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“No, and I didn’t really expect to. When I mentioned the transmitter, Glenn’s puzzled reaction was genuine. I don’t believe he knew anything about it. Which means that somebody else put it there.”
“Jenks?”
“My money’s on him. But was he acting on his own authority or someone else’s?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jesus, Kerra, I don’t know who or what to believe anymore. It’s tough to hear, much less accept, that Glenn has been in cahoots with Wilcox for years. No wonder he insisted I stay far removed from his investigation. He was afraid I would discover his collusion.”
“Is he framing Leslie Duncan?”
“I’m not sure about anything, but I’m inclined to say no to that, too. He owned up to doing much worse than planting evidence, so why not admit to that?”
He restarted the car and steered it back onto the highway. “I can’t believe I’m even talking about Glenn Addison in criminal terms.”
“You went there tonight knowing that at the very least he’d been disingenuous,” she said. “You started out by saying it wasn’t going to be fun.”
“I know, but it really, really sucked. I have a lifetime of good memories with that man. Tainted now. Gone. Because Glenn made a bargain with the devil. That breaks my heart. But—”
“But?”
“It also pisses me off,” he said in a lower, deadlier tone. “It’s time Wilcox was stopped from destroying lives. Especially mine.”
To punctuate his hatred of the man as well as his new resolve, he floorboarded the accelerator. “We probably won’t be coming back to the motel, so we’ll make a quick stop there and get our things.”
“Where are we going?”
“Dallas.”
“Now?”
“You can nap on the way. I’ll drop you at your condo, then I’m going to pay a call on Mr. Thomas Wilcox.”
“By the time you get there, it’ll be…” She tried to estimate the time. “One o’clock in the morning.”
“All the better. He won’t be expecting me.”
“His estate is a fortress, Trapper. There’s a gate. He’ll never let you in. He’ll call the police.”
“No, he won’t. For the same reason I didn’t call them when he ambushed us in my office. I was curious to hear what he had to say. Tonight he’ll be more than curious, he’ll be itching to know if I’ve started negotiations with the feds on his behalf.”
“You said you wouldn’t until you had his balls in one hand—”
“Tonight I do.” He held up his fist.
“But you don’t have his insurance policy in the other.”
“No, but at least now I know what it is.”
“The pledge he has everyone sign.”
“Right. Just my knowing about it, plus the phone recording you made of our conversation, which he’s unaware of, plus Berkley Johnson’s video, which he’s unaware of, plus—”
“Everything Glenn told us.”
“That may come in useful later, but I won’t bring Glenn into it tonight. I won’t need to. Everything else we have adds up to a lot of leverage. But the real kicker? I’m betting that a small-town sheriff is chicken feed compared to the other power players who’ve signed Wilcox’s pledge. One or a cadre of them want him dead, and he knows they’re not squeamish about committing a murder here or there because they’ve already killed his daughter. Hammering that home will be my thumbscrews. He’ll start rethinking his terms and give me that goddamn list.”
“It may work.”
“I’ll make it work.”
“There’s only one glitch in your plan.”
