Page 73 of The Night Before (Savannah 1)

He didn’t know, but he didn’t like it. “Seems like a helluva coincidence that Caitlyn Bandeaux’s shrink goes missing a few weeks before her estranged husband’s death.”

“You really want to nail her, don’t you?”

“I just want to clear it up.” He took another bite of his burger. Washed it down with beer. He’d nearly convinced himself that Caitlyn was the killer, but something held him back. Something didn’t quite feel right about it. “The D.A.’s on my ass.”

“She’s on everybody’s ass. Up for reelection this fall. But we have to tread carefully with the Montgomerys. They have a habit of buying off judges and senators and the like. It keeps their records clean. You know the rumor that the grandfather was banging his secretary, Mary Lou Chaney. She had a kid by him, Copper Chaney. A real wildass. She, Copper, ended up marrying a local tough, Earl Dean Biscayne, and they had three kids.” Morrisette swiped at the corners of her mouth with a paper napkin, then finished her drink. “Copper was killed when her single-wide caught fire because she was smoking in bed and her husband, Earl Dean, disappeared around the same time. Some people think he caused the fire, others think that he was already missing when Copper died, but what is really interesting is that Copper had herself an affair with Benedict’s legitimate son, Cameron.”

“Caitlyn’s father?”

“Yep.” Morrisette signaled to the waitress with her empty glass. “So she was really screwing her half-brother.”

“If it’s true.”

“Welcome to the South, baby.”

“Give me a break.”

“You’re right. We don’t have the corner on incest around here.”

Reed was bothered just the same. Morrisette was a smart-ass, but she was a good cop, did her job. “Did Montgomery have an alibi for the trailer fire?”

“Ironclad. At home with the wife, Berneda, or so he claims.”

“What does she say?”

“That he was there, according to her statement, but she’s had all kinds of health problems for years. The woman’s a walking pharmacy. Who knows if she even slept with the guy. My guess? She said what she had to. Kept the press at bay and her husband off the hot seat. I doubt if we’ll ever know what really happened.”

“Would you all like another Diet Coke?” the waitress said as she wended her way through the empty tables.

“Yeah.” Morrisette nodded.

“How ’bout you?” she asked Reed. “Another Bud?”

“That would be good.”

“It’ll just be a minute.” She managed a smile for Reed and ignored Morrisette.

“She’s got the hots for you,” Morrisette observed, watching the leggy waitress saunter back to the bar where two men in baseball caps, work shirts, blue jeans and cowboy boots had taken stools.

“How do you know it’s not the hots for you?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it was the way her eyes said, ‘fuck me’ when she looked at you.”

“Maybe she was just playing hard to get.”

Sylvie actually smiled as the two new guys checked the score on the television before carrying their drinks to a pool table and racking up. “She’s not my type. I like big blondes with even bigger tits.” She winked at Reed. “Give me an Amazon any day of the week.”

“You’re sick.”

“So they say, but not as sick as the Montgomerys. Get this. I think Hannah, that’s the youngest sister, might have been seeing Bandeaux, too. May have even given him some money. Her trust fund doesn’t really kick in until she’s twenty-five, but she’s got a shit-load of dough anyway. I’ve been trying to talk to her, but so far, I’ve run up against the ol’ brick wall. Only been able to leave messages. And she’s not the only member of the extended family that had a financial stake with our deceased. Remember the name Dickie Ray Biscayne, one of Copper’s kids? He did some work for Bandeaux, too, but nothing ever recorded on the books. Just provided security for the prick, kind of a low-class bodyguard.”

“Didn’t do a very good job,” Reed observed, but was thinking hard. The damned Montgomerys and Biscaynes were too interlaced. “This is worse than a nighttime soap.”

“Are you kidding? It’s worse than a daytime soap.” Morrisette finished her sandwich just as the Reds scored and the man at the bar muttered an obscenity and ordered another beer in disgust.

The door to the bar opened and Reed noticed Diane Moses bustle inside. Not a hair out of place, her expression forever harsh, she glanced in their direction. “Look at this, we just got lucky. Maybe the crime scene can shed some light on this.”

Morrisette waved her over.

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