Page 40 of Night Prey
“Could this be what he was trying to tell me about?” Karen worried her lower lip. “Would it have been terminal?”
Ian nodded. “The ME seemed to think so.”
“Then he would’ve died anyway,” Flagg said, his tone flat and unreadable.
Karen flashed her gaze to her husband. “But we would’ve had more time with him.”
“He didn’t suffer this way,” Ian said.
Karen nodded. “A positive, I guess.”
“I was hoping, now that you’ve had some time to process Junior’s death, that you might’ve thought of someone who might have wanted to kill him.”
Karen shook her head hard.
“I have no idea.” Flagg sat next to his wife and took her hand.
She looked at his hand in horror, as if she wanted to whip it free. But she remained frozen and stiff in her seat.
“I’ve been looking for employment records for Junior but can’t find any,” Ian said. “Can you tell me where he worked?”
Karen opened her mouth to speak, but Flagg jumped in. “He did odd jobs for cash. Didn’t make much. He was a disappointment, for sure. But I figured he would sort himself out and come back to work for the company.”
“Sort out?” Ian asked.
Flagg clenched his teeth for a moment. “He started working for me right out of high school, and I wanted him to take over for me. He did all right for many years, but then he got a wild hair and decided that he didn’t want to take over. He wanted to be a beekeeper, if you can believe it.” Flagg rolled his eyes. “Who does that? Who? You can’t make any money at that. He decided he was going to sell the business after I retired and take his inheritance. I couldn’t have that, so I told him to go take care of the bees and see if he could live on that, figuring he’d be back in a month or two.”
“But he never did come back,” Karen said, her tone sad. “And he didn’t raise the bees.”
Flagg shook his head. “I must’ve spoiled the kid too much.”
At that, Karen jerked her hand away. “Spoiled. Is that what you think?” Her voice rose, and her breathing came hard and fast. “Because that’s not how I saw it. Not at all.”
Flagg faced his wife, his eyes wide and intense. “I gave him everything. Clothes. Electronics. Cars. His condo that I’d paid a fortune to remodel. Whatever hislittleheart desired.”
“See, there you go.” Karen fisted her hands on her knees. “He’s dead, and you’re still mocking his size. It wasn’t his fault he was small, and you never let him live it down. Never.”
“I didn’t—”
She flashed up a hand. “You can’t deny it, Gilbert, so don’t even try. Your belittling and constant criticism killed him.”
“Now, wait a minute.” Flagg’s voice shifted from kind to angry in a heartbeat.
“It’s true. He cut ties with us because of you,” she said. “And he had to find some way to live. You forced him to turn to the drugs.” She clapped a hand over her mouth.
They both swung their gazes to Ian and looked at him with surprise, as if they’d forgotten he was in the room.
“Drugs?” Ian asked, when he knew full well that Junior worked with Olivo.
“It’s nothing.” Gilbert’s words carried vehemence, but then he relaxed his posture and forced a smile.
Karen didn’t say a word.
“Karen?” Ian asked.
“Junior started selling drugs,” she blurted out.
“Karen,” her husband warned.
