Ghost River by Jon Coon (best non fiction books of all time TXT) 📕

to party, and that led to sequential wives. Had several kids along the way. Janna said his alimony and child support approached the national debt.”

“All the more reason to go after every dime, I suppose. Did she know Wilson Corbitt?” Gabe asked.

“Yeah, dashing young Brit. A real charmer. He and Bo were great pals, but then something happened. I didn’t get the rest, but I think she knows.”

“Finish your grits. Let’s go find out.”

In her early sixties, Janna was thoughtful, helpful, and angry at the loss of her boss of forty-one years. She had been with him longer than any of his wives, had cared for his kids, and was eager to prove he’d not taken his own life.

After introductions, Gabe asked about Wilson Corbitt.

“Janna, what was it that caused the fall-out between Wilson and Bo?”

“It was Nancy, Bo’s daughter from his first marriage. She was only nineteen. I’ve got her picture. Yes, here it is,” she pulled the photo of a perky, dark-haired, smiling young woman from the stack. “She got pregnant. Wilson was the daddy. He was ten years older. Bo was furious, she was a daddy’s girl, and he loved her. When she and Wilson disappeared, he never spoke of her again. I think Bo was heartbroken she would leave without a word.”

“Any idea what happened to her?” Bob asked. Gabe became suddenly distracted, looking at the photo and thinking how much she looked like Cas.

“At first, we thought she had just gone back to England with him. But after weeks, then months, well . . . Wilson gave her a beautiful ring. Must have cost a fortune. She waited until her dad was out of town to show it to me. She was so happy. Just a couple days later they were gone.”

“Janna, would you still recognize that ring?”

“I don’t think Bo knew,” Gabe said to Bob as they walked out of the building. “At least at first. He probably thought they eloped. But if they were that close she would have called him or something. He must have suspected the worst. What an awful thing to live with.”

“How are we doing on finding the guys who blew the bridge?”

“Explosive Services has been out of business for years, but it looks like those guys build careers out of starting new companies. Have an accident, start a new company. New title, same actors, same script. It’s going to take a while to find them.”

Carol was late getting back to the RV. She had bags of Chinese food and a trunk full of surprises. They ate at the picnic table under the awning, and as they finished Carol said with impatience, “Well, aren’t you going to ask me what I did today?

“I’m afraid to ask,” he replied.

“How did you know where the bodies were?” she asked abandoning her first line of questioning.

“Hey, cops know things. And I’m really good—”

“That has yet to be established. Nonsense. You had help.”

“Of course. The old engineer in the truck told me. He was in on the bridge scam.”

“She was just a baby,” Carol said sadly.

“Not too young to be pregnant,” he noted.

“Who’s pregnant?” Emily asked from the RV steps. She had a Coke and settled onto the table’s bench seat.

“The dead girl in the boat,” Carol answered.

“Oh. Okay.” Emily answered.

“How would you feel about a new brother or sister?” Carol asked her.

“Now?”

“No, that was hypothetical. You know we’re not sleeping together,” Carol rebuffed.

“Yeah, it might be fun. Having a little brother or sister, I mean.” She giggled as if she were the only one in on her joke.

“And you?” she turned to Gabe.

“I agree with Emily. It might be fun.” He narrowed his gaze at Carol, and she smiled. “So what did you do today?”

“I got three appraisers coming this week. I hired a moving company to clean out the house and put our stuff in storage. I signed the real estate agreement, and we went shopping. Wait here. We’ll be right back.” Emily was laughing and covering her mouth. They walked to an adjacent empty lot and returned in the shiny new yellow Mustang convertible. Carol popped the trunk, which was full of new dive gear: a red and black Viking drysuit, Aga mask, bailout bottle, and regulator, harness, weights and technical diving backplate with a tec wing.

“Wow,” Gabe said. “That’s serious gear.”

“If you keep inviting me on these romantic dives I want my own equipment. I don’t like borrowing, especially suits. They always have a suspicious smell. This stuff fits, and the best part is this: have a look.” From the bottom of the pile she pulled a black bag labeled Fourth Element. “I’m not ever going to be cold, never again. This is the underwear used on polar expedition dives. Warm as toast. That’s me. Warm and ready for anything.”

“My little underwater criminal investigator!” he laughed.

“One other thing, from the dive shop,” Carol said. “I asked Don Lane about Paul. He said Paul has a real aptitude and a great attitude. He even does a good job cleaning bathrooms. He sure didn’t practice that at home,” she laughed. “But I’m just happy he’s finding himself. I’m praying this works.”

“Me too.”

“You promised me we were going to have another chat. Have you forgotten?”

“We’ll get there. Patience is a virtue, remember? I need to feed the dogs. Oh, do you suppose there’s any chance Paul would like to go to church with us on Sunday? We could go out for lunch after.”

“My atheist son? I doubt it, but I’ll ask.”

“Perhaps for free food?” Gabe took her hand.

“Perhaps.” She smiled at him with a tear in the corner of her eye.

CHAPTER 31

0900

Tallahassee

Gray and overcast

The next morning, back at McFarland’s Tallahassee offices with Janna, Bodine’s administrative assistant, Bob continued to ask about the photographs and the smiling, country club faces collected from Bo’s walls and shelves.

“Janna, out of all these guys, who would have been the most likely to be hurt by anything Bo could have told us?”

“If it’s what you