Dead to Rights by Jack Patterson (fiction book recommendations .txt) 📕

about someone from here who didn’t have to fight for scraps when he left town.”

Burt broke into a grin. “Ah, Isaiah Drake. He was poetry in motion. I loved watchin’ that kid run the football. It was like he was dancin’ through a minefield. Nobody could touch him. Still the most amazing athlete I’ve ever watched in person.”

“What do you remember about the night of May 7, 2004?” Kelly asked.

“It was a night I wish I could forget,” Burt said. “But I’ve been asked too many questions about it. It’s the one date that’s seared in my mind more than the day Betty decided to take our kids and split.”

“Were you working here that night?” Cal asked.

Burt nodded.

Cal glanced at his notes. “And did you get any sort of strange vibe from Drake?”

“Not really. He and his buddies looked like they were just here for a good time. Nothin’ out of the ordinary as far as I could see.”

“What about Susannah Sloan? Was she here that night?” Kelly asked.

“Oh, Susannah,” Burt said with a sing-song tone accompanied by a wry grin. “She wasn’t here that night. After she was assigned the position of county prosecutor, she almost stopped coming in here altogether. Didn’t want to fraternize with the enemy, I guess. But I knew her well from all the times before when she used to visit, especially when she was coming home from law school at the University of Georgia.”

Kelly leaned forward on the table. “What can you tell us about her?”

“She was a bright girl, a little on the flirtatious side, the type who always had to have a boyfriend. She was super friendly to everybody, which I think got her in trouble sometimes.”

“How so?”

“If she was nice to a guy, he’d start to think she liked him. Then Drake would have to lay down the law—at least that’s how it went down when the two of them were dating.”

Cal wrote down a few more notes. “So, do you know what happened with her after she stopped coming here?”

“Well, she never really stopped coming here.”

Kelly furrowed her brow. “I thought you said—”

Burt held up his hands. “Just during business hours. I used to let her in after we closed the place down and ran off the riffraff. She’d talk to me about all her problems. And if I let her drink long enough, she’d tell me about her romantic interests.”

“Interests?” Kelly asked.

“Like I said, she was real flirtatious and always found comfort in the arms of a guy. Of course, it never really lasted long—except for Drake . . . and Tanner.”

“Who’s this Tanner character?” Cal asked as he jotted down the name.

Burt chuckled. “Tanner Thomas, lawyer extraordinaire from Jacksonville. He specializes in personal injury lawsuits. Just a high-dollar ambulance chaser, if ya ask me. He has billboards all up and down I-95 around Jacksonville. I get so tired of seein’ his face when I’m on the Interstate I just wanna punch him in the mouth.” Burt stopped and shook his head. “What’s even worse is that while I’m drivin’ to Jacksonville, I sometimes get the treat of listenin’ to him as well with his obnoxious radio ads.”

“But Susannah was drawn to him?”

“Like flies to a pig pen. She couldn’t stay away. Guess he’s good lookin’ or somethin’.”

“Wealthy?” Cal asked.

“Stinkin’ filthy rich,” Burt said. “He’d sometimes fly up to Pickett from Jacksonville on his fancy jet. It didn’t take long before word got around that when that noisy airplane was landin’ at the county airfield, it was none other than Tanner Thomas. I think they tried to be discreet about their relationship or at least convince everyone it was just a professional one. Susannah even went as far as to tell people that his law firm was courting her. But the truth is it was just Tanner himself courting her. I guess after all his overtures, she just couldn’t resist. Hell, I just might go on a date with him too if he came to pick me up in a jet.”

Cal and Kelly both laughed politely.

“So, she was mulling over her options between Drake and Thomas?” Cal asked.

“For the most part. One of her girlfriends told me that she met a new guy two weeks before she died, another lawyer in Jacksonville, some guy who played backup quarterback at the University of Florida before becoming a tort lawyer. It was probably nothin’. But for what it’s worth, I do remember my last conversation with her two nights before she was murdered.”

“Did you tell the sheriff’s office about it?”

“Nah, I didn't want to dish out any gossip before she was even in the ground.”

“Will you tell us about it now?” Kelly asked.

“Oh, I reckon,” Burt said. “But gimme a sec to check on that table over there.”

Burt hustled across the dining room to another table where four men sat with empty glass mugs.

“What do you make of this?” Kelly asked.

“Love triangle gone wrong? Jealousy? It seems likely that one of her lovers had something to do with it.”

“Looks like we’ve got some more people to check out.”

“I’ve never even heard the name Tanner Thomas during the trial either. And I read just about every newspaper report I could get my hands on.”

Burt returned to the table and sat down again.

“Sorry about that. Duty calls. Can’t ignore some of my best customers.”

Cal nodded. “So you were telling us about your last conversation with Susannah.”

“Ah, yes. She got really drunk, and the truth elixir was workin’ overtime. That’s when she confessed that she was distraught about which man to pick. She slapped a pair of diamond rings down on the bar. I then asked her why it was so hard for her to pick Drake after she’d been datin’ him for so many years. That’s when she looked up at me and shook her head. I remember her exact words like it was yesterday: Burt, I’m not choosing between Drake and some other man. And that’s when I realized what was goin’