Getting together at Daisy’s was usually something Molly and Jesse enjoyed, but Molly looked worn-out from all the overtime she’d been putting in. At least the more difficult of the two meetings, though there were no unexpected guests. She picked at her eggs as Jesse explained the situation to her. Not even the smell of freshly ground coffee or the sweetly sulphurous aroma of the frying onions and peppers on the griddle lifted her spirits.
“Two people dead, another in the hospital... All this over a stupid record album?” she said, staring at her food.
Before Jesse could answer, Daisy came by to refill their cups. “You look like you lost your best friend, there, Molly Crane.”
“Just lost sleep,” Jesse answered for her.
Daisy wagged her finger at him. “Well, stop working her so hard, Jesse. You two need a refill, just wave.”
When Daisy moved on to the next table, Molly repeated her question about the missing tape.
“I do, Molly. It’s got to be. Nothing else makes much sense.”
“I hate how this makes Paradise look.”
Jesse nodded. “I do, too, but if Stan White and Roscoe Niles are right about how much the missing tape is worth, no one will really be focused on the murders or on Paradise. The tape and the money will be what everyone is talking about. And that may even help us catch this guy. It’s what he’ll be thinking about, too.”
“I guess.” Molly, like Nita Thompson, seemed less than sold. “But if it’s about that, why kill Curnutt? Why not let him just disappear?”
“This Hangman guy, whether he was the one to actually kill Curnutt or not, is trying to get as much attention as he can and he doesn’t seem to care what he has to do to get it.”
“What’s he going to do with the media attention? I don’t see the point.”
“The Hangman, if he’s really got the tape, is whetting bidders’ appetites and driving up the price.”
“What do you mean, ‘if he has the tape’?”
“So far, he hasn’t proved a thing. He hasn’t even really claimed to have the tape, not yet, but he will. He’s going to have to prove he has it, or why go through all of this? There’s already a trail of bodies. If he didn’t have the tape, he’d get as far away from the press and the cops as possible instead of waving at us and calling attention to himself.”
“And he thinks he’s going to get away with this?”
“Seems so. This isn’t being done on the spur of the moment, Molly. It was planned out, and my guess is that if Maude Cain hadn’t died, the whole world would already know about it. Once she died, it complicated everything. It upped the stakes for Curnutt and Bolton because it went from B&E and assault to felony murder. They — Curnutt, at least — probably tried to blackmail the man who hired him and got whacked for his troubles. The killer figured that since he had to get rid of Curnutt, he might as well make good use of his body.”
Molly didn’t like it. “That’s twisted.”
“And practical.”
“You think it might be Bolton behind it?”
“I don’t think so. There’s a reason his nickname is Hump.”
“Doesn’t mean he’s too stupid to kill.”
“True, but I spoke to Lundquist this morning. He tells me he’s checked with prison officials and that Curnutt and Bolton were close. That if one was going to screw the other, it would be Curnutt. No, Molly, the guy we’re dealing with is smart. Smarter than Hump Bolton, at least. Let’s hope he thinks he’s a lot smarter than he actually is.”
“Another criminal mastermind. I know your opinion on the subject.”
“Overconfidence on the bad guy’s part never hurts us.”
“Never, Jesse?” Molly asked, immediately regretting it.
Jesse stood, threw some money on the table, and walked away. When he was almost to the door, he turned back to his officer and old friend.
“Almost never, Molly. Almost never.”