“Where is he?”
Hack hooked a thumb toward the kitchen. “Out back. Waiting for you.”
Jason was a punk. Cain could see it in his entire being. Stringy hair, slouched shoulders, and a flat attitude that suggested he couldn’t be bothered with other people’s problems. Like the massacre of his so-called friend’s family. He could probably use a couple of years in the Marines to stomp that attitude into submission.
Jason sat at a redwood picnic table, rolling a Dr. Pepper can back and forth over its top as if playing some game of tin can hockey. He didn’t appear overly concerned, or upset, or really anything. Looked more like he was bored. Cassie sat across from him. Cain and Harper stood behind her.
“Who are they?” Jason asked.
“Backup singers,” Cassie said. “Now focus on me.”
He shrugged, kept rolling the can.
Cassie reached out and stopped it. That got his attention.
“Tell me about it,” Cassie said.
“Not much to tell. I came over to see Tommy. Rang the bell. No one answered so I looked through the front window and saw all of them. Pretty freaky. So I called you guys.”
“Was Tommy expecting you?”
“Not really. We were supposed to hook up last night but he never showed. I came by to find out why.”
“What time were you supposed to meet him?”
He shrugged. “Six, seven, eight. Something like that.”
“Sounds pretty vague.”
“We’re busy guys. Schedules are sometimes hard to keep.”
“Busy with what?” Cassie asked.
“Stuff.”
The more Cain saw of Jason, the less he cared for him. His first visual impression had been right on but only to a point. Jason was worse. Not simply a smart-ass, he was cold, unconcerned. Seemingly disinterested in what had happened to Tommy and his family. If there was no love lost between Jason and Tommy, which seemed to be the case, did Jason see this as an opportunity? If they both dealt, were partners in the business, then could this be a partner liquidation? Was Jason involved in the killing? Did he do it himself? If not, did he know who did? These questions, and a handful of others, surged in Cain’s head. He wanted to slap the answers right out of Jason’s mouth, but he held all that in and let Cassie do her job.
Cassie leaned her elbows on the table edge. “Where were you guys going to meet?”
“The park.”
“Why there?”
“We hang out there a lot.”
Cassie smiled. “I know.”
He shrugged but said nothing.
“You guys still dealing?”
“We never did that. That’s just some shit you guys made up.”
“I doubt that. Tommy have a habit of not showing up?”
“Not really.” Jason raised one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “He usually appears sooner or later. But, like I said, we’re busy guys.”
He reached for the can but she backhanded it off the table.
“Listen to me, smart ass,” Cassie said, “if I even suspect you had anything to do with this, I’ll bury you. Are we clear on that?”
“You think I did this?”
“Did you?”
“No. Tommy was my friend.”
“Where were you when this happened?”
He gave her a half-smile. “When did it happen?”
“Jason, do not fuck with me. Am I clear?”
He stared at her but said nothing.
She went on. “Walk me through last night. Step by step.”
“I was in the park until maybe ten-thirty, eleven. Then I went over to Big Bill’s. Had a few beers. Went home around one.”
“That’s it? Nowhere else?”
“It’s what I said.”
“Anybody who can confirm that?”
“I drank at the bar. With Bill Keener. Talk to him.”
“I will.”
Jason’s chin came up. “You do that.”
“Okay, let’s say you didn’t do this,” Cassie said. “Any idea who might’ve come in here and killed an entire family in cold blood?”
He fidgeted with the collar of his tee shirt. “No.”
“Why do I think you’re lying?”
“That’s what you guys do, isn’t it? Think everyone’s lying?”
Now Cassie smiled. “Only the ones who are.”
“Well, I ain’t lying. I don’t know nothing about this.”
Cain knew they were wasting their time with Jason. He wouldn’t talk. At least not until they had some way to squeeze him. The thing about criminals, virtually all criminals, is that they’re self-serving. Clamp down on their balls and they talk. Until then, they were team players. The question here was, who were Jason’s and Tommy’s teammates? Who had a hard on for Tommy? Enough to wipe out his entire family?
“So you guys didn’t step on the wrong toes?” Cassie asked. “Anything like that?”
He looked at her. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She stood. “Have a nice day, Jason. We’ll be in touch.”
CHAPTER 21
“What do you think?” Cassie asked. She removed her Glock from its holster, laid it on her desk near the phone, and dropped into her old but comfortable swivel chair. It had been her father’s, then Hack’s, and now passed down to her. The chief’s seat. A few repairs here and there, but still sturdy enough. She guessed if it held Hack during his tenure, it should have no problem with her for many years to come. Which was good since her budget wouldn’t easily allow for a new one. Or a new anything else.
The Tanner’s Crossroads’ PD occupied a low brick downtown building that had once been a furniture store. The old PD, where she had spent much of her childhood, where she first became a cop under her father’s wing, was down the street a couple of blocks in a white frame house that began its life as a private residence. It was now an antique store. The new digs, now three years old, were larger and more centrally located but Cassie missed the old one. So many memories. Seeing the front window piled with antiques somehow didn’t seem right to her. But it was progress, she guessed. Not to mention that the sale of the house and the deal they got on the current location put a few bucks into the PD’s bottom line.
Hack sat in one of the two chairs that faced her desk, the fingers of his right hand snugged beneath his
