The Judge's List (The Whistler #2)(55)

It was still dark when he finally ventured from his bunker at just minutes before 6:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. The twenty-four-hour gym was deserted, as was the parking lot. He was eager to get home and left in a hurry, the only car on the road. Turning onto the street, he caught himself glancing into the rearview, then he almost laughed at the absurdity.

Twenty minutes later he drove through the gates of his well-protected community in Cullman and parked in front of his garage as the sun peeked through the clouds in the east. He turned off the engine, took his smartphone, turned off the security system, and checked the surveillance cameras and recent footage. Assured that all was safe, he finally got out and went inside where he flipped on lights and made a pot of coffee. He watched it brew and tried to shake off the cobwebs from the martinis. He poured a cup and slowly walked through his den to the front door. He opened it, took a step onto his porch, looked up and down the street, then reached into the small mailbox mounted beside the door.

Another plain white envelope, no return address.

it seemed harmless enough

another water park at the beach

bulldoze, burn, and build

another pot of gold, just within reach

you tried to hide in the dark

your good name nowhere to be seen

cowering behind your partners

directing the little scheme

oh the beauty of a free press

to find the truth, expose the lies

keep the crooks out of office

keep the judges fair and wise

your loss to the old one hurt badly

and killed your enormous pride

so you blamed me for your corruption

and relished the day I died.





24


The lazy Saturday morning was interrupted twice before Lacy made it to the coffee pot. The first call awakened her at three minutes after eight. Caller unknown, potential spam. In other words, don’t answer. But something said do it, and if it happened to be a robocall she could simply hang up, as always.

“Good morning, Lacy,” Jeri said softly.

A flash of anger passed quickly as Lacy controlled herself. “Good morning, Jeri. What’s the occasion?”

“Just thinking about you, a lot, these days. How are you?”

“Well, I was sleeping, Jeri, before you called. It’s Saturday, a day off, and I’m not working today. I thought I had explained this.”

“I’m sorry, Lacy,” Jeri said, in a tone that conveyed anything but remorse. “Why does it have to be considered work? Why can’t we talk as friends?”

“Because we’re not friends yet, Jeri. We are acquaintances who met for the first time about a month ago. We may become friends one day, once the work that brought us together is finished, but we’re not there yet.”

“I see.”

“The word ‘friend’ gets tossed around loosely, don’t you think?”

“I suppose.”

“And whatever the reason for this call, it’s not about friendship. It’s probably on the business side.”

“It is, Lacy. And I’m sorry to bother you.”

“It’s Saturday morning, Jeri, and I was sleeping.”

“Got it. Look, I’ll hang up now, but first let me say what I want. Okay?”

“Sure.”

“There is a good chance that Bannick knows about the complaint and knows that you’re digging through his past. I can’t prove this, but I have come to believe that he has some type of superpower, extrasensory, something. I don’t know. But he is extremely bright and diligent, and well, I guess I might be a bit paranoid. I’ve been living with him for so long I just assume that he’s everywhere. Be careful, Lacy. If he knows you’re on his trail he might do anything.”

“I’ve thought about that, Jeri.”

“Okay. Goodbye.”

She was gone, and Lacy immediately felt lousy for being so abrupt. The poor woman was a wreck and had been for many years, and Lacy should have been more patient.

But it was early Saturday morning.

She closed her eyes and was thinking about more sleep, but the dog was making noises. She was thinking about Allie and how nice it would be to have him beside her. And, wide awake now, she was thinking about Jeri Crosby and the sadness of her life.

What she wasn’t thinking about was her older brother and only sibling. When Gunther called not ten minutes after Jeri, Lacy had a hunch that her carefree day would not go as planned. He said he had a new airplane he wanted to show off, and with the weather perfectly gorgeous on this spring day he had the urge to fly down and take his kid sister to lunch. “I’m on the runway, taking off now, landing in Tallahassee in eighty-four minutes. Meet me at the airport.”

It was so typical of Gunther. The world revolved around him and everyone else was just an extra. She fed and let out the dog, threw on some jeans, brushed her teeth, and headed to the airport, her quiet Saturday shot to hell. But she wasn’t really surprised. Nothing about her brother was surprising. He was an avid pilot who swapped airplanes almost as fast as he bought and sold sports cars. He ran the women hard too, and the bankers and investors. When the markets were up he burned cash, and when things went flat he kept borrowing until he couldn’t. Even when the demand was high for his strip malls and tract housing, he seemed to totter along the edge of financial disaster. Because he was known to embellish and outright fabricate, Lacy had lost count of the times he had filed for bankruptcy. She thought there were three, along with his two divorces, and one near-indictment.