“Okay. Are more ladies going to come over tomorrow?”
Kit’s brows lifted in silent query.
“No. I’ve already made my decision.”
“Good,” his son said.
He knew that was what Jeremy would say. Vic had made the decision a long time ago, but had been afraid to act until now. That little monkey knew exactly what was on Vic’s mind. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Okay. See ya, Kit.”
“You bet.”
As soon as they got back to the house, Vic explained that he’d been interviewing nannies.
“How did that go?”
“The truth?”
Kit nodded.
“I’m going to phone the employment agency in a few minutes and ask them to cancel tomorrow’s appointments. They’ll also need to tell the women who already came to the house today that they don’t need to wait for a call back—I’ve chosen someone else.”
His friend grinned. “So you’re keeping Claire on.”
“Yup.” One way or another.
“Walk me around to my car,” Kit said. “I need to show you something I printed off for you to think about.”
They approached his Silverado truck and Kit opened the door to reach for the printouts.
Vic looked at the heading at the top of the first page. “Jamison Lowell.”
“Yup. These are his bank records. His salary at the school district is public record. Name me a school employee who can deposit $20,000 at a time in his account, three different times in the past three months. Look at the dates of the deposits. That last one coincides with the day after he hired Leroy. Now, look at the date he withdrew all his money.”
A low whistle sounded from Vic. “It all fits, Kit. He got his payoff in installments, then fled the state. Now he’s dead.” He looked at his friend. “Someone put out a hit on Jamison and had him killed once he’d hired Leroy.”
“He was being blackmailed.”
“No question about it. We’ve got to dig into Lowell’s past. Because Jeremy was kidnapped after I was put on the gaming board, this has to mean Lowell was a gambler. Maybe he couldn’t pay his debts and that’s why he put his house up for sale. The first place to start tomorrow morning is the bank. I’ll ask TJ to get a subpoena and meet you at headquarters. We’ll need Lowell’s bank records from Colorado, too.”
“I read through Rodriguez’s notes,” Kit said. “There’s nothing to indicate that Lowell’s next-door neighbors ever got back to him about the name of the Realtor.”
“In that case we’ll swing by that house again. If it hasn’t sold, we’ll talk to the Realtor selling the property. There should be a sign up by now, or we need to find out why there isn’t one.”
“Let’s check the casino near Luckenbach. Ask the captain for a subpoena to analyze the surveillance tapes. We’ll get staff to go through them and see if they can identify Lowell in any of them.”
“There’s a ton of work to do.”
Kit nodded. “Glad you’re back. See you in the morning.”
“Thanks for coming by. Before I left the doctor’s office he said, ‘Feel like you’ve been let out of jail?’”
“He understands all right.”
Vic watched him drive away before he entered the house. Claire had to be cooking something Italian. They all loved three-cheese manicotti.
He went to the den first and made the phone call to the employment agency. Now that his duties were out of the way, he could concentrate on Claire. But once again he was thwarted because Jeremy had come back from the barn, regaling her with Daken’s latest antics. She delighted in hearing about them. Their conversation sounded like mother and son. It warmed and filled the hole that had once done damage to his heart.