Chapter Twenty-Five
Just like so many years before, Ava was in the sheriff’s office watching the questioning on a live television feed and Logan was in the conference room talking to Cory Eldridge.
“I really liked Lyle. He was a good guy,” Cory said, nodding for emphasis. “He first came in just to hang out with Nat but then we got to talking. He was funny and he even did some work on the roof as a favor. No way would I have had him killed. I considered him a friend.”
Logan carefully controlled his expression. He didn’t want to give anything away, positive or negative. He was just glad this guy was talking.
“Your friend owed you a lot of money.”
Cory’s lips twisted. “He did and my partners were starting to get antsy about that. Lyle had a bad run during basketball season and the football playoffs. Normally he was pretty good at picking winners but he had a nasty run of luck in the winter and spring. I know he would have turned it around, though.”
“So you kept giving him credit?”
“He was good for it.”
Cory believed that. Did the whole town? Were the Brysons deliberately creating the illusion that they were still a family dynasty or did they actually have the money but tied up in the business? Lyle didn’t have it personally, that was for sure. Logan and Ava had been through their finances with a fine-toothed comb. The business made money but wasn’t awash in cash.
“Is that what he told you?”
“He said that he was going to get it for us but that he had to do it without letting his brother know.”
“And you believed him?”
Cory shifted restlessly in his chair. “Yeah, I believed him. The family has money. He’d come through before so I had no reason to believe he wouldn’t again.”
Before?
“He’d owed you in the past?”
Chuckling, Cory grinned widely. “That’s how this works. You make bets and you pay if you lose. Sure, we give people some latitude but eventually you hit your credit limit. We’re not American Express here.”
He was almost afraid to ask but he had to. “What was Lyle’s credit limit?”
More shifting in his chair. Cory didn’t want to answer. Tough.
“It…depended. I mean…at the beginning it was much lower.”
Logan leaned forward in his chair, his hands resting on the cool wood of the table between himself and Cory. “How much did Lyle owe?”
It looked like it was painful for Cory to answer. “About a hundred thousand, give or take.”
“A hundred thousand?” Logan asked, clarifying the other man’s statement. “Lyle owed you and your partners a hundred thousand dollars? That’s a hell of a lot more than a few bad bets. That’s a shitload of bad luck right there.”
What had Lyle been thinking?
Cory sat up straight, his hands coming up in front of him in a sort of defensive posture.
“We weren’t worried. We knew he’d take care of it. We don’t kill people when they owe us money. That’s bad business.”
“You just break a few legs.”
“I have never broken anyone’s legs.”
It was Logan’s turn to smile. “I don’t doubt that. You probably have someone else do your dirty work.”
“I liked Lyle Bryson,” Eldridge said again, his tone firm. “He’d always paid in the past and he would have paid us this time. We’re the ones that are out the money now. With him dead we have to write off the debt. Besides, I have an alibi.”
They always did.
“I bet you do. An airtight one. Care to share?”
A sly smile bloomed on the other man’s face. “I was in bed with a lovely lady. Busy, if you know what I mean.”
I do know what you mean and it makes me nauseous.
Ripping a piece of paper off of a spiral notebook, Logan pushed it and a pencil across to Eldridge. “We’ll need her name and number to confirm.”
“You already have it.” Cory’s voice dropped to a whisper and he tapped his lips with his finger in a hushing motion. “Shhh, don’t tell anyone but I was doing little Natalie. Lyle wasn’t taking care of business if you know what I mean, so I saw my chance. She’s one hot number, our Nat. A wild woman in the sack. Lyle was a lucky man.”
Shit and fuck. Now Logan had to talk to Natalie again. He also couldn’t believe a word out of her mouth. Everything she’d said was now suspect.
Nothing in this case was easy and it was starting to piss him off.
* * * *
Natalie was nowhere to be found the next morning. It appeared that she and her friend had followed the advice to take a little vacation; however, they seemed to have forgotten to inform Drake or Tanner when they did it. The two women had slipped out sometime between the deputy checking on them at two and four in the morning.
Logan called Jared and asked him to track their credit cards. It wouldn’t take long to locate them. He still didn’t think she’d killed Lyle, but she’d left out a major point when questioned so he needed to talk to her again.
His day didn’t get any better when he’d found out that Bruce’s alibi didn’t check out. His fellow Rotary club members didn’t remember seeing him at the breakfast. That meant he had to drive out to Bruce’s house to talk to his father-in-law. He wasn’t there but a helpful neighbor informed him that Bruce was visiting his daughter.
It only took a few minutes to drive from Bruce’s house to Mary’s. Bruce’s car was parked in front of the house when he pulled up, along with Carol’s. He didn’t really want to have this conversation in front of the entire family. He’d already upset Ava this morning when he’d told her where he was headed. She didn’t want to think that her father was capable of this and neither did he. He also didn’t have a clue as to how Mary would respond to the latest news. She was unpredictable at the best of times and this certainly wasn’t one of them.
