Page 117 of Long Gone

“Pete Mooney.”

He made a face. “Yeah. That could be him.”

“Did the others know about you?”

He shook his head. “My one request was that I have anonymity. It would be unseemly if it got out that his own attorney had invested in his projects.”

“Not to mention you were keeping the contract work from your partners.”

He made a face. “Yeah.”

“Do you know if the other investors were unhappy?”

“I didn’t talk to them outright, but rumors got around.”

“Were any of them upset enough to kill Hugo?”

His eyes widened. “I don’t know,” he said in a whisper.

“And J.R. Simmons, you’re not sure if he invested?”

“If he did, I never saw his contract, and neither he nor Hugo mentioned it.”

“How soon into the project did you mention it to Simmons?”

Dad shifted in his chair. “I’m not sure. I’m guessing a year into the project.”

“And who’d invested at that point?”

“Just me and Brett. And Bill O’Murphy.”

“Did Hugo seem concerned about getting more investors at that point?”

“No, but Tim and Skip joined shortly after that. Oh, and that Pete guy. He got special terms.”

That caught my attention, especially since Mooney had been murdered. “What kind of special terms?”

Dad shifted in his seat again. “I’m not sure exactly. I never saw Mooney’s contract, but Hugo told me Brett was pissed Hugo had brought in an outsider and given him a better deal.” He shrugged. “Maybe he was just pissed there was another person to get a split of the profits.”

“So you told Simmons about the investment, but you’re not sure whether he invested,” I said. “Do you know if Simmons was behind an LLC called Larkspur Limited?”

He gave me a stunned look. “What?”

“After Hugo disappeared and the land foreclosed, it was purchased by a company called Larkspur Limited, but I don’t know who’s behind it.”

He shook his head, confusion in his eyes. “I don’t know anything about Larkspur Limited.”

“Are you sure?”

Irritation replaced his previous stoicism. “Yes, Harper. I’m positive.”

“I had to ask, Dad.”

Defeat quickly melted his steely posture. “I know.”

“You said you regretted introducing Hugo to J.R. Simmons. Why?”

“When news broke that Hugo went missing, J.R. called me. He knew Hugo had been renting an office from me, and he wanted access to it.”

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