by Liliana Hart
McElroy didn’t bat an eyelash as he stared him down. The man was power hungry and used to getting his own way.
Springer cleared his throat and said, “Why don’t I escort Mr. McElroy out before he gets himself arrested.”
“Thanks for the offer, Springer, but it’s my night to take out the trash.” Hank knew he was goading the man, but he didn’t care.
“What did you say?” McElroy moved so he was chest to chest with Hank, but Hank didn’t back down. He could defend himself if it came to that, but Hank knew the cameras were rolling and wanted to get as much of Oddie’s visit on tape as possible.
“I said it’s time for you to leave. I don’t care about your threats or if you think you’re going to be sheriff. The fact is that I’m the sheriff, and you’ve worn out your welcome. And if you say one more dumb thing, I’m going to toss you in a cell for the night. I don’t care who you know or who you think your friends are. You’re just a sad old man who wants to impress his friends by wearing a badge and misusing your power. You’re nothing now, and you’ll be nothing then, because a badge won’t make you what you’re not—a man.”
McElroy’s fury was palpable, and Hank knew he’d just made a powerful enemy. But McElroy turned on his heel and slammed out of the sheriff’s office.
Chapter Fourteen
Friday
“Hank, you going to sleep the day away?” Agatha asked, knocking on the door.
He’d worked late the night before, and she’d noticed he seemed to be worried about something, but he hadn’t told her what it was. Though it hadn’t gone past her notice that he made sure the doors and windows were all locked tight, and he had weapons strategically placed around the house.
She’d already been out on her morning run since the weather was nice again, but she’d only done three miles instead of ten. She’d noticed a black Lincoln sedan several times as she’d rounded corners, and it had made her uneasy so she’d run back to the house as fast as she could. But Hank was still asleep when she got there.
He rarely slept past seven o’clock, but it was almost a quarter after. Their relationship had reached a crossroads when she’d moved in. She knew the town was talking, but she didn’t care. Her business was her own. At least, that’s what she told herself.
But this new dynamic was weird. They weren’t married. But they were a couple who, in her mind, was moving in that direction. But they acted like roommates instead of what they’d had before when they were living separately. She didn’t know if Hank was trying to be careful to not cross the boundary line or what, but she was going crazy. It was time to move things to the next level, because living on opposite sides of the house in separate bedrooms was a short-term solution. She wanted a ring, a wedding, and a shared bedroom. And she wanted to get rid of the hideous wallpaper in the dining room, but she figured first things first.
She showered and dressed for the day in jeans and another Henley, and layered a seasonal vest over it in navy. The vest hid her weapon well. She’d been used to carrying a weapon in her purse, but wearing it on her body had taken some getting used to now that she was an official detective.
There wasn’t a peep coming from Hank’s room, so Agatha grabbed her keys and decided to head on into the office. She didn’t want to miss serving the warrant on the Grant residence. She’d just put her hand on the knob when she heard Hank’s door open.
“You leaving?” he asked.
“Yeah, sleepyhead. It’s almost eight o’clock.”
“Don’t leave without me,” he said. “We might have a problem.”
With that, he shut the door and left her standing with her mouth open. “Well, then. I guess I’ll just sit around and wait.”
She could’ve done some research for her latest book, or answered business emails, but she wasn’t really in the mood. Her fingers tapped impatiently on the arm of the chair, and she did a couple of Sudoku puzzles on her phone before she heard the door open again.
“Finally,” she said. “What the heck is going on? I don’t want to miss them serving that warrant.”
“I had a visitor at the office,” Hank said. “Oddie McElroy decided to pay me a visit, and it wasn’t pleasant. We need to be extra careful. He’s a dangerous man. And I think you’re right. He knows exactly who killed Leland Grant—either him or someone he knows that he’ll cover for. But we need to find a connection between Grant and McElroy.”
She told him about the car she saw following her on her morning run, and was glad she listened to her intuition to come home early.
“Are you going to come with us to serve the warrant?” she asked.
“No, I’m going to start making inquiries on Oddie McElroy. Springer said that Leland Grant served on the state finance committee. If we take what we know about Grant, which is that he was a good ethical guy, then maybe he found something that didn’t look right.”
“Makes sense,” she said, leaning over to give him a kiss. “Be careful.”
“You too,” he said.
“I’ll call you if we find anything at the Grant’s.”
“Do me a favor,” Hank asked as they walked to the front door. “Drop Oddie McElroy’s name to Mrs. Grant and watch carefully to see how she reacts. I’m playing a hunch.”
Agatha sat in the back seat behind Karl and James in their cruiser to the Grant residence. They had their lights on, but no sirens, and she knew everyone would be watching. Everything had to be by the book from here on out. No mess ups.
“You drive like an old lady,” James said to Karl. “By the time we get out there everyone in Rusty Gun will know we’re serving a warrant.”
“I think we’re being followed,” Karl said, slowing down even more.
There was a new model pickup truck with all the bells and whistles about two hundred yards behind them, but it was hard to see the license plate.
“Keep going to the Grant’s,” James said. “We’re sitting ducks out here if there’s a threat. We’ll see if he keeps following us.”
