Page 124 of His Wounded Heart

“I’ve got a question that I want all three of you to answer individually. Is that possible, or is Junior your mouthpiece?”

“He doesn’t speak for me,” Richard said.

“Me neither,” Carla squawked.

“You heard them,” Junior sighed. “What’s your question?”

“Just how far are you willing to go to get rid of other heirs? Murder?”

I watch each of them closely.

Junior looks bored. “That’d be a no.”

Richard looks over-the-top offended. “Good God, no. Have you lost your mind, Clark?”

“How could you even ask someone like me a question like that?” Carla clutches an actual strand of pearls.

“Now tell me the reason for such an offensive question,” Junior asks. His boredom is shot after hearing his brother and his father’s second wife’s over-the-top responses.

“I’ve been doing a little digging to see just how financially sound this purported fortune is, and how the split is going to come down. First, with the lawsuit, I’m not sure that the company’s in as good of shape as everyone thinks. Second, I’m thinking that things might need to be split five ways after hearing about Minda. Still a decent amount, but not as much as my friend was expecting. What’s Trenda’s last name?”

“Go fuck yourself,” Carla shrieks. “I don’t care what you say, Brant. I’m not listening to this a moment longer. I’m leaving.” She grabs her purse and sweeps out of the room.

“How about you two? Do you know Linda’s last name?”

“I’m sorry Mr. Clark. We can’t help you,” Junior stands up, having to yank at his brother’s arm.

“Ah, but Richard, it really seemed like you knew something.”

“I agree with Carla, go fuck yourself.” He wrenches away from Junior’s hold and storms out of the room.

I hold my hand out to Junior so we can shake.

“I think I’ll decline.”

I grin.

I continue to grin as I drive my GTO back to Nashville. I’m surrounded by trucks on the freeway, but I don’t care, it’s nice to be in a car that can move. I hit my Bluetooth.

“Hey Dex, how’d it go?”

“According to Mitch, everything went perfectly at the hotel. He was able to hack into all of the cars’ GPS and Bluetooth devices. We’ll be able to hear everything and track them anywhere. Two of the three agents that hit the houses have reported back successfully. He’s waiting to hear back from his last person.”

“Sounds good. I just want to get back to Jasper Creek. I won’t feel better until all of this is over.”

“I can’t say that I blame you.”

“I’ve got to go. I have another call coming in.”

I switch over to the other line.

“It’s about damn time you called,” I say to Bernie Faulks. “Do you know how much grief I’ve been getting about you from Trenda?”

He chuckles. “Yeah, the settings on the dryer are a might touchy. She can’t use the fluff cycle; she’ll have to use the gentle cycle instead.”

“Fuck that noise. She wants to know where you’ve been. You were discharged from the hospital four days ago, and then you haven’t been answering your phone. I keep telling her you’re a big boy and can take care of yourself, but she will not let this drop.”

“Yep, she’s a caretaker of the first order. You do realize, no matter how many kids you have, she’s still going to be up your ass to take care of yourself, don’t you? You better not start smoking cigars or anything like that.”