“Who is he?” Janita asked.
“That’s Bob Lassiter. My chief of security.”
“Oh!”
“Where’s Gret?” Shelly asked. “I see her car’s still parked in her driveway.” But when Hawk shook his head, Shelly was concerned. “What?”
Hawk led the entire group into the living room. When Shelly and Lassie saw Greta, they both stopped in their tracks. Then Lassie hurried over to check her pulse. “Damn,” Shelly said. “Somebodymurderedher?” Then he looked at Hawk as if Hawk did it. “Why would somebody murder Greta?”
“How should I know? But check this out,” Hawk said as he handed that picture to Shelly.
“What is it?” Von asked, as he looked too. And he was as floored as they were. “Chief Donnally?” he asked with shock in his voice. “That’s Chief Donnally!”
And that was exactly who it was. Greta Jacobs was in that photo being hugged by Dale Donnally of the Brackenridge Police Department.
But Shelly was more confused than shocked. “I had no idea Greta knew that bastard.”
“Neither did I,” Hawk said as he took the frame from Shelly, turned it over, and took out the photograph. But he found a second photo hidden behind the first one.
When they saw who it was, Hawk and Shelly looked at each other. It was a photo of Percy Jacobs, the young man who attempted to assassinate Hawk at Eagle Records. He was standing alone in the photograph, smiling into the camera. “I’ll be damn,” Hawk said.
Then Hawk searched for any write up on the back of both photos. And he found it:To Dale, for coming to my rescue. Thank you for being you, was the handwritten caption on Donnally’s photo.
The handwritten caption on the back of Percy’s photo was even more telling: “To my beloved baby boy. Your death will not be in vain.”
“Shit,” Hawk said. “If that don’t sound like revenge, I don’t know what does.”
“But Percy was her son?” Shelly was still blown away by that fact alone. “She never once said a word about that boy being her son. Even when he and that sorry-ass band of his was trying out for a contract with Eagle, Greta never once said a word. She even asked me what happened long after he was killed, as if her ass didn’t already know. And he was herson? Lassie and his guys took out herson? Shit!”
Lassiter came from searching the back of the house and took a look at the photos too. “Who’s the big guy?”
“The police chief of our illustrious hometown,” said Shelly snidely. “Racist bastard.”
“I see,” said Lassiter with little to no emotion, which caught Janita and Von’s attention. He didn’t even respond to the fact that Percy Jacobs, the young man he had a hand in killing, was his co-worker’s son. Like he already knew he was.
“Wonder what she means by Donnally coming to her rescue?” Janita asked.
Hawk searched the date stamps on both photos. “Donnally’s photo was taken after Percy’s,” Hawk said.
“Which means Percy was already dead when he came to her rescue.”
Hawk nodded. “Right. Which undoubtedly means he came to help her avenge her son’s death.”
“But how would Donnally even know her?” Shelly asked. “And why would he help her? What was in it for him?”
“I don’t know,” Hawk said. “But I’m going to find out.”
“How you want me to play it, Boss?” Lassiter asked.
“Order your guys to get over here, wait until they get a call from you, and then they’ll call the cops. I don’t want to have to answer to the LAPD until I talk to Donnally. He’s the key,” Hawk said as he began hurrying out of that side door.
“I’ll wait here,” Lassiter said.
“No, you won’t.” Shelly nixed that plan. “We may need you in Brackenridge. You’re coming too,” he said, as they all hurried behind Hawk.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Hawk phoned Matty on the flight back to Brackenridge. Matty, who was the real boss of Brackenridge, ordered two crooked cops on his payroll to go to their boss’s house, tie his ass up, and wait there until Hawk got there.
