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“So, she goes back for a second try the next day, and what? Gibbs somehow kills her and buries her and her Cadillac in the desert?”
“He’s not saying yet. Wants a deal, but yeah, that’s my guess. Unless Brett himself killed her. That’s always possible.”
“But why?”
“For the kids. The entire Hedges clan is all about those twins.”
Settler thought about it. She’
d spent a lot of time reading up on the Hedges clan. “OH2 died without an heir.”
“Right. And the old man might not have been able to father more kids after the accident, even if he did have a younger wife in Shawna Whitman.”
Dani slowly shook her head, thinking about the Hedgeses. “I’m beginning to wonder if the old man’s skiing accident was an accident.”
“Who knows. No one has ever questioned it. OH1 never said anything.”
“But then his son marries the wife who divorced him when he became an invalid. Maybe that started him wondering about his firstborn; maybe he questioned his motives, saw him for the louse he was.”
She leaned back in her chair, the wheels turning in her mind. “Do you think the eldest son who stole the wife also tried to kill his old man? Maybe he wanted the whole enchilada.”
“Could be. With this clan, I wouldn’t say any bet was off.”
“And then, tit for tat, the old man somehow has him killed. Has someone do it. Like Gibbs?” She asked, “Would a father kill his own kid?”
“Gibbs tried with Remmi Storm,” he pointed out.
“Touché.”
“Like I said, this whole family is one major piece of work. If we can believe Gibbs—”
“We can’t. Seriously, Martinez, we can’t believe a word he says.”
“I know, but if we did . . . Just stay with me here. Gibbs says, and I quote, at least from his attorney, that he’s ‘too old for this shit,’ that he ‘wants to turn over a new leaf.’ He wants to talk.”
She would have laughed out loud if she’d found anything funny this morning. “With the trail of bodies he’s left behind? Come on. This hired assassin who tried to murder his own kid just last night suddenly finds Jesus and develops a conscience?”
“The Lord works in mysterious ways.”
“Right. And I’m not stopping the investigation just because Milo Gibbs wants to talk. Forget it.”
Martinez’s smile grew, and he seemed amused at her bad mood. “So let me guess. You want to go back to Vegas to talk with the Hedgeses?”
“Yep. And let’s not forget the wives. I want to hear what Marilee Hedges and Seneca Williams—aka Shawna Whitman and now Shawna Hedges—have to say. So yeah, I want to interview them all, more than I want sleep right now, so that’s pretty bad.”
“I’ll drive. You sleep.”
“First, I want to talk to Milo Gibbs myself.”
Martinez was already straightening up from the desk.
Settler got to her feet as well. “Let’s drop by the hospital and see if Milo is serious about confessing; then, once we iron the details out with his attorney and him, we’ll fly to Vegas. I’ll try to tee up Stinson, see if he’ll take us there again.” She was already reaching for her shoulder holster and sidearm.
“I’ll call Davis in Vegas. We should give her a heads-up.”
“Okay,” Settler agreed, already heading for the stairs.
* * *