Karl pressed the accelerator and so did the truck. Whoever was driving didn’t even pretend to hide what they were doing.
“Let’s see if he’s dumb enough to follow us onto private property,” James said. “Then we can have a little conversation, and get an I.D.”
Sure enough, as soon as they pulled through the open gates and headed down the long private drive, the truck turned in behind them.
“Let’s go shake things up a little,” James said. “I’ve got my body cam, and Karl can call in for backup if we need it.”
Agatha nodded and got out of the car, making sure her badge and weapon were visible. Her heart raced as she and James approached the driver’s side door, and the window rolled down before James could knock on it.
“ID and registration,” James said.
“You don’t know who I am, boy?”
“I know you’re making a nuisance of yourself, and hindering a murder investigation. You’re following a marked police vehicle at a close pace, which can be seen as suspicious activity or a threat. So I don’t really care who you are.”
“I’m going to be your boss come election day,” he said. “And we just happened to be going to the same place. Just a coincidence.”
“This is your residence?” James asked.
“No, but Evelyn is a close personal friend, and I’ll be here in her time of need if you’re going to harass her.”
“You’re trespassing on private property, and interfering with duly sworn officers from doing their job. Everyone is about to be vacated from the premises while we execute our warrant. So I suggest you turn around and head back to where you came from before you get in trouble.”
“Evelyn needs me,” he insisted. “She’s a wreck. You’ve already put her boy in jail. What more are you going to put her through?”
“Funny you didn’t mention her husband,” Agatha said. “He’s the victim. The one who was murdered? We’re trying to catch his killer.”
“Husband?�
� Oddie said, going red in the face. “He wasn’t much of a husband. Or a father. He was an old fool who didn’t know what he was doing half the time. Age was catching up with him, and it showed. Made mistakes left and right. His business wouldn’t have lasted the year.”
“You sure know a lot about Mr. Grant’s personal life,” James said.
“I told you I’m close to the family,” he insisted. “And Evelyn wants me here.”
“Evelyn seemed to love her husband very much,” Agatha said. “She was devastated when we delivered the news about his death. She said she felt guilty for not spending enough time with him. Always heading off to Austin.”
His face got even redder, and she knew he couldn’t dispute anything she said without giving away more about his and Evelyn’s relationship. He pressed his lips together, gave them both a look that could kill, then slammed his truck in reverse and sped out of the driveway.
“Hank’s hunch pays off,” Agatha said.
“They usually do,” agreed James.
Chapter Fifteen
Hank and Springer started digging into Oddie McElroy and any relationship he might have had with Leland Grant the minute he walked in the office. He called in favors at the FBI and Texas Rangers, and hopefully someone could find some information.
Hank’s gut was never wrong, and Oddie McElroy had it screaming.
Agatha called around lunch. Nothing had come up with the search warrant, and they’d found nothing resembling a murder weapon. And Bud’s clothes didn’t have a speck of anything that looked like blood on them.
But she’d also filled him in on the conversation she’d had with Oddie that morning, and how he’d reacted when she’d spoken about Evelyn Grant. And apparently, Evelyn wasn’t quite as good at hiding her feelings, because Agatha said she all but confessed to their affair when she brought up Oddie’s name.
Hank had a feeling that there’d been someone else in Evelyn Grant’s life. And there was something about the way Oddie had insisted that Bud was innocent and a certain look in his eye that made Hank think the connection between Oddie and the Grant family might run deep. But Oddie hadn’t cared at all about finding Leland’s killer. Which meant he cared about someone else in the family on a level that would make him act like an insane person. And in his experience, the only person who could make a man insane was a woman.
“Woohoo!” he heard Springer call from the other room.
Hank hopped up from his desk and ran to Springer’s office.
“What is it?” Hank asked excitedly.
“I just got Grant’s appointments for the day of his murder. And Guess who was scheduled to meet him around the time he was killed?”
“Oddie McElroy,” Hank said, seeing the name on the list. “The guy must be an idiot to think he can keep buying his way out of anything he wants, or by using his connections. Connections only get you so far, especially if your ship is sinking.”
“We can put him in the vicinity at TOD, but what’s the motive?” Springer asked. “There’s got to be a reason.”
“I believe Evelyn Grant and Oddie were having an affair,” Hank said.
Springer raised his brows. “Let me call my mom and ask her. She’d know if something like that was going on. No one can keep a secret like that in a town this size.”
“That’s a good idea,” Hank said.
“I want you to dig deeper now that you’ve got access to all the clients. People don’t generally make appointments to murder someone. But if McElroy was a client, maybe he and Grant had a disagreement over taxes or investments.”
“I’m on it, boss,” Springer said.
Hank went back to his desk and glanced at the newspaper his secretary had placed there early that morning. The Rusty Gun Gazette didn’t have much to offer in the way of news, but on the front page was a picture of Oddie McElroy on the golf course in the middle of a swing. It was an ad for his fundraiser at the country club. It was an open invitation for the whole community to come out and meet the future sheriff of Bell County.
