“I apologize for smelling like a distillery,” he was saying to Holly. “The whiskey I didn’t pour out under the table, I’ve been splashing on like aftershave. Please, have a seat.”
He motioned her toward the sofa, over which an old but clean patchwork quilt had been spread to cover the stringy upholstery. Continuing to play host, he said, “Would you like something to drink?”
“No, she wouldn’t.”
Conrad looked over at Crawford and frowned at his rudeness. “I wasn’t talking to you. And I didn’t mean a drink drink. I was thinking along the lines of coffee or a Dr Pepper.”
Holly spoke for herself. “I appreciate the offer, but no thank you, Mr. Hunt.”
“Call me Conrad, and let me know if you change your mind.” He sat down in his recliner, popped up the footrest, and wiggled his butt around to make himself comfortable, all the while smiling at her.
Then he noticed that Crawford had remained standing barely inside the front door. “Are you just going to stand there like a cigar store Indian? Why don’t you sit down and try to be sociable?”
“I don’t have time for a social call. I need to get Holly home before her guards realize she’s missing.”
Conrad looked at her with new interest. “You sneaked out of your house?”
“Something I haven’t done since I was a teenager.”
Laughing, he slapped the arms of his recliner. “I’m glad to hear you got up to mischief. I was beginning to think you were too perfect.”
“Oh, no. I went through a very brief rebellious phase right after my father left, before I accepted my new role as head of the family.”
“How come you snuck out tonight?”
Before she could reply, Crawford did. “She came to see me. We can’t be seen together, so—”
“Why can’t you be seen together? You’re working the shooting case.”
“Not anymore.” Crawford gave him a condensed rundown of the day’s events.
As he finished, Conrad was shaking his head with disgust, but the first words out of his mouth were regarding Georgia. “Your little girl come through it all right?”
“Yeah. Thank God. She was unaware of what was going on. Didn’t see me whaling into her grandpa.”
“You want my opinion, Joe Gilroy had it coming just for being Joe Gilroy.”
Crawford glanced over at Holly before saying, “I’ll pay for it. It might be a while before I’m allowed to see Georgia again.”
Conrad cursed under his breath. “I can’t believe he hit you with a restraining order.”
“We’re waiting on a date for the hearing. I’ll fight it. But even if I win that battle, there’s this other.”
Conrad said, “Neal Lester is a pompous fool with lots to prove, which makes him a dangerous pompous fool.”
“This wild hair he has about Crawford is ridiculous,” Holly said.
“A wild hair underscored by Chuck Otterman’s lie,” Crawford added.
Conrad stroked his chin. “Why would Otterman lie to incriminate you?”
“I have no idea. Holly and I were discussing it when Smitty called to tell me that you were drunk and disorderly. What was that about? You’ve been drunk for real so many times, why the playacting?”
“Because I didn’t want anybody to guess what I was really doing there.”
“I’ll bite,” Crawford said. “What were you really doing there?”
“Spying on Chuck Otterman.”
Crawford felt like he’d been clipped behind the knees. Was Conrad the missing link to Otterman that he’d been searching for? He walked over to the sofa and sat down on the arm of it near Holly. “You were spying on Otterman? Why? Did you ever prosecute him?”
“No. At least I don’t think so.”
“Then what do you know about him?”
“Only what I’ve read.” He waited a beat. “Plus what I gathered from my personal experience with him.”
“The surprises just keep coming. I didn’t know you had any personal experience with Otterman.”
“Well, there’s a lot you don’t know.”
“Apparently. Tell me something I don’t know, Conrad.”
“I applied for a job out there at the man camp.”
“When?”
“Last year. Wintertime. Don’t remember what month, but it was cold.”
“You don’t know anything about that industry.”
“I figured I could empty trash cans. They have a maintenance and sanitation crew.”
“And you have a law degree,” Crawford snapped. “Or did.”
Conrad grimaced and looked at Holly with embarrassment. “Last winter was a low point, even for me. I was out of work for months. Electric company cut me off. I needed money to get my heat back on.”
Shame unspooled inside Crawford. He hated that she was hearing this, but at least now he no longer had to dread her learning just how polluted his gene pool was.
“Did you get the job?” she asked.