The other man said, “Yeah and by the time we reached the location, the boat was gone, and so were the men. We figured the men who had left the boat returned to it and were fine. Later, we saw three men on the boat and figured our assumption was true. The men were okay. We’ve been out of the country and didn’t see the description of the boat or about the three drowned men until this morning and realized their boat had been stolen. We immediately canceled our fishing plans and came into the bureau to see you.”
“Okay, thanks for the information. We’re grateful you came in and told us what happened.” Adam was glad that the men they had up on charges of theft of the boat hadn’t murdered the three men to steal their boat. It was just accidental, as the coroner had thought.
“The currents are strong and the water was cold. None of the men must have been wearing life jackets or were strong enough to withstand the cold,” the one man who had witnessed it said.
Adam shook his head. “They weren’t.”
When the men left, Tori said, “Hey, Kinney’s going in to see Dover at the jail today”—she glanced at the clock—“in half an hour.”
“Let’s hear what he has to say.”
They drove over to the jail in the van they used for surveillance with a couple of officers who did regular surveillance.
They were all talking about summer plans, boating, camping out, when Kinney began to talk to Dover and the officers got quiet to hear what was being said. “Hey, Dover, I guess you know Phyllis got caught.”
“Yeah. What are you doing here?”
“You know Ollie tried to kill me, only he ended up killing himself after stealing my car.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Ollie didn’t do anything without someone ordering him to do it.”
“So what are you saying?” Dover asked.
“You wanted me to do the job of kidnapping the girl and frame Ms. Redding for it. I said I couldn’t. I have to stay clean. The next thing I know, Ollie is trying to kill me.”
Dover didn’t say anything. Hell, they weren’t going to get anything out of him, Adam was afraid.
“Things really fell apart once you were no longer in charge,” Kinney said, changing tactics.
“I’m still in charge.”
“That’s not what Phyllis and Victor say. First, they hooked up as soon as you lost your case and you weren’t getting out of jail. Then they started stealing and selling boats because they said they can make more money at it than from stealing from hotel rooms. When I told them that you didn’t want them doing that, Victor said you weren’t in charge any longer. Then Burt tried to do what you taught him to do, but he got caught at the hotel room. And Lonnie got caught trying to sell the stolen boat. Of course, Victor and Burt were there also. Phyllis was driving the other boat, so she was involved too. That was some of the reason I quit. Victor had taken charge and I can’t stand him. He’s all in it for himself.”
“Is Victor still on the loose?”
“I heard on the news he got caught. A police officer shot him, and Victor is at the hospital now.”
As soon as Victor was out of surgery, Adam and Sierra would have to question him.
“Nothing fatal, I hope.” Dover sounded sarcastic when he said it.
“No. He was shot in the hand.”
“So why are you here?” Dover asked again.
“I wanted you to know that if you told the others to kill me, I wasn’t the one who was being disloyal to you. Victor and Phyllis have been.”
“I wouldn’t have ordered anyone to kill you, Kinney. I like you too much.” Again, the sarcasm in Dover’s tone of voice was evident.
Adam figured Dover knew Kinney was wired, and that was why he wasn’t incriminating himself.
“You want to know if I ordered the hit on you? I didn’t,” Dover finally said. “I didn’t tell Phyllis to kidnap the kid either. You either. That’s all on her and Burt. I’m sure Victor had a hand in it. Yeah, I knew she was screwing around with Victor. I suspected it when she wouldn’t visit or call me or take my calls. If she had gotten in touch with me, I could have seen right through her.”
“Burt said the kidnapping of the girl was your idea,” Kinney said.
“Burt said that? He’s a fool.”
“He said Phyllis said so too.”
“Why didn’t you tell me in the beginning what was going on between Phyllis and Victor?”
“I wasn’t sure about it right away. I just figured they were getting together to make plans. But Burt knew right away. I figured he would have told you. I never heard what other plans anyone had because I’d said no to doing the kidnapping job, except that Burt told me about the theft of the boat. I don’t blame you if you had hoped Victor and Phyllis would blow the kidnapping case and get caught. But why involve me?”
“I didn’t involve you. I told you already. That had to have been Victor or Phyllis’s idea. And when you said no, they did the job with Burt.”
Kinney laughed out loud and nearly broke Adam’s eardrums. Tori immediately glanced at him and he knew it had hurt her ears too. “So you told Phyllis to do it and she tried to make me do it with Burt, betcha. But I wouldn’t, so she had to do it.”
“If you see her before she gets out of the slammer, tell her I’ll be seeing her. And Victor. Gotta go.”
Kinney let out his breath and must have turned the mike off after that.
As soon as he left the building, Adam called him. “This is Detective Holmes. Meet us at the bureau.”
“He didn’t say anything,” Kinney said.
“I know. But we’ll talk.”
When they all arrived at the bureau, Adam and Tori waved at Sierra and then headed into the interrogation room to speak with Kinney.
And then they listened to the recording. “So what do you think about Dover ordering the hit on you?” Adam asked.
“I’m not sure. I’m thinking it might have been Victor and Phyllis because they had to do the kidnapping bit with Burt instead of me. That made them more of a target for the police.”
“What about Dover ordering the kidnapping of the girl?”
“Oh, hell, yeah. No way would Victor and Phyllis have tried to incriminate Ms. Redding for the kidnapping if Dover hadn’t told them to do it. Dover wanted revenge. Pure and simple. Victor and Phyllis had no reason to do it otherwise. And they figured he would learn about it if they didn’t do it, so they tried to con me into doing it.”