Page 55 of Tempest

“Productive morning,” Grams commented.

“Do you remember Stuart, Nelson’s son?” Ivy asked.

“Sure,” Bea said as she brought the coffeepot over. “Nelson was your daddy’s best friend.”

“He wants to meet with Colin and me. He and his daddy kept trying to corner us at the reception. But they never could. Stuart said he wanted to catch up with us and see how we’re doing.”

Bea started pouring coffee and shook her head. “Nelson and Bill were friends from the time they turned five and were almost inseparable. They were always competing with one another, and I imagine that didn’t stop until Bill died. They went into the oil business together and I think had some big successes and equally big failures.”

“Which supports the information that I dug up,” Phoebe added. “I think Nelson wanted to create as many problems as he could for his old friend. He blamed him for what happened to his wells up in the Barnett Shale Field. I went through all of his electronic communication and wrote a program for certain key words, and that’s what I came up with.”

“They had some kind of falling out when production slowed down up in Barnett,” Colin said. “The Reardon Company didn’t get out in time, and it was a bloodbath. I was having dinner with Daddy, and Nelson barged into the restaurant and started yelling at the top of his lungs. He was flinging accusations like they were Frisbees. Something about Daddy talking him into a bad deal. Before he finished, security escorted him out.”

“Was Daddy mad or affected in any way by Nelson’s behavior?” Ivy asked.

“Not that I could tell. The only comment he made was that Nelson had always been a greedy SOB and it finally caught up with him.”

“So, we have Nelson, who has a grudge against Bill, and Stuart, who has always done whatever his daddy told him to do,” Bea said. “Guess it’ll make your little get-together interesting.”

“A simple case of revenge,” Ivy said.

“Revenge is never simple,” Phoebe said. “Especially if the person is dead. It makes the whole satisfaction thing hard to achieve.”

Bea sipped her coffee and looked at her daughter and Colin. “You kids tell us what you want us to do. I don’t like the idea of old Nelson seeking revenge. He was a rotten kid, and I expect he’s only gotten worse.”

Grams nodded her head in agreement. “You all let us know what you need. My shotgun is ready and I can ride backup.”

Ivy looked at her family and grinned. Not everybody had the support that she and Colin had, and they were damn lucky that the women in the family knew how to use a gun. They were probably going to come in handy. “Thanks. We’ll let you know.”

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