Chapter 13

COINCIDENTAL MOLE

I spent the next morning at USL’s library, virtually empty over the semester break except for a few serious grad students lurking behind the stacks in dank corners, creeping through narrow aisles of musty tomes, or hunched over carrels strewn with books and papers. I dug out a couple of dissertations by petroleum engineers, to see what I could learn about the industry and its history. In the basement, I scrolled for what seemed like hours through mind-numbing microfilm newspaper articles about the Calco-Aloco merger and the people involved. I learned that Calco Oil had gobbled up several smaller oil companies before and since its merger with Aloco, making it one of the largest international oil mega-corporations in the world.

Carl Haggerty’s name kept appearing in articles as a high-powered D.C. attorney, an oil lobbyist, and a linchpin in the mergers. I wondered if Carl was related to Joseph Haggerty, whose office at DNR had purportedly provided the faulty geological map. I was pretty sure Father wouldn’t have missed a connection like that, and if word spread, that knowledge could have provided ample motive for Father’s murder.

The next afternoon, Placide and I drove to Baton Rouge for the meeting Earlene had arranged with Candace Soileau, Gremillion’s former secretary, at the new River Center Library downtown.

I waited near the checkout counter until an attractive young lady entered, her short blonde wavy hair giving her a youthful androgynous look.

“Major Doucet?” she asked when she spotted me at the designated spot. “I’m Candace Soileau.”

“Please, call me H,” I said.

“No problem, H. And you can call me Candace.”

“Thanks for meeting me. Earlene reserved a small meeting room for us to talk. Follow me.”

When we had seated at the conference table, she said, “I’m not quite sure why I’m here.”

“I’ve asked you because I’d like to better understand your office’s recent tragedy.”

Her smile dimmed. “Yes, H, we’ve had quite a shake-up. We’re all still in shock, and no one’s daring to talk about it above a whisper.”

“Were you aware that Mr. Gremillion was supposed to meet my father the day before Father died?”

“Yes. I made that appointment.”

“Were you also aware that he had an appointment to meet with me? And that he was on his way to that meeting when he was run off the bridge?”

“I had no idea! He never mentioned another meeting to me. He was on his way to Houston for a meeting as far as I knew.”

“Mr. Gremillion agreed to meet me in Henderson on his way to his Houston meeting. I suspect someone found out about our appointment and made sure he didn’t keep it. Do you have any idea if the investigators have checked his phone for bugs—or yours, for that matter?”

“If they have, they haven’t shared that tidbit with me!” She paused to let that possibility sink in for a few seconds, her eyes darting around the room. “I’m afraid I’m a little dumbfounded here. You seem convinced he was murdered.”

“I hate to say it, but I think there’s a good possibility that he wasn’t just run off the road by a random drunk. And it’s possible that whoever is responsible could work at DNR or even higher than that, though that’s pure conjecture at this point.”

She paused to think over that idea, then said, “I hope you know I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

“I didn’t mean to suggest you did,” I assured her. “But I’ve spent some time digging around, and the name Joseph Haggerty in DNR came up a few times. Do you know him?”

“Well, of course I know him! He asked me to come to work for him temporarily, shortly after Mr. Gremillion’s death! His secretary is on leave for a couple months with a new baby due.”

“And did you?”

“Of course. They hadn’t hired a replacement for my boss yet, so I needed a job!”

“Fantastic! Do you have access to his records?”

“I have access to what he wants me to have. Of course, there are plenty of ways he could hide files that I don’t have access to, as we probably both know. I wonder if the investigators know that someone inside the department might be implicated?”

“I can’t answer that. I do know that the so-called ‘investigators’ have been less than helpful so far. I’m not even sure they’re not in on it. That’s why I’m trying to find my own channels.”

“And you think you can confide in me?”

“I have no way of knowing that, obviously. But Father must have trusted your late boss, so that’s what I’m going on. Besides, you’re a lot less likely to be involved than the top tax bracket I’ve discovered with their greedy paws in it. Most of the players so far seem to be in upper administrative positions, and I’m pretty sure they’re not interested in widening their circle to the working class. They have one or two hired pawns, but you don’t fit the paradigm.”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence,” she said with a laugh.

“But we have to realize that your phone might be bugged by now, too. Even your home phone. Working for Haggerty puts you in even more danger now than I suspected. Look, Ms. Soileau, …I mean Candace, …I’m hesitant to call you at your house, particularly now that I know you’re working for Haggerty. We’ll have to be even more careful than I originally planned. Do you have a friend or relative where I could call you occasionally? At some designated time, of course? Someone you absolutely know you can trust? Preferably someone Haggerty doesn’t know exists.” I held out my pen, in hopes she could jot down a number for me.

She seemed to be conflicted as she thought for a minute, but then she took the pen. I handed her my open Day-Timer. “This is an acquaintance that I doubt anyone knows about. I won’t elaborate,” she said.

“No need to, as long as you’re sure you can trust him,” I agreed, assuming the contact was male.

“I trust him with my life.”

“Good. Pick a convenient time for me to call you, when you can be reasonably certain to be there.”

“I suppose you can call around 8 PM on Sunday. We get together most Sunday evenings to grill something.”

“Perfect. Thanks. But please don’t breathe a word of this to anyone, even your friend. Just tell him I’m a long-lost relative or something. Think you can do that? I don’t want him getting too curious.”

“I guess so, H. I can tell him you’re my cousin. He knows I have a big family in Lafayette, and a great aunt there who’s extremely ill,” she said. “Any idea what I should keep my eyes open for?”

“Anything out of the ordinary, particularly any records that come across your desk connecting Calco Oil or Sapphire Salt to DNR. Their motivation is greed, simple as that, so anything concerning finances and transactions might give us a clue. Also, any appointments Haggerty asks you to make for him could lead us somewhere. Only, for God’s sake, be careful. Keep your ears open, of course, but just worry about files that come across your desk. Don’t go snooping, whatever you do. We don’t know who’s working for Haggerty. I’m hoping to find out what was important enough to get my father and Gremillion killed. But keep in mind, if it was important enough to get them killed, there’s no length these guys won’t go to if they feel threatened.”

“I’ll keep my eyes open, but don’t worry, I’m not about to go looking for trouble. I have my future to think of, and I’d like it to last several more years.”