A Gambling Man by David Baldacci (ebook audio reader .txt) 📕

to have an operation after a car accident years ago.”

Dash said. “Now, whose idea was it for you to run for mayor?”

“It was my idea.”

“Armstrong didn’t put you up to it?”

“Look, I know everyone thinks I’m his lapdog, but the fact is, I don’t need help from him. When I told him I was running, he raised no objection, but I’m funding the campaign myself. He hasn’t put up one dime, nor would I take it if he offered.”

“You led us to think that he was supporting you,” said Archer.

“Did I? Well, maybe I did. But he’s not.”

“Why did you come to me to look into this blackmail scheme?”

“I asked my lawyer. He knew about you.”

“And does your lawyer know your father-in-law?”

“Well, yes. Sawyer recommended the guy to me. But what does that have to do with anything?”

“Your wife called Armstrong tonight,” explained Archer. “He showed right up.”

“I bet he did,” Kemper muttered.

“Whenever father and daughter are together she becomes a different person. And not in a good way.”

Kemper seemed to appraise Archer in a new light. “You just described my marriage.” He paused and ran a hand through his hair. “I love Beth. From the moment I saw her, I was nuts about the woman. I loved her mother, too. Eleanor was a dynamo and Beth took after her.” He paused again. “That was when Sawyer wasn’t around. When he was, Beth just clammed up, became a totally different person, like you said. She’d defer to him on all subjects. Took his side against me. It made me mad. It enraged me, in fact.”

“And how did you manifest that rage, Mr. Kemper?” said Dash.

“I never touched a hair on her head and I never would. But…but I started going out on my own, pretended to play the field, acted like some sort of sap you’d see in the movies. Slept in separate rooms. I…I guess part of me thought it would make Beth jealous. The only thing it did was—”

“—it drew her to Benjamin Smalls,” said Archer. “They were having an affair, weren’t they? Ironic, since you were the one playing the ladies’ man, but had remained faithful.”

“I don’t blame Beth for what she did. I feel like I drove her to it. And I know Sawyer was in the background feeding her all sorts of lies about me, trying to destroy our marriage. And he intimated to me that Beth was sleeping with our chauffeur, Adam Stover. I didn’t want to believe it, but it made me suspicious.”

“Yeah, we met handsome muscle boy. He’s definitely not your wife’s type. But you made Armstrong’s job easy, you dope,” pointed out Dash.

“But I never did anything with the woman who was killed. And I sure as hell would never have murdered Wilson.” He paused and looked at Archer. “Why do you know about the island? What the hell would anyone do with it?”

“Well, I think your father-in-law is planning to build a huge casino complex on it,” answered Dash.

Prettyman interjected, “You can’t have a casino in California, Willie.”

“That chunk of rock ain’t part of California,” retorted Dash before turning to Kemper. “Your country club that has the marina and big dock. Does Armstrong have an ownership interest in that?”

“Yes. It was my first big project. I needed his backing.”

“What’s the ownership split?”

“Fifty-fifty.”

“Not to be blunt, but what happens to it if you get gassed in the chamber at San Quentin?” said Dash.

Kemper paled. “I…Beth gets everything that I own.”

“Meaning, realistically, Armstrong will own it all.”

“Yes, I suppose so. Beth just can’t seem to say no to him.”

Archer said, “The day Eleanor Armstrong died in that plane crash, Beth was supposed to go up with her, but instead she went to a luncheon that you had arranged. How did that come to pass?”

“It was Sawyer. He really arranged the luncheon and he insisted that Beth be there.”

“I think Armstrong told Beth that it was your idea, not his.”

Kemper slowly nodded. “It seemed like the light went out of our marriage after Eleanor’s death.”

Dash glanced at Prettyman. “Carl’s going to come up with anything he can to lock me and Archer up. So we’re going to have to lie low for a bit.”

“Okay, Willie, but watch your back.”

“Hell, Ern, you know I’m as familiar with my back as I am my front.”

They walked out of the cell, where Dash buttonholed Prettyman out of Kemper’s earshot. “Okay, here’s the deal, Ern, you got any guys on the force who actually know Pickett’s a bad cop or who aren’t on the take themselves?”

“Yeah, sure. A few.”

“Good. Call ’em in and have them help you play guardian angel. If Kemper bites it, all my plans go sideways.”

Archer and Dash left.

“Where to now, Willie?” asked Archer.

“Midnight Moods.”

“Why?”

“I have to ask Mabel Dawson about an old vaudeville performer named Guy Parnell.”

“And that case you told Prichard about? Rogers versus California?”

“The technical term for that, Archer, is ‘bullshit.’ But it’s all in how you sell the line.”

Chapter 62

THEY FOUND DAWSON BACKSTAGE watching Callahan perform another set.

Dash glanced at the packed house, checked out Callahan doing a song-and-dance routine, and said, “And tell me again how you’re not the luckiest sap on earth, Archer?”

“It’s complicated.”

“In my day, it wouldn’t have been.” Dash eyed Dawson. “Okay, Mabel, we need to talk.”

“Not now. I’m busy.”

“There have been two more murders.”

“Here?” she snapped.

“No, but they’re connected. Now, why did you kick Guy Parnell loose early?”

Dawson slowly turned to look at him as Callahan belted out Dinah Shore’s “I’ll Walk Alone.”

Archer thought, Well that song fits her to a T.

Dawson said, “I…I guess he had a change of plan.”

Dash shook his head. “It’s what we in the business call a rhetorical question, Mabel, because I already know the answer. I dropped enough coins to talk to Parnell long distance. He’s in Detroit with an extra five hundred bucks in his pocket on top of his full seasonal wages courtesy of you.”

She licked her suddenly dry lips. “I…I don’t recall.”

“Sure you do. Armstrong