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His eyes narrowed. “Of course.”
“You know I have a copy and it’s very misleading. It starts out saying he’ll pay him twenty thousand dollars and then it says when he loses the game, the ranch is Ron Thomas’s. Isn’t that kind of high-dollar poker game in Texas illegal?”
The man glanced out the window and picked up the television remote.
“Young feller, I’m going to answer this question, and then we’re done. I don’t know who is digging up this nonsense, but I’m done answering your questions,” he said. “Yes, it’s illegal, but Paul Bradley was damn stupid to sign that piece of paper and to play in an illegal game. I wasn’t going to arrest him because his family was already suffering.
“As for Ron Thomas, the man is the biggest crook in town, and everyone but Paul knew that. Maybe he pushed his wife down those stairs, but I didn’t have any evidence to prove it, so I didn’t arrest him. Besides, she was better off without him.”
Nathan couldn’t restrain himself. “Did he pay you to look the other way?”
The man’s brows rose and then his eyes narrowed. “Get out.”
He hit the button on the television remote to turn up the volume until the nurse appeared at the door.
“Gary, that’s too loud,” she said.
“Get him out,” he replied.
Nathan stood and then he glanced at him. “Lillian Bradley, the granddaughter, is now a lawyer, and she’s taking this case to court. You may be called upon to testify.”
With that, he turned and walked out of the room.
“Son of a bitch,” he heard him yell. “Tell that girl to leave this alone.”
He didn’t stop walking but kept on down the hall. He really wanted out of this place and he needed to get back to Lillian before she drove out to her grandfather’s without him.
Thirty minutes later, he pulled up in the driveway and saw her car still sitting there.
When he walked into the house, she was on the phone with someone.
“I’ll be looking for you,” she said and disconnected the line.
“My grandmother and mother are coming in from San Antonio,” she said. “Let’s go move my grandfather. I found a place for him to move into.”
He nodded.
“What did you learn?”
“That the previous sheriff of Blessing was a real dick,” he said. “He didn’t investigate Barbara’s death.”
A sigh escaped from Lillian. “If Ron thought she was having an affair, he could have killed her.”
As much as he didn’t want to believe it, he feared that Lillian was right. And his friend Cal was going to face yet more people in his life who had done him wrong.
“Come on, let’s go. We can take my truck if your grandfather has any belongings he’s taking.”
“We can’t take him there for another two hours. Could we go to the bar and speak to the waitress?”
“Let’s go,” Nathan said, and they hurried out to his truck. “When I spoke to the sheriff, he wasn’t much help. But I do think he covered up the death of Cal’s grandmother. I don’t know that for certain. Supposedly, her autopsy report says that her skull was cracked. I’m going to get my hands on that report.”
They pulled out of the driveway, the truck bouncing on the uneven road.
“If Cal’s grandfather could do this to my grandfather, he certainly could kill his wife,” she said. “I feel so bad for Cal. First his parents, and now he’s learning terrible things about the man he worships.”
Nathan agreed. “I know. He loves his grandfather so much.”
“And I loved and adored mine,” she said softly.
