Page 39 of Dead Man's List

“I’d call myself Ace, too,” Goddard muttered. He rose, grimacing in pain. “I’ll get right on trackin’ the stolen goods. If you find out Munro’s missing anything else, let me know.”

“Will do,” Connor said. “Why are you limping like that? You get hurt on the job?”

“I wish,” Goddard said, disgruntled. “I went home to Louisiana for the holidays and my brother Liam tackled me in a game of football on New Year’s Day. We both played ball for LSU back in the day, but he’s kept his skills a little better honed than I have. Thought he’d busted my ACL at first, but it’s just a knee sprain. He felt bad. Which I milked, of course.”

Kit’s lips twitched. “Of course. What did you get out of it?”

“Shrimp ’n’ grits. Liam’s a damn fine cook. He threw in some homemade pie in exchange for me not telling Mom.” Goddard gave them a wave. “Later, guys. Call if you need me.”

They watched Goddard limp away, all of them wincing along with him. Knee injuries were a bitch.

“I always want to hate that guy,” Marshall said glumly. “He’s got that Southern charm thing going on, and the women fall all over him. But he’s too damn nice to hate.”

Kit had to chuckle because she was pretty sure Sam felt the same way. “So, what have you found about this list of suspects?” She gestured to the whiteboard.

“All of them hated Munro’s guts,” Marshall said. “None of them have criminal records, and we’re still working on the subpoena for his widow’s financials. It’s going to take a while, because her money is all tied up in a trust and her lawyer isn’t cooperative.”

“Wilhelmina said she’d stay until Munro is ‘in the ground,’ ” Kit said. “So she’s not going back east for at least a few days. Batra hasn’t released the body yet, and I can ask her to delay as long as she can.”

Ashton nodded. “Thanks. We started on the senders of the threatening emails he kept. The most threatening senders all have alibis for Wednesday night.”

“We also got a list of contributors to his campaign,” Marshall added. “We wondered if any of the contributions were actually payments for Munro getting charges dropped against people accused of crimes. Connor told us about what Munro tried to do to Sam.”

“What an asshole,” Ashton said. “Munro. Not Sam.”

Kit huffed a laugh. “I knew what you meant.” Nobody called Sam Reeves an asshole—it simply wasn’t possible. “Were any of the contributions suspicious?”

“Not yet,” Marshall said. “But there were some big hitters on that list. Lots of property developers and boards of directors of local charities. Makes me wonder what he promised them in exchange for their contributions.” He slid a folder across the table to Kit. “These are the contributors in order of contributions. Deepest pockets at the top.”

Kit scanned the list. Marshall was right. There were several familiar names on the list. In addition to developers and charityorganizers, there were some of the city’s wealthiest private citizens. “Have any of them received special consideration from the council in the last two years? Like, a building permit when it looked like they’d be refused? Or funding, like with New Horizons?”

“Not that we’ve found,” Ashton said, “but we’ve barely started looking.”

Kit set the list aside. “Munro had a lot of supporters. Was he looking to run for higher office?”

“Good question,” Connor said. He added it to the list on the whiteboard. “The trailer with the landscaper’s wrap is our most direct lead so far, so I say we keep going with that.”

“Agreed.” Kit checked the time. “I think we find Ace Diamond, a.k.a. Calvin Livingstone, then if it’s not too late, pay Wilhelmina another visit to see if anything else is missing.”

“Are you sure she’d tell you?” Marshall asked.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I still don’t know that I trust her completely.”

“Same,” Connor said. “She and Rafferty tried really hard to seem transparent. They very well might be, but if I were in her shoes, I’d sure be tempted to hire someone to do away with my shitstain of a husband.”

“He cheated on her, stole from her, and hit her,” Kit explained to Marshall and Ashton. “Shesaidthat she was planning to file for divorce, but ending him with a hit man might have seemed like a more favorable alternative. For now, we’ll focus on Ace. Hopefully he knows more about whatever transpired between Shelley and her killer. According to his record, he’s got a recent conviction for drug possession and is currently on parole, so we may be able to leverage that to get him to talk if he clams up. I pulled his most recent address from his driver’s license. If we can’t find him there tonight, we’ll try the butcher shop where he works tomorrow.”

“Knives and butcher shops kind of go together,” Ashton observed.

“Definitely true.” Kit gathered her things. “He’d surely know how to make the fatal wounds that were done to Munro, and he’s big enough to have dragged him to that boulder in Anza-Borrego. Do we still have the department car signed out, Connor?”

“We do. My turn to drive.”

Kit smirked. “He’s still annoyed that he had to sit in the back seat this morning,” she told the others. “He rock-paper-scissored with Sam and lost, then whined about it for the rest of the morning.”

“I’m too tall to get squished in the back,” Connor grumbled. “Let’s go. Happy paperwork, guys.”

Ashton flipped Connor the bird as they left the conference room.