Page 61 of A Quick Buck

“I’m very interested,” Noah assured him. “I wanna know everything.”

“As I said before, your uncle wanted to purchase a certain piece of property from me,” Alistair said, his fingers caressing Noah’s stomach. “My business associate and friend Jason Carbone wanted in on the deal. The property in question is an excellent location for a restaurant, right in the heart of downtown Moultrie, and Carbone had always wanted to open one. I agreed to sell the land at a fair price to your uncle in exchange for him partnering with Carbone to open a restaurant there. Your uncle would own the property, get a share of the profits, and Carbone would have his restaurant.”

“But?” Noah frowned. “I feel like there’s a ‘but’ in here somewhere.”

“Your uncle took it upon himself to murder Carbone. That’s the ‘but.’ I can only assume he couldn’t think of any other way to get out of the contract he’d signed guaranteeing Carbone permission to open his restaurant there.”

“Wait, that doesn’t make any sense.” Noah shook his head. “My uncle’s done stuff like that with other businesses before. Why would he want to get out of the deal?”

“Ah, there’s a bit more to the story, dear Noah.” Alistair patted Noah’s stomach. “You see, while your uncle and I were negotiating, a private contractor made an extremely generous offer on the property, much more than what your uncle was willing to pay.”

“You didn’t take it?”

“No. I did not. I’d already promised the new restaurant to Carbone and was in the process of finalizing the arrangement with your uncle. The contractor wanted to take the land and build condos.”

“Which meant no restaurant for Carbone.”

“Naturally, I declined. I enjoy good business, but not at the cost of my friends.”

“How sweet.”

“I believe your uncle wanted to take the land and resell it to the contractor for a large profit. The only way he could do that was by killing Carbone, therefore voiding the contract.”

“But that’s stupid.” Noah made a face. “He would have made more money in the long run from the restaurant.”

“Your uncle did not strike me as a patient man. He also did not seem to be very fond of working with Carbone.”

“Look, Uncle Patrick isn’t fond of anyone,” Noah said dryly. “He’s a dick, okay? And I know he’s all about the money, but this still doesn’t make any sense.”

“Why?”

“Well, the offer from the fuckface contractor couldn’t have been that high—”

“Ten million.”

“What?”

“They offered ten million more.” Alistair kissed Noah’s hair. “Trust me. Your uncle was much more interested in the immediate profit.”

“Well, okay.” Noah faltered for a second, his brain trying to come up with something else. “Ha! Okay. Why didn’t he pay somebody else to kill Carbone, huh? He’s lazy. He’s the laziest, most spoiled man I know. Other than maybe me. Why do it himself?”

“Even if he did pay someone else to do the deed, you do realize I would still be looking for him. He would still be responsible for Carbone’s death. That is not the case here, however. I believe your uncle handled this himself because this was personal.”

“I thought it was just money?”

“He and Carbone had a dispute over a lover.”

“Oh, come on.” Noah groaned. “Seriously?”

“Mmhm. A lover they were sharing that your uncle had no interest in sharing any longer, I suspect.”

“Ugh. Who?”

“No one you would know.” Alistair chuckled. “They weren’t very popular in high school.”

“Ha ha, you’re hilarious.”

“Do you now see why I am convinced that your uncle is guilty?”