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Henry was muttering beneath his breath. “Still no mention of Janice.”
Mrs. Lochhead had turned away and was dabbing tears from her eyes, unable to watch the news bulletin.
Cora, keeping her tone polite and gracious, said, “I’m thinking maybe you are right. Maybe this does tie back to the mayor.”
Henry frowned. “Johnny said we’re paying you, right?”
Cora blinked. She scowled. “Johnny saidhewas paying me.”
Henry snorted. “Typical.”
“Henry,” his wife protested.
The husband said, “Well,” he adjusted his suit again. “Weare. So, what do you propose to do about this?”
It didn’t take long for Cora to consider the possibilities. She was no longer working on one side of the law. Vigilante justice didn’t have nearly as many resources as the federal government. But what it lacked in resources it made up for in an ability to avoid red tape.
Cora said quietly, “I probably need to speak to the mayor. Or at least see what he knows.”
“And how do you plan to do that? After all of this, it’s going to be impossible to get close to him.”
Cora considered it. Then she said, “I’ll speak to him or at least search his place tonight.”
She bit her lip, suddenly realizing that the less the two Lochheads knew, the better. She said, “Forget I said that. I’ll figure something out. Is there anything else you can tell me about your daughter that would be relevant to the case? Did she have any enemies?”
“No,” Henry snapped. “It’s not her enemies that got her killed. It’s her friends.” He pointed angrily at the television.
Cora couldn’t help but agree. Things didn’t look good for Mayor Castillo. His wife dead. One of his advisors two weeks later. And now his daughter. Someone was clearly targeting the man.
But one thing the news bulletin didn’t display was an arrest or any suspects at all. She wondered what the police in Miami were doing. The department was likely scrambling, looking desperately for someone to pin this on.
The fact that they hadn’t come up with a name, any name, if only to curtail public speculation, suggested to Cora that they were floundering.
It also added an additional dimension of danger.
If they found her skulking about his house, it was likely that they would shoot first and ask questions later.
But Cora was now set on a path. She would have to investigate the mayor. Have to find out if he knew what had happened to Janice. If she could find out who had killed his wife and his daughter, then she would be able to find out what had happened to Johnny’s sister.
And while she still wasn’t working with the FBI, her thoughts moved back to her old partner. Saul would undoubtedly refuse to send information on an ongoing investigation. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t fish for crumbs. Any little bit would help. Anything they had on the wife’s or the daughter’s murders or Janice’s disappearance.
Cora didn’t quite know how to bid farewell in moments like these. She had come in for a job. So, she decided the best thing she could do, instead of worrying about manners, was to turn on her heel, and go solve this thing.
So, she gave a quick nod to each Lochhead and then did just that.
No one called after her as she marched down the tiled hall towards the large front door and under the glorious chandelier.
All the while, her eyes were fixed on her phone as she scrolled, searching for anything that might be used as a clue. Anything that could point her to the actual killer.
CHAPTER FIVE
The man with the plastic arm adjusted the appendage, wincing a bit. Even after all these years, it sometimes still felt like he had a limb. But that had been taken from him, along with everything else.
And so now he was in the business of taking.
And they paid him quite well to do it.
He stood there, facing the corpulent man in the small wooden chair. Every time the fat man shifted, it felt as if the chair might splinter and collapse beneath his ample frame.
