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stash the stuff. Usually the first week of the month.”
    “Any particular night?”
    “No. But I can watch. If I see Justin’s truck leave, I can tell. He’ll have the dirt bike in it.”
    “ So cars and trucks don’ t take those trails?”
    “Hell, no, not even a four-wheel drive. They’re not wide enough. ”
    “ So when you call in, we need to have the stakeout ready to set up. Should be feasible, he has to drive a lot further than the drug squad does. ”
    “Yeah.”
    “He’ll see Dennis,” Don Billings interjected.
    “ Dennis won’t be there, all this is preliminary work. He’ll need to go out with me and the drug squad and show the m where t o set up. Tomorrow afternoon. ”
    “T hen Justin won’t know Dennis—”
    “Sure he will. Justin’s lots of things but stupid ain’t one of ‘em. And Dennis’ll have to testify if he doesn’t cop a plea.”
    “And he’ll know it was me, anyway, I know that,” Dennis interjected. “Ria, won’t he get out on bail? Before trial?”
    “Absolutely. But he’ll be in enough trouble without adding any else like a n harassment charge.” She hoped.
     
    * * *
     
    Dennis and Ria took the d rug s quad of the Bibb County Sheriff’s Department out the next afternoon. Dennis showed them the trial into the w oods and pointed out the clearing. He glanced surreptitiously over his shoulder at the hillock holding the small cave. It was covered, thank God.
    He pointed around the clearing.
    “Here,” he said , “ a nd here, and here. All around here. I probably don’t know all the spots anymore.”
    “This clearing’s it?” one of the deputies asked.
    “No, not quite. There’s another one.” Dennis moved over to a pile of brush and lifted it up, revealing another dirt trail through the trees. “This leads to another spot we cleared out, and there’s some there, too. I don’t know which he’ll use when he meets the dude that buys for Bradley Central. ”
    “ Okay, let’s check it out, too,” said the Deputy. “We need to have b oth spots ready .”
    Dennis took them to the second site, about half a mile down the trail .
    Ria pulled him away from the deputies. “Dennis! For God’s sake! Did y’all have to use this spot?”
    Three crumbling markers marked old graves from a private family cemetery , long forgotten. Once upon a time, the now-faint lettering almost invisible in the soft, disintegrating stone might have been a ‘T’, another possibly a ‘J’, another a probable ‘D’. All else was hopeless.
    “I didn’t like it much,” Dennis admitted. “Seemed disrespect ful, somehow. But Justin said—”
    “Damnit, Dennis! If Justin’d suddenly developed a passion for gang rape, would you have just gone along with that, too, for God’s sakes?”
    “I’m sorry,” he muttered, and walked away.
    Ria expelled another exasperated breath and moved to one of the deputies.
    “These spots going to give you any special problems?”
    “I don’t think so. We’ll be a lot closer to the place than Dennis’s buddy Justin will be when he heads out. If he leaves from home, that is. And if Dennis sees him soon enough and calls us quick enough.”
    “Can’t promise about the seeing part, but he’ll damn sure be calling if he does . ”
     
    * * *
     
    The call came two nights later. Ria raced down to the Law Enforcement Center.
    “ Miss Knight, no offense, but we can’t take civilians.”
    “Deputy Taylor, no offense, but I’ve got a personal interest here. Your informant’s practically my baby brother. He messed up bad, he knows it . He’s a good kid at the core. I need to be able to tell him I saw Justin go down. I can’t rid e with you, I know, but can I please, please, follow you?”
    “We haven’t forgotten to read anybody their rights in a long time, Miss Knight.”
    “I know you haven’t. ” Ria put on a pitiful face and batted her eyes. Feminine weapons deployed by a master. “Please? I’ll sign any release you want. I mean,