I shrugged. “No idea.”

  "Let’s go get you something to eat before you take it out on someone else just trying to do their job.”

  The double doors opened, and the nurse walked through and came toward us. “I wish I could give you more, but she’s still in surgery. The doctor’s assistant did say it’s possible she’ll be in for at least another hour.”

  I tried not to raise my voice. “That’s all she said?”

  The nurse nodded. “I’m sorry. As soon as I know more, you’ll be the first to know.” She looked from me to Billy. “If you’re going to leave, you can leave your phone number with me, and I’ll call you once I have an update.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  I might have dozed off, but jumped from my chair when I felt a hand rest on my shoulder.

  “Mr. Walsh?”

  It was the doctor who had performed the surgery.

  “Is she all right?” I said.

  “She’s in recovery. The surgery went as well as expected, but we won’t know enough until she’s awake. She’s heavily sedated right now, and we’ll likely keep her that way for a little while longer.”

  “Can I see her?”

  “We want to give her some time in recovery, then I, or one of the nurses, will come get you. She’s only been out for a few minutes, and I know you’ve been out here the whole time, but if you can just give her time to recover. Maybe another hour?” He looked around the waiting area. “Are you here all alone?”

  I stretched my neck and felt pain from my brief nap in the chair. “I don’t know.” I looked around. “My friend was here, but I guess I fell asleep.”

  “Are you the only… Does she have any family here?”

  “Just me. At least here in Jacksonville.” I thought for a moment, unsure of how long I’d been asleep. “I’m going to call her parents. They’re up in Virginia.”

  “Oh,” the doctor said.

  “I wanted to wait, make sure she was okay.” I shrugged. “Maybe that wasn’t the right thing to do.”

  The doctor nodded. “Okay, well, Alex had a punctured lung, and the bullet was lodged in one of her ribs. We had to repair her subclavian artery.”

  “What does that mean?” I said.

  “Well, it feeds a major artery, and runs from her shoulder.” He shifted his stance and tucked his hands into the pockets of his scrubs. “If she didn’t get here when she did, there’s a good chance she would have bled to death.”

  I swallowed so hard it almost hurt. “But she’ll be okay?”

  He nodded. “We’ll keep a close eye on her for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. The timeline is critical.” He paused. “There’s a very slight chance with damage to the subclavian artery she could’ve lost her arm.”

  “What? Are you serious?” I said.

  He stared back at me. “I’m confident she’s just about out of the woods. But if anything changes, you’ll be the first to know.” The doctor turned and walked away.

  The bell on the elevator rang. Billy stepped off and walked toward me. “What’d he say?” He handed me a cup of coffee.

  I took the cup and sat down on the edge of the seat behind me. I stared straight ahead, almost in a daze. “It sounds like she’s going to be all right.”

  Chapter 17

  I was on the top step at L. J. Hoover’s house when a woman came to the door with a cup of coffee in her hand. Her expression was hard to read, but I assumed the strange man who hadn’t showered or shaved in days raised a question or two.

  “Mrs. Hoover?” I said.

  “Yes?”

  “Is Mr. Hoover home?”

  She looked me up and down. “Mr. Hoover?” She shook her head. “No, I’m afraid not.” A look of suspicion covered her face. “Who are you?”

  “My name’s Henry. Henry Walsh. I’m a private investigator.” I pulled a card from my wallet and handed it to her. “I’m investigating the death of Ted Parker.”

  “Ted Parker? What exactly are you investigating?”

  I didn’t exactly answer her. “I understand your husband has known Ted for quite a long time, so I thought maybe—”

  “LJ doesn’t live here. Not right now,” she said.

  I followed her gaze toward my Jeep, and said, “I’m sorry to bother you, then. But is it possible you’d know where I could find him?”

  She shrugged, then looked down into her coffee. “You might want to try his girlfriend’s place.”

  “His girlfriend?”

  “He denies it, of course.”

  “Does she have a name?”

  She nodded with a slight smirk on her face. “Olivia. Olivia Peckham.”

  I stared back at her, somewhat surprised but I guess not completely. “Mrs. Hoover, you’re—”

  “You can call me Vanessa.”

  “Oh, right. Okay, Vanessa, uh, you’ve apparently missed some news. Olivia Peckham is dead. She died of a… they claim it was a drug overdose.”

  Vanessa gasped and put both hands over her mouth. “Oh, dear God.”

  “She had a relationship with Ted Parker. I know that much. And I have to be honest with you, Mrs… Vanessa. I believe your husband was at the hotel with Olivia the morning before Ted Parker was killed.”

  “Should I be surprised?” She looked away for a moment, her eyes headed toward the street. “Is LJ all right?”

  I raised my shoulders. “I can’t answer that. I have no idea. But why wouldn’t he be?”

  She gave me the once-over, then stepped back from the door. “Would you like to come inside?”

  I nodded and followed her through the doorway.

  She closed the door behind her and headed down the hall. “I’m shocked about Olivia. I’m just surprised I hadn’t heard about it from anyone.”

  “Who would have told you?” I said.

  “I don’t know.” She continued toward the back of the house.

