Page 51 of Jameson’s Salvation

“Right. Wouldn’t want your balls or my words twisted.” She laughed. “What do you need me to do?”

Holden explained the searches he’d tried and asked her to find who owned Chester River Holdings, though Jameson already had a good idea who that search would show.

“What’s the name of the other two stores?” Holden asked.

“Five oh Five Cannon and Betty’s on the Bay,” Jameson answered.

Jameson’s phone rang and it was the AC guy. He excused himself to take the call.

“Grant,” he answered.

“Mr. Grant, I’m sorry but I made a mistake this morning with my scheduling. I…um…thought my day was free but it seems I was…mistaken. I’m sorry but I have to cancel.”

“Mistaken?”

“Yes.”

“So when can you reschedule?”

“Not until…well…perhaps next month,” the man stuttered.

The more the man lied the more Jameson’s ire rose. He had no doubt that Reggie Coleman had somehow gotten to the man.

“You wanna explain the real reason you’re cancelling on Lola Lane?”

“I’m just overbooked, that’s all.”

“But you weren’t a half hour ago when I called.”

“Well…I wasn’t looking at my schedule then. I should’ve and that’s my fault. But I’m backed up solid for the next month, maybe two.”

“Right.”

Jameson disconnected, not caring that the other man was still speaking.

“Need to head to Lola’s and fix her AC. That was Sunbelt Air Conditioning. Seems he over-scheduled himself and is busy for the next two months.”

Nixon frowned and turned to Holden. “See if Sunbelt has ties to Reggie. Maybe he uses Sunbelt as a sub-contractor.”

“Both businesses rent from Willow Realty and the property is owned by Chester River Holdings,” Holden announced.

“And Chester River Holdings is owned by Reginald Coleman, Clifford Marshall, and Gary Earle,” McKenna confirmed what Jameson had suspected.

“Clifford Marshall? Is that Peyton’s father?” Jameson asked, remembering the punk that broke into Kennedy’s house.

Nixon sat back in his chair and shook his head. “No. Peyton’s first name is Clifford. For obvious reasons he goes by his middle name. Why would Coleman go into business with a fuck-up like Marshall? The guy’s a tool. He can’t hold down a job. Reggie Coleman may be a conniving asshole but he’s not stupid. It doesn’t make sense. Babe, can you see what percentage of the company Marshall owns?” That last question was for McKenna.

“All equal shares.”

“Fuck, man, you got me.” Nixon shrugged. “Unless Peyton has something on Coleman and wormed his way into owning part of the business, I cannot see Coleman willingly allowing Peyton near his business. And I don’t know who Gary Earle is. As a matter of fact, I don’t know any Earles, period.”

“I’ll look into Gary and see what I can find on Peyton.”

“Thought you already did a search on him after he broke into Kennedy’s?” Jameson queried.

“I did, but I was looking for places he’s hiding and checking his criminal record. Now I’ll crawl up his ass.”

“What’s this, ‘No Bridge to Kent’ business? I see signs saying that all over,” Holden asked.