Page 49 of The Last Grift
Lundin’s lips were pressed into a thin line and the glow of the computer screen gave his face and beard a weird hue. “There’s not much I wouldn’t put past him.”
“That’s a firm… maybe. Does that mean he’d kill Dwayne or, I suppose, have someone else do it? I need more than ‘Sheriff Rizzi holds all the power.’ I don’t have much experience with sheriffs, but having a lot of local power probably isn’t that unusual. Why would the sheriff—or his minions, I guess—kill off Perkins? How does Gordon fit into this? Why was Perkins on his property? What do they gain by framing Gordon?”
It seemed to Gabe that it could be something about the land Gordon owned. But frankly, in the short time he’d been there, Gabe had basically seen a falling-down shack with a murder victim inside of it, so anything else he might have noticed had been overshadowed by Dwayne’s corpse.
Now Lundin looked up at him. “My answer will always be,follow the money. If Rizziissomehow involved, it’s about money.”
Gabe held back a laugh. “That’s my line. Finally, something we agree on. So, Which is it? Does Rizzi need money? Or does he want money? Because those are two different motivations. And again, why would he target Gordon?”
Lundin quickly typed, his fingers flying over the keys. A password, maybe. Who knew? Gabriel thought it possible he was stalling while he came up with an answer for Gabe’s question.
“What do you expect from me on this? Why all the questions?”
That was a surprise. Wasn’t it obvious? Did the man have no soul?
“I’m expecting you to be the stand-up guy Elton thinks you are. And that person wouldn’t leave a friend’s fate in the hands of the kind of person Rizzi sounds like he is. That person would be the kind of guy who does the right thing.”
He could almost hear his mother laughing at his words, but he meant every one of them.
Lundin didn’t immediately respond. Instead, he shifted in the desk chair, leaned to the side, and pulled a slim three-ring binder out of the top drawer, opening it to the first page. From where Gabe was standing, it looked to be a list of phone numbers. Lundin ran his finger down the list until he stopped at Waste Management.
“Again, why are you here? Specifically on Heartstone? You need to give me a reason to trust you.”
Fucking hell.
“Fuck you, I told you,” he blustered, wanting to avoid the Heartstone-specific question. “I offered to poke around and instead of tracking Gordon down, I was lucky enough to find a deadperson.”
“And how do I know it wasn’t you who killed Dwayne?” Ranger Man asked. “I heard he had a run-in with someone at the Sinclair’s.”
Gabriel blinked and stared at Lundin, fairly sure his mouth was gaping open as well. He snapped it shut and considered his reply.
“It’s good to confirm that news travels fast around here, but what happened Tuesday was all on those two. What motive would I have to kill Perkins? I didn’t know the guy,” he shot back.
“You didn’t have to know him to want to kill him,” Lundin muttered almost under his breath. “But more about you, Gabriel Logan Karne, birthday May 15, 1981.”
Gabe blinked. Why hadn’t it occurred to him that Ranger Lundin would be the one to stick his nose into Gabriel’s business? Business he preferred stayed unknown. The ominous feeling he’d been ignoring for the past few days turned to a fist-sized stone in his stomach.
“I did a little research on you the other day.”
“Why would you do that?” Gabe ground out.
Ranger Man leaned back in the rickety chair. Maliciously, Gabriel hoped it would collapse underneath him and end the conversation. Sadly, the chair held.
“Because,” Lundin said, “as you have realized, Elton Cox is someone I count as a friend, and I won’t let a friend be taken advantage of. I think you have a history of taking advantage. And again, just to be clear as glass, I don’t trust you.”
They locked gazes. A long minute passed. Gabriel narrowed his eyes, but Lundin was impervious. He tried to feel wounded by the fact that Lundin didn’t trust him, but honestly, he wouldn’t if he were in Ranger Man’s shoes.
“I promise you that I am not taking advantage of Elton.” Gabe ran his hand through his hair again, a move that seemed tobe turning into a habit. “He was a friend of my mother’s back in the day. Before I was born.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“And that doesn’t tell me why you’re up here on Heartstone, eating meals with him, staying in his house. You’ve never visited. He would have mentioned it to me.”
“Because some asshole wouldn’t let me stay in the park,” Gabriel retorted. “And Elton is nice enough to offer me shelter and smart enough to know I don’t have any evil plans for him. And he liked my mother. Which, if you’d ever met her, is a feat in itself.”
Lundin laughed. A real laugh. He had a nice, deep chuckle. Admittedly, it was a bit rusty, as if he didn’t use it much, and Gabe wanted to hear it again. If he hadn’t been so on edge, he might have laughed along with Lundin. But he was too anxious.