Hank was thinking it might not be a bad idea to take him up on the invitation. In fact, maybe he needed to turn the tide on old Oddie. Maybe Hank needed to show up like a bad penny every time Oddie turned a corner. Get under his skin. If he killed Leland Grant, and there was definitely a possibility he did, then Grant had the kind of temper that would make him stupid.
Hank tossed the paper into the trash, and leaned back in his chair.
“What’s up?” Agatha asked, coming into the office and taking a seat on the corner of his desk.
“I’m just plotting,” he said.
“Hopefully about Oddie McElroy,” she said. “Springer told me to tell you as I passed by that he called his mother. Apparently you and I are the only two people in Rusty Gun who didn’t know Evelyn Grant and Oddie were having an affair. Evidently, it’s been going on for years. Springer said the Grants’ marriage was for show more than anything. Leland was married to his work and money, and he didn’t particularly care what Evelyn did. So she did what she wanted.”
“Huh,” Hank said. “Then the affair wouldn’t necessarily be a motive for killing the competition.”
“Doesn’t look like it,” Agatha said. “Which means we need to pin him down somewhere else.”
“How do you feel about golf?” Hank asked her.
“I like it in theory,” she said. “I have a terrible short game, and I can make it about nine holes before I start to get bored and want snacks. Why?”
“I was thinking we should go to a fundraiser tomorrow. Play a few holes.”
“You want to get under his skin,” Agatha said, thoughtfully. “I like it.”
“Thank you,” he said.
James knocked on the door. “We got something.”
“Come on in,” Hank said, coming to his feet.
Springer and James came in and James said, “I got a reply from the FBI crime lab. You must have called in some crazy favors, because I wasn’t expecting these results for a couple of weeks. Anyway, they were able to determine the specimens removed from Grant’s wound by the coroner, and also the metallic flakes we got from the office chair.”
“Anything familiar?” Hank asked.
“It looks like the materials collected were wood, graphite fiber-reinforced epoxy, and a zirconia ceramic. So no, I have no idea what that is.”
“I thought it was just metallic flakes? Like a pipe or something,” Agatha said.
“No, according to this report it looks like there were multiple items that transferred material as a result of the blow to Mr. Grant’s skull.”
“How about the stuff from the chair?” Hank asked.
James ran a finger across the pages looking for the exact spot of reference.
“Here we go. Looks like boron fiber-reinforced epoxy and titanium.”
“Well, I’m no scientist, but that doesn’t sound like a pipe,” Hank said. “Can you reach back out to the crime lab and ask for a list of common objects that would have those material combinations?”
“Sure thing,” James agreed.
“What about you Springer?” Hank asked, feeling a lot warmer toward the kid after their run-in with McElroy the night before.
“I’m not finding any files labeled McElroy, and I can’t find that they’ve had professional meetings in the past. At least not at Grant’s office.”
Hank thought for a few minutes. “Let’s look at the players closest to Leland Grant. His wife. She’s moving up my list as a suspect. I don’t think she committed the murder. Her alibi checks out. But the affair with Oddie could’ve escalated. Maybe they wanted something more permanent. And she stands to inherit a lot of money and property so far as we know without seeing a will.
“We’ve got Bud. He’s an idiot, but I don’t think he’s a killer. But he confessed to being there around the time Grant was killed. He admitted to shoving his father, and leaving him there, without checking to see if he was hurt. Oddie’s appointment would have been about that t
ime. Maybe he didn’t know Grant used the outside company to keep his calendar straight. Maybe it was all informal. Oddie gives Grant a call and says, “Hey, do you mind if I swing by so we can chat for a few minutes,” and unbeknownst to Oddie, Leland has it committed to the calendar so there are no interruptions.”
“And then Oddie walks in just after Bud runs out, finds Grant on the floor, and finishes the job,” Agatha said. “It makes it easy to push the blame onto Bud.”
“You said something when we first started digging, Springer,” Hank said. “Something I kept thinking about.”
“What’s that, Sheriff?” Springer asked.
“You said Grant was on the state finance committee. And I took the liberty to look up what that job entails. Grant was in charge of overseeing the finance laws for any elected or appointed officials. But also any candidates. He makes sure campaign funds are being used correctly and in accordance with the law.”
“Oh,” they all said at once.
“We need a warrant to get a copy of the campaign finance report Oddie submitted to the state. And we need a warrant for the state records Mr. Grant kept. He wouldn’t have those in his business computer. Let’s get this locked down today.”
“We still need the murder weapon to tie a bow on it,” Agatha said.
Chapter Sixteen
Saturday
Once they found the right places to look, all the pieces started falling into place. No amount of money or influence in the world was going to save Oddie McElroy this time.
It was another sunny, yet chilly day in the forties, but it was supposed to warm up in the afternoon. It was a great day for golf, and a great day for an arrest.
Agatha wore cargo pants and a long-sleeved polo in navy with a pair of bright white golf shoes, and her mouth twitched when she saw Hank was dressed almost exactly the same as she was.
They arrived at the sheriff’s office, and Springer, James, Rodriguez, and Karl Johnson were already there waiting. They’d gotten the information they needed from the state and the FBI lab late the night before, and they were all excited to get the case wrapped up and take Oddie McElroy down.