And what came next with Sam? Would he start picking her girlfriends? Deciding what jobs she could take at work? Deciding it was too dangerous to work at the pub at night? He’d always supported her independence, even when her brothers tried to control her choices. Sam had always been in her corner. She thought.
“I thought you were someone else,” she whispered.
Then she left.
Sam watched Shauna walk out. She hadn’t yelled at him. She didn’t slam the door. She closed it quietly. She whispered. There were tears in her eyes.
He’d thought she’d be angry with his ultimatum, but he expected a fight—looked forward to it. He loved how passionate she got about everything she did, everything she believed.
But she left as a mouse, not like her at all.
His chest tightened so painfully he thought he might be having a heart attack. But it was his heart breaking. He’d hurt her. He wished he could take it all back. She was always forceful and direct. He thought it best to put the issue of Jason Butler on the table now, before there was no going back.
He was wrong.
Chapter Thirteen
Sam put everything that happened with Shauna on the back burner to meet with Manny that evening. He had some disturbing news about Coresco & Hunt, and Sam immediately tracked down John Black at Dooley’s.
John was sitting in a booth, files and notes in front of him, a pint of beer half-empty to the side.
“I see the pub has grown on you,” Sam said as he sat down.
“My girlfriend’s out of town. I’d rather sit here and work than at the precinct.”
“I hear you there.”
Tessa brought Sam over a pint of Harp and said, “Shauna’s not here.”
“I know.” He smiled and waited until she slipped away.
John said, “I thought there was something more going on than you said.”
“It’s complicated.”
“You could get that tattooed on your forehead.”
“And now it’s even more complicated.”
“Manny give you good information?”
“I don’t know.” Sam took a long drink of beer before explaining his theory to John. “I went to a good friend of mine in the D.A.’s office to look at Jason Butler’s plea agreement.”
“That’s the con artist you arrested who’d been engaged to Shauna Murphy.”
“Yeah. And I looked at it because I was pissed off he cut a deal and is now back in Shauna’s life.” Sam rubbed the back of his neck. “But something Manny said made me think there’s more to Butler’s case, and the plea agreement sealed it.”
“What was in it?”
“I don’t know. The FBI took over the case and has all documentation. But my buddy said Butler had shared a lot of information about Coresco & Hunt. He thinks the FBI is investigating the firm.”
“And our suspect, Joey Gleason, worked for them.” John frowned. “I don’t see the importance.”
“Austin Davis is also one of the Coresco & Hunt attorneys. Shauna dated him for a while.”
“A while?”
“Her brother said it wasn’t serious, a couple dates, but I talked to Dooley who said Davis doesn’t take no for an answer.”
John said, “Do you think Davis has something to do with these two murders? Or the law firm, and not just Gleason?”
“I don’t know,” Sam admitted, “but we have a connection with the law firm, and we know one of the attorney’s has been hanging around here, including right after the murder. Plus, there’s a connection to a convicted felon, and a possible FBI investigation. Too many coincidences.”
“I have a friend in the FBI.”
“Do you trust him?”
“Oh, yes. Very much.” John made a call. Sam only heard his end of the conversation. “Dean? It’s John Black. Do you know anything about an FBI investigation into Coresco & Hunt Law Offices or one of their attorneys, Austin Davis?” There was a long pause, and John said, “I’m at a pub in Old Sac. Dooligan’s. I’ll wait for you.” He hung up. “Dean Hooper is the Assistant Special-Agent-in-Charge. We worked together a few years back. His brother-in-law is Officer Riley Knight.”
Sam chuckled. “Small world. Did he tell you anything?”
“Only enough to tell me he’s not only interested in what we have, but he’s willing to share everything he has as well. He lives only fifteen minutes away.” John told Sam that he and Dean Hooper had met when Hooper had been on loan from the national FBI headquarters investigating a money-laundering ring that collided with a murder investigation John was working. In the end, they all got their bad guys, but not without some collateral damage.