| |
Tom and Sid followed Hawthorne into Allen’s office. The councilman was seated at a small conference table on one side of the room. The lawyer sat down next to Allen and motioned for the detectives to take chairs across the table.
“I don’t mean to seem critical,” Allen began with a smirk on his face, “but we spoke to you not twenty-four hours ago. You asked all your questions.”
“As I told you yesterday, we have a witness who described and subsequently identified your site foreman, Paul Andrews, as the individual who gave the funds to a building inspector.”
Hawthorne asked, “You didn’t mention the inspector’s name.”
“Brad Fortner.”
Allen said, “I know him. He’s worked on several of our projects. He’s been with the department for many years. I’d say he’s above reproach.”
“I’d agree with you except he got in a bind and needed quick cash.”
“So what? It doesn’t mean he took a bribe,” Larry said.
“We have a witness. And he took care of his cash flow problem.”
“Sounds circumstantial too me,” Hawthorne said.
“We’re still working the case.”
“It wouldn’t make sense for Paul or anyone working for the project to bribe an inspector,” Allen said, his voice growing louder. “We’ve never had a safety issue on any job. We abide by the building codes. What would be gained?”
Tom said, “Let me give you a general answer from our point of view. Sometimes the motive for doing a crime is not logical or even understood. It could be much more than completing a project on time and within budget. Perhaps the goal is to lay the foundation for a much larger, more ambitious project. Or even to eliminate an issue which might threaten that future development.”
Hawthorne asked, “Are you referring to your fantasy lakefront project?”
“I’d say the project is far from a fantasy. A good bit of work has been done to place your company in a key role for a huge project, at least by Branson standards.”
The lawyer said, “We are right where we were yesterday. Unless you can bring up something more interesting than your opinion, we are done.”
Tom observed the councilman and said, “Brad Fortner was murdered in Arkansas this week. We’re here today to ask you to detail your activity for the last seven days.”
Allen came out of his chair, his face turning light pink. “You’re asking me for an alibi? Like I would go to Arkansas and kill a man?”
“We are checking the alibis for all individuals of interest,” Sid said. “As a matter of fact, Mr. Andrews verified you were on site each day this week, but he could not verify every hour. Nor did he know how you spent your evenings. We’re trying to fill in the gaps.”
Allen walked away from the table, turning his back to the others. He lowered his head and shook it in disbelief or perhaps denial. After a few moments, he returned to the table, his arms folded across his chest. When he spoke, his tone was calm and measured. “I’ve been at the job site every day this week. I’ll have to check with my secretary to see when I had meetings somewhere else. One notable exception is when I visited your friend Kate on Monday evening. My wife has been visiting relatives in Florida, but you can check with my neighbors to see if they noticed my comings and goings. That’s all I can tell you other than I did not kill Brad Fortner. Nor did I have the man killed.”
***
THE DETECTIVES RETURNED to City Hall and spent thirty minutes documenting the interview and discussing how to proceed with the Fortner bribery-murder case. Neither one could decide if the councilman was telling the truth about his involvement. They were hoping Lenny would find a suspect on his end, preferably someone who would identify Allen. They were about to head out of the office when the phone rang.
“I’m already late for dinner at Katie’s. Can you take that?”
Sid shook his head and said, “Not if it might be an angry Kate.”
Fortunately, it was Lenny Harper. His men stopped an individual driving Brad Fortner’s truck. The man claimed a friend had sold it to him, fake invoice and all. The friend was identified as one of a pair asking about Fortner in the Lead Hill area.
Lenny said, “Once we convinced the two slimeballs we had them cold for first degree murder, they were happy to finger the man who hired them.”
“You’ve had a busy couple of days,” Tom said.
“Don’t get too excited,” Lenny said. “These guys don’t have a name, but they gave me a description. I’d say it fits about twenty-five percent of the men in Taney County.”
“Swell. How about I send you photos of some possibilities. I’ll throw in a few more to complete the line-up.”
“Fax them tonight, but messenger them ASAP, in case the faxes aren’t clear.”
“Better yet, Sid can bring them down right away.”
“We’ll be waiting,” Lenny said.
Sid said, “You better get to Kate’s. I’ll take care of this and call you with any news.”
***
TOM LEANED AGAINST the banister and breathed in the cool night air. Kate slipped up beside him and massaged his back with both her palms. He relaxed his neck and allowed his head to ease forward.
