Chapter 50

"What do you suggest?" Jessica asked.

"For now, I'm going to keep digging. And Mary Ann will have your records finished before long. Yours too, Karen."

Karen had sat quietly as Harry was speaking. She looked sober.

Maybe a little scared.

"You all right, Karen?"

"I guess so. I wasn't expecting... this."

"It's a little hard to process," Harry said, "for anyone. I've been in this business for a long time, and I'm feeling a little uneasy."

"How so?" asked Alex. "The crime connection, is there more to it?"

"I mentioned the Mob," Harry said, "but probably... no, you're better off knowing it now. The Mob has its tentacles into every corner and crevice of the country. That doesn't mean there's guys named Vinny and Joey running around bumping people off. The big families pretty much stay in their comfort zones, the big cities, in their territories. That's controlled by their central council, out east. But each one owns parts of the surrounding area, down to the small towns like Harrisburg."

"Harrisburg?"

Yeah. What's in Harrisburg so important?

Harry grinned crookedly.

"In Poinsett county their main presence is there. Harrisburg isn't even half the size of Trumann, but it's got a different history. The Harrisburg Mafia is what they call that gang. Word is Jack Spencer has a direct line to a guy in Little Rock who's a wiseguy. Associated with the Marcello family in New Orleans. I know that a few years ago we had a guy the Harrisburg gang was going to kill. Had a contract on him. He was talking to us, but I don't know if they knew it. There were some internal problems. I told Jack to tell them to knock it off or we were going to come after them but good. I don't know if I could have managed it, but he believed me. He got the hit called off and we got the kid out of town and eventually into Witness Protection. So he's got some pull."

"He's in Harrisburg?" Jessica asked. "Spencer?"

"He lives out in the country west of town. Got a house in Jonesboro, one in Trumann. Most of what goes on in Trumann, just say if he doesn't like it it doesn't happen. And he's obviously getting a cut. There's always a payoff. But he doesn't hang around there, or Jonesboro. He likes it out in the country. Lot of space out there, nobody to see."

See what? Do I wanna hear this?

"See what?" Jessica asked.

"They also call them the Redneck Mafia." Harry said. "They're a southern rural gang, and I don't know how much you know about those. Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, it's all pretty much the same. Drugs, gambling, prostitution, the usual. And, this is pretty ugly..."

He looked over at Karen.

"It's all right," she said. "I was born here, my family goes back generations. We know something about it."

"Among other things," he said, "given the current social conditions, child exploitation is a big part of it. And in southern gangs, dogfighting."

What the fuck?

"I've heard about it," Jessica said, "but thought it was pretty rare."

"It's rare for them to get caught. You'll probably get killed quicker for messing with them than anything. They're a special kind of evil. Like trafficking in children, you've got to be near soulless to live that way. But,"

Harry stopped, looked over at Karen again, back at Jessica and Alex.

"I spent thirty years in law enforcement. Lot of white collar stuff, fraud, stuff like that. People like your bankers and lawyers and doctors. But we worked the gangs too, the drugs and gambling and all their rackets. You see those guys, scruffy-looking, jeans and work shirts, dirty boots, needing a shower and shave, talking like hicks. No class at all."

He opened a folder and pulled out a page, laid it on the table. A picture of a man in a sport coat and slacks, no tie. A doctor, presumably, in blue scrubs, stethescope around his neck.

Doc looks like he's posing. They don't wear a stethescope unless they're examining you, sometimes not even then. Besides, he looks fake. Both of'em.

"There's your James Cox and Doctor Copeland." Harry said. "Cox is a cocky-looking fellow. The doc, he's overweight, doesn't look too smart. That's from the hospital website, looks like they had a professional photograper do the staff photos. All about appearance."

Like to get my hands on that doctor, when I get a little stronger. Way he looks, I could probably take him now.

"But you take off those stylish clothes and rub a little dirt on them," Harry continued, "and you couldn't tell the difference. The only difference is the environment. Cox and Copeland grew up in higher society, upper middle class or better. Went to college, got a degree got a job and started clawing their way up the ladder. The hicks are more honest. They don't pretend to be anything other than what they are."

"Am I missing something here?" Alex asked.

"The guys in the suits in their offices don't get their hands dirty." Harry said. "Partly because they're cowards, mostly in fact, but because actual physical violence frightens them. If they want something to happen to you, they'll get someone like these people to do it."

"They'd try to... "

Jessica looked at Alex, then at Karen.

"A thirty to forty million dollar a year operation," Harry said, "they'd kill you in a minute if you become a threat. Or they'd hire the guys in Harrisburg to do it. And believe me, there's a few unsolved homicides here that fit the profile. I haven't nailed it down, but there's a link, probably Spencer, with whoever the honcho in Jonesboro. And Carlisle is a prime suspect in my book. If I can get that information, It'll help a lot.

Hospital try to kill me for exposing them. Already tried to kill me once. Turn me into a vegetable anyway. Then sell me for parts.

"What should we do?" Karen asked.

"First thing is start being careful," Harry said. "Very careful. What are your immediate plans? Karen, you still trying to find a lawyer?"

"I am. And not having any luck."

"That's to be expected. You may have to go ouside the state, and even then... lawyers are lazy. They want a dead-bang case they can get a settlement offer on quickly. Actually doing any work, like investigating, they just aren't interested. Too many easier cases. What we may be able to do, and I'm looking around for someone, is get a lawyer who'll either take a ridiculously big fee, two or three times their usual rate at least, to do the procedural work. We'd still have to make the case. We'll see what turns up.

"Alex, Jessica?"

"Let's get as much ammunition as we can first." Alex said. "We've got the money to do it."

"Speaking of ammunition," Jessica said, "Alex should have something soon that might help."