“I find it strange myself, but that’s all I know. I was never privy to how the two men managed the financial end of this complex. I did hear through the grapevine that some, maybe all, of the casino owners have a hand in it also. I have no way of knowing whether that’s true, and it’s none of my business. I don’t ask questions. I do my job, and I expect everyone else to do theirs. Are we done here?”

“For now,” Jack said as he reached out for the sheaf of papers Bessie Love handed him. “If Mrs. Cricket has any more questions, then we’ll be back. You know what I find strange, Mr. Lomax?”

“Tell me,” Lomax said through clenched teeth.

“You never once asked how Mrs. Cricket was or how her husband was doing.”

“Why ask a question when you already know the answer? We learned that in the army, and I understand that’s a rule for lawyers also. Mrs. Cricket is devastated. That’s a given. I call the hospital four times a day for an update on Mr. Cricket. The report is always the same. He’s in critical condition but holding his own. I’m a military man, Mr. Emery. We’re trained not to show our emotions. Now, if there is nothing else, I have work to do.”

Jack looked at Ted as much as to say, We’re done here. Cyrus was way ahead of them, having headed for the door and barked.

Neither man spoke until they were a block away from the Happy Village office. “My gut and my reporter instinct are telling me Lomax knows something, or at the very least suspects something,” Ted said as he wiped at his brow with the sleeve of his shirt.

Jack stopped and pulled a bottle of water from his backpack along with a fold-up bowl he carried for Cyrus. He poured water and waited while the big dog finished it all. “I feel the same way. I can’t put my finger on what it is that triggered it either. Something is just off.” Jack stuffed the empty water bottle and bowl back into his backpack. “We need to check in with Espinosa and Maggie and Dennis. They’re here somewhere.”

“I’m on it. You check in with Espinosa. I just sent Maggie a text. Ah, she said they’re just now leaving someone’s apartment. She said to meet them on the corner of Primrose and Lilac Lane. That’s two blocks over. Damn, it’s hot. I feel like I’m melting.”

“Right now I’d like to take a shower with ice-cold lemonade pouring over me,” Jack said, and guffawed. “How do these people handle this excessive heat?” he literally gasped.