Page 118 of Dead Man's List

Joe sighed. “That’s likely. He was always a proud man.”

“What about the new guy? What is his name and what did he do?”

“Louis Durant. He resigned about a year ago. He was hired to take over sales, but somehow he was also managing the financial end. Earl said that Louis was a real go-getter. Earl was letting Louis have more responsibility so that Earl could semi-retire. He said that Louis was making him money hand over fist. We played golf a lot more often at the club, because Earl had so much free time. I thought he was happy, and maybe then he was.”

“That changed?”

Joe shrugged uncertainly. “He did get tense, but Earl was a worrier. At the time my wife was having significant MSflare-ups, and I was concentrating on her.”

He sounded apologetic, so Kit gave him an encouragingsmile. “As you should have been. Do you think that Louis Durant resigned on his own, or did Earl force him to or be fired?”

“I don’t know. I can give you the name of the HR manager. She might be able to help you. All I know is that all of a sudden, Earl was canceling our golf games. We went from playing two or three times a week to once a month and then never. I tried to call him, tried to find out what was wrong, but he told me that he was missing the office and that his semi-retirement had been a mistake. He didn’t sound upset.” Joe closed his eyes. “He didn’t sound suicidal.”

“Did he change his spending habits over the last year?” Kit asked.

“He must have. Darlene—that’s his wife—thought he was cheating on her, that he was spending their money on another woman. I knew Earl would never do that. He loved his wife. But he wasn’t the flowers and poetry type. He worked hard to provide for her, and I guess he figured that was enough. It wasn’t for Darlene. She wanted his time. I should have said something, but I didn’t want to get between him and Darlene.”

“Did he sell a car or a house?”

“No, but he sold some stock. A lot of stock. That was after he’d semi-retired. Before he went back full time. At the time I thought it was part of his retirement planning. I figured he’d put it into his 401(k) or something. I guess you’re insinuating that he didn’t?”

Kit kept her voice gentle, like Earl was a victim and not a guilty party. She didn’t think Joe would be happy if she insinuated Earl had done something nefarious with the proceeds from that stock sale. “We think he might have been being blackmailed.”

Joe reared back, shock on his face. “Earl?Forwhat?”

“We don’t know. We were hoping you could help us find out.”

Joe studied her for a long moment. “Munro,” he finally said flatly.

“What about him?” Kit asked, keeping her tone conversational.

“Well, he’s dead. You’re homicide detectives, investigating his murder. It doesn’t take a PhD to put it all together.”

Kit couldn’t refute that. “Did Earl spend time with Brooks Munro?”

“No. He couldn’t stand the man.” Joe frowned. “He did play golf with him once. I heard about it from one of the other club members who asked if Earl and I had ‘broken up.’ I had no idea what he was talking about until he told me that he’d seen Earl and Munro out on the links the Sunday before.”

“About how close in time were the golf game and Earl’s sudden sale of stock?”

Joe seemed to wilt where he sat. “Not long. A week? Maybe two. I didn’t put it together. What could Munro have blackmailed Earl over? Earl was a straight shooter. He didn’t cheat, not in business, not on Darlene. He paid his taxes and he was good to his employees. I don’t know what Munro could possibly have had on him.”

“Where did the sudden resignation of Louis Durant fall with respect to the stock sale and the golf game?”

Joe’s face scrunched and he dropped his chin. “Not long after. A month or two. I can’t believe I missed it.”

“Your wife was sick, sir. She is your priority.”

“I was a shitty best friend, though. Maybe he’d be alive today if I’d done something.”

Kit wasn’t touching his last statement. Life was full of maybes and she couldn’t tell the man that he was wrong. “Could Louis Durant have done something illegal? Something that Earl would have been accountable for?”

“It’s possible. I worried a little when Louis hit the ground running so fast. Not about illegalities. It was more my ego. I’d had that role for years and I’d never had those kind of results.”

“Maybe because you’re honest?”

Joe sighed heavily. “Maybe. How can we find out if Earl was being blackmailed?”

“Well,wearen’t going to do anything.Youare going home to your wife, who needs you. My partner and I are going to track down Mr.Durant. You can help us by giving us all the contacts we’ll need. HR, Accounting, all the departments.”