Ghost River Jon Coon (free reads TXT) 📖

think, that there was bid fixing, only the guys at the very top would have known. That would have been Bo and the Conners family. Mitchell has been president for twenty-something years since he married Mary. She’s the principal stockholder.

“Congressman Conners, Mitchell’s brother, used to visit frequently, but when he ran for Congress, he had to give up his interest in the company, at least on paper. That was years ago. But he still spends time here. I think he’s still involved, but no one ever talks about it. Jewels Peterson from the highway department used to visit. He and Bo used to be close, but something changed about a year ago. Bo stopped returning his calls.”

“Bo had a cruise booked with several staterooms. We found the list.” Bob handed it to her. “Do you recognize these folks?”

“All of them,” she said. “I booked that trip for him. Bo played golf with these three every other Friday afternoon,” she put checkmarks beside the names. “These two don’t golf, but they spent time at his club and played cards at least once a month. They were all just really good friends.”

“Good. Are there expense reports and receipts or other documents that would help us prove they spent time together?”

Janna looked out into the hallway through the glass walls of the office. Satisfied they weren’t being watched, she pointed at her phone and then put a hand in back of her ear.

Bob got it. Someone was listening. Then she took a pen and quickly wrote Bo’s computer. Everything.

“I don’t know how long those records are kept,” she said. “I doubt for long, but I’ll look.”

Realizing he might be putting her at risk with his questions, Bob thanked her, and then Gabe touched her shoulder and from his pocket produced Nancy’s ring.

Tears came to Janna’s eyes when she saw the ring. She nodded, and Gabe put it back in his pocket.

“Ten minutes,” she whispered to Bob. “I’ll call you from my car.”

“Thanks very much, Janna. We’ll be in touch,” Bob said, and he and Gabe left her office.

As they walked the hall to the foyer, Bob recognized the tall, nattily groomed blond in expensive clothes and heels clopping across the marble floor toward them. “Excuse me,” she called with authority. “Who are you?”

Bob introduced them and held out his hand. She ignored it. “If you have business with my employees you clear it through me first. You people have caused enough confusion here. I don’t want you upsetting our staff. You come to me. I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

“And you are?” Bob asked.

“Catherine Conners, or President Conners, if you prefer.”

“Then Mitchell Conners—”

“Is my father. And CEO, but he’s mostly retired. It’s my show now.”

“Congratulations,” Gabe said with a smile. “It’s quite a show.”

No smile. No acknowledgment.

“We will have questions for you, is it Miss Conners?”

“Make an appointment, and if president is too big a word, Dr. Conners will do. Is that all?”

“For now. We’ll be in touch, Doctor-President Conners,” Gabe said with a down-turned smile.

“Make an appointment.” She turned on her three-inch heels and clip-clopped across the marble floor to the elevator.

Bob looked at Gabe with a smirk. “I guess we’ve been told.”

“I believe we have,” Gabe answered.

Back in the car, Bob waited ten minutes. Janna called as promised, and he put her on speaker so Gabe could hear as well.

“Where did you get the ring?” Janna asked.

“Wilson and Nancy were murdered. We found their bodies on a workboat crushed under the old bridge. What can you tell me about her relationship with Bo?”

“Poor baby, when there was no word, we always suspected the worst.” Janna sounded like she was trying not to cry. “Nancy and Bo were both strong-willed. She loved Wilson, but there was something going on between Bo and Wilson. I never knew what it was about, but Bo was furious with him. If Wilson had discovered something about the company, he might have threatened Bo to get him off their backs. Or Nancy might have been the one who had the leverage. She was aggressive and quite mature for her age.

“That’s what got her in trouble with Wilson,” Janna continued. “She went after him. And of course he didn’t put up a fight. She was gorgeous, and, like I said, she loved him.”

Gabe smiled and nodded. “Was the trouble between them enough that Bo would have had a hand in her death?”

“Oh, no,” Janna said. “He would never have intentionally hurt her. All those years thinking she had just left and wondering if it was his fault. At first he blamed Wilson. He even hired a British investigator to find them, but as time passed he believed it must have been Conners, or someone Conners gave orders to. The files he was building—he was trying to prove it and at the least ruin the family.”

“We just met Conner’s daughter in the lobby. Tell us about her,” Bob said.

“Catherine’s cold. She’s all business, smart, but it’s going to be a sad day when she takes over. She’d replace us all with computers if she could. She thinks they make better employees. Seniority and loyalty are not concepts she understands. All that matters to her is this week’s profit and loss statement.”

“Could she have been in on the bidding fraud?” Gabe asked.

“I doubt it. She hasn’t been here long enough. She’s been in those fancy business schools in New England. Wants us to call her Dr. Conners.”

“So she told us. Janna, what about you? Are you going to be safe here?”

“Do I still belong here? No, it’s time for me to go. All the people I cared about are gone. I have grandchildren who need my attention. Once I leave I’ll be fine. Until then I’ll be safe. I’m just an old woman whose time has come and gone. Who would want to hurt me? But there is one thing. Just before he died Bo told me he thought they were listening to our calls and reading our