Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Spoilers Welcome - this is the fourth segment in Part 1 Buried Treasure.
If the first to post could please summarize to guide the conversation it is appreciated.

8.(p185)
Andy now goes by “Drew”. He cares about books and food. And the Rothstein notebooks. Peter Saubers has been to visit, and his disguise was not as good as he thought.

9.(187)
Pete went to Andy’s shop, where he immediately recognized the ludicrous disguise he was in. Pete shows Andy some of Rothstein’s work, and , of course, Andy recognizes it.
Andy realizes it is a gold mine, and immediately starts plotting about how to swindle the kid.

10.(p198)
Drew’s business has not been that great, and he realizes he as seen as just a bit shady. Still, he thinks he has Pete on the hook.

10.(p198)
Drew’s business has not been that great, and he realizes he as seen as just a bit shady. Still, he thinks he has Pete on the hook.

11 (p201)
Pete goes back, says the offer is not good enough. Drew counters with the knowledge that the thin disguise did not hide that it was Pete, and he knew who he was. Pete tries to leave, Andy tells him he will be in jail by midnight if he does. Drew pushes harder, tells Pete that his only way out is to give the manuscripts to him. Pete shows unexpected strength though, and shows Drew how weak his position is. They part with the game still in progress.

12.(p208)
Pete leaves a message that he has other things to do and will miss the meeting with Drew. Drew thinks about how he will play hardball with Pete.

13.(p210)
Hodges reports the success with the collar. Holly (his partner) calls and tells him to return, she has a new case. The case looks like Pete’s mother and sister.

14.(p211)
Pete gets a dismissal from school. He has a problem, its name is Drew.

15 (p212)
Pete figures he can hide the books, so no evidence if the police are called.

16( p213)
Pete wonders why he did not quit while he was ahead, but moves onward with the relocation of the manuscripts.

17(p216)
Pete knows he has to hide the books well to beat a search warrant. He chooses one of his father’s real estate properties, one not likely to sell soon.

18 (p220)
Holly tells Hodges there is a problem with Tina’s brother (that would be Pete). Her information is that Pete stole some money.

19.(p222)
Hodges goes to see Tina and Barbara (Barbara, the sister of the kid that helped Hodges in Mr Mercedes). Tina tells Hodges that she thinks her brother stole some money. Tina is more upset because her brother seems to have gotten worse in terms of attitude.

20 (p225)
Hodges is amazed by the story he hears, and recalls the name from Mr Mercedes. He has the story repeated for Holly. Hodges says he can help, but would have to speak to Pete.

21. (p230)
Hodges and Holly do some rough accounting, and figure Pete dispensed about $22,000. Not insignificant for a kid with no means of support. They look at the conversations related to them, and figure that Pete did not steal, but he may have found the money. They ponder the lag between when the money ran out and Pete’s behavior changed, and figured he was looking for an angle to get cash to send his sister to private school. He leaves unspoken the idea that the owner of the found money has now found Pete.

22.(p235)
Morrie checks out an acquaintance, Roberson, who did some time with him for bludgeoning an old lady. Morrie wants to borrow a car, the friend tells him that is a big parole risk, since he has no license. He gets the vehicle though, an old panel truck.

23 (p241)
Morris is distracted in work and almost trashes the database he has been slaving over. He forces himself to relax and wait the night’s events.

24 (p244)
Morrie finishes the day’s work, but on his way out, his parole officer is waiting him to check and see that he is still on the straight and narrow. Morrie passes a urine sample, but just does not look right to the PO.

25 (p248)
Morrie takes a roundabout path to the van, hoping to dodge the PO. He gets the tools he needs at Home Depot and is on his way.

26 (p250)
Morrie parks and scopes out the area. He can almost feel the books. He goes as near to the stash as he can get and waits for dark. He figures he can stash the books in the basement of the building he parked by, since it is vacant. Little does he know that it is the same place Pete has already stashed them. He figures that if somebody gets in his way, he will kill him. Killing is like driving, both of which are just like riding a bike.

27 (p253)
Morrie wears himself out digging out the trunk. It takes an hour, even with the right tools. He notices as soon as he pulls it out that it is too light. He opens the trunk, finds nothing, and begins to softly cry.

28 (p256)
Morrie tries to walk back home but collapses from exhaustion near Andy’s business. He is out after his curfew. After some dejected musing, he gains a new goal. Confronting Andy, who was the only person who knew he buried the books.

