Murder in the River City(36)
Twenty minutes later, John made introductions between Hooper and Sam.
“How’ve you been?” Hooper asked.
“Can’t complain,” John said. “Thanks for coming.”
“You say Coresco, I jump. I want these guys. What do you know?”
Sam filled Hooper in on the homicides, and the connection they’d made between a former employee and one of the victims. “Then,” he concluded, “I found out one of Coresco’s lawyers had dated Shauna Murphy, Dooley’s granddaughter, a few times, and may be stalking her—at least to the point where he won’t stop calling.”
John said, “And he was here the morning after Mack Duncan was killed.”
Sam said, “Nothing we have is definitive, but when I learned that Jason Butler—a guy I put in prison—has some plea arrangement with the FBI, and Butler has also dated Shauna, I wondered if Austin was using her for some reason. But I can’t figure out what the connection is.”
“This is where I can help,” Hooper said. “But this information is need-to-know.”
“Understood,” John said. Sam nodded his agreement.
“Butler is an informant. My predecessor had been working with him for years. He feared his cover was going to be blown, so he was set up to be arrested.”
Sam didn’t believe it. “We had him on fraud. We had multiple statements, and caught him red-handed.”
“I know. This wasn’t my operation. I would have handled it a bit differently, but the result was the same. By going to prison, he protected his cover, and now is in the best position to take down Coresco & Hunt.”
Sam was skeptical. “Butler is a rich kid—why would he spend any time in prison?”
“Technically, he only spent six months in state prison. When he was transferred to federal prison, we kept him in the system, but he was really in a safe house. He’s been working with us on financials and other documents.”
“I think,” John said, “Sam wants to know what’s in it for Butler?”
“I took over his case when I came on board. He’s no saint—but all his investment schemes were legal. But he came up against some real bad guys—and was offered a part of the pie. He came to the FBI. We turned him into an informant.”
“I don’t know,” Sam said. “He lost a lot when he went to prison.” Shauna left him. Had she known? She’d visited him in prison—for how long?
“He knew the risks. He was willing to accept them. He couldn’t tell anyone—one leak and he’d be dead. Coresco & Hunt may be white-collar criminals, but they are not above murder. And Austin Davis is the most dangerous of the bunch.”
Hooper continued. “We’ve been onto these guys for years, but nothing has stuck. We were so close when Butler’s cover was nearly blown, so we pulled back and let him rebuild his credibility by going to jail. They’re squeaky clean on the surface, but it’s one of those cases where if we can just get one person on their side to turn, we’ll take down a major criminal enterprise. A huge chunk of criminal money in Northern California and Nevada is run through Coresco. The Al Capone case has always fascinated me. The FBI tried to get him on murder and conspiracy and a whole host of violent crimes, but couldn’t. We got him on tax evasion. It’s what I’ve always done. But I think this might be the rare case where we get someone on murder. I might be able to help you solve your case. In exchange, if I’m right, the killer will spill the beans.”
Sam was still wrapping his head around the fact that he’d been wrong about Jason Butler. It didn’t matter that his crime had been set up and he had willingly gone along with it; he’d been wrong. He’d come between Jason and Shauna because he thought he was protecting Shauna, but it was truly selfish on his part, because he loved her and didn’t want anyone else to have her.
Hooper continued. “The person who gives us Coresco and his core group gets witness protection. That guy has a long reach, which is why we’ve never been able to get to him.”
“And because one of their employees may be involved in our homicides, you think he’ll turn on them?”
“Joey Gleason,” Hooper said. “Not one of the sharpest guys, but his closest friend is Coresco’s son, Peter. I want to flip Peter. If I can’t, Amelia Shepherd.”
“I suspect,” Sam said, “she’ll do anything to stay out of prison.”
“That’s what I’m hoping.”
Sam leaned back and stretched his legs into the aisle. The pub had quieted down and they had the entire back wall to themselves.