“Maria has been under enough strain lately,” he said, glancing at the woman in the chair who dabbed gently at her eyes with a tissue.

“It’s all right, Rocky,” Maria said. “If they can help track down Michael Norton, it’s a good thing.”

Rocky’s jaw clenched and he moved in closer to Maria, his eyes on Lisa. “We want that killer caught.” He cursed, faced the camera, and pummeled the suspect with his words. His language become more offensive as his anger increased.

Lisa didn’t mind. She could bleep out those words, viewers would fill in the blanks, and the effect would be the same. Maybe even better.

Rocky glared at the red light and leaned in, his face flushed. He clenched his fists. “If I get ahold of you, I’ll break your worthless neck. You killed my brother you son of—”

Maria interrupted him with a hand on his arm, her eyes pleading. “Rocky, calm down.”

Rocky took a deep breath and moved back a step. “Sorry. I’m upset, that’s all.”

Lisa smiled outwardly, smothering an inner jump for joy. “That’s okay,” she said in her calmest voice. “It’s understandable.” What she really wanted was more of the same. It was good stuff, and would keep her viewers glued to their screens.

Maria looked up at Rocky. “I know you wouldn’t kill the man. We’ll let the law take care of him.”

Rocky looked at Maria, his eyes flaring, and stormed from the room. The camera followed his retreat and then turned back to Maria.

The grieving widow gave a lopsided smile. “Please forgive Rocky. He’s stressed out.” She added quickly, “We both are.”

“It’s all right, Maria,” Lisa said. “Let’s hope, with the help of our viewers, we can bring your husband’s killer to justice.”

Maria dabbed at a tear rolling down her cheek, then balled up the tissue in her tightly clenched hands. She looked at Lisa and spoke firmly. “Perhaps we’d better end this interview.”

Lisa understood the woman’s tone of voice and knew she wouldn’t get anything else of use. She smiled politely, thanked Maria for her time, and wished her well.

Don shut down the camera and followed her back to the van. Lisa was pleased with the interview. Perhaps she would get it edited as soon as possible, run a short version every hour, and then edit in footage from the crime scene, do some interesting voice-overs, and dump the whole thing on the public at six o’clock.

Chapter 14

Tuesday, 1:05 p.m.

ANNIE CLEANED up the lunch dishes, made herself a cup of coffee, and went into the office. She had discussed the case with Jake earlier, and they had decided to do what they could to help Maria Shaft. After calling Maria, Jake had picked up a retainer, and Annie was ready to delve into the case.

She sat at her desk and booted up her computer. Hank was on his way over and she planned to kill time by doing some preliminary research on Werner Shaft and Michael Norton.

A quick search under both names brought up a story on their relationship nine years ago. They were convicted of breaking into a warehouse and stealing a quantity of electronic equipment. They got nabbed when the fence they contacted turned out to be an undercover cop. Each had pled guilty and done a three-year stint in prison.

The first few links in the search led to a variety of news sources featuring the same information with minor variations.

Then an item caught her eye on the second page of the search results. She clicked through and was presented with a story from less than a year ago.

She read the headline: Werner Shaft Wins 5th Annual Smokie’s Bar 9-Ball Tournament.

There was a picture identifying the subject as Werner Shaft as he stood by a billiard table, proudly holding a trophy in one hand, his cue in the other.

What made her sit forward was the story below the picture identifying the runner-up as Michael Norton. There was no photo of Norton, but there was little doubt, it had to be the same man.

The next item on the search revealed that a small local cable TV company did a short video interview with Shaft and Norton. It was featured on their neighborhood news segment. Annie watched the brief interview with interest.

It wasn’t evidence of any criminal activity, but Rocky Shaft had said there was no relationship between his brother and the fugitive, Michael Norton. And Maria had agreed. Yet there clearly was.

Rocky was mistaken—nothing suspicious in that, but this was evidence the two ex-cons kept in some kind of contact since their time in prison.

Annie wondered why Maria Shaft wasn’t aware of it. Surely Werner would’ve boasted about his tournament win to her. But perhaps not, and either way, it didn’t prove much.

She downloaded the interview video, and then printed out the news story and tucked it inside the thin file she had started on the case. Her search yielded nothing else of interest, so she closed the folder, brought it to the living room, and dropped it on the coffee table. She would show it to Hank and see what he thought about it.

She had just nicely curled up with a book when the doorbell rang. Jake came down from upstairs and beat her to the door, and in a moment, Hank and Jake came into the room and sat on the couch.

Hank greeted her, sat his briefcase on the cushion between him and Jake, and snapped it open. He pulled out two folders, handing one to Jake, the other to Annie.

“That’s all we have right now and you’re welcome to it,” Hank said. “There’s the ME’s report on the murder, the forensic report, the witness statement, and whatever else we could dig up.”

“There’s one more thing,” Annie said. “It appears Shaft and Norton did have a relationship after all.” She told him about the news story she found online regarding the 9-ball tournament, handing him the printout.

He read it and said, “I talked to Tammy Norton and she told me there was no relationship between Shaft and Norton. Said they hadn’t seen each other for years. Both wives claim they knew nothing about their association.” Hank waved the printout. “But this tells me the two men had something going on.”

“Something they wanted to keep secret,” Jake added. “Didn’t want their wives to know.”

“Exactly. I don’t think Tammy would have any reason to lie about it,” Hank said. “If she knew about their association, she would’ve said something. She wants to find her husband as badly as we do and she seems sure he’s innocent.”

“Wives are always the last to know,” Annie said.

Jake was perusing the forensics report. He dropped it in his lap and looked at Hank. “This sure doesn’t look like a professional hit. A professional would’ve been more efficient than this.”

“A bullet in the head is pretty efficient,” Annie said.

“I mean the way it was carried out. A chase and a lot of shots. A hitman would’ve done it in one. Game over.”

“Exactly,” Hank said. “And he wouldn’t have done it where there could be witnesses.”

Jake added, “A pro would never have left shell casings laying around either. Especially ones with his fingerprints on them.”

Annie sat forward, her brow wrinkled in thought. “If Werner Shaft wasn’t involved in anything criminal since being released from prison, then why was he carrying a gun?”

“Perhaps he knew his life was in danger. Maybe he was threatened and carried it for protection.”

“Or perhaps,” Hank said. “He was still involved in something his wife didn’t know about.”

“Both wives said the same thing,” Jake said. “Their husbands had gone straight. So if they were up to no good and working together, they kept it to themselves.”

“I’m still lacking a motive,” Hank said.

“Love or money,” Jake said. “It’s always about love or money.”

Annie looked at Hank. “Is there evidence of any affairs going on anywhere?”