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“He had one of those weird haircuts with the front part longer and the sides short.”
Chris and Grady exchanged a look. Then Chris tilted his head. “You mean a Princeton cut?”
“I don’t know what the hell it’s called.”
Chris pulled up a picture on his phone. “Like this.”
“Yeah, like that. And he wore loafers. Nobody wears loafers in West Texas Oil Field country. Nobody. I shoulda known better than to get messed up with his shit. Used a damn money clip. Who does that?”
Grady sucked in a breath, one face crystallizing in his brain. He pulled his phone out and searched. He found what he was looking for on Tinsley’s social media and held the picture up. “Was it this guy?”
Frank Bonner’s eyes widened, and he pointed at the phone. “Yeah. That’s him. He’s the one. He paid me three grand to blow up that rig.”
Grady turned the phone to Chris. “PerrymotherfuckingPace.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Tinsley sat tied to a chair in some remote trailer that smelled of mildew and stale beer.
Perry walked circles around her, slugging down thirty-year-old scotch straight from the bottle. He paused at her side and stroked the back of his index finger down her cheek.
“It always should have been you and me, Tinsley. My pretty little debutante queen. Did you know I asked your father for your hand last summer? The son-of-a-bitch turned me down.” He grinned. “I showed him, though, didn’t I? Destroyed two of his oil rigs. Serves him right for discounting me.”
“You blew my father’s well?”
“He picked the wrong brother.” Perry laughed. “It should have been me running for senate with you by my side.”
Tinsley was sick to her stomach. He was out of his mind and capable of anything. If she didn’t cooperate, he had no use for her, that much she realized. So, she had to play along, make him believe she never wanted Palmer. That shouldn’t be hard to do.
“I never wanted Palmer. Your father was blackmailing mine, forcing me to do what he wanted, or he’d make sure my father went to prison.”
Perry laughed. “My old man. What a piece of work, huh? Although, I’ve got to give him credit for that little scheme. I might use it myself someday if you ever try to leave me. JD wouldn’t last long in prison, would he?”
“Perry, you were always the smarter one. Everyone knew that.”
“Did they?” He straightened, almost preening under her compliment.
“Of course. Everyone in the group always liked you best.”
“I don’t remember it that way.”
“They only gave you a hard time because of the stories Palmer always made up about you.” She was making it up as she went along.
“Stories?”
“He confessed it to me a few months ago. Said all the things he said were made up. How you liked women’s underwear, how you slept with a teddy bear. It was all crazy stuff. I never believed any of it. Palmer said he was jealous, that’s why he did it. Of course, he was jealous; you were better at everything.”
“Well, who’s laughing now? With Mother and Father gone, the money goes to us. Once I have Palmer out of the way, I’ll have it all: the company, the money, I’m even going to take his sought-after senate seat.”
“Was your parents’ death an accident?”
“With a little help. I paid a guy to switch out some engine parts for some broken ones.”
“Oh, my God.”
“I did it for us, Tinsley. Now I can give you the life you deserve. When I run for senate, we’ll move to Washington.”
“You want to be a senator?”
