Page 43 of Overkill

I didn’t know what my stunned expression told him, but he seemed like a man used to getting his way, because whatever he saw had him thinking we were on the same side.

We were not.

This guy had slept with a girl when he was my age, and I wanted to send my fist through his face just at the sheer sight of him.

I understood now why Braun had sent me here alone. He’d said—and I quote!—“I’ve only ever killed one client. I don’t want to add a second to the list.”

“Just so I get the lay of the land here,” I said, interrupting whatever he was prattling on about. “Is there a specific reason why you’d want to find foul play? Why don’t you want Sheriff Whitlaw to finish her investigation?”

“Mmm…Dagny Whitlaw…” He savored the name, and I cringed in disgust. “She’s a good girl under bad influences.”

She was hardly a girl at all!

“I tried to save her once. Did you know the reason she got elected was because my family backed her?” he said with a nod. “Oh, yes. We campaigned for her and everything. Such a good girl, that one.”

I tried to hide my gag, searching for that inner peace those damn meditation tapes were supposed to give me. I breathed to center myself, to not let the external world ruin my internal serenity…

But I was almost sure that beating the fuck out of this guy would be the most serene thing I could do.

“She coulda had such a nice life, if only she’d made better decisions.” He sighed longingly, and for one moment, I saw something in him that could have looked like a good intention. Not much of one, but it was there. It was quick. Like he really, really liked Sheriff Whitlaw. Like cared about her in his own twisted way. “But let’s just say she may have some misconceptions that might make her prone to coming to the wrong conclusions. You get me?”

I did not want to think about this too hard, because I didn’t want to kill a client. Though, apparently, that was an okay thing to do when it came to Braun Bailbondsman and Private Investigator. Maybe he’d count it as a mulligan?

“That girl is bad news…” Turner’s voice brought me back to the present.

“You mean the sheriff?”

“Melody!” he yelled, looking offended I’d tarnish Whitlaw’s name by mistaking the two. “She got her claws into my brother, and he made some damn stupid decisions. If she did him any harm, then…then…”

“Then…?” Say something, buddy. Give me an excuse, and I’ll beat you like a the eggs in grandma’s sugar cookies.

“Well, we come from money, don’t we? She shouldn’t benefit financially from my brother’s estate if she was the one who did it. Mark my words, I bet that’s why she did it.”

“Just so we’re clear, you allege that Melody Gray killed your brother for his inheritance?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time something like that has happened in Mourningkill.”

A lot of suspicious things happened here for a town with a population of 800-something residents. It sure as hell seemed like Braun was the only guy in a position to unravel all of the threads.

“Your desired outcome is that she be found guilty of murdering your brother.” I said it outright because I wanted to understand why he was forking out so much money to a ramshackle PI company instead of going with the best money could buy.

“I want the truth to be revealed, Mr. Vedder.” He steepled his fingers. “I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out what that is.”

To him, there was only one truth. The one he wanted.

After working around enough warlords, the signs were obvious. The tone they used to imply there was only one way, only one means, and only one answer. It was their way, or the wrong way.

Turner Gray’s expression even showed the same thinly veiled threat. That smarmy plausible deniability.

Everything about him sent warning bells through my mind. And each warning made me want to wrap Melody up in a bubble made of Kevlar.

I left the manor through a separate entrance from the one I’d used the last time I was here; Mr. Turner Gray and Mrs. Valerie Gray apparently lived in separate wings of the building. It seemed the elder Grays, Joplin and Ruth, were in another section as well, because I didn’t see them either. What was the point of living together if they never saw each other? Seemed like a waste of space.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

GOOSE: Got your girl. Come to school.

Chapter 14