“You weren’t worried about Valerie having a phone?” Tessman asked, his voice quiet.
“I don’t suspect she’s in contact with the group. Something about Stacy bothers me.” He also spoke in a hushed tone.
“Something about this whole case bothers me,” Tessman said.
“A friend is the last person I’d pull into this mess. But Valerie pulled Stacy into it, putting her in grave danger. Why?”
“Something tells me we’re not going to get those answers. Maybe the FBI will after we turn them over. I, for one, am glad they’ll no longer be our problem in a little over an hour.”
Wilson’s voice came through their comms. “When we load up to continue, Handsome and Moe, you two take Stacy with you and go hard at her.”
“Roger that,” Burke transmitted. “All good on your call?”
“Affirmative. I called our stop into Ops and touched bases with Smith. Ellison’s prints came back to him. He’s also got a record in Minneapolis: a weapons charge, B and E, assault. No prosecutions. All charges dismissed.”
The men’s room door swung open, and Rogers followed the two men out. Brandon was looking more with it now, all traces of being drugged gone.
“Do either of you need to hit the head before we go?” Rogers asked them.
Both Burke and Tessman shook their heads. Brandon Ellison began to step away. Burke grabbed him by the arm. “I said, we all stay together.”
“I want to get a drink and something to eat.”
“I’ll go with him,” Tessman said.
The two men stepped away. It was a few minutes before the ladies’ room door opened and Valerie and Stacy came out. Burke could see that Tessman and Brandon were at the checkout.
“Coming out,” Burke transmitted.
“Roger,” Wilson replied.
They all exited together and walked around to the side of the building. The three men from Shepherd Security kept their heads on the swivel. At the cars, the four from the warehouse all attempted to get back into the same vehicle again.
Burke opened his back door. “It’ll be more comfortable,” he said to Stacy.
“That’s fine,” she said, attempting to get into the white SUV behind Valerie, who’d slid towards the middle upon entering.
Burke took hold of her arm and halted her. “I have to insist.” He pushed her into the open doorway of the agency SUV. Brandon was behind her. “You too,” Burke said to him. Brandon climbed in beside Stacy.
“Hey, wait,” Valerie argued.
Burke didn’t speak to her. He just closed the door to the white SUV. Then he slid behind the wheel and turned the engine over as he hit the lock button, which locked the back doors so that even the passengers couldn’t open the doors. Others called them child locks. Shepherd Security called them detainee locks.
The two cars pulled out of the gas station and then took the on-ramp back onto the highway.
“Stacy, did you know exactly what you were getting into when you agreed to help Valerie and Tom at the warehouse?” Burke asked.
“Valerie has been my best friend since college,” Stacy said. “We were roommates. I was probably the only person she ever told she’d given birth to Brandon when she was fifteen. And when he contacted her a few years ago, she told me about that too.”
Stacy went quiet. Tessman turned in his seat to gaze back at her and saw a look exchanged between Stacy and Brandon. “What was that?” he asked.
“Stacy got dragged into helping by accident,” Brandon said. “And since she was already involved, my father made sure shestayed involved. Valerie doesn’t know. She thinks Stacy helped because of their friendship.”
“How’d he do that?” Tessman asked.
“My husband is in the prepper group. It started innocently enough, a conversation with Mark Ellison and what he said made sense to Peter, my husband,” Stacy said. “But that group is separate from the militia group. They’re somewhat intertwined with some members being in both groups, but not all of them are.”
“Do Valerie and Tom know your husband is in the group?”
