I cocked my head, sipping quietly. “Why wouldn’t Lawrence leave his estate to his son?”
“They didn’t get along,” Bernie said. “Lawrence got into the whiskey one night, probably late last summer, and spilled that Hoyt has a gambling problem. The guy spends all his time at the casinos on the reservations around here when he’s not headed to Vegas. It caused problems between them. Bad ones.”
Interesting. Did Hoyt owe people money? I made a mental note to call Detective Pierce with the new info. “Tell me about you threatening Lawrence.”
Tears gathered in Bernie’s cataract-riddled eyes. “I was so mad. Earl told me that Lawrence had purchased the ring, and I just lost it. Oh, I was irritated about the movie and Lawrence wanting to be in it, but that normally wouldn’t have set me off. What kind of a guy proposes to his best friend’s ex-wife? What was he thinking?” Bernie’s entire sunken chest moved when he exhaled. “I know what he was thinking. Flo is amazing. Who wouldn’t want to marry her?” He finished scribbling on the paper. “The hard part is keeping her. She gets bored easy and moves on. I got angry and made a mistake. A big one.”
I kind of felt sorry for the guy. “What happened?”
“I cheated on her. Just once and just one night where I had way too much to drink. I don’t even remember it.” He wiped his eyes. “Biggest mistake of my life.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, not knowing why. “Tell me about you threatening him.”
The story he related was exactly what Fran had told me earlier. “I was just mad about the ring. That’s all,” Bernie said.
“Okay.” I cocked my head. “What was it about lures?”
He sighed. “Is there anything you don’t find out?”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “But the prosecution finds out everything. How about you finally level with me?”
His shoulders hunched. “Fine. Lawrence and I were going to open a second bait and tackle shop in Montana, and I already had lures ordered, and then he goes and falls in love with the love of my life. I couldn’t go into business with a guy married to Flo.”
Yet another motive. The guy was killing me. He looked so sad, I reached out and patted his hand. “One last question. Do you know a Sharon Smith?”
He blinked. “Um, yeah. Why?”
My breath quickened. “Who is she?”
He turned a beet red. Like a bruised beet that somebody had stepped on several times. “She’s the woman from the one-night stand. When I cheated on Florence and ruined my whole life.”
Chapter 12
Darkness had prematurely descended in the form of silver-bellied clouds and falling snow by the time Aiden picked me up from Smiley’s Diner. While Sharon Smith had helped to ruin Bernie’s life, he didn’t really know her and had no clue how to find her.
That was now my job. At least I had a direction to take the case.
I ran through the pummeling flakes and jumped into Aiden’s truck, keeping the bag with his shirt against my side. “Hi.” Warmth instantly surrounded me when I shut the door.
“Hi.” He ducked his head, looked in the mirror, and pulled out onto Main Street, the windshield wipers swishing rhythmically. He’d ditched his coat, which lay on the console between us. A simple tee hugged his broad chest. “How did it go with your client?”
The innocuous question relaxed me as nothing else could have. Yeah, we were tripping and falling while we found our way together, but things were okay now. I secured my seatbelt and brushed snow off my jeans. “I’m not sure.” For a while, I thought I was perhaps finding good information for Bernie’s defense, but then maybe not. I hadn’t put the pieces together yet, but my instincts were humming and strong. “What about you? How were your errands?”
“Good.” He turned at a stoplight, heading west. “I think I found an office for my team.”
I stilled. “An office here?” Aiden ran a Special Response Team for the ATF, and most of the elite teams were based out of big cities. Only Aiden’s team was recently allowed to relocate closer to a satellite office in Spokane, but his office had been blown up during the summer, and then they’d been off on undercover ops since. “As in here in Timber City and not in Spokane?”
“Yeah.” He ducked his head and turned toward Lilac Lake Road. “Since we’re not going in-house with the Spokane office, there doesn’t seem to be a reason we can’t locate here. So long as we’re allowed to relocate.”
My skin buzzed. “Is there a chance you’ll be called back to LA?”
He turned down the lake road, spitting up gravel. “Yes. Our last case didn’t go well, so the juice we had riding from the arrests last summer is drying up.”
So did the spit in my mouth. Was he going to have to leave again? Maybe not if they signed a lease. “Where’s the possible new office?”
He pulled into an unplowed lot fronting what used to be the spa. The wide windows hung like dark squares in the one-story brick building. “The place is pretty convenient and has exits at key locations, including out to the lake, in case we ever need to hunt by boat.” His gaze swept me. “Or escape via boat.”
I punched him in the arm, and my knuckles instantly protested. “Funny.” Ignoring my dream for a cheap massage, I let hope flitter through me. If the ATF signed a lease, they’d have to stay for the duration. “What are you thinking? Ten or twelve year lease?”