“You have no idea how good that feels,” he whispered.
“One of my many valued talents.”
“But not the most valued.”
“Careful, you’ll turn my head,” she said, scooting onto the glider and setting it in motion.
“Is this seat taken?”
“I was saving it for someone special.”
“How special? Maybe I can qualify.”
She reached up and took his hand, pulling him down beside her. “You definitely can.”
Kate nuzzled closer, resting her head on his shoulder. A stray thought about Sid taking the photos to Lenny tried to distract him, but he brushed it aside.
“Tommy?”
“Uh-oh. You haven’t called me that for a couple decades.”
She sat up straight on the glider and the faraway gaze she’d had several times during dinner reappeared. “I need to tell you what I did today,” she said.
“I knew something was bothering you.”
“I guess I’ve been a little quiet. I’ve been trying to decide what to do.”
“That’s not what tipped me off. First, you didn’t even mention I was almost an hour late for dinner. Then, you didn’t want to discuss your conspiracy theories when Margie brought them up. Next, you didn’t comment when your dad winked and said he and Margie would be going out for a while so don’t wait up. But I knew it was serious when you didn’t want me to clear the table or help with the dishes.”
“Has anyone ever told you what a great detective you are?”
“Not lately. So let me have it. What did you do today that you aren’t sure you want to discuss with me?”
“I was in the Riverside Mercantile building today. I happened to be in Jack Brighton’s office when Jack, Randy, Larry, and their lawyer Keith Hawthorne were meeting in Randy’s adjoining office.”
“You happened to be in Jack Brighton’s office?”
“Please, let me finish. I know it was a bad idea.”
Tom pushed off the glider. “What time?”
“It was late afternoon, maybe three-thirty or four o’clock. But don’t worry, I left before you and Sid arrived.”
He rolled his eyes and looked toward the sky.
Kate paced the width of the porch. Her speech resumed, slowly at first and with several more caveats. As she relayed what she heard she became more animated and provided her analysis of each statement. Tom’s head was beginning to spin, it was like reading one of her articles—full of hearsay and innuendo. The difference being he was privy to information which made her report—and consequently the men’s discussion—make sense. He was still trying to sort it all out when he realized she was silent and again sitting on the glider.
“Say something,” she demanded, looking at him with those beautiful blue eyes.
“I won’t bother to tell you how your story would end had you been discovered by Jack Brighton. I will admit what you’ve reported is interesting. But unfortunately, it is no more than that. I can’t tell the prosecutor that Randy Brighton confessed to doing something bad when a reporter I know overheard him while hiding in the office next door. And, by the way, I’m not sure what it was that he did.”
“You’re angry.”
He sat down next to her and took her hands in his. “Not at you. I’m angry because I am so close to solving two murder cases I can taste it, but I don’t have nearly enough proof.”
“Two murder cases?”
“Oops.”
“You may as well tell me.”
“We got a tip about a possible bribery at one of the job sites. The tip led to a man who witnessed Paul Andrews allegedly provide an envelope full of cash to a building inspector.”
“Andrews is Larry Allen’s go-to-guy at all his job sites,” Kate interrupted. “But you said another murder not bribery.”
“Brad Fortner is the inspector in question. He was found dead in Arkansas several days ago. The sheriff has a suspect in custody who will name the man who hired him and his buddy in exchange for a plea deal.”
“Maybe that’s what Randy did to fix the problem at the office complex job.”
“We believe Allen is the actual culprit, despite his protestations. Randy’s only the accountant.”
“I hope you’re right, but in the meeting, Allen swore he’d done nothing, that all his jobs are clean. Randy’s the one who said he took care of a problem.”
“We’ll have to see what Sid finds out tonight. He’s taken some photos to Arkansas for the suspect to review. Maybe he’ll ID someone. Or maybe whoever hired him is an intermediary. We may never tie the Brighton family to the crime.”
“What about Lex Porter’s murder?”
“We know the victim is Lex Porter. We have an idea what happened. But unless someone confesses or something else comes up that shows a strong motive, we have an unresolved case.”
“You never know, what might happen,” Kate said.
As Tom was taking in the suspicious gleam in her eye, his radio sounded off and the dispatcher patched in a call from Sid in Arkansas.
“Hey, Tom, sorry to interrupt, but I figured you’d be happy to know we have a positive ID on the individual who hired these two dudes to kill Fortner.”