Profile of Evil (28 page)

"Ron's trying hard to get her to come to Morel."

Brody
just stared at her. He thought about the dead girls, Amanda and Sophia, from opposite ends of the state and how they ended up in Shawnee County. Could the girls have met Ron Tyler online? Could they have been lured here by Ron Tyler?

"Wait here, I'll be right back,"
Brody
said abruptly, as he jumped to his feet. He left the interview room and headed for the sheriff's conference room, where he knew Carly Stone was working. Without knocking, he shoved open the door and rushed in.

Hurriedly, he filled Carly in on what he'd learned from Shelly about the meth lab. "You might want to talk to her."

"What does a meth lab have to do with our two victims?" Carly asked, clearly confused.

"The reason why she's reporting the lab is because she thinks her thirty-nine-year-old husband is planning to dump her for this girl."
Brody
handed Carly the folded, printed photo.

"You have got to be kidding. This kid looks like she's barely eleven."

"Exactly. According to Shelly, she lives in Bloomington, and her husband is persuading the girl to come visit him in Morel."
Brody
paused for a second.

"So you're wondering if our victims were lured here by Ron Tyler?" Carly said.

Brody
nodded and asked, "Do you want to talk to her?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Carly said with a grin.

Brody
led Carly back to the interview room, introduced the two women and left them alone. He went to Cameron's office and said, "You might want to listen to this interview."

On the way to the interview room, Brody filled his brother in on what he'd learned. Soon the two men were in the small conference room next to the interview room, standing at the glass wall, watching and listening.

Shelly sat back in her chair, sizing Carly up. "Who are you and why do I need to talk to you? I've given Sheriff Chase more than enough information about my husband's meth lab."

"As he told you, my name is Carly Stone. I'm a consultant on a project with the Sheriff," she said, quietly adding, "I'm sorry this happened to you."

"What have you got to be sorry about?" Shelly squirmed in her chair and smirked.

"You're not the only one who's had a man she trusted cheat on her with another woman," Carly said softly.

At this, Shelly simply nodded and looked down at her hands which now were clenched fists. A tear slipped out of one eye and skimmed down her cheek.

Carly paused for a moment and said, "What I'm interested in is your husband's communication with this young lady." She pushed the printout of the girl's photo across the table to Shelly.

Shelly's face reddened with anger. Leaning forward, she said, "I wouldn't say she's a lady. The words 'teen slut' come to mind."

Carly ignored the remark and continued, "What's the girl's name?"

"If I knew the bitch's name, I'd be in Bloomington kicking her ass for screwing with my husband and breaking up my marriage."

"How did your husband meet her online? Is he active on Facebook, MySpace, or chat rooms?"

"A chat room was mentioned in one of the emails, but I don't recall the name."

"How are they communicating? Email? Chat? Texts? Instant messages?"

Shelly sighed and said, "Just found the emails."

"How many emails did you find?"

"Just a couple. I was printing the photo when Ron came into the house, and I didn't want him to catch me with his laptop. It's off limits." Shelly paused, then angrily added, "Now I know why."

Carly looked down at the folded paper. "This photo and email were sent last month. Were any of the emails you saw dated more recently?"

"No. Jesus. Aren't you listening? I only saw a couple of them." Frustrated and visibly shaking now, Shelly got up and began to pace.

"Do you think your husband is using instant messaging to communicate with this girl?" Carly asked. Experience had taught her that Internet predators prefer children who have instant message accounts. Although some use email, many prefer communicating with their victims through instant messages. Predators know that while emails are saved automatically and have to be manually deleted, instant messages tend to evaporate once the instant message window is closed. If Ron Tyler had switched from email to instant messaging, it would not bode well for collecting evidence.

"How the hell would I know? I only saw the email."

Realizing she wouldn't get much more useful information from Shelly, Carly asked, "Did Sheriff Chase give you his business card?"

Shelly rummaged through her purse, found the card and handed it to Carly.

Carly wrote on the back of it, "Here is my cell phone number. Would you please call me if you think of anything else that might be helpful?"

"Why in the hell do you want to know more about my cheatin' husband's on-the-side romance?"

"What your husband is doing has nothing to do with romance. He's a sex predator." Carly tapped her finger on the folded photo. "This little girl is his victim,
not
his love interest. I need your help and cooperation to stop him from ruining her life or worse."

Shelly just stared at Carly as if confused.

Carly handed her the business card. "You have my number; call it if you have more information about the girl. I'll get Sheriff Chase for you."

Carly left the room and nearly slammed into Brody in the hallway.

"We need a search warrant for his laptop, cell phone, tablet, and whatever else he has."

"Slow down, Carly. I can put those things in the search warrant, but we need to do the meth lab investigation first. I'll list the laptop, phone, and other electronic communication devices in the search warrant. We'll get those things during the bust."

"Okay, then what's next?"

Cameron joined them and answered, "We need to start the meth lab investigation from scratch. The best way to do that is to go undercover and try to buy drugs from the house. I'll need Shelly's help."

"I agree," said Brody. "See if she'll introduce you to Ron."

Brody and Carly moved to the two-way glass window and watched Shelly, who was now wiping sweat from her brow with the back of her shaking hand.

"Do you think she's withdrawing?" asked Carly.

"Maybe. She sure doesn't look good."

<><><>

Cameron entered the interview room with a can of Coke for Shelly. He handed it to her and returned to his chair across from her. She popped open the can, lifted it, and took a long drink.

"I'm Detective Chase," he said.

