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Chapter 59
JAMISON HANDED DECKERthe business card as they climbed into the truck.
“It does make you wonder,” he said.
“What?” she asked.
“Keith Drews loses his job and then he buys life insurance. But Linda said he bought the policyafterhe hurt his back. That means he would have been on the painkillers.”
“Maybe he wasn’t addicted then.”
“Maybe not,” said Decker doubtfully.
“Do we go see Willie Norris now?”
“No, that’ll keep. Right now, let’s drive around a bit, have our coffee and muffins, and talk some things through.”
“Okay, shoot.” Then she bit into her muffin and moaned, “Oh, God, I’m going to need a cigarette.”
“Yeah, well, hold thatthought.”
He took a bite of muffin and a sip of his coffee. He said, “Costa, Tanner, Swanson, and Babbot. Let’s take them one by one and see where we stand.”
“Okay.”
“Bradley Costa figured out where the Baron treasure was and came to town to get it. He got hired by the bank that held the mortgage on the property.”
“You think he planned it that way?”
Decker nodded and took a moment to wipe cream off his lips. “I’m sure he did his research and joined the bank because it held the mortgage. He was a hotshot Wall Street type. How many of those do you think come to places like this?”
“Zero.”
“So he renegotiated the deal with Baron and put in the moral turpitude clause.”
“And then do you think he proceeded toframe Baron for the murders?”
“No. For the simple fact that he ended upbeingmurdered. I think he might have had some scheme in mind to nail Baron on the moral turpitude clause. It didn’t have to be murder. It could have been drugs. Maybe he knew about Swanson squatting up there and keeping his drug stash in the potting shed. Then Baron goes to jail and the loan is called, the propertyforeclosed, and the straw man buys the property. Then they get the treasure. But the straw man double-crossed Costa and killed him so he wouldn’t have to split the treasure. And then he completed the original plan to frame Baron, by murdering four people. In that way, with Costa, he killed two birds with one stone.”
“But that’s all speculation.”
“I’m going on probabilities.”
“Okay. And Swanson died because he was squatting on Baron’s property. And he was also a drug dealer, which, like you said, would probably trigger the morals clause if they could tie Baron to drug dealing.”
Decker nodded. “And they wouldn’t want Swanson around on the property while they looked for the treasure. Again, two birds with one stone. They get him off the property anduse his murder to frame Baron.”
“That makes sense.”
“You remember the nail we found in Tanner’s car tire?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, when I was at the fulfillment center I drove around to the new section they’re building. Guess what I found?” He pulled from his jacket pocket the object he’d found in the parking lot and held it up.
“It looks like the nailyou found in Tanner’s tire.”
“It’s exactly the same.”
