“Who were the men you had dirt on?”

Ennis took a step closer to Bo. The former sheriff’s biceps bulged out of his tight-fitting gray T-shirt. The old Ennis Petrie had been potbellied and pear shaped. This version looked cut from the pages of a bodybuilding magazine. “There were three. Lou Horn. Terry Grimes.” He paused and took another step toward Bo. They were now a foot away from each other. “And Butch Renfroe.”

Bo took a slow sip of beer, squinting at the lawman while still holding his hand close to his pocket. “I’m listening.”

“In the 1990s and 2000s, when Larry Tucker ran the Sundowners Club, there were rumors of a prostitution ring that was quartered at the strip club. A few of the dancers participated, and a lot of powerful men. The trucking tycoon from Tuscaloosa, Jack Willistone. You remember him, don’t you?” Ennis smiled.

Bo nodded.

“He was a part of it. Your daddy was too. Andy . . .”

Bo squeezed the bottle tight in his hand but otherwise kept his expression and demeanor neutral. “You gonna get to the point?”

“My sources told me that the leaders of this sex-for-pay operation were Butch, Terry, and Lou.” He licked his lips. “Lou helped line up the talent, Terry worked his political and business connections to drum up clients . . . and Butch handled the money and the paperwork.”

Bo felt his heart rate begin to pick up steam as he thought of the laptop computer stolen from Butch Renfroe’s house the night of the murder. “Did you ever press charges against any of them?”

“Never had enough evidence. A lot of smoke but no fire.”

Bo grunted and shook his head. “Did you ever tell the General about your suspicions or what your sources had told you?”

He snorted. “The General had no tolerance for pie-in-the-sky cases. I didn’t want to bring anything to her that I couldn’t prove. Especially not a scandal that could implicate a lot of the town brass.”

Bo rubbed the back of his neck. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I’d bet a gold nickel that Finn Pusser and Michael Zannick used the information I gave them to put pressure on Butch, Terry, and Lou. With Zannick charged with rape and that Japanese auto plant hanging in the balance, I think Zannick must have threatened to roll on the three stooges unless they got him out of this jam.”

Bo drained the rest of his beer and set it on his desk. “Ennis, if you didn’t have enough to charge Butch, Terry, and Lou, then how could you have given Zannick enough heat to put any pressure on them?”

Ennis smiled. “Zannick is a savvy bastard. I bet he’s got at least one of them on tape or video saying something incriminating after being challenged with the dirt I shared.”