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“Do you have a minute?”
The older man’s concerned eyes behind the sturdy glasses dart between Tessa and myself.
“What is this concerning?”
I suspect Keith Jespers is a little nervous right now. I doubt even if he heard of Don Merrick’s missing voice recorder, he would’ve known it might have implications for himself, but the man is definitely jittery in our presence.
“Maybe an office or a storage space would give us some privacy?” Tessa suggests with a pointed look in the direction of his employee helping a young woman find some flu medication.
Jespers follows her eyes and quickly nods.
“My office.”
He flips up a leaf in the counter, motioning us through. We follow him through a storage room behind the pharmacy and into a small office space with stacks of papers covering every surface. He quickly clears the seat of an old kitchen chair and offers it to Tessa, before sliding behind his desk. I stay in the doorway and lean against the post.
I’d already wanted to talk to Jespers about what we heard on the tape, before Mancuso mentioned strong-arming in those two other FBI cases. Then it became even more clear we needed to talk to the man. After I filled them in on the content of the recorder in yesterday’s meeting, the agent was in full agreement.
As I’ve mentioned a few times in this case, I don’t really believe in coincidence. The chances the pressure put on Keith Jespers—one of the sitting County Commissioners responsible for local legislation—is related would make more sense. With the suggestion of development fraud, both the blackmail and Severin’s murder fit into a bigger picture; one that makes a lot of sense. It certainly gives a different perspective on some of the things we thought we knew. It also makes for the possibility of a much bigger problem here in Silence.
Corruption, which we’ll have to handle very carefully.
Mancuso insisted on secrecy and only wants the sheriff, chief deputy, Tessa, and myself to be in the loop. The fewer people who know, the less the likelihood of something getting out to the public, which would make it a lot harder to investigate.
Mancuso is putting a lot of manpower on finding Cody Withers, who may well be a valuable witness in addition to a murder suspect, and digging into Don Merrick’s background. But in the meantime, Tessa and I have been tasked to find out all we can on how extensive the rot is our missing mayor appears to be spreading.
“I would like you to listen to something we’ve come across in one of our investigations,” Tessa says, taking the lead.
We agreed we’d stand a better chance of an honest response if we confronted the man right off the bat. So I’d copied a section of the recording Merrick had made to play back to Jespers.
I push play on the voice recorder file and hold up my phone so he can hear.
Merrick’s voice is first.
“Well, we have some big decisions coming up that could impact all of our futures, and I need to know I can count on you.”
The confusion on Jesper’s face is quickly replaced with fear when he hears his own response.
“You mean you want me to sell out my town and my neighbors.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. We’d all stand to gain in the end,” Merrick can be heard placating the other man. “Friends standing together, helping out, like I supported you not that long ago, no questions asked.”
“That is not the same.”
That’s where I stop the playback.
In the twenty seconds or so the clip is long, all color has drained from the pharmacist’s face.
“We have more,” Tessa indicates solemnly.
Jespers covers his face with his hands and mumbles, “Oh my God…I’m done.”
“Not necessarily,” I voice. “You can actually do a lot in determining how this all plays out.”
The look of desperate hope he shoots me is exactly why we decided to lay it all out on the table right up front. All I have to do now is work my leverage.
“We’re willing to work with you, if you are straightforward with us. Tell us everything. We already know this is about the proposed development up at the old quarry.”
