Death of a Pirate King - lanyon Josh - Страница 27

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Jake looked surprised. “How’d you come up with that?”

“I overheard Jones’s first wife at the funeral. She said something in passing that made me think he might not be a well man. I mean, before he was murdered, obviously.”

“Obviously. Well, she was right. Jones had been recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.”

“Wow.” I met his eyes. “Poor bastard.”

“Yeah. Not the way I’d want to go, for sure.”

“Did his wife know?”

“Apparently.”

“Then…why would she kill him?”

He said patiently, “Because he was planning to divorce her.”

“But was he? Have you talked to his lawyer? We only have the PI’s word for that.”

And Paul’s -- and now I understood Paul’s comment about Porter not standing for being cuckolded. It turned out he had been right about that, so maybe he was right about the other things. Why was I so resistant to that idea?

I said, “Maybe Jones changed his mind about a divorce. Why would he have insisted on an abortion -- why would she have gone along with it -- if they were splitting up?”

Jake was silent, considering this.

“I’m just sayin’.”

“It’s worth checking,” he said grudgingly.

“The other thing is that apparently Porter yanked financing for a project near and dear to the hearts of Al January and Valarie Rose. I don’t have anything more to go on that that, but they were both standing at the bar. So was Paul Kane, come to think of it.” I added maliciously, “In fact, Kane had the best access to Porter’s drink of anyone. Any reason he might want Porter out of the way?”

Jake gave me a level look. “Funny,” he said. But then, proving he was still the hard-hearted bastard I’d known and -- well, sort of known -- he added, “Just the opposite. Most of the funding for these indie projects came from Porter -- or were underwritten by Porter, anyway. And they’d been friends -- good friends according to everyone I’ve talked to -- a long time.”

I was smiling into my drink, and Jake said, “I wouldn’t compromise an investigation because of my feelings for the people involved. You should remember that.”

Not knowingly compromise an investigation, that I believed. But didn’t he see that his feelings might blind him to certain possibilities? In the interests of impartial justice, shouldn’t he really excuse himself from any involvement in this case? But he hadn’t. And he wouldn’t -- because his personal connection to Paul Kane was something he couldn’t admit to. Wouldn’t want made public.

Oh yeah, I remembered only too well how that went.

Studying me, Jake said, “You don’t like Paul, do you?”

I hadn’t thought about it before. “Not particularly.”

He nodded like that didn’t surprise him.

I drained my glass, looked at my watch. “I should get going.”

“Yeah, me too.”

We paid for our drinks and walked out together. As we strolled around the building to the parking in the back, I said, “I think Nina’s movements on Sunday would be worth looking into.”

“We’ll check into it,” Jake said. “I’m not ruling anyone out yet, and she’s a squirrelly broad, no question.”

The car alarm chirped in welcome as he stopped beside the conspicuously innocuous vehicle -- with the police lights in the back window.

I said, “Night,” and pulled my keys out.

He said abruptly, “You know that Kate lost the baby?”

I said awkwardly -- realizing I hadn’t mentioned it before, “Yeah, I’m sorry.” And I was. I didn’t wish Kate or that kid any harm. In fact, I had almost called Jake when Chan told me about it, but I’d thought better of it. It might have looked like I believed the only obstacle to our own relationship was that baby; the truth was, it had merely been the final roadblock.

He said unemotionally, “Since we have a choice this time around, she’s not sure if she’s ready to start a family. She’s at a place in her career where taking time off could set her back years. She’s in line for promotion.”

I didn’t want to hear this. I didn’t want to feel sorry for him -- I didn’t want to feel anything at all. But I couldn’t decently walk away, so I asked reluctantly, “How do you feel about that?”

I could just make out his lopsided smile in the parking lot lights. “I want a family. But she’s worked hard for this. It’s her call.”

I’d thought the whole point of the marriage was so that Jake could have family and a “normal” life. Maybe it was a real marriage, despite the fun and games with Paul Kane. Maybe Jake did love Kate. It was to his credit that he seemed to place as much importance on her career as his own -- or at least understand that she would.

But I had no idea what to say to him. Good luck with that? He was talking to the wrong person. But he was looking at me like he expected something -- needed something.

I said gently, “Drive safely, Jake,” and walked away.

Chapter Thirteen

I groaned when I saw Guy’s Miata parked outside Cloak and Dagger. How the hell much of this was I supposed to deal with in one night?

Then it occurred to me that my lover coming safely home to me should not, technically, fall into the stressful-shit-I-had-to-deal-with category. Yet there it was: the old familiar feeling of not wanting to face this -- and I knew there would be something to face. I’d known since Guy had proposed a romantic weekend in Mexico, and I’d felt nothing but dismay that there was something waiting for me to face.

I let myself into the store, walked upstairs, and opened the door. Guy stood at the window, staring down at the empty street below.

“I didn’t know whether to expect you or not,” I said, as he turned to face me.

“I spoke to Peter,” he said. “We need to talk.”

Well, the good news was he didn’t apparently care where I’d been, so I didn’t need to admit I’d been having drinks with my own ex-lover. I dropped down on the chair next to the sofa. All at once I was very tired. “Sure,” I said. “We could start with you explaining why you’re pen pals with a kid who tried to kill me.”

He inhaled like I’d tackled him out of the blue. “Peter did not try to kill you, Adrien. He is not a murderer -- and that’s not merely my opinion. The jury agreed. He was swept along with something that got out of control, that’s all. He’s young, he was naive. He was every bit as manipulated as Angus. You’ve forgiven Angus, haven’t you?”

Had I? Yeah, apparently I had. I replied, “Angus never tried to kill me.”

“He involved you in something that could have got you killed. It’s the same thing, nearly.”

“No, Guy, actually it’s not.”

He didn’t bother to argue; his expression said it all.

I said, “Even if we put that aside for a minute, if you can’t see how far out of line his coming here was…I don’t know what to tell you.”

“You’re completely overreacting.”

Now that was almost funny, considering that I’d been thinking Guy had spent the last week overreacting about Jake. I said, “I disagree. I think most people would disagree.”

“Most people.” He shook his head like that was unworthy of me.

Maybe it was.

Reaching out, he absently picked up the crystal-encased gold doubloon he’d bought me early in our relationship. He frowned at it as though he’d suddenly spotted a flaw in the lustrous surface. He said, “I know Peter.” He raised his eyes to meet mine. “I’ve known him longer than I’ve known you.”

“Yes. I recall.”

“He needs a friend right now. He needs help.”

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