“Piaget, you know Bethany?” Max introduced them. “This is Drew Colborne and his brother Molson.”
“The police detective,” Piaget nodded, recognizing the name. “Good to meet you.”
Max got the coffee machine started while everyone took a seat around the table.
“What is this plan and why do you need Sterling Denver?” Drew questioned his brother.
“First call her and get her down here,” Molson didn’t want to wait. “Or get her on speaker and I’ll tell all of you at the same time.”
“Fine,” Drew pulled out his phone, going through his contacts. They listened as the phone rang.
“Hello?” Sterling answered.
“Sterling, it’s Detective Andrew Colborne calling,” Drew identified himself. “Do you have a moment so that we can talk?”
“Okay,” there was a rustling in the background of the phone. “Did you find any more information about the stolen drug from Ramesly Pharma?”
“I gave a copy of the information to Agent Lawe,” Drew said dryly. “I don’t think he’s going to get back to me.”
“I know something more about our FBI friend,” Sterling responded. “My source was able to confirm large amounts of unaccounted for cash going into his bank account. It’s a possible indicator that he has been accepting bribes. My source is trying to crack the coding to find out where the payments are being routed from.”
“If he can trace it back to David then I’ll have something that I can bring to Lawe’s superior,” Drew agreed. “I’ve figured out who he is but have yet to contact him. I was hoping to have something in hand when we spoke.”
“You need to speak to him. You need to find out if the FBI would give immunity to anyone who testifies against David,” Molson reminded him.
“Why would the FBI need to give immunity to a witness testifying against David?” Max wanted to know.
“Molson has the idea that he might be able to get some of the gang leaders who receive the drugs from David to testify against him. However, they would need immunity so that they are not implicated in the crime that they are testifying against,” Drew explained.
“Will they do that? Testify?” Max asked hopefully.
“Doubtful,” Drew responded.
“They will,” Molson said confidently.
“You’ve talked to them already?” Drew was surprised.
“I told you, I have a plan,” Molson told him. “We’re going to put the squeeze on David. I know you can’t investigate him Drew, but Sterling can. She’s tabloid. She and her press buddies can bug his phones, his computers, his house. They can stalk him.”
“That’s illegal,” Drew interjected dryly.
“It’s still done,” Sterling admitted.
“The point isn’t to actually put anything in the papers, although that would be an added bonus,” Molson took control of the conversation again. “We want Pop to be paranoid. We want him to think we can hear and see everything he does. We want him to believe that if he makes a wrong move, it’ll be out in the press for everyone to see, for the police to see.”
“Why?” Sterling was curious.
“If he don’t think he can sneeze without the whole world knowing, he ain’t gonna be able to coordinate no drug drops or pick ups. His part of the drug trade dries up or he make a play that will reveal himself. Either way is good,” Molson clarified. “Wrong move, we catch him and his story to the FBI falls apart. He’s out of business either way. That’s what I want, the old man out of business. Once his source of powder dries up, the gang leaders aren’t going to be predisposed to like him so much. He becomes a liability. The papers let it slip that he’s not so good upstairs, a little dementia in his old age, some blabbing about his criminal activities, and now the gangs really think he’s a liability. I can then convince them to roll on David.”
“If they don’t take a hit out on him first,” Drew muttered.
“More likely he’ll get shanked in prison unless they keep him in solidary,” Molson grimaced.
“It could work,” Sterling’s voice came over the phone. “That would be motivation to testify as long as you can convince them that testifying is a better idea then outright murdering David. It’s important that they testify.”
“I can convince them,” Molson wasn’t sure he could, but he would give it his best shot. “We just need to dry up the source of powder.”
“What if David isn’t giving the orders?” Piaget asked. “He’s been under FBI and police scrutiny. He might have already delegated the tasks of coordinating the drops and pick ups? It’s possible.”
