God, no. It couldn’t be.
Not wanting the answer, but compelled to ask anyway, she whispered, “Who was the man?”
The Chief checked his notepad. “A Hunter Henderson.”
Once again Emily crumbled to the floor in a heap.
“Sign here.” The desk clerk at the Galveston jailhouse shoved a book across the counter for Jeremy to sign.
He’d received a note from Hunter to come to the jailhouse where he was being held. Jeremy still shook his head at the terse note he’d received. What type of trouble had Hunter gotten himself into now?
“Sir, if you will wait here, a guard will escort you to the visitor room where Mr. Henderson will be brought out.”
Jeremy wiped the sweat from his forehead and paced. He needed morphine, and soon. The supply he’d brought with him was almost gone. He had maybe enough for another two or three days. He’d been so busy on the investigation, he hadn’t visited any of the pharmacies in the area. That was something he needed to do as soon as he left Hunter.
“Jeremy.”
He stopped and turned. “Hunter. What the hell is going on?”
“I can’t believe it myself, but it seems Louis Smith was murdered.”
“Smith? Murdered?”
Hunter waved at the two chairs across from each other with a narrow wooden table between them. “You might as well sit. This is a strange story.”
The man they were investigating for fraud, running a scam, and murder, was dead. A man so low, he beat his wife. Considering how difficult it would have been to actually make any of those charges stick, it should have been good news. But Hunter sitting behind bars for the murder was not good news. Still reeling from what Henderson had just said, Jeremy tried to focus on his friend’s words.
“I went out for breakfast this morning. When I returned home I was greeted by the Galveston Chief of Police and another officer. They told me I was under arrest. It took some cajoling on my part before they would even tell me what I was being arrested for.
“They both acted like I was naïve to question them. They treated my inquiries as a joke. They were convinced I knew exactly what I was being charged with. Considering the plans I had for today, you can imagine my shock not only at the news of his murder, but that I was being charged with it.”
“I don’t understand. With all the shenanigans Smith was involved in, why would they assume you killed him?”
Hunter tapped a cadence on the table with his index finger, his nervous gesture the only indication that he sat in a jail charged with murder. “Shortly after I recognized Smith as the man who shot and killed my father, I visited the Galveston Police and spoke with this Officer Mallory who was with the Chief when I was arrested. I told him my story, but he gave me a hard time.
“When I named Smith as the man who’d killed my father, Mallory all but threw me out of the station, claiming Smith was much too big in the town to be considered for an eighteen-year-old bank robbery and murder.”
Jeremy was beginning to see where this was headed. “Did your temper get the best of you?”
“Somewhat. I didn’t threaten Smith, but I indicated I would see that justice was served. Mallory took that as a threat and warned me to not take the law into my own hands.”
Jeremy let out with a low whistle. “Do they know of your connection to Emily?”
“I don’t think so. At least they haven’t said anything about that to me yet.”
“You know that will come out.”
“Of course it will. Her driver, Martin, caught us trying to leave Guthrie, and her dressmaker, Millie, has been covering for her so we could spend time together. These police are not dumb. Once they uncover that relationship, they will start building the hanging platform.”
“My friend, you are in trouble.”
Hunter leaned forward. “I sent for my Uncle Jesse. He’s an attorney and territorial senator in Oklahoma. If anyone can get me out of this mess, it’s him. But in the meantime, I need you to step up the investigation on Smith. Find out who else had a reason to see him dead. When Jesse gets here, I’m sure he’ll have other ideas, but at least for now I’ll feel like something is being done while I sit here.”
Jeremy studied his friend as he spoke. This could be a dangerous situation for him. His visit to the police station to accuse a prominent citizen of killing his father eighteen years ago was bad enough. But trying to leave town with a man’s wife only a few days before he got himself murdered would give the District Attorney a lot of food for thought.
“I’ve already spoken to a few of his clients who are suspicious of his investments,” Jeremy said. “I also planned to question his secretary. Being there every day, she must know more about the business than her employer would have thought. I find secretaries are usually a good source of information.”
“Thanks. And talk to his partner, too. Name of Sanders. He might know if one of their clients was getting more than a little angry with Smith.” He snapped his fingers. “There’s one more thing.”