“That’s right.”
“Since we’re supposed to be working together, be a good idea if you gave me those names.”
She glanced up. “Sorry. I’m not used to sharing.” She pulled out a manila file labeled Green Gables Realty she had spotted in the stack.
“George Larson,” Beau said, correctly guessing one of the names. “Larson was my father’s partner in the real estate business.”
She nodded, tapped the file. “Three months ago, the senator insisted they sell. Apparently Larson wasn’t happy about it.”
Beau frowned. “Insisted?If Larson didn’t want to sell, my father must have coerced him. He must have had something on him, something he was holding over his head.”
“You’re saying Larson was blackmailed into selling?”
“That’s right.” The bluest eyes she had ever seen fixed on her face and a little curl of heat slid into her belly.Notgood.
“If you’re going to work this case,” Beau said, “you had better start seeing my father as the man he really was. He was ruthless and conniving, willing to do just about anythingto get what he wanted. His list of enemies is going to be way more than three. Who else did he mention?”
“The other man’s name is Jess Milford. He worked for Alamo, the construction and development company your father owned.”
“I don’t know him. Until yesterday, I hadn’t seen my father in nearly a year. I talked to him on the phone when it was necessary, but I never got involved in his business dealings and he didn’t get involved in mine.”
“Milford was fired from an apartment construction job. He’d been with Alamo for years, foreman for the last five.”
Beau scoffed. “Loyalty wasn’t part of the senator’s makeup. Not unless he got something in return.”
Cassidy eyed him with speculation. “You really hated him, didn’t you?”
A muscle tightened in Beau’s cheek, pulling up the thin scar along his jaw. “Hate’s too strong a word. I didn’t respect him. I didn’t approve of his business dealings or the way he conducted himself. Did I dislike him enough to kill him? No. He was still my father and I’ll always be his son.”
“You realize the murder weapon tells us a lot. A letter opener, something probably lying on top of his desk.”
“It belonged to him. The end of the handle was an eagle with its wings spread. I’ve seen him use it dozens of times.”
“That’s just it. It wasn’t a gun or a knife. The murder wasn’t planned. It probably happened in the heat of the moment, a crime of passion, they call it. Which brings me to the third name. Your stepmother, Charlotte Mercer Reese.”
Surprise flashed in his eyes. “I saw Charlotte yesterday at the police station. As I understand it, their divorce was messy but agreeable. Dad found Charlotte in bed with a younger man and insisted on ending the marriage. My father slept with any woman he wanted, but he couldn’t handle it when his wife returned the favor.”
“He said she never got over him, that she wanted them to get back together.”
Beau frowned, shook his head. “I’m not buying it. Dad gave her nothing but trouble. From what I could tell after the divorce, she was glad to be rid of him. When I saw her yesterday, she seemed stunned but not brokenhearted, though she did say they had remained close after the divorce.”
“I guess we’ll see.”
Beau reached over and closed the file. “It’s getting really late. We can work on these again tomorrow. I presume you’ll want to continue staying in the guest house.”
“If you don’t mind.”
“Seems the best solution. I’ve got to make a quick trip back to Dallas, but I’ll be staying in the main house until this is over.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t considered he might do that. The idea of Beau being in such close proximity was somehow unsettling. It was possible he had murdered his father, yet he managed to spark the first real attraction to a man she had felt in months—longer, really, considering her relationship with Rick had been more of a convenience than anything with real physical heat.
He started to leave with the files tucked under his arm and the flash drives in his pocket.Not happening. No way was she giving him the chance to purge information that could connect him to the crime.
“You know, I’m not really sleepy,” she said, stopping him at the door. “Why don’t you leave that stuff here and I’ll work on it a little longer?”
A slow, sexy smile curved his lips. It was the first real smile she had seen and the effect trapped the breath in her lungs.
“You don’t trust me,” he said.