Just get it over with.
Striding up to the door, he knocked hoping it would be Bruce that answered. Perhaps he could sneak his father-in-law into the den without Mary and Carol seeing him.
The door swung open and Carol stood on the other side wearing a big, welcoming smile.
“Logan, what a lovely surprise. Come in. I just put on a fresh pot of coffee. Are you alone?”
He followed her into the kitchen where Bruce and Mary were enjoying some of Carol’s famous scrambled eggs. “Just me. Ava’s home with the kids. They’re having a picnic in the backyard. Complete with sandwiches, potato chips, and ants.”
Carol laughed as she poured him a cup of coffee. “You can’t have a picnic without ants. It wouldn’t be right. I was going to give her a call later and invite you all over for dinner tonight. I’ve had a hankering for lasagna. There’ll be enough for an army.”
He loved Carol’s lasagna which was also Ava’s lasagna, but he didn’t answer as she might want to rescind his invitation after she heard why he was there. Or maybe not. He kept forgetting that Carol and Bruce were divorcing. This show of solidarity was for Mary and the situation. It wasn’t because they longed to spend time with each other.
Logan accepted the steaming cup of java and took a sip. Damn, he needed the caffeine.
“Bruce, do you have a minute?”
His father-in-law gave him a sharp look from his spot at the table. He had to know why Logan wanted to talk to him.
He ate the last bite of his eggs. “I do.”
“Maybe we could go into the den?”
Carol’s smile was gone and Mary wasn’t looking too happy either, but then she rarely did.
“What’s going on?” his mother-in-law asked, her gaze going back and forth between Logan and her soon to be ex-husband. “Someone needs to speak up.”
Bruce exhaled noisily and took a bite of his toast. “It’s okay, Logan. Whatever you have to say, you can say right here. We’re all family, after all.”
This wasn’t what he’d wanted to happen. So very bad.
“About where you were when Lyle was shot…”
In unison, Carol and Mary’s heads swiveled toward Bruce who had the grace to look embarrassed.
“What about it?”
Logan took another gulp of the scalding hot coffee, enjoying the burn all the way down to his stomach. “We talked to the other Rotary members there that day and it seems none of them can remember you being there. Do you have any explanation for that?”
“None. I was definitely there.”
But invisible?
“We also asked the wait staff and they can’t remember you either.”
“I doubt they pay much attention.”
Bruce wasn’t going down without a fight.
“When no one could remember you being there, Drake pulled the traffic light footage from the intersection in front of the restaurant. You would have had to go through there but he didn’t see your car.”
Folding his hands in front of him, Bruce finally capitulated. “Fine, I wasn’t there. I was supposed to be but I didn’t feel like going. I went fishing instead.”
As explanations went, it was believable. Bruce did fish. He was retired now so he had the flexibility to do whatever he wanted. The Rotary breakfasts were boring as hell most of the time. Half of the old-timers dozed off during the speech. Sometimes the snoring was so loud the speaker had to practically yell.
“Did you go with anyone?”
“No, I went alone. I wanted some peace and quiet with my own thoughts. And before you ask, no one saw me drive out there. I did stop at the diner on the way back but that was about ten in the morning.”
“Did you catch anything?”
“No.”
Scraping his hand down his face, Logan groaned. “Help me out here, Bruce. There has to be someone who saw you that morning.”
Mary jumped up from the table. “You don’t actually believe that Daddy shot Lyle? That’s crazy.”
“It doesn’t matter what I believe,” Logan explained as patiently as possible. “It only matters what the prosecutor and a jury believe. Your father had a motive, although not the strongest one. I’m trying to clear him from the list of suspects. The sooner we get him – and you, for that matter – off of that list, the better off we’ll be. Then I can concentrate on finding the real killer.”
Carol busied herself cleaning up the dirty dishes, clearly disturbed that Bruce was lying. Again.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Mary stared Logan down. “If you had any family loyalty you wouldn’t bother with us. You’d go out there and find the man that shot my husband.”
Logan was getting fucking tired of people lecturing him about family loyalty. He could have run in Mary and Bruce for questioning at the station multiple times but he hadn’t done that.
Family loyalty.
The words always made him think of the Brysons. At one time there had been the three brothers and then Logan. Wade had gone to prison and Lyle had been shot. That left Logan and Aaron.
Aaron. He’d heard little from the middle brother since coming to town. Where had Aaron been that morning? He had a motive now when he hadn’t at first. Lyle was bleeding Bryson money right and left. Did Aaron even know? Honestly, the true state of Bryson finances was still a mystery Ava was diligently working on.
“You’re right, Mary. Talking to you is a waste of time.”
He turned on his heel and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Mary asked, trailing after him. Just seconds ago she hadn’t wanted him to leave and now she didn’t seem to want him to go.
“To see your brother-in-law,” he replied with a grin. “I need to find out what Aaron knew and when he knew it.”