Page 7 of The Night Before (Savannah 1)

Or would she?

Sometimes Caitlyn wasn’t sure.

Two

“Who the hell is Josh Bandeaux?” Pierce Reed asked.

Sylvie Morrisette, his partner, was speeding along East Bay Street as if they were in the Grand-damned-Prix. “You mean besides being a major prick?” Her eyes hidden behind wrap-around

shades, Morrisette slid a glance his way.

“Yeah, besides that.”

She sighed through her nose. “Sometimes I forget what a greenhorn you really are. Cute, but a greenhorn.” With her spiked blond hair, athletic body and sharp tongue, Sylvie was as tough as her snakeskin boots and as prickly as a saguaro cactus. From the moment Reed had been paired up with her, he’d won looks of condolence from the other men in the department. “Lived your life in a goddamned vacuum,” she added in her West Texas drawl. A transplant from El Paso, she had fifteen years on the Savannah police force. To his six months. Aside from a short stint here twelve years earlier, Reed had spent most of his adult life on the West Coast, most recently San Francisco. He’d left San Francisco on bad terms, but managed to land a senior detective position here. If Sylvie resented his status, she had the good sense not to show it.

Lights flashing, tires squealing, she took a corner too fast and nearly swung into the oncoming lane.

“Hey, let’s get there in one piece.”

“We will.” She managed to keep the cruiser on the pavement as the driver of a new pickup passed and looked about to flip them off when he realized he was dealing with cops and kept his middle finger from springing to attention.

“So fill me in.”

“He’s just one of the wealthiest son of a bitches in the city, maybe even the state. Grew up with a silver spoon wedged between his gorgeous Georgian teeth and married into more money. Big-time gambler. Made and lost fortunes but always came out of each thorny deal smelling like a damned rose.”

“Until last night,” Reed reminded her.

“Yeah. Last night I guess his luck ran out.” She blasted her way through a red light. “Dead at forty-two. Possible suicide.” She couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her voice.

“But you don’t buy it.”

“No way, José. I had the misfortune to meet the prick a couple of times. He donated money to the department. Any charity we hosted, he was certain to show up in an Armani suit with a big check in hand.” Her lips twisted downward. “Then he’d have a few drinks and the next thing you knew he’d be pinching some cutie’s ass. A real charmer, our Josh.” She smiled without a hint of humor and floored it through the next yellow light. “The fact that he was married didn’t stop him from making a pass at anything in a skirt.”

“The wife find his body?”

“No, they’re separated. Shit!” She braked hard, then swerved around a delivery truck double-parked. “Asshole!”

“So Bandeaux wasn’t divorced?”

“Not quite. Now I guess he won’t ever be.” She cranked on the wheel and the cruiser flew down an alley, barely missing a Dumpster and sending papers that hadn’t quite made it into the bin flying. With a bump they were on another side street and careening into the heart of the historic district. “Think of all the money Caitlyn Bandeaux will save on lawyer’s fees. Not that she needs to worry.”

“You said she was wealthy.”

“Beyond wealthy. She’s a Montgomery, as in Montgomery Bank and Trust, Montgomery Cotton, Montgomery Estates, Montgomery-every-damned thing. Some distant descendent from a Civil War hero, I think. At least that’s what her granddaddy, Old Benedict Montgomery, claimed before he died.”

“Shit.” Even he’d heard of those Montgomerys.

“Exactly.”

Reed made a quick mental note as the cruiser tore through the city streets. Estranged wives were always suspects. Even wealthy ones. “She live nearby?”

“Not far.”

Convenient.

“Any kids?” he asked.

“One. Dead. Died a couple of years back. Only three or four years old, I think. It was bad.” Sylvie scowled as the police band crackled. “From what I hear, Caitlyn, that’s Bandeaux’s wife, nearly went around the bend when the kid died. Josh blamed her and maybe she did herself. I even heard a rumor that she tried to kill herself. Anyway, there’s a whole lot of secrets in that family and a whole lot of hush money’s been spent to hide ’em. Let me tell you.” She snorted derisively.

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