Page 52 of Long Gone

Smirking, he nodded slightly.

“I take it you’re in charge of research?”

“Very astute, Detective.”

I supposed I’d deserved that one. “You’ve researched Hugo Burton and the Sunny Point situation.” Statement, not a question.

“I have, and I have some information you might not get by interviewing men like Brett Colter and Skip Martin.”

My blood turned icy, and I lowered the half-raised glass to rest on the arm of the chair. “How did you know I’d talked to them?”

His forehead wrinkled as he gave me a look of partial disgust. “Because I was told you were a decent investigator, and any decent investigator would talk to the investors.”

Shit. He was right, and while I used to be a great investigator, I wasn’t so sure I could make that claim anymore. I’d lost my instincts and instincts were everything. Sure, I was doing well so far in this investigation, but so far it had been an easy path to follow. The real skill would come when the leads began to dry up and deduction took over. “Yeah, right,” I grumbled. “But you could still have someone following me.”

“Why would we do that, Harper?” he asked with a hint of condescension. “What makes you think we’re interested in what you’re doing?”

That one stung a bit, but I saw it for what it was. A way to make me think I wasn’t interesting enough to deserve their attention, yet the fact he’d invited me here negated his assertion. “Then why is Malcolm so interested in what I find?”

“I already told you, he likes to know what’s going on in?—”

“The place he lives. Got it. Maybe it’s more like he doesn’t like people shitting where he eats, but sure, whatever. I still don’t see why he cares about a man who disappeared five years ago. He claimed the man did something truly heinous, but he never said what the heinous act was. Do you know?”

“I only know what Skeeter tells me and what I find.”

Which in theory meant he knew. He just refused to tell me. Still, this might not be a wasted effort. Malcolm likely didn’t have just one excuse for solving this mystery. Then a new thought hit me. “Unless…”

Carter looked amused again. “Unless what?”

Unless Malcolm was one of the two original investors. Did I want to play this hand? Why not? “Did James Malcolm invest money in Sunny Point?”

What appeared to be genuine shock widened his eyes. “You think Malcolm invested in a piece of shit property here in Lone County when he was very occupied with the state of things in Fenton County?”

He had a point. As far as I could tell, Malcolm had been tied to Fenton County until he’d been linked to the international crime organization that had been based in Dallas, Texas. If he’d been aspiring for greater things, why move backward to a county that was worse than his own?

Still…

“You didn’t answer the question, Carter,” I said, taking another sip of my drink. “You evaded it with a question of your own.”

His smirk was back, and he nodded slightly. “Touché. And the answer is no, he was not an investor in the Sunny Point property.”

“Was he an investor in the Martindale property?”

Confusion filled his eyes this time, and I realized he probably didn’t know it by that name. “Was he an investor in any property that Hugo Burton had an interest in?” That question also covered the Colter Group project.

A sly grin spread across his face. “While I don’t have knowledge of Hugo Burton and Skeeter Malcolm having shared investments, I do happen to know that Skeeter never backed any project in Lone County before he moved here three years ago.”

“Why do you call him Skeeter?” I asked.

He shook his head slightly. “I thought you were here to find out information about Hugo Burton.”

“And I want to know why you don’t call him James.”

Releasing a sigh, he sat back into his chair again. “It’s what everyone called him back home. He decided to drop it when he came here, but old habits die hard, and I think he likes that I still call him Skeeter. It reminds him of his roots.”

Had he really started using his given name to turn over a new leaf, or were there other reasons? Did it really matter?

“Okay, Carter, I’ll bite. What do you know about Hugo Burton?”

---