“As a matter of fact, I do. They’re turned off at the moment, but they’re on chargers,” Ray said.
“I need you to bring those to my office if you would. Also, bring the photos we found at Ginger’s if you would please. We have a federal agent here who’s interested in the case,” Ryan said.
“On my way,” Ray said. Ryan ended the call.
“I hope like hell you’re not just yanking our chain, Agent Jackson,” Ryan said. A couple minutes later, Ray came into the office with two cell phones and the folder containing the photos they found at Ginger’s. Ryan introduced him after he put everything on the desk. The first thing he did was hand Thomas the folder.
“These are the pictures you found at Ms. Rodgers’ business?” Thomas asked.
“Yes,” Ray said. “The first few show what they did to Commissioner Higgins. I don’t know where the others were taken or when.” Thomas looked through the photos with no emotion on his face. Apparently, he had seen this all before. When he finished, he handed the folder back.
“Yes, that looks like standard fare for MMAS,” Thomas said. “You also have video?”
“Yes, we do. Hours of it. Disgusting stuff,” Ray said. Thomas nodded his head.
“Interesting,” he finally said. “Let’s see what you got on the phones,” Thomas added after a few moments. Ray opened up each phone, and the first thing he noticed was a new message had come in since the last time he had the phones on.
“Go ahead, open it up, and show it to us,” Ryan instructed. Ray opened the text message and showed it to them: “Your services are no longer required.”
The message came from “AG.” Ray opened the other phone and found it had the same message from the same sender. Both messages had been sent Thursday morning.
“Damn,” Ryan said. “Think you can get a fix on the phone used to send those messages?” he asked Ray.
“Don’t waste your time,” Thomas said. “Chances are the phone or phones used to send those messages are already destroyed. That’s their M.O.” Just then, Ryan’s desk phone rang. He saw the call was from the women’s jail.
“Caldwell,” he said after answering the call, which he put on speaker so everyone could hear.
“Sheriff, this is Deputy Alexander,” Ruby said. “We need you to come down here and take a look at something. Right now.”
“On our way, Deputy. Thanks,” Ryan said before ending the call. He dialed the forensics lab and spoke to Dr. Childress.
“I need you to meet me at the women’s holding area right now,” Ryan said.
“Okay, Sheriff. I’ll be there as soon as I clean up,” the medical examiner said.
“Bring the phones. You’re going to want to see this,” Thomas said.
“I’ll take the folders back and meet you there,” Ray said. Ryan nodded his head, and they all left his office. They got to the women’s jail, where Deputy Alexander met them.
“You’ve got to see this, Sheriff,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.” By then, Ray met them, and they all went to the room where Trudy and Ginger were sitting. They each had a small bandage on the side of their neck. Sitting on the table in front of them on a paper towel were two tiny barbed gelatinous capsules.
“What the hell are those?” Ryan asked.
“We found them right next to their carotid artery, just like you said,” the female doctor said. Ryan reached out to the table, but Thomas stopped him.
“Don’t touch them,” he said. “They break very easily. You have the phones?”
“Yes, right here,” Ryan said, pulling out the two evidence bags containing the phones. Thomas opened one of them and prepared to show it to Trudy.
“Watch this,” he whispered. “Mrs. Higgins, you received an important message I think you should see,” he told Trudy, holding the phone so she could see the message. As soon as she read it, she slapped the side of her neck where the bandage was as though swatting at a mosquito. She apparently thought nothing of it.
Everyone else looked at her in shock. If she had seen that message with the capsule still in her neck, she would be dead. Thomas repeated the action with Ginger, who reacted the same way.
“What? Why are you all looking at me like that?” Ginger asked as she looked up at everyone.
“Why did you slap your neck?” Ryan asked.
“Did I? I don’t know. I just did, I guess,” she said, confused. “What are those things?” she asked, pointing at the two capsules on the table.
“Poison capsules,” Thomas said. The two women looked at him, shocked.
“No. You’re lying,” Trudy said. “That’s just a sexist male lie. The sisterhood looks after one another.”
