Err on the Side of Violence: Terribly Acronymed Detective Club Series (Book 3)

Chapter Seventeen: Joe, Sunday

They followed Rachel out into the living room, where Emma had reestablished herself in the middle of the group of teens and tweens. It was interesting how they made room for her on the couch where she'd been previously, unconsciously aware that this was her house and she got pride of place.

"My laptop's upstairs, hold on," Rachel said.

"Maybe we should go up with you," Lauren said, "you know, just in case what's on that memory card shouldn't be seen by young eyes."

Rachel nodded and led them upstairs to her and Al's bedroom. Now Joe had the unpleasant sensation that he was looking at the bed on which Rachel and his wife might have had sex. Rachel sat on it, unconcerned, opening her laptop and slipping in the memory card with the dish gloves still on. She pulled the gloves off to better manipulate her touchpad and keys. Once she had the files open, she turned the laptop around and showed them the first photo that appeared.

Joe looked along with the others, strangely both excited and unsettled, not knowing what they were going to be seeing.

"It's a boat," Sunny said, sounding disappointed. Joe was too.

"Specifically, a fishing trawler," Lauren said. "My dad worked on these a lot. This one appears to be named Lookeeloo."

"What is a picture of a fishing trawler doing on a memory card in an envelope at the back of a drawer in Logan's room?" Rachel asked.

"Let's see if there are more photos. Maybe we'll get an explanation."

Rachel clicked, and the next photo appeared. 

"That's a picture of the hold," Lauren said. "The fish stay there until the boat returns with its catch. Some boats have freezers for long distance fishing. This one doesn't." She leaned in. "Rachel, can you enlarge the photo a bit?"

Rachel obliged, and the enlarging brought details into focus that weren't apparent before.

"Holy shit," Al said. "Are those wrapped packages of drugs?"

"It certainly looks that way," Lauren said.

"Not very original," Rachel said. "Aren't drugs always being smuggled in fishing boats in the movies?"

"Still, these are pictures of an illegal act," Sunny said. "We really should be turning this over to the police."

"Wait, we need to see the rest of them," Lauren said. "We need to see why these photos are in Logan's possession. What does a sixteen year old boy have to do with a drug smuggling operation?"

"You know, no one ever told us who their father is or what he does," Al said. "Maybe these are his photos, and Logan is holding them for him."

"He could also be holding them for a friend," Tej said.

"Why him though?" Rachel asked. "Why trust him with these photos?"

"Maybe because he's the last person anyone would suspect of having them," Lauren said. "Maybe he's like a safety deposit box no one could ever find."

"So, you think these photos are for blackmail."

Joe felt the blood rush from his face. "Guys, that's a dangerous business. Logan could be in jail right now because of what's on this memory card."

"But if Logan was blackmailing someone, wouldn't he be dead and not in jail?" Lauren asked, rather callously in Joe's opinion.

"How about this?" Tej said. "Logan is in close contact with the blackmailer. He goes out last night to meet this person, and during the meeting something bad happens; maybe the bad people being blackmailed surprise them and get violent, and Logan escapes but gets arrested by the police later."