Page 24 of The Girl He Crowned

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

A quick search forHarry Connaught told Paige that he owned several businesses, including a bar inEddis. Given that it was getting late, it seemed like the best chance to findhim quickly. As she and Christopher drove over there, Paige used her laptop todo some more research on the man.

“He has a coupleof priors from a few years ago,” Paige said. “It looks like he broke a guy’sarm in a fight, and he was arrested a second time for threatening a man whodidn’t pay his debt over a bet.”

“I’m starting tounderstand what Mr. Willis said before about there being another side toEddis,” Christopher said.

Paige nodded. Mostof it seemed so clean and wealthy, so insulated from the violence of the world,but there was definitely a darker side underneath. It was obvious that noteveryone in this town of high-end cars and grand mansions had come by theirmoney honestly. It seemed that there could be an undercurrent of violence andcrime, just carefully hidden.

Harry Connaught definitelyseemed like the kind of guy who might not have made all his money honestly. Abar-owning bookie who’d threatened people in the past over debts? That rang allkinds of alarm bells for Paige. Mix in family issues, and a sister-in-law whoapparently hadn’t liked Melody, and was it possible that the whole situationhad simply escalated to the point of violence?

Even the barseemed to reinforce the impression Paige had of the man. This wasn’t someupmarket, bright nightspot that fit in with the rest of the town. Instead, aneon sign declaring that this was “Harry’s Bar” pointed down a set of steps toa basement level. As Paige and Christopher approached, a large, heavily built bouncerwith a shaved head and a squashed nose looked them up and down.

“You feds?” heasked, with an obvious note of dislike.

Christophernodded, taking out his badge. “We’d like to speak to Mr. Connaught.”

His tone waspolite but firm.

“You think he’llwant to speak to you?” the bouncer replied.

Were they not evengoing to be let into the bar? Paige found herself trying to work out what tosay to that. It hadn’t occurred to her that anyone might try to stop them likethis when they were in the middle of a murder investigation. Especially oneinto the death of one of Harry Connaught’s extended family.

But maybe thebouncer didn’t know that. It occurred to her that the news was pretty freshthis time. They’d come straight from the crime scene, after all, and thereporters wouldn’t have gotten the full details out yet. Even if they had,would they have reached the ears of one bouncer who’d been standing at thisdoor all night?

“He will,” Paigesaid. “It’s about his sister-in-law, Melody Smythe. She was found murderedearlier tonight.”

Paige saw thesudden shock that crossed the bouncer’s features, replaced by a look of worryas he tried to determine what he should do next.

Christopher put ahand on his shoulder. “Look, this isn’t the kind of thing where you need tomake the decisions. Let us in, and if Mr. Connaught wants us to leave afterthat, then we’ll go.”

That was enough toget the bouncer to step out of their path, letting them into the bar. Paigewasn’t sure that it was an improvement on being stuck outside. The interior wasdimly lit, with old sports pictures around most of the walls. There were agingleather booths around the edges, and tables set out across the floor thatlooked as though they’d been through more than a few bar fights. There wereseveral big screen TVs set up in different corners of the bar, each showing adifferent sporting event. A long teak bar dominated one side of the room, witha group of customers there clamoring for drinks. Music played low enough thatpeople didn’t have to shout to be heard, coming from a sound system behind thebar.

Half of the peoplein the bar turned to stare at Paige and Christopher as they walked in. Some ofthem were the “normal” wealthy crowd of Eddis, but far more looked rougher, thekind of people whose eyes narrowed automatically at the sight of lawenforcement. Those looks said that the people there knew exactly who the two ofthem were, either because they had plenty of practice at spotting theauthorities or just because they’d seen their images on the news.

That news wasplaying on one of the screens in the corner, with the words “Eddis curator latestvictim of Pendulum Killer” rolling across the bottom of the screen.

It was easy tomake out Harry Connaught in a booth in one corner, partly because he was therestaring up at the screen, but also because there was a group of tough lookingmen around him, standing almost like bodyguards or an entourage.

Connaught was asquat, broad-shouldered man wearing a dark blue suit with gold cufflinks. Hewas in his late thirties, and while his features were handsome enough, he had acouple of small scars that suggested that he’d been in more than his share offights.

He looked Paigeand Christopher’s way, and that look wasn’t any more friendly than the looks ofthe other patrons there. He seemed to sigh, and then raised a hand, beckoning themover as if they were there at his invitation rather than having come to ask himabout a murder.

In spite of that,one of his thugs started to get in the way, moving to intercept Paige as shestepped forward to speak to his boss. He was a big man, head shaved on oneside, with dark hair left longer on the other. He was wearing a tight black t-shirtthat showed off his muscles, along with the tattoos running along his forearms.

“Let them through,Rick,” Harry Connaught said, with a note of authority that made the big manstep back. Closer to him, Paige could see the edge of hostility under his expression.

What she couldn’tsee was perhaps more significant. There was no particular sign of pain or griefthere at the news that his sister in law was dead. Perhaps Harry was just goodat hiding his feelings. Perhaps he was such a tough guy that he didn’t dareshow that kind of grief. Yet a part of Paige found herself wondering if theremight not be a darker reason for that lack of reaction. If he hated Melody asmuch as his wife supposedly did, then maybe that was the reason that he didn’treact to the news the way Paige might have expected in someone else.

Paige took out herbadge, and saw Christopher do the same.

“I’m AgentMarriott, with the FBI,” he said, taking the lead. “This is Agent King. We’rehere to talk to you about Melody Smythe.”

Paige could guesswhy Christopher had decided to take the lead. Harry Connaught was an obvious toughguy, and Paige doubted that he would react as well to her asking the questionsas he did to Christopher doing it. Even so, Paige wasn’t going to hold back justbecause some thug preferred to be questioned by Christopher. She would askquestions as she needed to, but she would let Christopher take the lead untilshe needed to jump in.

“I saw that shehad died on the news,” Harry said. “It’s very sad.”

“You don’t seemparticularly sad, Mr. Connaught,” Christopher pointed out.

---