Lacy and Hugo glanced at each other, both with the same image of Greg Myers puttering around the Bahamas on his boat, cold beer in hand, Jimmy Buffett on the stereo. “Maybe later,” Hugo said. “But for now, we need someone on the ground, someone who knows the casino.”
Mace was shaking his head. “Wilton is my only source and he doesn’t say much. I’m not sure how much he knows, but very little of it trickles all the way down here to Starke.”
Lacy asked, “Would you call Wilton and say it’s okay to talk to us?”
“And what do I gain from that? I don’t know you. I don’t know if you can be trusted. I’m sure your intentions are good, but you might be walking into a situation where things could get out of control. I don’t know. I need to think about it.”
“Where does Wilton live?” Hugo asked.
“On the reservation, not far from the casino. He tried to get a job there but they turned him down. No one in my family works at the casino. They won’t hire them. It’s very political.”
“So there’s resentment?”
“Oh yes. Lots of it. Those who fought the casino are basically blacklisted and can’t work there. They still get their checks, but they don’t get the jobs.”
“And how do they feel about you?” Lacy asked.
“As I said, most of them believe I killed Son, their leader, so there’s not much sympathy. Those who supported the casino hated me from the beginning. Needless to say, I don’t have a lot of fans among my people. And my family pays the price.”
Hugo asked, “If Judge McDover is exposed and the corruption is proven, is there a chance it could help your case?”
Mace stood slowly and stretched as if in pain, then took a few steps to the door, then back to the table. He stretched some more, cracked his knuckles, sat down, and picked up the phone. “I don’t see it. My trial was over a long time ago. All of her rulings have been picked apart on appeal, and by some very good lawyers. We think she was wrong on several of them. We think a new trial should have been granted a decade ago, and so on, but the appellate courts have all agreed with her. Not unanimously; indeed, all of the decisions in my case have been split, with very strong dissents in my favor. But the majority rules and here I am. The two jailhouse snitches who effectively nailed my conviction and sent me away disappeared years ago. Did you know that?”
Lacy said, “I saw it in a memo.”
“Both vanished at about the same time.”
“Any ideas?”
“Two theories. One, and the best, is that both were rubbed out not long after my conviction was affirmed. Both were career criminals, real lizards who cleaned up nicely at trial and convinced the jury that I had bragged about the killings in jail. Well, the problem with snitches is that they often recant, so the first theory is that the real killers took out the snitches before they had the chance to change their stories. This I believe.”
“And the second theory?” Hugo asked.
“That they were taken out by my people in revenge. I doubt this, but it’s not completely far-fetched. Emotions were high and I guess anything was possible. Regardless, the two snitches vanished and have not been seen in years. I hope they’re dead. They put me here.”
Lacy said, “We’re not supposed to be talking about your case.”
“It’s all I have to talk about, and who really cares? This is all a matter of public record now.”
“So that’s at least four dead bodies,” Hugo said.
“At least.”
“Are there more?” Lacy asked.
He was nodding steadily, but they couldn’t tell if it was just a nervous tic or an answer in the affirmative. Finally, he said, “Depends on how hard you dig.”
6