Дэвид Балдаччи - Walk the Wire

“Then it looks like murder,” said Decker. “Unless we’re missing something. Do you know why anyone would want to kill him?”

Dawson looked warily at him. “I don’t like making accusations against anybody.”

“Let’s call them suggested persons of interest,” said Decker. “It goes no further than this room. But if you have names we can check them out.”

“Stuart was a hard-nosed businessman. He drove tough bargains. Left some with nothing.”

“These people have names?” asked Jamison.

“None of them are still around here. And the one that I might have named has been dead about a year.” He paused and looked uncertain.

“What?” said Decker quickly.

“Look, I like the boy fine. I really do. Fought for his country and all. But Stuart was merciless to him.”

“You mean Shane?” said Kelly.

“I know you are buds.”

“We were friends growing up. And we’re still friends, but not as tight as before. Do you have anything more concrete than his abusing Shane?”

“Not really, no. But you asked and so that’s what my answer is.”

“And Shane would inherit his father’s fortune, of course,” said Jamison.

“As far as I know. You’d have to check with the lawyers on that. Stuart could have made a will leaving it to anybody he wanted.”

“But if he did that and Shane didn’t know, he could still have a motive for murdering his father,” pointed out Decker.

“I don’t think I know anyone less in love with money and business than Shane,” noted Kelly.

“Shane told us you and he weren’t as close as you once were,” noted Jamison. “And you just said the same thing.”

“High school was high school. Then life came along. We went our separate ways. But I knew the guy back then, and that guy hasn’t changed. Hell, he could have stayed here and sat on his ass and let his father pay him. But he joined the Army and risked his life for his country. He came back with medals and he never talks about any of it.”

Dawson smiled. “You two were the best football players this town ever turned out.”

“Decker played for the Cleveland Browns,” said Jamison. “After starting for Ohio State.”

“Wow,” said Kelly. “That is damn impressive.”

“Well, you’re certainly big enough,” said Dawson, eyeing Decker’s huge frame.

“Yeah, if it were only about size I’d be in the hall of fame,” noted Decker wryly. He looked at Kelly. “We still have to check it out.”

“I know we do,” said Kelly brusquely. “And I’ll keep an open mind, but I think that’s the wrong tree to bark up.”

“Well, if Shane has an alibi, then that will settle it,” said Jamison.

Kelly eyed Dawson. “You might want to talk to your daughter sooner rather than later. You don’t want her finding out about the sale from somebody else. That would not be good.”

“You let me worry about that, Joe,” snapped Dawson.

“So you’re going to live in France with Caroline?”

“That’s right.”

Kelly smiled grimly. “And what, maybe she’ll meet some Frenchman, fall in love, and have a bunch of kids?”

“That’s up to her, not me.”

“And if she doesn’t want to go, will you give her a stake to start her own business?”

“I don’t know. I... I’m not sure I’m ready to be separated from her. I lost her mother. I don’t want to lose her.”

“Well, be prepared to do just that,” said Kelly.

“She can start another restaurant in France,” said Dawson dismissively. “She was ready to move last time. What’s the difference now?”

“Well, I guess you’ll find out one way or another,” said Kelly.

“What do you care?” demanded Dawson. “Don’t tell me you’re still in love with her?”

“It’s not a crime to care about somebody, Hugh, even if they make decisions you don’t agree with. Especially if they’re family. But maybe you don’t think that way. I mean, look at what happened to your son.”

Dawson’s face grew red. “You can just get the hell out of here.”

“Don’t worry, we were leaving anyway.”

“Of all the dumb, shortsighted things to do,” groused Kelly as they were driving back to town. “He expects his daughter, who he just sold down the river, to up and move to France with him and leave everything and everybody she’s ever known behind.”

“I agree that it’s both presumptuous and really insensitive,” said Jamison. She looked at Decker. “What do you think?”

“I was wondering whether Hugh Dawson could have been involved in McClellan’s death.”

“That wasn’t what we were talking about,” said Jamison.

“Well, it’s what I want to talk about. But I don’t see a motive.”

Kelly said, “Shane probably has a motive, at least on paper. But he doesn’t care about inheriting a fortune. And if he were going to kill his old man, he’d just shoot him.”

“You’d be surprised how many people start to care when they’re actually close to getting the money,” noted Decker. “But money isn’t the only reason to kill someone. I can imagine Stuart made Shane’s life a hell on earth.”

“But Stuart’s always been like that with Shane. Why all of a sudden would it make him kill the guy?”

“That’s what they pay us to figure out,” retorted Decker. “Did you reach Shane? How’d he take the news?”

“I met with him before we went to see Hugh. Unless he’s a world-class actor, he had nothing to do with it.”

“Did he have any ideas about who might want to kill Stuart?”

“Not that he volunteered.”

“Did he say what he was going to do?” asked Jamison.

“No. He walked out in a daze, really.”

Jamison said, “Dawson got really upset with you at the end, when you mentioned his son, Junior.”

“None of that was right. Junior should still be alive leading a good, full life. Instead he’s six feet under because of that guy.”

“Was it really that bad?” asked Jamison.

“It was worse.”

Decker continued. “What I found curious was McClellan died by carbon monoxide poisoning.”

“You mean like Caroline’s mother,” noted Jamison.

“Exactly. Tell me exactly what you saw at the scene of Maddie’s death,” said Decker, looking at Kelly.

Kelly took a few moments to marshal his thoughts. “The car had slid off the road. There was an embankment there. The snow was about three feet deep at that point. The vehicle was leaning at about a thirty-degree angle. The tailpipe had gotten pushed up against the embankment. It was partially bent, and snow and dirt had gotten lodged in there. Totally clogged.”

“But why wouldn’t she have gotten out of the car and checked?” asked Jamison. “She naturally would have wanted to see how she was stuck, so she could get free somehow.”

“Exactly what I thought. And the answer was when she slid off the road sideways the brute force smashed her up against the window. She hit her head and was unconscious. There was a hematoma on the side of her head and a bit of blood and other trace on the window where she struck it.”

“And the airbags didn’t deploy?” asked Jamison.

“We checked that. Had an expert come in. He said in that situation the airbags probably would not have deployed. And it was an older model Jeep SUV. It didn’t have side airbag curtains anyway. And the seat harness would not have necessarily prevented her from being thrown to the side. There were no other signs of anyone else being there, though the snowfall would have covered any traces. She had cash and credit cards in her purse, and still had her wedding ring and a pair of diamond studs on. So robbery wasn’t a motive. And we could never find any reason for anyone to intentionally kill her. And, besides, how would anyone know she would have been out in the blizzard? She only went out because Alice Pritchard called her when she lost power. The autopsy came back with an accident as the manner of death and carbon monoxide poisoning as the cause.”