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He and Danni got out of the truck. There were people on his porch. As he got closer, he saw who. Natasha Jones and Gerald Curtis.
Natasha addressed them as Curtis leaned on his cane. “We were about to leave you a note, Gabe.” She looked at Curtis. “Gerald decided he has something to tell you.”
“Mr. Curtis, I’ve been trying to find you.”
“I told him you were looking,” Natasha said.
Danni looped her arm around Gabe’s, and he patted her hand as together they joined Curtis and Natasha on the porch.
“I had some things to figure out.”
“Have you figured them out?”
“With Natasha’s help, I have.”
“I’ll leave you all to it,” Natasha said. She left them on the porch, got in her car, and drove away.
Curtis looked at Gabe. “You asked me once how I lost my leg. Do you want to hear the story?”
“If you want to tell me.”
“Infection. I was shot in the kneecap, the wound got infected, and I lost my leg just above the knee.”
“Wow, how horrible.”
“I read recently Ira HoffmanJr. was the victim of the very same thing. Shot in the knee.”
“True,” Gabe said, wondering where this was going.
“I’m sure his father just sees it as acceptable collateral damage. If he was not personally touched, he really won’t care about his son.”
Gabe said nothing. One thing for sure, HoffmanSr. was not the most caring of fathers.
“Why were you shot?” Danni asked.
“I’m here to tell you the story. I heard you had to shelve the accident case, and nothing would come of it because there are no witnesses. Well, I’m a witness. I worked with Hoffman and Pope back then. I heard the fights, knew the rivalry, and I was there the day Ira said he was going to teach Pope a lesson.”
Gabe stared at Curtis. “I think we should go inside.”
+++
Danni felt a jolt that things were finally falling into place. One of her father’s sayings resonated: answers were always out there; some took longer to find than others. Once inside, seated in the living room, Gabe got Curtis a glass of water and then he shared his story.
“After the accident—sober—I realized what had happened. Especially after your detectives started to probe and ask questions. I didn’t have the money for lawyers like Anson did, so I just kept my mouth shut. I worked in mid-management for Ira. He’s my brother-in-law, you see. I was married to his sister.”
“That’s a sleeper left hook,” Gabe said.
“It doesn’t mean he ever liked me. He tolerated me because of his sister. I was there when he hired the mechanic to mess with Pope’s car. Don’t misunderstand; I don’t believe Ira meant to kill the whole family. He just wanted to scare Pope. Pope was a difficult man. Ira tried to buy him out, but he wouldn’t let go of the business. It just all went wrong.”
“Did Aker know this?”
Curtis shook his head. “Anson was just doing me a favor driving me home. I was too drunk to drive myself.”
“After a couple of months, I saw Ira was able to shut the investigation down. He was lying to Elise. He told her the police killed her parents, and she was also in danger from them. Elise and IraJr. were sent to school back east with Junior’s mother.”
“Were there no other relatives? Wasn’t children’s services involved back then?” Danni asked.
“Ira worked something out regarding custody. And I don’t know if Elise has any other relatives or exactly what Ira told her in that regard. When I realized the truth about the accident was never going to come to light, I confronted Ira. He told me to keep my mouth shut. I told him I couldn’t; after all, he’d killed a whole family. Then Ira shot me.”
