. You might want to tell the chief that the state investigators need to talk to me before the six o’clock news tomorrow night,” I said.

“Change that I to us,” Mica said. “We have a dog in this fight as well. Her name is Alyson Green.”

When we were back in the car I said, “That was stupid telling them about Alyson. The idea was to make the bad guys come to me, now we have the state investigators named as suspects. The thugs probably won’t come, if they do? I’m pretty sure it won’t be to negotiate. They will be coming to add to the number of notches on their guns.”

“So you are saying I muddied the waters,” Mica asked.

“Yeah, that’s what I think. Not only are you in danger from these people, but your family is as well. You need to put them somewhere safe till we figure who to put in check,” I advised her.

“Now we have to give the professor our own warning,” I said.

“What warning,” Mica asked.

“You don’t need to know that. Just stay in the car while I go to the Shady Lady Gift shop.” I said as she pulled to the entrance to the alley where I left the car. A few minutes later I found myself inside looking at the vintage clothing while a young couple did a deal in whispers.

“Can I help you?” the sales clerk asked.

“I’ll wait for the boss. Is that Raven over there waiting on the young couple?” I asked. “Tell her she needs to talk to me.”

A few minutes later the kids left and she walked over to talk to me. “What can I do for you Mr. Rogers?”

“You can give your boss a message. I don’t much care which boss you give it to, but you should be sure it is the right boss. Tell him that he should expect a visit from the DEA. They didn’t know he existed, but they are going to know tomorrow. That is unless he wants to give me the man who killed Alyson Green. If he does that, I won’t bother him over the Vampire and Caroline murders. That we will just consider a cost of doing business.

I know it sounded tough, but inside I was scared silly. It wasn’t just me I was worried about ... I was also worried for Mica, her family, and of course Cynthia and her family. I wrote the burner number on the back of a Rogers Research Ink car and handed it to the shop’s manager.

“I need to hear from them by tomorrow,” I repeated.

“That’s all?” she asked.

“That will do it,” I said and walked away. There was really nothing more a person on her level could tell us, at least nothing of any importance.

When I got back to the car Mica was waiting. “Did you tell the bad guys to play nice,” she said.

“Play nice,” I said with a laugh. “Your kiddie cop background is showing. I told them to give us the shooter, or we would give all the documentary footage I have accumulated to the DEA.”