Hour Game

"Well, these dancers can't make all that much money, so free room and board must be pretty hard to give up. Did she have any friends or family in the area she might have been staying with?"

"No. But we're trying to find out where she was staying during that time."

"That really needs to be followed up on, Chip," said King. "If she found herself a sugar daddy close to when she was murdered, we need to know who he is. It could very well be the guy who put a pistol in her mouth and left her for the wolves."

"Funny, we had the same thought," said Bailey, unable to hold back a sneer.

"Did you talk to the Battles yet?" asked Williams.

"I was going over there today," said the FBI man. "Care to join me?"

"Why don't you take Sean and Michelle along instead?"

"Fine," Bailey said, frowning.

After covering other points of the investigation, the meeting was adjourned. While Bailey gave additional orders to his men, Williams buttonholed King and Michelle. "Okay, I was right: the feds call the shots and take the glory."

"Maybe not, Todd," said Michelle. "I can't say they're being unreasonable. And it's more important that this psycho be caught, regardless of who does it."

"True. Still, it'd be a lot better if the people who nabbed him were us. "

"We'll go to the Battles' and see what we can find out," said King. "But don't expect miracles, Todd. This guy knows what he's doing."

"The killer or Bailey?" he said irritably.

They drove over to the Battles' in separate cars, King and Michelle in the Whale and Bailey in his big sedan provided by the Bureau.

"The FBI always had better cars than the Secret Service," said King, eyeing Bailey's vehicle.

"Yeah, but we have better boats."

"That's because we snatched them from DEA, which confiscated them from South American drug lords."

"Hey, you do what you have to." She glanced at him. "By the way, what bee got into your bonnet at the meeting? Bailey had been pretty cooperative up until this morning. It was like you deliberately tried to piss him off."

"Sometimes that's the only way you find out what someone's really like."

As the large gates to the Battles' estate clanged shut behind them, King said, "The one I'm worried about is Savannah."

" Savannah? Ms. Party Girl? What makes you say that?"

"Were you Daddy's little girl?"

"Well, yeah, I guess I still am."

"Well, once Daddy's little girl, always Daddy's little girl. And Savannah 's daddy's gone."

CHAPTER 36

THERE WERE SEVERAL CARS PARKED in the motor court when they pulled up. Mason answered the door. Both King and Michelle detected it at the same time. As they followed the man in, she turned to King and whispered, "Does Mason look happier?"

"No," King whispered back. "More like he's gloating."

Remmy received them in the large library. They sat on big leather couches and watched as the lady of the house assembled herself in front of them, a queen before her court. She didn't look like a woman who had just lost her husband to murder, thought King. Yet Remmy rarely did things the way others would.

"A sad day for you, Remmy, I know," began Chip Bailey in a suitably sympathetic tone.

"I'm getting used to them," answered Remmy.

"We won't take too much of your time. I think you know Sean and Michelle."

"Yes, their last visit here was quite memorable."

King caught the edge to the woman's voice. What exactly was memorable about it?

Bailey cleared his throat. "You understand that Bobby's death was not from natural causes?"

"You're sure about that? It wasn't some medication foul-up?"

King briefly wondered if she'd asked because she was contemplating a lawsuit against the hospital but quickly decided she was after something else. If he could just figure out what.

"No, it was a deliberate overdose. The interaction would have been pretty quick. In fact, whoever did it probably entered your husband's room shortly after you left."

"Very shortly," added King. "Remmy, did you see anyone on your way out?"

"I left by the rear door as always. I saw some people when I got to the parking lot, but that's all. No one suspicious-looking or anything, if that's what you mean."

"How about anyone you recognized?" asked Michelle.

"No."

"And you arrived back here around what time?" asked Bailey.

Remmy looked at him pointedly. "Chip, should I take that question as meaning I'm under suspicion in my husband's death?"

There was an awkward silence until King broke it. "Remmy, this is an investigation. Agent Bailey here is only doing his job."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to handle this," said Bailey firmly.

Okay, thought King, I tried to be your friend. You're on your own now, buckaroo.

"Remmy, I have to establish where everyone was when Bobby was killed. Just answer my question and we can move on."

At that moment Mason came in carrying a tray of coffee.

King noted that he'd already poured one for Remmy and now handed the cup to her.

Remmy said, "Thank you so much, Mason."