“She? Oh boy, juicy. Give me all the details.”
“Honestly, you probably know more about this case than I do at this point, since it happened in your neck of the woods. Suzanna Dawkins.”
There was a long moment of silence before Chet came back on the line. He sighed. “Hate to say it, pal, but you’ve stepped into something you might want to walk away from.”
Gage cocked his head at his friend’s words, more intrigued than ever. Chet wasn’t one to jump to conclusions or consider somebody guilty without knowing all the facts. He had a sinking feeling there was more to this case than he knew…yet.
“Don’t really have a choice. I owe my friend a big favor, and he’s called in his marker. I’ve looked at everything I can findonline, but since you live up there by Dallas, I figured you could give me the local gossip.”
“I don’t know anything about Suzanna or Steven Dawkins personally, other than they were part of the Dallas elite. Uber wealthy, Steven was right up there with Bezos and Gates. Made a fortune in oil and gas, then diversified and went into IT and technology. Heard he worked with artificial intelligence a lot the last couple of years. Rumors were he was on the brink of something big, maybe a merger with another company.”
That tied in with what Suzanna had told him earlier. He remembered the gut punch he’d felt when he’d heard her mention Sandoval Enterprises. From personal experience, he didn’t like or trust the company, and if Steven Dawkins had planned on doing business with Gustavo Sandoval, he couldn’t help wondering if he’d been as dirty as he knew Sandoval to be.
“I’d heard those rumors too.”
“I have to be honest with you, Gage. Pretty much everybody here in North Texas believes the widow offed her husband. He was a lot older than her. When they got hitched, wasn’t anybody who didn’t believe she was a gold digger, marrying him for his money. Of course, who could blame him? I mean, she is an exceptionally beautiful woman. Made a great trophy wife. Add in the fact she was found in bed with the body, covered in his blood, well it isn’t hard to put two and two together.”
“She was actually found in the bed with him?” The reports had had a field day with that little tidbit.
“That’s what I heard. Maid came in to wake Dawkins because his office had called. He was late for some big meeting. Told the police Mrs. Dawkins was asleep beside her husband, and there was blood everywhere. At first, she thought the missus was dead too.”
“That ties in with what I’m reading. I’m thinking I need to talk with the detective in charge, get his take. Any idea who’s working the case?”
“Lemme think. Pretty sure is Jansen. Not one of my favorite people. Guys been salivating to sink his teeth into a big case and make a name for himself. Got an ego as big as Texas, but I haven’t caught a whiff of him being a dirty cop. I can tell you, he doesn’t like the feds sniffing around any of his cases. Hopefully you can get something out of him, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. This case could give him the boost he needs to shoot up in the ranks in the department, bring him to the attention of the higher ups if he’s able to take it to the D.A. and help get a conviction.”
He wrote the name down, underlining it twice. Something about it niggled at the back of his mind, but he’d worry about that later. Right now he was on a fact-finding mission, and he didn’t like what he was hearing. More and more the evidence was pointing to Suzanna as guilty. Still, he couldn’t wrap his head around her performing such a violent act.
“Thanks, Chet. Appreciate the info and sorry I woke you. Give my best to Charlene and the kids. I’ll try and stop by the next time I’m up that way.”
“You’d better. Charlene will have a conniption fit when she finds out you called and I didn’t wake her.”
After a few another minute of goodbyes, Gage stared at the few notations he’d made while talking. Next to Jansen’s name, he’d noted the man’s ambitions and lack of cooperation with federal investigations. Of course, that tended to be the case with most local cops, they hated when other departments came in. He didn’t blame them, while everybody wanted to solve cases, lots of times conflicts arose because federal agents tended to exclude the locals. He’d seen it happen, and had probably unintentionally done it himself a time or two.
Pulling his laptop closer, he clicked on the society photo of Suzanna Dawkins. The golden amber of her eyes seemed muted in the photo, haunted, even though she was smiling. He’d have bet good money on the fact she hadn’t wanted to be at the soiree. Though he knew with her background and being a society wife, she probably attended these types of parties all the time, he had the feeling it wasn’t the kind of event she favored. It was all conjecture, since he’d only just met her, but she hadn’t put on airs or treated him as anything but an equal. He couldn’t help wondering if that was an act too.
“Who are you really Suzanna Dawkins?”
Closing the laptop, he slid it to the side of the mattress, and plumped the pillow behind his head. In the morning, he’d make some calls to the Dallas Police Department, find out how much information he could get from Detective Jansen.
Closing his eyes, he found himself thinking about Shiloh Springs. It had been too long since he’d been back. Over the past few months things had changed. More of the Boudreau clan had settled down with their soul mates. Ms. Patti and Douglas had renewed their marriage vows. He’d been thrilled to be invited to walk Ms. Patti down the aisle, along with the other “Lost Boys” from the Boudreau clan. If there were two people in the entire world who he cared about and respected above all others, it was Douglas and Patti Boudreau. He’d even contemplated changing his last name to Boudreau, like the other fosters had, but by the time he was old enough he was in the military and then working clandestine missions for the CIA and black ops.
He tossed and turned on the hotel bed, unable to get his brain to shut off long enough to fall asleep. It was a problem he’d had most of his life. The shrink he’d gone to see hadn’t been much help, wanting to prescribe a sleeping medication. In his line of work, that was a giant no-no. He needed to be able to react at a moment’s notice, and being drugged and groggywouldn’t cut it. So he handled the insomnia the best he could, which meant either laying in the bed and letting his brain race with thoughts or working. Television didn’t hold his interest. He doubted he could even come up with the name of the last program he’d watched.
With a sigh, he picked up the laptop and opened a file. Might as well get some work done. Tomorrow he’d meet again with the enigmatic Suzanna Dawkins, maybe pry a few more answers from her.
Good thing he loved a puzzle, because he had the feeling putting all the pieces of this one might be the hardest one of his life, but he was up for the challenge.
CHAPTER THREE
Dawn had paintedthe sky with brilliant colors, deep purples giving way to yellows and oranges and blush pink. Gage knew, because he’d been awake and saw it from his balcony. Early morning rising meant a craving for hot coffee and something sweet. Being this was New Orleans, he figured he’d head for Café DuMonde and get a café au lait fix and couple powdered sugar-coated beignets.
Shrugging on a dark black hoodie over his black T-shirt, he made sure his blade was secure in his custom-made ankle sheath and his Glock tucked into a holster in the small of his back. He doubted he’d need either, but he felt naked without them. Tucking his cellphone into his pocket, he headed for the door, stopping at the loud knock.
An older man with gray hair pulled back in a tail at the nape of his neck stood in the entryway. Though he’d never met the man before, something about him seemed familiar, though he couldn’t put his finger on what.
“Awfully early to be pounding on someone’s door don’t you think?”
“Figured you’d be awake. Never met an Agency man who slept passed dawn.” The man’s lips curled upward at the shock that rocked through Gage.