  I followed behind her and glanced into a room with a couple of couches and a large fireplace with a painting over the top of it. I was sure I’d recognized it but had no idea from where.

  We walked into the kitchen and Vanessa gestured toward the island in the center. “Have a seat, please.” She walked to the stove and poured hot water into a cup and dropped two tea bags inside. “Would you like some tea? Or something else to drink?”

  I sat down at the island and shook my head. “No, thank you. Not right now.”

  She sat down across from me and looked down into her cup, both hands wrapped around it.

  “Would you mind if I asked about your husband and his relationship with Tucker Dennison and, of course, Ted?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Tucker Dennison. That man’s responsible for pushing LJ out of the company.”

  “Tucker pushed LJ out?” I said. “He made it sound like Ted and LJ had the problems.”

  “Of course he’d say that. Ted was in the middle, from what I know. He was the link in the chain that pulled them all together.” She sipped her tea and gently placed it down in front of her, resting her chin in her hand. “He was such a smart man. A good man.”

  “Ted?” I said.

  She nodded.

  “But LJ left on his own terms, isn’t that right?”

  “He saw the business heading in the wrong direction. So did Ted. They didn’t want to compete with the big players in the industry, but that’s all Tucker wanted to do. Once he saw the problems grow with Tucker, he left to go work for another firm called Invector.”

  “Olivia’s company,” I said.

  “Yes. I didn’t think it was a good idea. For more reasons than one.” She again looked into her cup. “I saw the change in LJ right away.”

  “But if he didn’t want Chemcore to get too big, why would he go work for a larger company?”

  “He just wanted a change,” she said. “I didn’t like the idea from the start.”

  “But then his company wanted to buy Chemcore. That doesn't quite add up.”

  She stared back at me for a moment before she spoke. “I can’t answer all of the questions, Mr. Walsh. LJ was his own man. We’d stopped having meaningful discussions a long time ago, and that includes anything having to do with this one buying that one, and—”

  “Then how did you know about his alleged relationship with Olivia?”

  “I followed him. One time he went right to her house when he told me he had a meeting.”

  I thought for a moment. “How do you know it wasn’t just business?”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Do I look that foolish?”

  I looked back at her but didn’t respond. “When was the last time you saw him?”

  “LJ?” She nodded. “Right after Ted died. LJ and I went to the funeral together.” She got up from the stool and walked to a drawer, pulled out a pad and wrote on it with a pencil. “Here’s LJ’s cell phone, if you don’t already have it.”

  I took it from her and looked at the number she wrote for me. “What about Ted’s wife?”

  “Lynn? What about her?”

  “I imagine you know her pretty well?”

  Vanessa cracked a slight smile. “Lynn and I used to commiserate all the time while our husbands tried to get that business off the ground. It took over their lives, and there wasn’t much room left for their significant others.” She turned and looked out the back sliding glass door and into the yard.

  “You’re still friendly?”

  She leaned against the island and toyed with the cup in front of her. “We don’t talk like we used to. But I still consider her a good friend.”

  I looked down the hallway toward the door. “I appreciate you talking to me. I have to head over to Memorial… my partner’s in the hospital.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “I hope he’s okay.”

  “She’s a she,” I said. “Alex.” As soon as I said her name I felt a lump in my throat. “In fact, she’s there because of this investigation.”

  “Do you mean… your investigation into Ted’s death?”

  I nodded and held up the paper with LJ’s number on it. “Of course, I’ll get to the bottom of what happened to Ted. But now it’s personal. If anything happens to her… ”

  “I wish I could help you,” she said. She shifted her eyes to the floor for a moment, then raised them and again looked out into the yard. “If Olivia Peckham is dead, then where could LJ be staying?”

  “Can’t you call him?”

  She turned to me and shook her head. “We had some strong words after the funeral. He dropped me off. I told him I was going to be meeting with a lawyer. He didn’t like that.”

  I looked around for pictures. “Do you have any kids?”

  Vanessa seemed to roll her eyes. “Why do people ask that when a marriage falls apart? Like as long as you don’t have kids, it’s not a big deal?”

  “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m sorry, I just thought—”

  “No, it’s fine.” She walked to the sink and faced the window behind it with her back to me.

  “I’ll get out of your way,” I said.

  She turned from the sink and followed me to the door.

  I reached for the knob and opened the door.

  I stepped outside and Vanessa poked her head out the door.

  “Henry?”

  I turned when I got to the bottom step and looked up at her.

  She stepped out of the house. “Do you think LJ has anything to do with everything that’s happened with Ted and your friend in the hospital?”

  I hesitated to give her an answer. It wasn’t like I had one. “I haven’t met your husband. I don’t know much about him. But Ted’s brother—”

  “Jack?” she said.

  I nodded. “He’s my client now.” I rested my foot on the lower step in front of me. “I know you’re friendly with Lynn Parker, but it sounds to me like you didn’t know she had hired me to follow Ted?”

  “Lynn did?” She shook her head. “I had no idea. She never mentioned a word of it.”

  “I was there the night he, well, fell from the balcony.”

  “You were there? All because Lynn hired you to follow him? And now, you don’t believe it was suicide? Is that because you saw what happened?”

