Dean Lawson's heroin and cash¶
Dean Lawson's heroin and cash is the buried $40,000 and the briefcase of four heroin parcels that the task force dug up at the Lawson cabin outside Radford, then kept and spent.
| Type | Item (contraband and money) |
| Aliases | $40,000 cash; Samsonite briefcase; drug money; small tin key; "the budget" |
| Holder | The task force (originally Dean Lawson) |
| Status | Kept by the team; some heroin carried along on the drive to Marblehead |
| First appearance | Radford Horror 06 (the cabin is mentioned) |
Description¶
The cash was several Ziploc bags of hundred-dollar bills, about $40,000 in all, buried near the back of the cabin together with a small key (Radford Horror 07). Kurt wondered who would make a key out of tin; Andre confirmed that it was tin. The key opened a locked Samsonite briefcase hidden under a loose floorboard beneath the bed in the cabin's unchanged child's room. Inside were four parcels of slightly cut South American heroin, with room for five or six; Andre put their value at $10,000 to $20,000 (Radford Horror 07).
Properties¶
The stash was evidence of Dean's role in the local drug trade. Kurt tasted the heroin and asked the town doctor, Dr. Harvey Mauden, to compare it with the substance found in Amanda's blood. The doctor, who had once worked at an addiction clinic, was stunned by the quantity, estimated it at about $5,000 worth, and kept a test-tube sample to send to a friend (Radford Horror 07). The pilot Freak called it Mexican heroin and said he had bought the same stuff from a young man at a party; when Kurt described Dean, Freak agreed it sounded like him (Radford Horror 07).
History¶
Discovery¶
Douglas Douglas, the guard at the cabin community, told the team he had seen Dean carrying a shovel to the family cabin several times. The Biz stole a shovel from the community tool shed while Andrew kept Douglas talking about pinball. After digging up the cash and key, Kurt bump-keyed the back door and the team found the briefcase. Kurt put the board and briefcase back, took the drugs, cash and key, and refilled the hole (Radford Horror 07). The Biz's reaction to the money was "That's why they call it the business."
The cabin had earlier been pointed out on a tourist map by McCready, who put it about a mile from the lodge (Radford Horror 06).
Use in Radford¶
The team used the contraband as a tool throughout the case. Kurt offered heroin to Freak, snorted a bump to show it was safe, and paid him $1,000 of the cash for the flight over the woods. During the fight with Wilbur Whateley, Andrew tried to sedate him with heroin and syringes from the church (Radford Horror 07).
Aftermath¶
After the team woke in the Radford ER, Andrew told Diane the car was full of drugs and money, and she was relieved it was only heroin. The Biz bet drug money on a baseball game (the Cubs did not win). The team decided to tip off the sheriff about Dean, though Dean's parents could not reach him and his car was missing. They kept the cash and heroin, and Kurt rode out of Radford with his feet on the drugs. At headquarters the stash sat in the weapon lockup, and Diane took some of the drug money, which the team came to call "the budget", to buy window air-conditioning units (Radford Horror 08). Kurt packed some of the heroin for the drive to Marblehead (Radford Horror 08).
Quote
"There's no feeling in the world like gambling with drug money." (Dante (as Kurt), Radford Horror 08)
Trivia¶
- In Radford Horror 08, Dante misremembers the hiding places, saying the heroin was buried in the yard and the money was in the floorboards. Radford Horror 07 shows the reverse: the cash was buried in the yard and the heroin was under the bedroom floorboard.