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“Did it surprise you?” said Jamison. “That your dad was buying Dawson out?”
“Hugh Dawson has been sick of this place for a long time, and who can blame him? All you got are companies digging the land up to get the oil and gas. And you got all these people coming here who don’t give a crap about this place. They just want to make their pile and go back to where they came from when it’s all gone.”
Southern protested, “That’s not really true anymore, Shane. There are more families coming here and putting roots down.”
He waved this off. “It’ll always be a mining town. And when everything’s sucked out, what then? You really think people are going to stick around here?”
Decker said, “So Dawson wanted to get out? You know that for a fact?”
“When Maddie was alive they were fixing to go to France. All of them, Caroline too.”
“But then Maddie died,” said Jamison.
Shane nodded. “And Hugh built his big house. But I could tell the man’s heart wasn’t in it.”
“So he might have wanted to sell out?”
“Yeah, and my old man would be the only one with the money to buy him out. And it would help his business. Hell, he’d pay his workers to get the oil and gas out, and they’d pay him all that money back in rent and food and whatnot.”
“Like the old company coal-mining towns,” observed Decker.
“Right.”
Decker said, “I want you to take a few deep breaths, Shane.”
“Why?”
“Because I have something to tell you that will be upsetting.”
“Hell, Decker, I’ve seen my buddies blown to pieces in Iraq and Afghanistan, okay?”
“Okay. So do you have any idea why Dawson would leave a suicide note saying that he killed your father?”
The blood slowly drained from Shane’s face. “Hugh said he killed my dad.”
“We found a note that said that. And there is some forensic evidence pointing to his having done so.”
“What kind of evidence?” asked Southern quickly.
“We can’t get into that,” replied Decker.
Shane rose on wobbly legs. “He killed my old man?”
“At least that’s what the note said,” said Jamison.
“You sure he wrote it?”
“Several people identified it as his handwriting.”
“Son of a bitch.” He turned and looked at Caroline. In a low voice he added, “Does . . . does she know about this?”
Decker shook his head. “No, she doesn’t.” He paused and sized Shane up. “Of course with your father dead, you’re a very wealthy man.” He glanced at Caroline. “And she’s a very rich woman.”
Shane glanced at him. “Ifmy old man left me anything.”
“So you haven’t seen his will?”
“Never had a reason to.”
