Riders on the Storm
- Автор: Горман Эд
- Серия: Sam McCain #10
- Год: 2014
- Язык: английский
- Год: Pegasus
- ISBN: 978-1-60598-625-8
- Жанр: Криминальные детективы
Электронная книга - «Riders on the Storm». Краткое содержание книги:
She slammed the phone and then turned to set it on a mahogany table and that was when she saw me.
Hands on hips. “And just who the hell would you be?” A gray skirt that loved every inch of her lower body as the turquoise blouse loved the upper.
“My name’s Sam McCain. We’ve met a few times socially.”
“Must have been memorable. What the hell are you doing here?”
“I was hoping I could talk to you for a little while.”
“Wait. You’re Esme’s investigator. Sam McCain; I thought that was familiar. I like Esme. She’s one of the few people I can really talk to in this whole town. I’m sorry if I was abrupt. But I really don’t want to talk right now.”
“It’s kind of important.”
A queenly sigh. There was a cool grandness to her beauty that intimidated me. I waved the manila envelope at her and felt, for the first time, in control.
“You really should see these, Mrs. Donovan.”
Hands on her hips again. “I think I’ll call Esme and tell her that her little investigator is a pest. How would that be?”
I took her pause as permission to mount the three stone steps and join her on the back porch.
I waved the envelope at her again. “What I have here, Mrs. Donovan, is three photographs of you with Lon Anders. In one of them you’re going into a motel room and in another he’s kissing you and he has his hand on your ass.”
She had a wonderful strong fuck-you laugh. “So Steve finally hired you to follow me around. Lon said he was too stupid to know what was going on. That’s Lon’s ego. He thinks everybody except him is stupid. So when did he hire you?”
“He didn’t hire me, he hired an investigator from Des Moines. A very good one.”
“So why isn’t he here instead of you?”
“Somebody tried to kill him last night. He’s in the hospital in bad shape.”
“I suppose you want me to feel sorry for someone who was spying on me.”
“I wouldn’t want you to put yourself out.”
“I suppose you’re considered a wit.”
“Just by my mom.”
“I just may call Esme.” The bluff was one thing she wasn’t good at.
“Good. Then I’ll feel free to show her these photos.”
She slapped me across the ear. For all the delicacy of her face, neck, arms, and wrists, she had a slap that was three-quarters of the way to being a punch. “Sit down on the couch and let’s get this over with.”
My ear smarting, I obeyed her Majesty and took a seat on a peach-colored couch. She sat close but not too close. There was no way she was going to let me put my hand on her ass.
“Let’s get this straight. You’re not going to get very much money from me. I’ll tell you that right now.”
“I’m not here to blackmail you, Mrs. Donovan. I want to prove that Will Cullen didn’t kill your husband.”
“Well of course Cullen killed him. Who else would have?”
“Possibly Anders.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“He wanted you and he wanted the business.”
An amused noise. “You have it backwards. He wanted the business and he wanted me.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
The same amused noise. “I forgot. You overheard me on the phone just now. Well, what you heard was me salving a very pretty man’s ego. He’s fun. He thinks because I’ve been sleeping with him — and he’s very skilled at that — that I’m one of those stupid little girls he’s used to. He expects me to swoon every time he calls me. He’s also deluded himself into believing that I want to marry him. I don’t want to marry him any more than he wants to marry me. What’s funny is that he’s a romantic. He likes convincing himself that he’s in love with certain women who just happen to have something he wants besides the love story nonsense.”
“Do you think he understands that you don’t love him?”
The smile of conquest. “Not right now. He’s still in the romance phase. He still wants the business and me as a bonus.”
“Well, he’s got one of them, anyway.”
“Not necessarily. With Steve gone I’ve now got fifty percent of everything.”
“That doesn’t mean he didn’t kill Steve. With Will and Steve fighting, Anders saw the chance to lay the murder on Will.”
“I don’t believe that. I just keep thinking of poor Steve lying in that parking lot all night. And I mean ‘poor’ in case you think I didn’t care for him. Loved him madly for a number of years, but that all got lost because he cheated on me so much. I begged him and I warned him but he wouldn’t listen. So I started sleeping around myself. I could’ve kept a private investigator busy for years.”
Then from on high: “You’re a pesky little prick. I suppose some women find you cute.”
“I’m too modest to comment.”
An actual smile. “So if you’re not going to blackmail me, what’ll you do with the photographs?”
“I haven’t decided. I might try them on Anders.”
“Do you usually get this obsessed? I told you Lon had nothing to do with Steve’s death.”
“Then if you believe that, help me.”
“How?”
“Don’t tell him we talked. Let me try these photos on him.”
“It’s a waste of time but I suppose I could go along with it.”
“One more thing — what did your husband think of Anders as a business partner?”
“That’s the only interesting question you’ve asked me.”
“How so?”
She sat back on the couch. The azure eyes were reflective. Her looks would not let go of me. “He loved Al like a little brother.”
“Al Carmichael, his former business partner.”
“Yes. They were like a couple of college boys together. The first years of the business were so successful they had plans to get as much as thirty percent of the market. Then one of their competitors invented a new spin on the basic product and Steve and Al lost market share instead of gaining it. The friendship suffered to the point that even Amanda — Al’s wife — and I were cool to each other. And then Lon came along. I understand why so many people dislike him but he’s a fantastic sales manager. He got profits up almost from the start. And he also made it clear that he wanted Al out and that he planned to be Steve’s partner. I felt sorry for Al and Amanda and I didn’t like Lon at all. But Steve did and Al was out. Just like that. Lon made things so uncomfortable for him there that one day he walked out and never came back.”
“But eventually you took to Lon.”
A subtle exquisite smile. “I told you he was a fantastic salesman.”
She moved with instinctive grace and offered a slender hand. “I’ve never been in a conspiracy before.”
“You’re betraying Anders, you know.”
“How many times do you think he’s betrayed me? Sometimes I worry that he’s going to give me one of those diseases he might get from all the stupid little girls he sleeps with. I was very careful in the days when I was sleeping around. Lon’s never careful about anything. Part of his charm is his recklessness.”
“He might have been reckless enough to kill your husband.”
“I still don’t believe you, but you’ve managed to plant a very tiny seed of doubt in my mind.”
“And if I prove that he did it?”
She hesitated. Closed her eyes. And when she opened them she looked at me directly. “I’ll do everything I can to see that he never leaves prison. I’ll go on the stand and admit to having an affair with him and not worry about my reputation at all.”