Ooh, the plot thickens. I love how this is coming together, with Morris on the hunt and closing in on Andrew and by extension, Pete, and Hodges and crew coming into it from another angle.

I suspect things are going to get awfully nasty for Andrew; I don't see him surviving this.

King laid some nice ground work with Morris in prison helping other inmates. This can be a good source of help for him after prison, as we have already seen with the car. (Speaking of which, I'm surprised that Morris didn't make it one of his first orders of business to get a license.)

And another thing -- that PO is potentially a nasty piece of work. He seems to have a heightened suspicion about Morris, and I'm not sure on what that is based unless its his intuition built from years of experience with ex-cons.

Morris is simply incapable of taking responsibility for his situation. He was sure he was in prison because his Mother made him go out and get drunk and rape a waitress. Now he is sure his not having the notebooks is all Andy's fault. It seems that pretty much his entire current situation can be laid at the feet of Andy's rejection of helping Morris sell the moleskin notebooks after Rothstein was murdered.
I can't like Andy / Drew at all from his poor reputation and how he is treating Pete, but no one needs Morris after them.

Holly is such a great character. I really liked her in Mr Mercedes, and the growth of their friendship and the interaction between Bill and Holly at work together at Finders Keepers is a treat to read. I am curious if Bill worked it out to get bonded for a PI license or if they are working around the regulation.

Re chapter 26, when I realized that both Pete and Morris have plans for stashing the notebooks in the same abandoned building I couldn't believe it. I suppose based on the proximity of it as an option I shouldn't be surprised. I wonder what kind of showdown we will see.

Throughout the book there were parallels between Pete and Morrie.

This was a plot twist where I missed how Morris chose the rec center, must have been distracted and as we all know it is a drag to go back and re-listen. But pretty quickly I found myself saying "Wait... what? He's in the same building as where Pete hid the books? That's a little far-fetched."

Does anyone remember why Morris chose the rec center? I know why Pete did.

Ann wrote: "Re chapter 26, when I realized that both Pete and Morris have plans for stashing the notebooks in the same abandoned building I couldn't believe it. I suppose based on the proximity of it as an opt..."

Remember that Morrie lived where Pete lives now, and they both knew the rec center, nearby, as the center of social life.

Carol: The tension that builds from this approach was crazy, I think my heart beat faster throughout most of part two and part three of the book. I had to stop listening sometimes when I was all set with listening time and switch to music to calm down!

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Ooh, the plot thickens. I love how this is coming together, with Morris on the hunt and closing in on Andrew and by extension, Pete, and Hodges and crew coming into it from another angle."

Wow, and I was just the opposite. For the first time in months I tuned out of sports talk radio and listening to this every opportunity I got. So glad I was able to read it in real time with you and Barry. I wonder when others will join the conversation.

Ann wrote: "Carol: The tension that builds from this approach was crazy, I think my heart beat faster throughout most of part two and part three of the book. I had to stop listening sometimes when I was all se..."

Carol: I galloped through reading the book too, and thoroughly enjoyed our real time conversations! I tended to listen in longer segments and supplemented with a Kindle copy. What I didn't do was sneak in five minutes here and there as I sometimes do. I wanted to pay closer attention to the nuances. :)
Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Wow, and I was just the opposite. For the first time in months I tuned out of sports talk radio and listening to this every opportunity I got. So glad I was able to read it in real time with you and Barry.."

I wish I was reading it real time with you guys too! This was an action packed section! A lot coming together. Carol, I think the coincidence of the Rec Center is that Morris would choose it almost for the same reason that Pete did - proximity and a place they're familiar with. Pete had easy access but that wouldn't hinder Morris. I wasn't sure about the scene where Morris almost trashed the museum file...what was the meaning of that? Will it be important later? Or just an excuse of why he looked so bad when his PO showed up. I realize he was upset, but I was surprised at how well Morris took the empty trunk. I was very surprised he didn't have a complete freak out meltdown and was able to pass by all those bars.

Dawn: I agree, the segment with Morris at work on the museum's files was a bit out of left field to me too. I thought that it could have been to show how trusted he was from his responsibility and access to such important records, or that the life after parole was not a cake walk with the stress of a job and a boss who might not trust you, or was it something that would come back. It was a bit of a mystery! Perhaps the fact that he could have deleted such an important file by mistake showed how close he teetered on the edge of getting into trouble.

Yeah, the file near-disaster was perplexing to me also, I didn't quite get the point. Maybe Ann is right.