"I know who you are, Cameron," she stated. "We went to the same high school."

"That so?"

"I won't hold it against you that you don't remember me."

"Sorry, but that was a long time ago," Cameron said.

"Listen, I've told your brother and that consultant all I know. I need to go," said Shelly.

"Sorry, Shelly, there's this other thing I need to discuss with you."

"What's that?"

"I need your help."

"I've already helped," she returned.

"Right. But in order to make this bust work, I'll need to go undercover so you can introduce me to Ron as a buyer."

Shelly flew to her feet, knocking her chair over in the process, shaking with rage. "Are you fucking nuts?" She asked incredulously. "No way. There is
no
way Ron is going to believe your Boy Scout ass is a buyer. He'll see you as a cop a mile away. Do you have any idea what he'd do to me if I brought a cop home?"

"This wouldn't be my first time to go undercover, Shelly."

"Get your little brother to do it. I saw Gabe at the Donut Place last week. He's got an edge to him that you don't have. With his long hair and tattoos, there's more of a chance Ron would believe he was a buyer."

"I'm not sure I can get Gabe..."

"Then you can forget this little undercover drama. There's too much risk for me. You don't know how violent Ron can be."

Cameron left the room, closing the door behind him. He quickly found Brody with Carly in the small observation room.

"Did you hear what she said?"

"I heard her and the answer is no. Besides the fact his expertise is in computer forensics, Gabe's not in law enforcement," Brody said.

"Does that matter?" asked Carly. "I've known a lot of informants who were not in law enforcement. Besides, didn't you tell me he graduated from the academy? He just decided to open his private investigation company instead. He's trained. Why can't he do it?"

"Because he has an overprotective older brother who's the county sheriff," said Cameron. He watched as Brody walked away.

"Brody, where are you going?" Carly called after him.

"To my office to call Gabe."

<><><>

Chapter Eleven

Four law enforcement officers in the area who were certified to process meth labs were sitting around the conference table the next day when Carly entered the room: Brody and Cameron Chase, Deputy Jim Ryder, and Carly's brother, Blake Stone, who was on loan from Sheriff Tim Brennan. Though not certified to process meth labs, Gabe was in attendance, too. Brody had deputized him for the undercover stint, and Gabe wanted to see the thing through.

An unshaven Gabe Chase dressed in torn jeans and a leather vest had successfully purchased three grams of crystal meth from Ron Tyler the day before. Because he was wired, the entire purchase conversation was recorded. In addition, he'd observed a couple of rolled-up dollar bills, a glass pipe, a broken mirror, razor blades, syringes and small bags of white crystals on a coffee table in the front room. Gabe warned them of a modified propane tank in back of the house. He reported that the brass fitting on top of the tank had a bluish-green tint, and was probably filled with anhydrous ammonia, a farm fertilizer used in making
methamphetamine. The chemical was highly poisonous, corrosive and explosive.

Ron had even given Gabe a tour of the meth lab he'd created in the kitchen. Shelly had been telling the truth. Ron was not cooking this week because he had plenty of supply. It was the ideal time for the bust.

Fire Chief Wayne Lansky was in attendance, too. Since production of meth carries a strong risk of fire or explosion, his specially-trained hazmat team would follow the sheriff's undercover van.

Carly filled her mug up with hot coffee, squeezed her brother's shoulder, and sat down next to him as Brody opened the meeting.

"You've all been briefed on the operation." Brody began. "Today, we'll discuss the specifics on how the bust will go down." He turned on a projector that flashed a house plan on the screen. "This is a sketch Gabe made of the layout of the house."

Brody picked up a laser pointer from the table and continued, "Detective Chase and Deputy Ryder will enter the house from the front. Once inside, there is a combination living and dining room. The place is a mess, so watch where you walk. There are two openings in this room. The one to your right leads to a kitchen that runs the width of the back of the house. This is where Ron has the meth lab. The doorway to your left leads to a long hallway where the bedrooms are located. Your target is the bedroom where Ron and Shelly sleep. It is the one to your left, just past a small bathroom, as you move to the front of the house."

Brody turned the group's attention to the back of the house on the drawing. "Detective Stone and I will cover the back of the house, including the long kitchen area where the meth lab is housed. Ron told Gabe that he wasn't cooking this week because he has plenty of supply, but we cannot be absolutely certain whether the lab is actively 'cooking', until we get there. So proceed with caution. The simple act of turning on an electrical switch may cause an explosion."

With all eyes on the screen, he continued, "Cameron and Ryder will use the battering ram to breach the front door and communicate with the rest of us as they clear each room."

"The bust will occur at four o'clock tomorrow morning, when it's more likely that Ron and Shelly will be sleeping. Make it look as if we are arresting Shelly, too, so Ron won't identify her as a snitch. She's still terrified Ron or one of his biker friends will off her. As part of her plea agreement and cooperation, Shelly will be taken to a rehab in Indianapolis and registered under an assumed name. Once released, she has an airline ticket to fly to Nevada, where she'll live with her parents and hopefully start her life over."

"And Ron?" asked Carly.

"As the meth cook and distributor, Ron Tyler is looking at hard time. Shelly let us know he has an arsenal of weapons in the bedroom, so be on high alert. Move so quickly that Ron Tyler won’t have time to arm himself," Brody said. "Don't shoot unless a life is in danger and you have no choice. We need Ron to pay for the misery of all the lives impacted by the drug he makes. We also want him alive to answer questions related to our murdered girls."