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loyalty.”
I laughed. “Sometimes I haven’t been so sure which of us was in charge, but it’s all
worked out really well.”
“I want you to know I’m really impressed watching you,” he told me. “You’re very
good at what you do.”
“Thanks, but I’ll be a lot better when we get the answers we need and I find out
who’s trying to kill you.”
Dallas leaned back in his chair and tunneled his fingers through his hair. “You
know, I’ve been thinking about this a lot the last couple of days, especially since it
seems whoever it is can get as close to me as he wants to. But I just can’t figure out who
it could be. I can’t think of anyone I’ve pissed off that much. Except Randy and I just
don’t see him as the type.”
I nibbled on my thumbnail. “I’m worried about Sawyer too.”
Dallas raised an eyebrow? “Why? If I’d fired him earlier on I might agree with you
but all of this was set in motion long before last night.”
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“Just…I don’t know. Something’s off somewhere here and I can’t pinpoint it. I’m
missing something and it’s driving me crazy. Something I’m overlooking. Something to
do with access to you.” I sighed and tried to clear my brain. “Do you want to do the hot
packs one more time? I’m going to check my messages and call the office again to let
them know about Matt Genaro.”
“I think I’ll tinker around with the guitar. I’ve got some stuff running around in my
brain.”
I was amazed that he was able to write music in the middle of all this garbage.
“Okay. That’s good. I’ll give you all the space you need.”
Dallas grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. “Charley, you never need to
give me space. Other people maybe, but definitely not you.”
He kissed me, hard and quick with plenty of tongue. When he let me go his smoky-
gray eyes had darkened to slate. “When all this is over, we’re going to make some
plans. Count on it.”
My lips still tingled as I watched him head into the bedroom. Then I mentally shook
myself. I had work to do. Daydreaming would come later.
I put in a call to Matt Genaro, who was happy to loan me five of his men. Then on
to Morgan to bring him up to speed and tell him about the ID tags. That accomplished, I
called the office and had to listen to Jacquie gush again about my news.
“Enough,” I finally laughed. “Please.”
“Charley, it’s just that we’re all so happy for you. And Dallas Creed. Holy mother,
he’s every woman’s wet dream.”
“Okay, I think that’s more than I wanted to know. What’s happening?”
“Rick wants to talk to you. Hold on and I’ll put you through.”
In less than ten seconds Rick Chandler came on the line.
“I’ve been doing some deeper digging into the key people in this mess, Charley,
and there’s some real interesting inconsistencies.”
My hand tightened on the phone. More than anyone who worked for me, Rick
could find the unfindable. Maybe this was the break I’d been hoping for. “Let’s have it.”
“Todd Mullins first. We finally tracked down his wife and son. Bad news there,
boss.”
I got the pitch-and-roll feeling in my stomach that always presaged bad news. “Lay
it on me.”
“He and his wife separated twelve years ago. Never divorced though.”
“That’s not bad news, just familiar news. Too many stories like that. But why no
divorce?”
“They have a son who’s brain damaged.” I could hear Rick clicking netbook keys. “I
finally ran down a relative who has no use for Todd. Says the son was born about a year
after the marriage. When he was two he was outside playing. A toddler, you know?
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Todd was supposed to be watching him but he was walking, plenty adventurous,
somehow got out into the street and got hit by a car.”
Holy mother! I swallowed hard.
“What happened?”
“They called the paramedics and rushed him to the hospital right away but the
neurological damage was too great to reverse more than partially. There was only so
much that could be done.”
“Rick, that’s terrible.” I closed my eyes, imagining the terrible pain Todd and his
wife must have suffered. Continue to suffer.
“He’s been in a special institution since then. The wife blames Todd and I guess he
blames himself. Anyway, they stay married so Todd can keep them on the health
insurance Dallas provides for the band and road crew. But that place the boy is in is
expensive. Todd makes plenty good money with Dallas but I don’t think it covers
everything. He’s got to be making money from someplace else.”
“I agree, but I don’t see how it gives him a motive to kill Dallas. He’d lose more
than he’d gain. Right?”
“Just giving you the facts.” More keys clicking. “I’m waiting to hear from Lynette
again too. See what else she’s found.”
“What else?” I was impatient for some piece of news that would give us a concrete
clue.
“Here’s a puzzler for you,” Rick said. “At least once a month, Sawyer Black
disappears from the face of the earth for two days.”
“Disappears?” I wrinkled my forehead. “I don’t understand.”
“You know me. I dig through everything I can. I’ve been trying to reconstruct a
profile on him, going back to when Dallas had his first number one hit. Before that,
Sawyer was just a greasy pitchman with as much luck as guts. And he rarely let Dallas
out of his sights. But about two years into the big tours an anomaly began to appear.”
“Do I even want to know how you’re getting this information?” I asked.
“All legal, Charley,” he assured me. “I promise you. Just greasing a lot of palms and
calling in a lot of favors. I figured this client is a top priority so I’m going at it full tilt.”
“All right. So how often is he gone and where does he go?”
“The how often, like I said, is once a month, and he’s done it consistently except for
the three years after the accident. The where is something I’m still working on.”
The tickle in my gut was building. Still, there was nothing to give us a clue as to
why either of these men would want Dallas dead.
“I need to have a motive for the killing,” I reminded Rick. That was the hang-up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]