Page 15 of Oleander

“What do you want?”

“We want to know how you knew Ms. Martin,” said Eric.

“She owned a huge portion of shares for Burton Drilling,” he said calmly. “Obviously, I came to pay my respects. She was an investor and we appreciated her loyalty to Burton. I only wished she’d given us the chance to buy her shares back instead of sending them to charities that have no knowledge of how to handle such matters.”

“That’s why charities have legal teams, Mr. Burton,” said Eric. “They’ll manage the shares just fine.”

“Hmmph!” he scowled. “Schools, delinquent children’s home, a church! Ridiculous. She was a ridiculous old woman and wasn’t in her right mind.”

“That’s funny,” said Luke with a grin. “When she rewrote her will, she made sure to include a recent psychiatric evaluation. I wonder why she would do that unless she was concerned about someone trying to make the claim that she wasn’t in her right mind.”

“Young man, I am very busy. We are done here,” he said turning to walk back to the waiting black car.

“We’re done for now,” said Luke. “I’m sure we’ll see one another soon.”

They watched as the black sedan pulled out of the cemetery. It was going far too fast for a cemetery road and everyone’s heads turned, watching the rude guest leave.

“I think we have our first potential killer,” said Luke. “Get a few of the boys to apply to Burton. Remy and Robbie are experienced. They know what they’re doing. So does Hex. Just make sure their cover is solid.”

“You know we will,” said Eric. “Let’s see if we can find out how Burton Drilling is actually doing. After Platform Nine, I would have thought the government would have shut them down.”

“I guess we’ll find out.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The amphitheater was filled with men for the early morning meeting. Mike, Roderick, Crew and Gus had joined them, listening to Jean’s report.

“Burton Drilling has been losing money since the Platform Nine incident ten years ago. Although they escaped full blame, settling out of court with the investors and the government, they lost millions in the process. Shareholders began losing confidence in them and turned toward other investments.” Jean turned to Remy and Robbie, the two with the most experience at Robicheaux Oil and Gas.

“Robbie and I were asked to testify at the hearing,” said Remy. “Burton had always cut corners, not listening to their own employees on their rigs. Matthew even had long conversations with him about changing his tactics. He felt he was ruining the industry with his careless actions.”

“He obviously was,” frowned Eric.

“All he ever cared about was the money,” said Robbie. “There were so many red flags on that rig. Divers found gauges frozen in time, telling the whole world what had happened even after the event. While Remy and I were talking about our testimony, trying to refresh our memories from ten years ago, we came across some of the newspaper clippings and photos.”

On the big screen at the front of the room were numerous articles and clips from the news. One photo appeared, Remy and Robbie seated in the front of row of the courtroom.

In front of them, Hollis Burton sat in his crisp suit, legs crossed casually, his hoard of attorneys around him.

“Why are we looking at this?” asked Luke. “I don’t need to see that bastards smug face.”

“Look harder,” said Remy walking toward the screen. The room was silent as if they were searching for Waldo.

“Holy shit,” muttered Rod. “That’s Ms. Martin.”

“Give a prize to the observant firefighter,” smiled Robbie. “That, right there, is Ms. Martin. She’s in a suit. A beautiful, designer suit, her hair done, make-up perfect.”

“Why? Why the fuck would she be there? To ensure her investment was preserved?” said Rod.

“AJ,” said Robbie turning toward the man.

“You know how I enjoy surprising you all,” he smirked.

“AJ, don’t piss me off this morning,” said Eric folding his massive arms across his chest.

“I’m not worried. I can outrun you,” he chuckled.

“AJ!” yelled the entire room.