The Preserve Killer (A Luca Mystery Book 14) by Dan Petrosini

Author:Dan Petrosini [Petrosini, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 39

My spirits rose as we zipped along Airport Pulling Road. "No traffic? Is this an omen?"

Derrick laughed, "The crime gods are giving us a break."

"About damn time. Slow down, it's coming up."

We crossed over a canal into Banyan Woods. Derrick flashed his badge and the guard lifted the gate. "He's on Post Oak Lane."

There was more open space than usual. The development had gone up before much of the growth Naples had experienced. Trash cans lined both sides of the street. Gene McGovern's home backed up to a lake. A pair of palm trees sat like sentinels on either side of the door.

Birds chirped over the road noise as we approached. "Looks like a full-time neighborhood."

"Yeah. Lynn has a friend with two kids that live in here."

Bags under his eyes and standing back, McGovern was wearing a sweater and long pants. It was in the low eighties. The house faced north. I peered over his shoulder, not enough sun beaming in?

Two pictures of bald eagles framed the foyer. We followed him into a fluorescent-lit kitchen. It could have been the lighting, but McGovern's face looked pasty. Did he venture outside?

Derrick said, "Thanks for seeing us."

"I don't know why the police would want to speak to me."

I said, "We talk with a lot of people. Let's get started. Are you married?"

"No, my wife took off when I got sick."

She’d missed the "in sickness and in health" part. I felt for him. Maybe depression kept him inside. "What do you do for a living?"

"I'm retired."

He was too young for that. "What did you do?"

"Used to trade currencies."

"A lot of pressure?"

"Almost killed me. You can make a lot of money, but you can lose it just as easily."

"I guess you did all right if you don't have to work."

"I don't live high."

"You don't mind me asking, me and the wife are looking for a new financial adviser. Who do you work with?"

"I utilize index funds. Nobody can beat the market year after year."

"I've heard that. So, what do you do with your free time?"

"I volunteer for Rookery Bay. They have an aviary department and it gets me outside."

A vision of him in a tent hat, covered head to toe, popped into my mind. "You ever go to the preserve on Logan?"

"Where's that?"

"At the Vanderbilt Beach Road intersection."

"Oh, right. I've seen it."

"You've never been there?"

"No."

"Your car was seen there last Tuesday."

"Really?"

"We got it on camera."

He asked, "Why would you be checking that?"

"Someone was killed in Logan Preserve."

"Oh yes, I heard about that. Terrible."

Not the reply I expected. "What were you doing all the way over there?"

"I may have driven by it."

"In the middle of the night?"

"I suffer from insomnia. Driving gets my mind off the treadmill; it relaxes me."

"What doctor you go to for that? My wife has trouble sleeping."

"Nothing works. Their solution is doling out sleeping pills."

"You ever hear of a Dr. Bigham?"

"No. I don't believe so."

We finished up with McGovern and hopped back in the car. Derrick said, "What'd you think?"

"He was a little too cavalier.

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