A Step Beyond Chaos: An Alex Rutledge Mystery by Tom Corcoran

Author:Tom Corcoran [Corcoran, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Dredgers Lane, LLC
Published: 2022-07-05T05:00:00+00:00

14

I didn’t want to finish out the afternoon sipping beer at Blue Heaven. I wanted to go somewhere, sit alone, and sort out the background Zach Borrows had given me on Kelly and James Hudson. Which one was the hard-ass? Which was the bully? Was she by-the-book or biased toward the little guy? Did he pressure her to favor sure bets or risky accounts? Or did they work as a team to balance out each other’s worst habits, put profits on the bank’s bottom line? And the big question: If someone was angry with a loan decision, why did that person retaliate against both Hudsons rather than the one who wouldn’t sign off?

Thinking solo, I realized, wouldn’t cut it this time. I needed to hash this out with the pensive, all-knowing fishing guide.

Sam Wheeler answered on the second ring. “If you’re calling for sage advice on how to help Beth track down a half-dozen murderers, the first two rounds are on you.”

“You nailed my motive,” I said. “I need a brain-storming session with active feedback. I’d like to approach this with a clear head.”

“Oh, bullshit, and how would you know? You haven’t been clear-headed since middle school. Where are you?”

“Leaving the back bar at Blue Heaven.”

“Walk over to that French wine place across the street,” he said. “They’ve got tasty plates full of high-priced cholesterol that’s shaped like cheese and sausages. I’m cleaning the boat, almost done. I’ll meet you there.”

A minute later, I texted Sam: VIV already too crowded. Going 100 yards down Petronia, open-air porch, second-floor Firefly.

Twenty minutes later we had two beers, two brains working, and a pleasant breeze on the balcony. Still dressed for backcountry fishing, Sam rolled up his sleeve cuffs, leaned toward the railing to check the sidewalk below.

“If someone wanted both Hudsons dead,” I said, “why not do a package deal, murder them at the same time?”

“To confuse the police?” said Sam. “Make them think that they’re unrelated killings?”

“That’s pretty much how it happened.”

Sam compressed his face muscles, showed sun wrinkles that stood out more and more, the raccoon-like tan due to his broad Polaroid sunglasses. “This pal of yours thought there might be conflict between the husband and wife?”

“Certainly at the bank, when a deal was closing—or not closing. I don’t know about otherwise, but that’s a good question.”

“They were getting push or pull from somewhere,” he said. “Inside the bank or outside the bank?”

“If it was inside the bank, was it to keep from pissing off regulators or to make more money for the company?”

“We could ask that question all evening,” said Sam, “but banks don’t kill bad employees. They fire them or prosecute them.”

“Okay, if it’s coming from outside, is it seller versus buyer, or broker versus broker, or an out-of-state bank versus the locals?”

Sam shook his head. “If it’s outside the bank, it could be kickbacks for helping out deals that didn’t deserve it. Envelopes stuffed with fifties that she wanted and he didn’t—or vice-versa. How many times did

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