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A small smile played at the corners of Detective Haas’s mouth. “It is my job to…stir the pot, so to speak. I believe someone is behind Moore’s death, but I don’t think it is you or anyone from your garage.”
Dalton’s shoulders tensed. “You know something. What aren’t you telling me?”
Moser closed his notebook and placed that and his pen in his pocket as Detective Haas rose. “Mr. Hughes, I am not obligated to tell you anything at all, but yes, I do have information that casts this apparent suicide in a new light.”
“Can you please tell me?” Dalton hated to sound desperate, but the thought of James being killed but made to look like he’d committed suicide was gutting him.
Haas sat back down. “Moore’s toxicology screening came back. He had a large quantity of Adderall in his system.”
Dalton cocked his head. “The ADHD drug? What’s that got to do with his death? I think someone said they thought… Claire said she thought Moore was ADHD.”
Detective Haas sighed. “That is news to me. Unfortunately, Mrs. Moore was…unable to talk to us this evening.”
“She was drunk off her ass when we saw her. Her brother was there with her, and he was stoned. He had Adderall with him. He tripped, and a bottle fell out of his pocket. I handed it back to him.”
Detective Haas glanced at Officer Moser, who had pulled his notebook out once again and was furiously scribbling it all down.
“But I don’t get how Adderall changes anything?” Dalton asked.
“Adderall can cause a person’s heart rate to spike, especially if a lot is consumed.”
It was like a lightbulb went on over Dalton’s head. Suddenly, he understood where Detective Haas was going. “You think someone gave him a lot of Adderall and then made sure he would have a hard time on the track, making his adrenaline spike. The combination caused the heart attack.”
Detective Haas didn’t confirm or deny it verbally, but the look on his face was all the affirmation Dalton needed. “You cannot tell anyone this, Mr. Hughes. It’s still an ongoing investigation.”
“Right. But now you see what I’ve been saying all along, and now it makes sense that it could have been sabotage.”
“Yes,” Detective Haas agreed. “We need to know who had access to the car.”
Dalton’s stomach dropped. “The whole fucking world walked through the garage that morning, including all of Moore’s family and his entourage. Plus, quite a few of the other team’s drivers and crew. We have the best coffee and snacks so everyone stops by. It’s sort of like a family here. Everyone comes to say hello on the first day of the racing season.”
Detective Haas frowned. “I was afraid of this. Still, we will have to sit down with your crew again and see if we can make a list of names. But first, I want to reconfirm with you the timing of the texts you received from Mr. Macht.
Dalton showed him the texts and the times they came in. “Why is this important?”
“We have the original texts on Mr. Macht’s phone to you, but I did not call him or text him to tell him I wanted to speak to him. There are no calls logged around that time on his phone.” Detective Haas held his gaze.
What the hell is the man trying to tell me with this look? Dalton thought about the whole turn of events, and then suddenly he got it. “If you didn’t reach out to him by phone or by text, how did he know you wanted to speak to him?” It crystalized right at that moment. “You think the person who killed James and made it look like suicide sent the texts. You think James was already dead when those texts went out.”
Detective Haas nodded. “It only makes sense. There was no way for him to know what we discussed earlier unless you had spoken to him or sent him a text. From your phone, I can see you did not.”
Dalton leaned back in the chair as the horror of what Detective Haas said sunk in. “There were footsteps on the stairs like someone was running away when I came out of the room after talking to you. If someone overheard us…”
Detective Haas grimaced. “That would be one explanation. Someone at your hotel heard us and set the plan in motion.”
Dalton hadn’t eaten much, but everything in him threatened to come right back up. His skin was clammy with the need to puke.
“I need to go.” He stumbled to his feet.
“This is hard, I know. Mr. Macht was family. We will find out what happened. For now, please keep all of this to yourself.”
Dalton nodded and shot out of the room. He headed out of the building into the rain and stood there letting the icy water wash over him. James was dead because some asshole overheard his conversation with Detective Haas. Because they thought they could make it look like James was responsible. Whoever this fucker was, his days were numbered. Dalton was going to find him and make sure he didn’t live long enough to regret his actions.
There was no escape for this asshole. None whatsoever.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Greer knocked quietly on the door. She couldn’t imagine what Dalton was thinking at the moment. The interview with Detective Haas had been a revelation. Her head was spinning.
