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“I have theories but no proof. How much contact have you had with OneTree, that you’d know whether he killed Jimmy or not?”
Not much, but everybody knows about the Wolves.”
“Not everybody.”
“He’d come to the house or the factory when I was a kid, give Cleve briefcases of cash. I’d go down there and play. It was a great place for a kid to get lost in. Did Jimmy . . . suffer?”
“Died instantly,” I said and watched her relax. “How do you know there was cash in those briefcases?”
“I was a kid. I got into everything.” She walked over to the balcony and slid open one of the doors.
I followed her out, going from air conditioning to summer heat and humidity as she sat down at the small table that was on the balcony. “I can’t believe Jimmy’s dead. I mean, he wasn’t ever going to be anybody, but he was nice to me. ”
It was good that somebody was going to mourn Jim, but I had pressing questions.
“What was Cleve up to with the Wolves? How was Senator Wilcox, the old one, involved?”
“He was at the factory a lot. Cleve was a man with a lot of secrets.” Skye stared at me. “And there are more secrets. You’re digging around in a dangerous place, Cooper.”
“Yeah, I’ve been warned. What about Senator Wilcox?”
“The asshole or the bitch?”
“Take your pick.”
“Cleve was thick as thieves with the asshole.”
“And the bitch?”
“She thinks she has Cash utterly devoted to her.”
“‘Thinks’?”
“Cash is charming. Until he isn’t. Cash only cares about Cash.” She downed the rest of her coffee. Checked her watch and decided it was five o’clock somewhere. Reached over to a small fridge, opened it, and retrieved a bottle of vodka.
“Who do you think killed Jimmy?”
She grabbed a glass that had been sitting on the table and poured a shot into it. “No idea.”
“I’m trying to find out who paid Mickey to kill Thacker. And to burn down Porter’s Garage. There’s only one person who benefitted from both of those.”
“You think Cash did that?” She downed the shot, which made me wince.
I didn’t respond, letting it bounce around inside her head.
There was a large, old building about a quarter mile away, looming over the shore. Construction cranes were at work, and I knew that was Senator Amy Wilcox’s Cincinnati project. Where the people who were going to buy the houses in Cash’s development would commute to as their company relocated from California. A couple of barges were at work on a large dock right in front of it. Given my drive here, crossing the river twice, I could see the advantages.
Skye fell into the silence for several moments. Then she asked again, her voice tight with anger. “Do you think Cash would do that? Kill Thacker?”
“Thacker was posting things about your family,” I said. “About Senator Wilcox and her late husband. About Cash and Lavender. Do you think Cash would?”
“Deep inside he’s really cold. It’s like there’s a piece missing there.” She stared off into the distance for a minute and then looked up at me. “You know he’s still after Liz. He has no idea she doesn’t like him. He’s so far up his own ass, he can’t see that she’s done with him.”
That didn’t reassure me any about Liz out there in that cottage in the middle of nowhere.
“Did he ever say anything about Jim Pitts to you?”
“No.”
