Betsy raised her eyebrow once more. “The next month he held the first annual picnic, with free food and drinks and statewide advertising. Early October, he started his annual fall chili festival, complete with campaigning politicians to work the crowd and speak.”
Cain would bet money Big Papa hadn’t paid a dime for any of the food or drink. Probably made a deal with one of the political parties. “Let me guess. Only politicians he agreed with were invited to attend.”
She nodded. “Representative Shorestone led the way each and every year.”
“He and Carrington have always been friends, as I recall.”
“Business partners for a long time, too. Even after Joanie’s dad, Mr. Dash, their other partner, was killed.”
Cain only vaguely remembered the crime. “That was just a few years after the three of them had pooled their money to open the car lot, right?”
“Yeah. Happened in broad daylight, right there at the original lot’s location across town.” She sucked in a deep breath and blew out a long sigh. “Papa C and Representative Shorestone decided to relocate after that. I heard the whole story from Joanie.”
“Did they ever catch the killer?”
“No. In fact, a few years later it was declared a cold case.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It was hard on Joanie and her mom when he was killed. A little over a year later my own dad was killed. So when we moved here permanently, Joanie and I naturally bonded as friends.” Betsy voice softened into sad, and her chin briefly quivered.
Cain gauged how much to ask, how hard to push for answers. “Did they ever look into why it went cold?”
“Sounded like there weren’t many clues. No security cameras. No witnesses. No fingerprints. Big Papa had been out of town on vacation, and Shorestone worked a full-time job eight-to-five Monday thru Friday. That left Mr. Dash alone to watch the lot that day.”
Still standing by the car, Cain felt the wind pick up and the chill deepen. He opened the car door so she could get into the heat from the idling car.
“When did you buy the dealership?” he asked.
Her expression morphed into a serious mode as she glanced at the Peyton’s Automotives sign at the entrance. Then she slid into the driver’s seat and clicked her seatbelt in place.
“I didn’t buy the business.” Tossing her hat and gloves next to her purse on the passenger side, she sighed. “It was a wedding gift from Big Papa Carrington to me. Not to Phillip. Not to both of us. Can you believe that? Ninety-five percent of the dealership signed over to only me.”
To say Cain was stunned was far from strong enough for what he felt in his gut. “That’s a really nice gift.”
“Yeah. I’ve always wondered why.” She questioningly stared at him, then she turned and for a long, long moment she stared at the Peyton’s sign. “Maybe we’ll talk about that sometime.”
She pulled the door closed. Clicked the lock. Drove away.
The glow from the illuminated Peyton’s sign lit the area where he’d parked. And as he walked toward his truck, he felt himself staring at the sign, also. Peyton was Betsy’s maiden name.
Ever since he’d returned to town, he’d wondered at the name on the sign. Now he knew…except he still didn’t really know. Sometimes women took back their maiden names after their marriage ended. But to change the name of a well-established auto dealership was confusing. Stunned was definitely not a strong enough word.
What if Shadow’s warning was right? Even partially right? What if Betsy was more than what she seemed? Damn, there was that nagging doubt again. Peyton’s… Peyton’s. Why Peyton’s?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The past two weeks had gone better than Betsy expected after she agreed to let Cain work in Peyton’s service center as part of the police stakeout. Never mind their kiss the night she’d first agreed.
Plus, Earl had been released from the hospital. His family had convinced him to take time off from work to get his mind and body healed, and they’d been able to get him into drug rehab. Thankfully, the company insurance would pay a good portion of the cost, and Betsy planned to pay the remainder of his medical bills. He still hadn’t said where he got the drug or who gave it to him.
On top of that, she’d been at a management seminar in Anaheim, California, for the past five days. She was more than glad to be heading back home.
Today had been long, what with the flight from Los Angeles into St. Louis. Marcy, Summer and Sadie were also in St. Louis, en route to New York. They had tried to convince Betsy to stay with them until they boarded their flight tomorrow. As usual, she’d claimed she had lots of work to do back at Peyton’s. Now, since she’d been up since 5:00 a.m., the over two-hour drive home to Crayton, near the Lake of the Ozarks area in the middle of Missouri, had turned into a long ordeal.
Last weekend, before she left town, she and Cain had agreed there was no reason for him to report to her daily unless a direct link had been found between the police investigation and Peyton’s.
Evidently there’d been nothing new, because he had only called twice, and she’d let those go to voicemail. Then when she listened to the messages, she saw no correlation to anything she needed to be involved in, so she hadn’t returned his calls.
