Page 34 of Long Gone

“I take it he wasn’t as good of a resource as you’d hoped?”

“No. Not in the slightest.” He drew in a breath. “Everyone had to contribute to the group. I invested fifty percent and the others invested smaller amounts, but Hugo’s was the lowest. Only five percent. He argued that his knowledge would help pay for his lack of funding.”

“Why didn’t he contribute more?” I asked.

“He didn’t have the money. He was stretched thin with Sunny Point when we first started the group. He’d already purchased more land for what he called Phase Two, then he started his cockamamie auto plant project.” He shook his head. “I told him he needed to focus on one thing, that stretching himself on three projects was too much. Of course, when I brought him on, I had no idea what a mess Sunny Point was or I never would have offered him a spot.” His lips pressed tight. “Damn near ruined my reputation when the fool took off.”

“So you think he ran off?” I asked. “You don’t think he was murdered?”

Releasing a heavy sigh, he gave me a sympathetic look. “I know Clarice thinks he was murdered, but I think he realized he was never digging himself out of his hole and ran off with the money.” He tapped the desk with the tip of his finger. “A few weeks before he left, he went around and gave his poor investors a sob story about his kid getting sick and how he needed more money and that he was so fucking close to getting a contract with the Japanese automaker. Once that went through, he’d have more than enough money to complete Sunny Point.” He grimaced. “Excuse my language. I try not to curse in the presence of a lady.”

I nearly told him I wasn’t a lady, but instead I held up a hand. “I’m not offended. In fact, I appreciate your frankness.”

He nodded.

“I didn’t hear anything about his kid being ill.”

“That’s because he wasn’t. Hugo made it up. Some of the poor fools gave him more money to help with Anton. Hugo took off a week or so later.”

“So you’re sure he ran off? Do you think one of his investors could have found out his son wasn’t sick and gotten pissed enough to kill him?”

Colter laughed. “Have you met Hugo’s investors? I doubt any of them are capable of murder.”

“I haven’t, but I’ve found that people you would never suspect are capable of murder under stressful situations.”

He chuckled nervously. “I’d hate to meet the people you know.”

Obviously he didn’t know about my history, and I planned to keep it that way. “You mentioned meeting Hugo’s investors, but three of the five men who gave him more money have died since his disappearance.”

He looked genuinely shocked. “Really? I knew about O’Murphy, but who’s surprised? The man was as old as Methuselah. Who were the other two?”

“Tim Heaton and Pete Mooney.”

He pursed his lips for a moment. “I guess I’d forgotten about Tim Heaton, but I’ve never heard of Pete Mooney.” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk. “Where was he from? What did he do?”

“Mooney was from Pine Bluff. I’m not sure what he did for a living.”

“Hmm.” He seemed lost in thought as though trying to reason that out.

“There’s one more investor,” I said. “Do you happen to know who it is?”

He shook his head. “I was one of the two original investors. I have no idea who the other one was.”

“Could it have been Pete Mooney?”

“No. It was someone local and Hugo said they wanted their anonymity.”

Could they have been part of Larkspur Limited?

“Clarice says the Colter Group had a deal go through after Hugo left, but you refused to pay her for Hugo’s share of his investment.”

He shook his head, looking like he was trying to hide his disgust. “I told Clarice that Hugo didn’t have anything to do with the deal. Not to mention all the legal and PR expenses we accrued trying to defend our reputation after he left. Those far exceeded his investment.”

“Do you have a copy of your agreement with Hugo?” I asked without any hint of accusation. “Clarice says she doesn’t have a copy. She told me that when she asked you for one, you failed to produce it.”

He shook his head. “That’s because there wasn’t a legal agreement. I was a fool back then, and I relied on our friendship to be our bond. It was all verbal.”

“You had four investors and formed an LLC, but you didn’t have a legal agreement with them?” I asked in disbelief.

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