“Well, that was a whole lot of double talk. Didn’t learn a whole lot.” Bas slouched in the back seat, somehow managing to look boneless, all sprawled out where he sat in the middle. “Blackthorn didn’t spill any information about Sandoval Enterprises that anybody looking into the company didn’t already know. Sandoval runs a private courier service. Yep, already knew that. Provides arm security when necessary. Yep, knew that too. Though it was kind of cool learning about the microchips.”
“Were you aware your husband was working on particle light technology?”
“I knew a little about it. Steven didn’t like to bring his work home with him, didn’t talk about it much. He did mention the new particle light microchip they were working on, basically because he’d hired a new IT person from Massachusetts, somebody who was advancing their innovations by leaps and bounds.”
Gage started the car and pulled into traffic. Highland Park traffic at this time in the afternoon wasn’t heavy but drive a few blocks and it was a different story. Usually the only time Suzanna came to this section of town was to visit with Elizabeth, and that wasn’t all that frequent. It was kind of sad, she realized, that she didn’t have a lot of friends in the area. Most of the people she’d grown up with, her friends, were in and around Houston.
“Not to be morbid, but once Steven’s will is out of probate, who inherits the company?”
“Dawkins, Incorporated, is a privately-held company. No stockholders or corporate partners. The company is owned Steven and Donald Blackstone. Steven owns seventy percent. In his will he left his percentage of Dawkins, Inc., to me.”
Gage muttered a curse under his breath. “And if anything happens to you?”
She nearly choked on her reply. “If anything happens to me, the entire company reverts to Donald.”
“Was Blackstone aware that Steven left you sole beneficiary of his seventy percent?”
“I don’t know. But I would think Steven discussed it with him. I know they had all kinds of contingencies in place in case either of them were incapacitated or died. So, I’d say yes, Donald knew.”
“Ladies and gentleman, we now have prime suspect number one,” Bas piped up from the back seat.
“No, you can’t think Donald would kill Steven. He loved Steven like a brother.”
“And Cain loved his brother, Abel, too. Didn’t stop him from picking up a rock.” Suzanna turned around and glared at Bas, and he shrugged. “Just saying…”
“It’s a logical leap to take, Suzanna. He has to be considered a suspect, if for no other reason than he would have final say in the day-to-day decision making with Steven gone. You don’t know the business, and chances are good you’d have given him control over all decisions, isn’t that right?” Gage glanced in her direction, his expression stoic.
“You’re probably right. I don’t know anything about running a company the size of Dawkins, Inc.”
“And on a less pleasant note, we don’t know that whoever killed Steven didn’t plan on killing you too. Maybe they were interrupted before they could finish the job. That would have meant the entire company would go to Blackthorn.”
She didn’t know how to argue with their logic, no matter how much she wanted to disagree. What they said made a twisted kind of sense. Steven loved Donald, treated him like a brother. Could Donald have actually hired somebody to kill his friend, his mentor, his partner?
“Where do we go from here?”
“Back to Shiloh Springs for now. I want to take a look at the notes that Detective Jansen is sending, and pull on a couple loose threats, see what they unravel.” Gage pointed the car toward the entrance to I-45 South.
“Yes, that should get us home just in time for dinner. Wonder what Aunt Patti’s fixing?” Bas leaned back with a long “ah” sound, making Suzanna laugh. Bas seemed to be led around by his stomach, at least when his Aunt Patti was doing the cooking.
“Tomorrow, we’ll talk to Gustavo Sandoval.” Gage looked in the rearview mirror as he merge into the traffic heading south. They drove in silence for about an hour, the only sounds the soft music coming from the radio.
“Bas, sit up.” Gage uttered the words, reaching to turn off the radio. “We’ve got a tail coming up fast.”
Suzanna stared into the side mirror, watching a black SUV speeding toward them.
“How long have they been tailing us?” Bas glanced over his shoulder, before reaching into his waistband and pulling out a 9mm.
“They got onto I-45 the same time we did. Stayed back for the first several miles, but they’ve been steadily getting closer. I’ve got a bad feeling. Be ready.”
The words had barely left Gage’s mouth when the car jolted, rocked by the SUV colliding with the back end of the car, and they swerved out of control. Suzanna braced herself against the dashboard and prayed they weren’t all about to die.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Gage pressed hisfoot hard against the accelerator until it mashed against the floorboards, pulling away from the SUV and steering toward the side of the interstate. He knew he didn’t have the horsepower to outrun the bigger vehicle, so his best bet was to try and outmaneuver him. Having left the outskirts of DFW behind, the traffic had thinned considerably, for which he was thankful. At least there were fewer people who could possibly be injured if his car careened out of control.
Another sharp impact on the back bumper jolted the car forward, and he heard Bas curse from the back seat. He watched Bas swivel around and face the back window, the 9mm gripped tightly in his right hand. Sighing, he knew what had to happen.
“See if you can hit the engine block or take out their tires. We can’t outrun them, so we need to try and disable them.”
