“What do you mean?” Jason sensed they were finally getting to the point.
“I mean, when Izzy said she thought Jana was going to contact you, I did some preliminary investigation.”
“And?”
“And it’s bad. There’s a handyman who’s confessed that Jana hired him to kill Dr. Waters. There’re rumors that she was in deep with the meth trade. Ever hear of a place called Sand Mountain?”
Jason squinted. “I grew up in Marshall County, remember? Course I have.”
“Then you know that there are places on Sand Mountain that are off the grid, which makes it a great place to make and sell methamphetamine.” Harry let out another puff of cigarette smoke. “And to get rid of people who get in the way. You know the name Tyson Cade?”
Jason shook his head.
“You will if you take Jana’s case. He’s the meth czar of Sand Mountain. My contacts in Marshall County say that all illicit drug sales go through Cade.” He narrowed his gaze. “They also say that Jana was screwing him.”
“Great.”
“The rumor swirling around Guntersville is that she owed Cade a lot of money and was . . . working it off until she could pay him back. Dr. Waters had a huge life insurance policy. He was about to divorce her. You can deduce the rest.”
Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “Thanks for the sneak preview.”
“Cade is not someone to mess with, Jason. I understand that you feel you have to go and see for yourself, but please, let someone else represent Jana. Fine, go to the funeral. Help the kids out as much as you can. Then refer Jana to a criminal defense attorney. Someone who knows what the hell they’re doing.” He patted Jason’s shoulder.
Jason climbed inside the car and turned the key. As the Porsche roared to life, he gazed up at his investigator.
“You know I’m right,” Harry said.
Jason peered over the steering wheel. When he spoke, it was more to himself than his friend. “Have you ever wondered who you really are? I mean, beyond what you do for a living, who you marry, who your friends are, how you spend your time . . . but literally, who in the hell you are. That simple, little question.” He looked at him. “Like me. Beyond the billboards, the addictions, my crazy family, my broken marriage, my successes and failures and bullshit, who am I?”
“We all wonder that, amigo,” Harry said, his voice subdued. “And some of us never figure it out.”
Jason put the car in gear. “Maybe not. But I think that’s what this is for me.”
As he began to pull out of the parking lot, he heard Harry’s voice behind him.
“Hey, J. R.”
He hit the brakes and looked over his shoulder at his investigator, who was silhouetted by the streetlamp above the sidewalk.
“Don’t get yourself killed.”
PART FOUR
19
When the man walked into the Alder Springs Grocery, he could tell the store clerk was watching him. He bought a Sun Drop, an oatmeal cream pie, and a pack of sugarless chewing gum. When he placed the goods on the counter, he winked at the clerk, whose face had turned almost as red as her hair.
“What’s up, Doob?”
Marcia “Dooby” Darnell rang him up and met his eye. “Tyson,” she said, as if saying the name pained her. “That’ll be six dollars and eighty cents.”
He handed her a ten-dollar bill and held up a hand when she started to collect his change. “Keep it.”
She slid the plastic bag to him, and he took it without breaking eye contact with her. “Heard anything about the good doctor’s murder?”
She winced. “Only that his wife’s been arrested and she looks guilty as hell.”
“How’s that?”
“That Pike fella confessed and said he was paid by Ms. Waters to kill her husband.”
“Everyone’s heard that,” Tyson said. “You know anything else?”
She averted her eyes as another customer entered the store. “Hey, Marvin.”
An old man grunted at her as he made his way back to the cold drinks cooler. She peered back at Tyson. “I heard that her brother may represent her. The guy on the billboards.”
“Jason Rich,” Tyson said. “I’ve also heard that. Know anything about him?”
She shook her head. “Nah, the Riches lived out on Mill Creek. The daddy was a lawyer in Guntersville. They didn’t get up this way much, and Jason went to private schools. I don’t think he’s been back in town since high school.”