Page 84 of The Killing Plains

Jace stared down at his cuffed wrists. “Okay. But you gotta drive me to Abilene—notmaybe, notwe’ll see about it. Drive me there now.”

“I’ve got to get back to Crescent Bluff. Tell us your story, and I’ll have an officer drive you to see Jolene as soon as we’ve booked you at the station. That’s the best you’re going to get, Jace. Take it or leave it.”

He shifted in his seat and finally shrugged. “You talked about cutting corners. I reckon I did, too. But it ain’t my fault. Like I said, Lowell’s good at making a mess for other folks to clean up.”

“What kind of mess?”

“Embezzlement.”

Colly and Avery looked at each other. “From his own company?” Colly asked.

“His old man was grooming him to take over. After Bryant’s first stroke, Lowell was running the show pretty much unsupervised. That’s when it started.”

“He’s been embezzling for fifteen years?”

Jace hunched his shoulders. “Lowell gambles, but he ain’t no good at it. He got himself in a hole, so he raided the piggy bank.”

“He never got caught?”

“Who’s gonna catch him? Bryant was half-gaga by then, and Lowell was in charge of the business accounts. Newland Wind Industries is a decent-sized company, but the old man was a control freak—never took the thing public ’cause he didn’t want no shareholders breathing down his neck.” Jace smiled grimly. “Came back to bite him in the end. As long as Lowell made payroll and kept the place humming, he had nothing to worry about.”

“Sweet deal,” Avery muttered.

“It took a toll. Not at first, ’cause Lowell convinced himself he was just borrowing. Whenever he’d have a winning streak, he’d put the money back. But you know how that goes. The wins got fewer, and his drinking started getting out of hand.”

“If no one knew about it, how’d you find out?” Colly asked.

“Got to be too much for him. Ain’t easy, juggling two sets of books. He needed help. Lowell had the final say on everything, but by the time his old man croaked, he had me overseeing production, purchasing, the whole shebang. I was in it up to my neck—but he made it worth my while.”

Avery was glowering skeptically at Jace in the rearview. Colly leaned back in her seat and gazed thoughtfully out of the window. The storm had moved on. A black wall of flickering cumulus still towered behind them, while in the sky ahead, long streaks of sunlight streamed through the ragged shreds of cloud, turning puddles into patches of dazzling gold.

Colly reached for her sunglasses. “I don’t buy it, Jace. If you had so much dirt on Lowell, why would he fire you? He’s not that stupid.”

Jace snorted. “Wanna bet?”

“Explain.”

“I gotta take a leak first.”

Avery shook her head. “We’ll be at the station in half an hour.”

“I ain’t pissed since last night. You want a mess back here?”

Avery glanced at Colly, who checked the time. “Make it fast.”

Outside, the air was now clear and cool. Red-winged blackbirds squabbled in the reedy ditch along the roadside, and the gravel crunched wetly beneath Colly’s shoes as she rounded the front of the cruiser. Avery was opening Jace’s door.

He emerged and looked around. “Gimme some privacy, will ya?”

“Don’t push your luck.” Avery planted a palm between his shoulder blades and propelled him towards the ditch. “And don’t ask me to take the cuffs off, either. You can unzip yourself just fine.”

When he was finished, Avery spun him around. “Let’s go.”

At the car door, Jace stopped. “I’d remember better with a smoke.”

Avery hesitated, chewing her lip.

She wants one, too, Colly thought.Maybe it’ll keep Jace talking. She checked her watch again. “Fine, but not in the car.”

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