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“Morning. How are you today?” she asked.
“I just wanted to let you know I spoke to your dad last night.” He immediately held up his hands. “Don’t give me that look. I just wanted him to know you’re doin’ all right and lookin’ good. As a father, if something happened between me and my kids, I would want to know how they were doing.”
“Gus,” she snarled, “it wasn’t your place to do that.”
“That’s probably true, but he was excited to know how you’re doing. He misses you. He’d love it if you went home to see him.”
I’ll just bet he would. Wants to know if I’m over what he did. Too fucking bad. I’ll never be ‘over’ it. “Well, that’s not going to happen but thanks for letting me know.”
Gus just stood there, as if he wanted to say something more. Finally, he shrugged. “Life is short, Greer. People do stupid things. Learning to forgive is important.”
She stared up at him. There were so many things she wanted to say in reply, but mostly they started with fuck you, so she kept her mouth shut.
“It’s good to see you, kiddo,” Gus said and then gave her a wink before he strolled off.
She stared down at her plate, her appetite all but gone. Gus meant well but, honestly, thoughts of her father were enough to turn her off eating. She took a sip of her coffee and tried to regroup.
Her cell rang, and she answered. “Hey, Frank. What’s up?”
“Got confirmation Dennis Moore died of a heart attack. Not as a result of the crash.”
“That was quick.” She glanced at her watch. It was just gone eight-thirty. “What time does the medical examiner start?”
“Apparently, a racing death is such a rarity that the medical examiner was excited to get it done. He didn’t have any other bodies to work on,” he said with a chuckle.
She bit her lip. Her boss might have found that amusing, but to her, it rang alarm bells. It was likely the examiner didn’t get to perform many autopsies, which meant the chance of missing something was greater. “A heart attack? Really?”
“Yeah. I guess it can happen.”
“So that’s it? Global Insurance is happy?”
“Happy? No. They don’t want to pay out that much, but with a heart attack, they don’t have much choice unless you know something different?”
“Me? I haven’t even started yet.”
“Well, keep your eyes open. You need to interview all the parties involved, of course, just to dot the I’s and cross the T’s, but it’s a formality at this point. Unless you find something. The track insurance company is satisfied it wasn’t a problem with the track. Hughes Racing has its own insurance for the car. We’re only responsible for paying out in the case of accidental death. They insure all their drivers. So, as soon as the paperwork is done, if you don’t find anything, we’ll have to cut them a check.”
“Wonderful.” She should feel elated. She was going to be out of here quick-time, but she was torn. Now that she was here, she wanted to poke around the paddock a bit. She’d cut racing off cold turkey, but now she was jonesing for a little track time.
“Did the medical examiner say why he had a heart attack?”
“What do you mean ‘why’?”
“Well,” she said, “did he have heart disease? Did he have an abnormality? Was there an undiagnosed problem, or even a diagnosed one? There has to be a reason he had a heart attack. Did anyone find out if he was taking any meds? How about a toxicology screening? It would be nice to know what was in his system at the time of his death.”
Her boss sighed. “I thought you’d be overjoyed to be out of there.”
“I am, but…I want to get the answers.” She couldn’t help it. She hated leaving things undone.
“Fine, I will see if I can get answers on the toxicology, meds, and any underlying condition, but if you don’t think you’re going to find any mitigating circumstances, then I really do want you to clear this up quickly and get back here. A valuable piece of jewelry was stolen, and I need my best investigator on it.” With that statement, he hung up.
Stolen jewelry. That was definitely up her alley. She should be overjoyed, but intuitively, she knew there was something going on here.
A sudden commotion in the room drew her attention. The drivers were all getting up from their tables. It was time to go to the track. Her heart started galloping again. She remembered that excitement, the joy she’d always felt heading to the track.
She took a sip of coffee and picked at the bacon on her plate. Missing jewelry. That was the kind of case she usually loved. She let out a breath. She’d be okay. She asked the waiter for more coffee and continued to pick at her breakfast for another few minutes before finally giving up any pretense of eating and leaving the dining room. She wasn’t sure if the nerves jumping under her skin came from the idea of getting answers and closing the case, or because of her impending trip back to a world she’d loved.
* * *