  “I wish I had. But no, I didn’t.”

  Chapter 18

  I pulled the Jeep over to the side of the road and dialed the number Vanessa Hoover had given me.

  LJ answered on the first ring. “L. J. Hoover.”

  “This is Henry Walsh. I have a feeling you already know who I am.”

  The line went quiet, other than background noise coming through the phone.

  “You there?” I said.

  “Yes? Can I help you with something?”

  “You can answer my question,” I said. “Do you know who I am?”

  “I might.”

  “You might, huh?” I waited a moment but didn’t see the conversation going anywhere without a little more help. “Let’s just say I have something you may be looking for.”

  “I’m sorry? Can you just tell me what this call is about? I’m a busy man. I don’t have much—”

  “How about you meet me, and I’ll explain,” I said.

  “I just told you, I don’t have much time. I don’t know what kind of game you're playing… Mr. Walsh, is it?”

  “Well, I think it would be in your best interest to make some time. How about in an hour we meet at Friendship Fountain?”

  LJ was quiet for a moment. “It’ll have to be another time. I can meet later, in a few hours.”

  “I know you were at the hotel the morning before Ted’s tragic death. And I know you were there with Olivia.”

  “How did you—”

  “I’ll tell you more in an hour. See you then.”

  I hung up with LJ and immediately dialed the phone for Memorial Hospital. I was hoping for a good update, and the nurse I spoke with told me she was doing better. “She’s strong,” she said.

  “I know she is,” I said, and hung up the phone. I pulled out of the parking space and my eyes started to tear. Lacking sleep and any semblance of food in my body, my emotions were too far out of whack.

  I stopped off at Baker’s Dozen for a coffee and a bagel sandwich, hoping it would at least be enough to get me through a meeting with LJ without losing my mind and doing something I’d later regret.

  I sat alone on the bench at Friendship Fountain and looked at my watch. LJ was late, although I thought I’d give him the benefit of the doubt, especially since at first he said he couldn’t make it. But I knew I had his ear when I told him what I knew.

  Finally, I spotted a man I believed was L. J. Hoover. He walked toward me, and seemed to know without question I was the man he was there to meet.

  He stopped in front of me, stood, and looked down at me. He had his hands in his pockets and looked around the area like he was worried we were being watched.

  I studied his hands for a moment, the way he held them in his pockets. “You all right?” I said. “You look a little nervous.”

  He gave me a nod with his chin but didn’t look me in the eye. “I don’t have much time.”

  I slid over to one side on the bench, then sipped what little was left of my cold coffee. “You want to sit?”

  He shook his head. “Just get to the point of all this. Tell me what it is you want from me.”

  “Well,” I said. “You can start by telling me what was going on with you and Olivia at the hotel. And I don’t mean any extracurricular activity. Or extramarital activity, if you’d rather call it that.”

  “I’m sure you know what happened to her,” he said, finally looking me in the eye.

  “Of course. I found her. But I have a feeling you already know that.” He wasn’t about to sit down on the bench and made me uncomfortable the way he stood in front of me. I got up and stood to the side, facing him. “What I’d like to know is what you were doing at the hotel the same morning Ted just happened to come down from the balcony.”

  “We were there for work,” he said. “I met with Olivia to discuss business.”

  “Just business, huh?” I stared back at him. “I’m not sure that’s a story your wife’s going to believe.”

  LJ shifted his eyes down to the ground, then raised them to mine. “You spoke to Vanessa?”

  “Whether I did or not isn’t important. What is important is that you come clean with me; tell me what was going on at that hotel, and why you’d all be there when it’s not exactly an out-of-town location?”

  LJ shrugged. “We use the rooms for meetings. Especially when they’re slightly more informal.”

  “Well, I have a feeling you know more than you’re willing to share with me. But my partner is in the hospital right now and it’s directly related to Ted’s death. And the fact you were at that hospital with Olivia—Jack Parker’s ex-wife—has me wondering what your role is in all that’s happened. Not only with Ted and Olivia, but with my partner.”

  LJ shook his head. “I have nothing to do with any of it. I swear. And I left the hotel that morning after I met with Olivia, and—”

  “You can drop the act, you were there to meet with her,” I said. I gave him a nod. “You do coke with her, too?”

  “Cocaine?” LJ shook his head. “No.”

  “Then on top of everything, I happened to find a briefcase in the back of a Cadillac that followed me from Olivia’s house. And inside it was a scientific formula. I’ll be honest; it’s way over my head, but from what I’m told, you’ll know as much as anyone exactly what this formula is, and how it got in that briefcase.”

  LJ looked away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Tucker Dennison claims you do. He said you’re the only person besides him who knew anything about it, and nobody else would even know the value of it.”

  LJ stared back at me, quiet for a moment.

  “Tucker’s a liar. Everybody knows that.”

  “Is he?” I pulled my sunglasses from the collar of my shirt, slipped them on over my eyes. “What I don’t get is why this so-called formula is only in hard copy. Why wouldn’t it be digitized? In a computer somewhere?”

  LJ again looked off, then moved his eyes around the area like he was looking for someone or afraid of who was watching. “It’s handwritten?” he said.

 

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