‘He’s going down, though.’ Garth pointed at the ‘Governor Diane’ button pinned to his shirt. Or maybe it was pinned directly to the muscles on his chest. ‘She’s a shoo-in. Unless they find some nasty dirt, I say she wins by seven or eight points.’

‘Dirt?’ Cab asked.

‘Well, politics ain’t beanbag, right? You know they’re out there looking.’

‘Is there anything to find?’

Garth shrugged. ‘There’s always something to find. No saints and virgins in this business. I could tell you stories. Not that anyone could unzip my lips. You have to know how to keep secrets in my world.’

‘What happens on the massage table stays on the massage table?’ Cab asked.

‘Ha, that’s funny! Right! Believe me, once somebody lets you run your hands over their naked body, they figure they can tell you just about anything.’

‘It’s a good thing you’re discreet.’

Garth crossed his fingers and thumped his heart. ‘Believe it. People have tried to get crap out of me. Political people. Reporters, too. People know me and Diane are tight.’

‘That’s right. You said you were at her place in Lake Wales a lot, didn’t you?’

‘Yeah, I’m still in Lake Wales all the time. Got a lot of clients there.’

‘What was it like at Birch’s house back then?’

‘Huh? Oh, ugly days. Ugly days.’

‘Because of the murders?’

Garth flinched. ‘Sure, of course. Because of the murders.’

‘And then with Drew’s suicide,’ Cab added.

‘Oh, yeah, even worse.’

‘It must have been difficult,’ Cab said, ‘with Drew going in and out of rehab all the time. An emotional roller-coaster.’

‘You know it. That was super-hard on Diane.’

‘My mother said that Drew spent time in rehab right before the murders,’ Cab went on.

‘Oh, yeah. That was bad.’

‘What happened?’ Cab asked. ‘I heard that Drew was really upset about something.’

Garth looked like a train slamming on the brakes before a crossing. ‘Oh, well, who can tell with druggies, huh?’

‘I heard he made threats.’

‘Threats?’

‘Like he was going to blow Birch’s head off,’ Cab said.

Garth laughed, which sounded like the nervous titter of a teenage girl. ‘Oh, that was nothing. Kid was worked up. No big deal.’

‘Except someone did shoot Birch,’ Cab pointed out.

‘I know, crazy, right? What are the odds? It’s a crazy world.’

‘Very crazy.’

Garth checked his phone and fiddled impatiently with the buttons. ‘Well, I gotta run. I’ve got another rub-down tonight. One of the uniform chasers near Macdill. Here’s my chance to find out the latest in navy secrets, right? Nice talking to you, Detective.’

‘Same here,’ Cab replied.