“What was the point of it, then?” I asked. “Why make that much money and do nothing with it?”
“You’ll have to ask Hank that question.”
I intended to.
“Who do you think is digging those holes?” I asked. “Louise and her accomplice?”
“Maybe. But from the looks of it, they’re just diggin’ random holes. They need the toolbox, which is why she contacted you.”
“It’s obvious the third person doesn’t know where the money is,” I said. “If Barb got it, she would have left. Same with Big Joe.”
“If either of those two were even involved. The third person could have been someone totally different.”
“Okay,” I said, “let’s put that aside for now. Louise needs the toolbox because Bruce hid the location inside it. Maybe he told her about the toolbox but didn’t tell the third person. Maybe that’s what got Bruce killed.”
“The third person killed him?” Marco asked. “Or it could have been someone like Bingham. They did get in a fight two days after Walter’s murder.”
“But where does Bart come into this?” I asked. “Louise went to see him, so he has to factor in somehow.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know.”
“So where do we go from here?” I asked.
He lifted a brow. “I know one person who potentially has answers to a lot of our questions.”
“I can think of three people.” But I figured we needed to start with the one least likely to kill me. “Let’s go talk to Hank.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Marco pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward Hank’s.
“Do you think Bingham could potentially be doing the digging?” he asked.
“If he’s looking for it, Lula didn’t seem to know. Then again, I doubt he’d tell her. He seems to genuinely love her, but his business always takes priority. So, yeah, I can definitely see him looking for the money himself.”
“What about Bart Drummond?” he asked.
“Yep, he’s the third person who might have answers to our questions, but I have a feeling he has less of them than he’d like.” I twisted my mouth. “Although I have nothing to back that up. Just a hunch.”
“I get the feeling Bart is taking a back seat to all of this,” he said, “but you know who else is taking a back seat?” He darted a look at me. “Louise Baker.”
“What are you talking about? She started this whole thing.”
“Exactly. She dropped in, tossed out some breadcrumbs, told you she’ll be in touch, and you haven’t heard a word since.” His grip on the steering wheel tightened. “What if she did this to get you churnin’ the pot, and she’s plannin’ to swoop in and skim the cream of your labors off the top.”
I frowned. He was hardly the first person to have suggested something like that, and there was no denying I’d played right into her hands.
“Maybe.” I said. “Do you think we should stop?”
“No. But I think we need to start thinkin’ about what Louise might gain from this, because the possibility of her runnin’ off with Hank’s loot scot-free seems pretty unlikely at this point. There are too many parties involved.”
He was right. So what was her endgame?
“Who else came to see you?” he asked. “You said you had visitors. Plural.”
“One of Bingham’s men was there. He was watching me, and I’m pretty sure he saw me talking to Michelle. He left soon after you walked in.”
His brow furrowed.
“I know that I’m sounding paranoid again . . .”
“No. It’s entirely plausible, and it was smart of you to notice. Obviously Bingham feels like he has a stake in this. You said he was upset you hadn’t told him what was going on, so maybe he’s got someone watchin’ you too.” He cast a glance at me. “Did you get a chance to talk to Wyatt?”
“Max said he went to Nashville to pick up a part and won’t be back until tomorrow.”
“Okay, so we’ll check back tomorrow.”
“I did find some information about Bruce from Ruth.” I filled him in on what she’d said.
“So she didn’t know what the fight was about,” he said with a frown. “Then Wyatt probably won’t know either.”
I could kick myself for not asking Bingham when I had the chance.
“I plan to find out.” I twisted my hands in my lap. “I’m nervous about confronting Hank. I think he’s going to be mad at me. He asked me to leave this alone, and I’ve been poking around, asking questions.”
“So maybe you lead with what you know about Michelle and Big Joe.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
He gave me a sidelong glance. “Care, even if he gets angry, he’s not going to disown you or send you away.”
“He’s already sent me away to stay with you,” I said with a hint of bitterness.
“He did it to protect you.”
“My head knows that, but my heart still hurts. It’s stupid, I know.”
He reached out and took my hand. “You’re entitled to your feelings, but I’m telling you right now that Hank is no Randall Blakely. He loves you, and askin’ him questions isn’t gonna change that.”
I hoped he was right.
The house was lit up when we pulled into the driveway, and I was surprised to see several cars and trucks parked in front of it. The same vehicles I’d seen at his place on poker night.
“His friends are here,” I said, my stomach dropping to my feet.
“What do you want to do?”
“I need to talk to him, but I don’t want to do it in front of them. I guess we should just head back to your house, and I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”
“You don’t even want to go inside and say hi?”
“This is why he asked me to move out, Marco.” I gestured to the cars. “He told me I could drop by to see him, but he specifically said I could come over all I want in the mornings. He doesn’t want me to walk in on anything, and I need to respect that.”
He leaned over and gave me a soft kiss. “Tomorrow it is.”
Turning the car around, he started down the country road to the highway, but he hadn’t gone far before he slowed to a crawl. “They’re not gonna stay there all night.”
“Are you suggesting we go see Hank after they leave?”
“No, I want to follow his friends. Do you know what Big Joe drives?”
My heart thudded against my rib cage. “No.”
“You up for waiting a bit?”
“Yeah.”
He sped up a little, then stopped and backed into a gravel drive surrounded by trees.
“What did you do after you dropped me off at work?” I asked after he killed the engine. “Get caught up on paperwork?”
“Yeah, after I finished my paperwork, I checked on Adam.” He shot me a pained grimace. “That’s the boy I’m trying to help. He’s acting out in his foster home. If he keeps it up, they’re going to kick him out, and he’ll have to go to a group home.”