“Couple of things, actually.”
“Hold a minute. My assistant, Kenzie Haines, is helping me with this. Let me put you on speaker.” They moved into the shade of a nearby tree and Reese held the phone so Kenzie could hear. “Go ahead.”
“I ran the names you gave me, got a couple of interesting hits. Manual Alvarez, the guy off the Poseidon who died in the crash, had a nice little side business going. He worked a typical shift, two weeks on, two off, which gave him plenty of time to deal drugs with his brother, Rico, in Houston.”
Reese smiled. “I know better than to ask how you managed to find this out.”
Tabby laughed. “I had a little help from a mutual friend. I saw where Rico Alvarez was arrested the week before the crash, so I asked Hawk Maddox to look into it, see if there was a chance Rico’s brother, Manuel, was working with him. Sure enough, from what Hawk found out, Manuel and Rico worked as a team and both of them had enemies. Apparently, the money from a couple of recent cocaine deliveries went missing. The guys higher up the food chain weren’t happy about it. Hawk says Rico was lucky he got arrested or he might be as dead as his brother.”
“Hawk thinks they sabotaged the chopper to get to Manuel?”
“He doesn’t know but he says it’s possible.”
“Thanks, Tabby, appreciate the help.”
“You said there were a couple of things,” Kenzie put in. “Was there something else?” She had a way of keeping him focused, one of the reasons he considered her such a valuable asset.
“Not about Manuel, but Hawk made a few more calls and guess what? Turns out, the copilot on the flight, Craig Bigelow, is sleeping with the wife of one of the mechanics who had access to the chopper. You need to call Hawk. He can fill you in.”
Reese nodded. “Will do.”
“I’ll let you know if I come up with anything else.”
Reese ended the call and turned to Kenzie. “It’s lunchtime. There’s a place to eat just down the block. I can call Hawk from there.”
They made their way into a small café called the Sunbonnet and slid into a booth at the back. Pretty, wide-brimmed straw hats banded with silk flowers hung on the walls. The booths were upholstered in bright yellow vinyl, and yellow flowers in small glass vases sat in the middle of the tables.
“Hawk Maddox,” Kenzie said as she picked up a menu. “He’s one of the guys at The Max, right? You’ve mentioned his name a couple of times.”
“Jason Maddox. Everyone calls him Hawk. He’s a bounty hunter, one of the best in the trade. He’s got a network of informants all over the country. You want to know what’s happening in the underbelly of a city, Hawk’s your man.”
A little waitress with a bouncy blond ponytail arrived to take their orders: grilled chicken salad for Kenzie, a pastrami sandwich for Reese. While they waited for the food, Reese phoned Hawk.
“I been expecting your call,” Maddox said, his deep baritone rumbling over the line clear enough for Kenzie to hear. He was a big guy, former spec-ops marine, six foot four inches of solid muscle. He was recently married and extremely happy about it.
“I understand you’ve got information for me,” Reese said. “I’m putting you on speaker so my assistant can hear.”
“Kenzie, right? Chase mentioned you were with her at some fundraiser he and Harper went to.”
“My date canceled at the last minute and Kenzie filled in for her.”
“I hear she’s a real stunner.”
Reese’s glance strayed toward her. Impossible to deny it. Kenzie was beautiful. “She’s sitting right here, you know. She can hear what you’re saying.”
“Hi, Hawk,” Kenzie said with a smile so warm he felt a little pinch in his chest.
“Nice to meet you, Kenzie,” Hawk said.
“You mind if we get back to business?” Reese grumbled, mildly irritated and not quite sure why.
“You know about Rico and Manuel Alvarez?” Hawk asked.
“Tabby brought me up to speed on the brothers. She says you have info on the copilot.”
“That’s right. One of the mechanics who works on Pelican Island is a guy named Tex Lovell. Wife’s name is Suzy. Word is Suzy gets around. Lately she’s been sleeping with Craig Bigelow, the copilot on the chopper that went down.”
Bigelow’s name was on his list. He cast Kenzie a glance and could tell she understood the ramifications, that maybe Bigelow was the target, not him.
“So aside from a dead drug dealer with some serious enemies, we’ve got a possible jealous husband who could have jimmied the gears in order to kill his rival.”
“That’s about it,” Hawk said.
“Anything else?”
“Not at the moment, but I’ve put the word out. I’ll let you know if something turns up.”
“Thanks, Maddox, I owe you.”
“No way. As I recall, you were the one who saved my ass last time around.”
Reese chuckled at the memory of the night he and Kate Gallagher—now Hawk’s wife—had rescued him from a Houston brothel.
The call ended, the food arrived, and they settled in to eat. He had two new leads to follow, both of which put him in the clear as the target of the crash. He looked at Kenzie and felt a little better about bringing her along.
Unfortunately, until he knew for sure what had happened, he had to keep digging. Which meant another night in Houston, another night with Kenzie sleeping in the room next to his.
Reese slid her a glance and thought how pretty she looked surrounded by colorful straw bonnets and bright yellow flowers, her mahogany curls loose around her shoulders.
Inwardly, he groaned.
ELEVEN
After lunch, Kenzie and Reese set off for their next destination, an address on San Marino Drive that Tabby had sent him, the residence of Tex and Suzy Lovell. The sky was still dreary, just a few weak rays of sunlight filtering through the layers of overcast, the air still hot, thick, and damp.
Before they had left the café, Kenzie had phoned Supervisor Brandt’s assistant, who had helped her before. Ryan had told her Tex Lovell was working at the heliport today. There was no record of him doing maintenance on the chopper, but if he was serious about eliminating his wife’s paramour, he could have been the guy who broke in the night before the crash.
Next Kenzie phoned Suzy Lovell and asked if they could stop by. Suzy had agreed. Everyone who worked for Sea Titan on Pelican Island knew about the crash and sympathized with the victims. They wanted answers, wanted to help in any way they could.