Suspicion of Vengeance by Barbara Parker

Author:Barbara Parker [Parker, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9781497631960
Google: x-8qAwAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 705629
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2001-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

They got out of the car where the road turned to gravel and ended at a barbed-wire fence. Ahead of them lay a vast flat field of dirt, weeds, and rocks. Brush had been scraped into piles, but a few pine trees remained, dark silhouettes. A rusting No Trespassing sign with bullet holes in it hung on the barbed-wire fence, but the gate was open. They walked through it and down a gentle incline.

"Is this what you expected to see?" Anthony asked.

"I don't know what I expected," Gail said.

They followed the uneven gravel tracks that appeared to end a couple of hundred yards further on. Gail picked her way carefully in her high heels. A three-quarter moon hung over the tree line to the east, and the sun lingered as a diffused orange glow. The temperature had dropped, and she crossed her arms.

"It's so weedy," she said. "Nothing's been done out here in years, you can tell."

"They can't continue without the permits." Anthony pivoted as he walked. "While you were enjoying your chat with Whit McGrath, I talked to a reporter from The Stuart News. McGrath's company—he and a few other big investors—began to purchase property in the mid-1980s. They acquired over two thousand acres. They wanted to build a planned city. Phase One was approved before the county Master Plan went into effect, but Phase Two was held up by newly elected county commissioners who wanted to hold the line against development. Most of the retirees and the wealthy along the coast support them, but younger families are moving in, and there's very little housing. For years, McGrath has been funding the campaigns of the opposition. Now they have a majority. It comes up for a vote next month. McGrath has the state agencies on his side. He's a friend of Governor Ward and one of his biggest donors in the last election. A coincidence, of course."

They had reached the middle of the field. Bird calls came from the woods.

"The reporter told me that JWM is deeply in debt. McGrath needs this vote to go in his favor."

"And he'll probably get it," Gail said.

"Probably." Anthony took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

His body heat was trapped inside, and Gail held it close. "Aren't you going to ask me if I think he killed Amber Dodson?"

"I know what you think."

"He was lying to me," she said. "I could smell it on him."

"Lying about what? His affair? That shouldn't surprise you. If you pursue this, you use up time that would be better spent preparing your case. The hearing is in less than two weeks. Sweetheart, what are we doing out here? Let's go back to the hotel."

With no more than a nod for reply, Gail looked around her at the torn landscape. "What did Amber know? Whatever Gary was doing for Whit McGrath, she must have known about it."

Anthony reminded her that Dodson had been fired seven months before his wife's murder. "That length of time," he said, "would seem to rule out a connection between the two events.

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