Loitering With Intent (Stone Barrington 16)
Evan stuffed the contract back into the envelope, ate another crab claw and sipped his beer. “Yes,” he said. “I think my father poisoned Uncle Harry, and you can pass the word to him: no deal.” He tossed a fifty-dollar bill on the table, then got up and left without another word, taking the contract with him.
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ST O N E A RRIV E D B A C K at the Marquesa to find Dino still by the pool, eating an enormous club sandwich, accompanied by a fruity-looking drink with an umbrella in it.
“So did he read the contract?” Dino asked.
“Yes.”
“How much is the business being sold for?”
“I don’t know; he didn’t tell me, and he took the contract with him.” Stone’s cell phone vibrated, and he glanced at it. “Eggers; he’s going to love this.”
Stone put the phone on speaker. “Yes, Bill?”
“Did you get the contract?”
“Yes.”
“Did you show it to Evan Keating?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He said to tell Warren, no deal.”
“Shit!” Eggers said.
“You were hoping he would take it?”
“It sure would have made my life a lot simpler,” Eggers said. “This 101
S t u a r t W o o d s
was supposed to go like clockwork; you were supposed to fi nd Evan, get his signature and everybody would have been happy.”
“Everybody except Grandpa Eli, who’s locked in the nursing home, Uncle Harry, who’s dead, and Evan, who thinks, not without cause, that he’s being cheated out of his share of the business.”
“It’s a snakepit, that’s what it is,” Eggers moaned.
“Bill, what’s the sales price for the business?”
“Didn’t you read the contract?”
“No, it was addressed to Evan, care of me, and when I gave it to him he didn’t read it aloud.”
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘No deal,’ and when I asked him if he thought his father poisoned Uncle Harry, he replied in the affi rmative.”
“And you think I should go to the police?”
“From what Evan said the other day, the police are already looking into Harry’s death. What could you tell them?”
“That I have reason to believe that Harry Keating was poisoned by his brother.”