Chapter 48 Leonardo’s POV
Chapter 48: Leonardo’s POV
As soon as Claire and I retrieve our identification, I place a call for a old friend of mine named Mason. We had gone to school together as children and he was the leading detective detective and sheriff in our county. I watch Claire through the window of the corrections center as I wait for him to answer.
“Leo? It’s been such a long time, man. How the hell are you?” His chipper voice responded after the second ring.
“Hey Mason, I’m doing alright these days. I wanted to talk to you about something really important.” Pleasantries were important in most settings but this was dyer.
“What’s going on, buddy? Does this have anything to do with Charlotte’s father?” His tone changed to serious.
“No. Not at all. I need help clearing my wife’s brothers‘ name. He was arrested for drug possession, intent to sell and opiates, his names Matthew.” I wait for a response as the line goes silent.
“It was good bust, Leo. I promise it went by the books.” He answers in his defense as he had been the leading detective in the investigation.
“I know, man. It’s just that we’re pretty sure he was framed. He doesn’t know where the drugs came from, they were left almost in plain sight, he doesn’t have any information on the channels in which he’d need to know in order to sell those drugs, hell he doesn’t even know where to buy. And there were no records of any identities, lists or records.” I state my brother–in–law’s case.
“I hear you, buddy. The thing is: we’d need more evidence to let him go. He looks a lot more guilty than innocent as of right now.”
“I understand. I’ll start by having my private investigator look into it.” I felt defeated but there was nothing I could do to ease Claire’s pain in this moment.
“Here’s what I’ll do, I’ll start examining the drugs and maybe we can identify their origin and make a timeline for who they originally came from and how they ended up in Matthew’s apartment and I’ll go over the evidence against him. If you think there’s something bigger going on, I believe you and I’ll do what I can.” Mason was always a team player and I know Claire would be thrilled to hear the news.
“Alright. That’s sounds like a good start. I’ll see what I can get out of Matthew. He says he doesn’t know much of what happened that day but he did mention a clean drug test.”
“Yeah, that was weird. Usually, these drug distributors touch their product so much that it adsorbs through their skin and results in a positive test result but he was clean. We even did a substance trace swab on his hands and that was clean. There should’ve been something there if he was actively selling and moving these drugs. Especially with how they were packaged and found in his place.” He was starting to see the hole in this investigation.
CHUBBY
“That’s what I thought. Do you, by chance, how much the value would have been for those drugs?” I ask out of curiosity to confirm my suspicions.
“Well street value, it would’ve been just a stone’s throw from about one hundred and forty thousand dollars. I mean – these were some pretty heavily filled bags.” One hundred forty thousand dollars? Matthew had never won any bets even remotely large enough to make a move that risky.
“He never would’ve been able to afford that.” I was certain of that.
“Yeah, we looked into his financial history and he’s never made a quantity that high at his job or with his previous gambling history. I’ll have to look into this really thoroughly.” He was now invested in finding the true culprit.
“I’d appreciate it, man. Claire is a mess after everything that’s happened.
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+25 BONUS
Chapter 48: Leonardo’s POV
“I’m sure, man. I’ll get started and we’ll talk soon.”
“Thanks.” I say just before the line goes dead.
Now – to share the news with Claire. Hopefully, she would see this as a silver lining. As long as they were trying to discover other outlets, there was a chance for Matthew to be proven innocent.
