Hour Game

Chapter 71

As King was waiting for the call from Williams, Michelle came in carrying a tray balanced in her one good arm.

He frowned at her. “I should be waiting on you.”

“Here, this’ll be good for you.” She arranged the tray and pointed out its contents. “My famous mega-power shake, dry cereal with sliced banana and as a little treat, low-carb bread with avocado spread.”

“What’s in the power shake? No, never mind, I don’t want to know.” He took a tiny sip of the shake and quickly put it down. “I think it needs to breathe a bit.”

“It’s not wine, Sean.”

“No, it’s certainly not,” he said firmly. He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I never got around to asking why you were coming to my house so late last night.”

“Oh, damn, I forgot all about it. Billy Edwards, Battle’s ex-mechanic, called from L.A.”

King sat straight up. “What did he say?”

Michelle filled him in about the damage to the Rolls. Before she’d even finished, King was out of the bed and grabbing his clothes.

“What are you doing?” she asked in amazement.

“We’ve got someone to see, and fast.”

“Who?”

“Roger Canney.”

They arrived at Canney’s house only to find no one home. They peered in the darkened windows and tried all the doors, but they were locked. King noted the morning’s newspaper on the front steps. They were standing in the driveway when a man came by walking two large basset hounds—or rather, they were walking him.

“He’s not home,” called out the man, who was wearing a Maryland Terrapins basketball cap. “Saw him leave, oh, about two hours ago when I was doing my jog.”

King looked at his watch. “Pretty early.”

“He had some bags with him he loaded in the car. Guess he’s going on a trip.”

“Which car? Beemer or Range Rover?” asked Michelle.

“Range Rover.”

“Did he say where he was going?”

“Nope. Blew out of here so fast he almost ran me over.”

They thanked the man, climbed in Michelle’s truck and drove off.

“I’m going to call Todd and tell him to put out an APB on Canney,” said King.

“Sean, what’s going on?”

“Think about how Mrs. Canney died.”

“She was drunk and died in a car accident. But you suggested she might have been murdered.”

“Right. Murdered and knocked back into that ravine when her car was hit by a very heavy Rolls-Royce driven by Bobby Battle. Both events occurred about three and a half years ago.”

“You’re saying Bobby Battle killed Mrs. Canney. Why?”

“What if it wasn’t Roger Canney who first initiated a blackmail scheme against Battle? Maybe it was Mrs. Canney who threatened to reveal Battle as her son’s father, and Battle didn’t respond the way she’d intended or he got tired of paying. Then Roger Canney blackmails Battle over his wife’s death.”

“But how would Roger Canney have known Battle was involved in his wife’s death?”

“Canney might have known about his wife’s plan to blackmail Battle. Or it’s still very possible he came up with the scheme and his wife helped him put the screws to Battle. Then his wife is conveniently killed? He’s a smart guy. Even if he didn’t have actual proof of the murder, he’d put two and two together.”

“So he confronts Battle, tells him he knows he killed his wife and fathered Steve, and he wants money to keep it quiet.”

King nodded. “In seeking to avoid blackmail over an illegitimate child by killing Mrs. Canney, Battle ironically might have set himself up to be blackmailed for murder.”

“But wouldn’t Battle have realized that Canney had to reveal his complicity in the blackmail scheme if he went to the police claiming Battle murdered his wife? I mean, he’d have to give them some plausible motive.”

“He could simply use the fact of the illegitimate son. He could’ve claimed ignorance of any blackmail scheme or the source of any monies, blaming that on his dead wife.”

“Nice guy.”

“Yeah.”

“Looks like we spooked him into running.”

“Let’s hope he hasn’t run too far. We need him to fill in a lot of holes.”

Just as King was about to call Williams, the police chief called him. King told him what Sally had disclosed to him the night before, as well as his suspicions of Roger Canney and the man’s flight. Williams arranged for the APB and then asked them to meet him at the Battles’. He refused to say why or answer their questions about Sally.

King slumped back in his seat with a hopeless expression. She’s dead.