Dead and Gone by Jack Patterson (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📕

they’d just descended. Once they reached the top, they saw several law enforcement agents on ATVs. They rode down toward them and told them where Bill and Gary were. One of the agents peeled off to escort Cal and Jessica down the hill toward their response unit to get a full report.

For several minutes, neither of them said anything.

Jessica cried softly and sniffled.

Finally, Cal broke the silence. “I’m really sorry about all this.”

Jessica shook her head. “It’s not your fault. I’m just glad it’s over.” She burst into more tears. “I still haven’t even properly grieved Carson’s death yet.”

“Grief is something that never really goes away,” he said. “You just learn how to handle it better.”

She nodded. “It’s just that I feel like I found out I was married to someone I didn’t even know.”

“Carson was a good man—no matter how or why he got tangled up with these guys. Don’t ever think differently about him. Make sure your little girl knows what a good man he was.”

She sniffled again. “It’s just so strange. I never knew that side of him—the side that would be reckless to involve himself with people like that. He was always so careful, so safe. He even double-checked his race car before every race. It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Everybody has a past, but I’ve learned it’s always better to give someone the benefit of the doubt. People can change, you know?”

She nodded and didn’t say another word.

The roar of the engines droned in the distance.

CHAPTER 59

CAL NURSED A CUP of coffee and watched Kelly read his story. He smiled at every slight change of expression that swept across her face.

“Are you kidding me?” she asked as she put the paper down, mouth agape. “Talk about plotting your revenge.”

He nodded. “I almost missed it. After observing the team and listening to all the rumors, I was convinced it was anybody but Jackson Holmes. Even when I saw the video, I didn’t believe it.”

“There has to be more to the story than what you ran.”

He smiled and nodded. “Always.” He took another sip of his coffee and stared out the window.

Kelly snapped her fingers. “Hello? Aren’t you going to tell me the rest of the story?”

“If you insist.”

“Of course, I insist. Now quit keeping me in suspense.”

“I found most of this out after I wrote the story—or I couldn’t properly source it. But as with any murder like this, I’m always looking for the motive. And that’s clearly why I missed it. There didn’t seem to be a clear motive for Jackson Holmes. He was a new guy to the NASCAR scene and appeared to be content just to get his shot as a crew member in the big leagues.”

“How long had he been with the team?”

“Just two years—which makes you think if he was going to do something, why wait two years, right?”

Kelly nodded.

“So, anyway, what I found out was that the Goldini family had a strong grip on several different levels of racing. They’d pay off guys to throw races or to wreck favored drivers. But they were smart enough to only do it on occasion. However, there was a driver named Scooter Jones on the K&N East circuit who told the Goldinis that he would wreck the pole sitter that week. I forget who it was, but it doesn’t matter. Then, Jones went out and won the race.”

Cal took another sip of his coffee and continued.

“This really irked the Goldinis. They told Jones that he owed them two hundred thousand dollars, and Jones reportedly laughed at them to their faces. The Goldinis then went to Carson Tanner and told him he needed to wreck Jones hard within the first five laps of the following week’s race. Tanner owed the Goldinis a favor after they had the favorite eliminated a few months before to clear the path for Tanner to win his first race.”

Kelly’s eyes bulged. “Wow, what a tangled web this story is.”

“That’s not the half of it. So, Tanner wrecked Jones hard, causing serious injuries. After ten days in the hospital, Jones died from injuries due to the wreck.” Cal paused. “And guess who is cousins with Scooter Jones?”

“Jackson Holmes?” Kelly said.

“Bingo. I almost missed that in his bio, which made a brief mention of it. And I still probably wouldn’t have thought much about it until I typed in their names together. The second search page had a big story about the death of stock car racing’s next greatest hero who would never be—and both their names were in the article. Jackson Holmes was quoted and he seemed miffed, to put it mildly.”

“But Davis Motorsports still hired him?”

“Maybe they didn’t see the article. I don’t know. It’s not like Ned Davis would tell me anything these days. NASCAR suspended him from operating a team for two years.”

“The cover up is always worse than the crime.”

Cal nodded. “And the crazy thing is, he didn’t commit the crime either. He got what he deserved. At least for him, he’s not facing a murder charge like Holmes.”

Kelly folded the paper again. “Have you spoken with Jessica since you got back? How is she?”

“She’s fine—and the baby is fine. Her baby still needs that surgery, but it looks like she’s going to at least be able to get that life insurance policy to pay out now.”

Kelly’s stopped. “Do you hear that? Sounds like Maddie waking up.” She darted off to get her daughter.

Cal drained the last of his coffee before his phone rang. It was Owen Burns.

“Burns, how are ya?”

“Alive—and employed.”

“Congratulations. Who’d you land with?”

“I can’t talk about it right now, but when I can, you’ll be the first to know.”

Cal smiled. “Thanks.”

“No, I’m the one who needs to be thanking you. You salvaged my reputation and career with that article. Davis had already done his best to marginalize me—and if you didn’t have the courage to do what you did, I might be looking for some other type