“Until you’re no longer of any use,” Thomas said. “So, how long were you a contractor for MMAS?” he asked Ginger.
“Say nothing!” Trudy barked. “Our lawyer said not to talk to anyone without him present.”
“A male lawyer. Interesting. Wonder what the sisterhood would say about that,” Thomas said.
“He’s useful. For the time being,” Trudy said. Thomas nodded his head and turned to Ruby.
“Could you contact their lawyer, please? Tell him what happened and let him know Special Agent Jackson with the federal Homefront Security Task Force needs to speak with his clients — immediately,” he said.
“Of course,” Ruby said after seeing Ryan nod his head in approval. She left the room, and Ryan turned to Dr. Childress.
“Could you take these back to your lab, catalog, and analyze them, please? Be very, very careful,” Ryan said.
“I’ll get right on it,” Dr. Childress said, picking the paper towel up as carefully as he could. A minute or two after he left, Ruby came back into the room.
“Mr. Callender is on his way,” she told them. “He should be here in about five or ten minutes.”
“Thank you, Ruby,” Ryan said. “Could you get us into a conference room, please?”
“Sure,” she said. “Follow me.” Everyone got up and followed Ruby to a room with a table and several chairs. Ryan saw the camera in the corner of the room.
“Could you make sure we get this on video?” he asked Ruby.
“I’ll take care of it myself,” Ruby said. Thomas and Ryan took two chairs on one side of the table as Trudy and Ginger sat in chairs on the opposite side of the table. Jake Callender came into the room a few minutes later and set his briefcase on the table before sitting down next to Ginger.
“So, what the hell is going on? I was told there was an emergency with my clients,” Jake said. “And who the hell are you?” he asked Thomas.
“I’m Special Agent Jackson, Homefront Security Task Force, Mr. Callender. I have questions for your clients, and they refused to speak to me without your presence,” Thomas said.
“Why is the federal government involved in a local matter?” Jake asked.
“It’s not,” Thomas said. “But it is a somewhat related matter. In light of the fact that we saved your clients’ lives, I think they owe me a few answers.”
“What do you mean, saved their lives?” Jake asked.
“Your clients had poison capsules embedded under their skin, next to their carotid artery. One good slap, and they would have been dead before their bodies hit the floor,” Thomas said. Jake’s eyes grew wide as he looked at Thomas. “You didn’t know?”
“Why would I know about something like that?” Jake asked, indignant that Thomas would even ask such a thing. Thomas said nothing but gave Jake a knowing smile before turning back to Ginger.
“Is it true you were a paid contractor for the Mutual Marital Assurance Society, Ms. Rodgers?” he asked. Ginger looked down at the table before saying anything.
“Yes,” she said quietly.
“Wait, what’s the Mutual Marital Assurance Society?” Jake asked. Thomas smiled before opening his briefcase. He pulled out an old letter and put it in front of Jake. Jake’s eyes grew wide, and the color drained from his face.
“How… How did you get that?” he asked.
“I kept it,” Thomas said. “Don’t you remember?” Confused, Ryan looked between the two men before grabbing the letter off the table. It was wrinkled and torn and looked like it had been pulled out of a garbage can and taped back together. He read the letter and looked at Thomas.
“This looks like some kind of an invoice. For $1,600.00,” he said. “And a demand for Mr. Callender to contact them for an interview.” Thomas nodded his head.
“That’s exactly what it is,” he said. “They would send those to the husbands they targeted every month until the husbands would give in and respond. You see, our Mr. Callender there had a very close and personal experience with MMAS. Didn’t you, Mr. Callender?” Jake looked down before responding.
“Yes, I did. That was years ago,” he said.
“Yes, it was. Would you mind telling Sheriff Caldwell who it was who helped you out of that mess?”
“It was you, Agent Jackson,” Jake finally said.
“That’s right. In fact, I still have a scar from the bullet I took for you,” Thomas said. Ryan looked at the two men wondering what had happened. “I’ll tell you about it later, Sheriff. In private,” Thomas said. “The bottom line is that Jake here knows what kind of people we’re dealing with, and he knows firsthand what they’re capable of. Don’t you, Counselor?”