Buried Dreams (Lewis Cole Book 5) by Brendan DuBois

Author:Brendan DuBois [DuBois, Brendan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn River Publishing
Published: 2023-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

14

On I-95 we made our way north, and I thought ruefully of the many times I had gone up and down this stretch of roadway these past few days, all as part of this damn great quest. Felix was driving another anonymous rental car, and in the rear seat were a number of black duffel bags containing a fair number, I was certain, of firearms and other means of coercion and destruction. My own firearm and means of coercion was in a shoulder holster under my coat.

I looked over at him as we approached Porter, and I said, "You said Ray was working for a group down in Florida."

"That's right."

I said, "The postcards you found at Ray's antique store. From Florida."

“What about them?"

"A signal, right?"

"You are correct, sir."

I thought for a moment, and then said, "They were indicating something was going to happen on a schedule, right?"

"Right again. Care to guess what?"

"Something to do with antiques?"

"Let you in on a little secret, Lewis. It has everything to do with antiques."

I pondered that as we passed around Porter and headed over the Memorial Bridge, spanning the fast-moving Piscassic River, which separates the state of New Hampshire from the state of Maine. I looked quickly to my right, saw the beached memorial of the USS Albacore submarine, and shivered for a moment at the memories.

"A shipment," I said. "The postcards were letting him know about a shipment."

"So far you're doing well, grasshopper. Continue.”

"A shipment of stolen antiques, from….wait."

Felix waited. I thought some more and said, "You said Ray was working with a group from St. Pete?"

"Yep."

"This group active up here?"

"Not particularly."

We were over the bridge and were officially in Maine, passing a sign that said MAINE, THE WAY LIFE OUGHT TO BE, and I said, "Hold on. I was looking at this wrong. The stolen antiques...they weren't being shipped from New Hampshire to Florida. They were being shipped from Florida to New Hampshire. Ray was working a scam. Like money laundering. But this was antiques laundering. Right?"

"You should get on a game show or something one of these days. Yeah. That's the case. Look, who goes to live in Florida?"

"Retirees."

"Right. Retirees from New England who are sick of the snow and ice. They pack up and move south, and what do they do when they pack up and move south?"

"They take their antiques, their heirlooms, with them."

"Bingo."

"And they live there for a while and pass away and...Oh."

"There you go. People go to Florida from up here, they want to help ease the big move. Because it is a big move. Read a study somewhere, that the most depressed part of the elder population down there are people who've moved there recently. They're away from old friends, family members, the local newspaper. They're cut loose and they have to adjust. And it's comforting for them to have their old things with them. So, Lewis, when they do pass away, what happens then?"

"Their stuff gets stolen during the funeral. Or somebody comes in and pays almost nothing for stuff that's worth tens of thousands of dollars.

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