Bannon Brothers by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online Page B

her?”
    â€œNot yet. . . .” He pulled into the lot of a combination gas station and quick mart.
    â€œYou mean you haven’t talked to her? I thought you’d call her last night.”
    â€œWhat is this? The second degree?” Bannon challenged, then muttered, “You sound like my mother.”
    â€œWhat did you say? I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”
    â€œI was just saying that I was busy with other things last night.” Namely, the Montgomery files. “You obviously called me for a reason, Doris. What is it?”
    â€œI—I’ve got a call coming in. Hang on. I have to take it.” For an eon of seconds he watched the vehicles rolling by on the street and waited until she came back on the line. “I’m back. Are you there?”
    â€œStill here.”
    â€œThat was a friend of mine at the bank. Montgomery just filed the paperwork to have the monies held in trust for the reward revert to him.”
    â€œA friend, you say. Can you get her to refund my bounced check fees?”
    â€œNo, she can’t, and I would never ask her. Now, be serious. We have something to talk about.”
    Bannon stifled another sigh. “We’ve already been over this. Montgomery funded the trust. Therefore, he can dissolve it.”
    â€œEven though his daughter was never officially declared dead?”
    â€œI’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know whether it matters that he never petitioned the courts to have her declared dead. My gut says that it probably doesn’t.”
    â€œBut why is he doing it now, after all these years?”
    â€œWell, from what I read last night, I got the impression Montgomery’s had some financial difficulties. At the least, a cash flow problem.” He checked his watch. “Look, I’d love to go into it with you, Doris, but if Kelly sticks to her usual pattern, she’ll be popping into the espresso bar sometime between ten and twenty after. I’d like to be there ahead of her, which only gives me ten minutes.”
    â€œHow can you be sure she’ll even go there?” Doris protested. “I know you’re trying to be subtle in your approach, but you could have done it all with a phone call.”
    â€œMaybe so, but only an earth-shattering news story would stop Kelly from grabbing her morning jolt of java.” He shifted the car in reverse and glanced into the rearview mirror. “We’ll talk later.”
    As Bannon started to lower the cell phone, Doris shouted, “Don’t hang up! I haven’t told you the most important thing.”
    Something in her voice made him ask, “What’s that?”
    â€œI found the master list for the files. The Montgomery evidence folder is gone.”
    Bannon frowned. “But you said there wasn’t one.”
    â€œRJ, I said there wasn’t any evidence to speak of. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a file for it. There was—I mean there is—and Hoebel signed it out. The question is, what’s in it?”
    â€œI see what you’re getting at.” He nodded, considering this new wrinkle.
    â€œWhy would he do something like that, RJ?”
    â€œHow should I know?” A thought occurred to him. “Does Hoebel know Montgomery?”
    Part of her reply dissolved in a crackle of static. “. . . I was thinking the same thing . . . reopen the case.”
    He held the phone away from his ear, not sure if he’d heard her right. What the hell was going on at headquarters?
    â€œDo you actually have some dirt on Hoebel? Mr. Rules and Regulations himself?” Bannon strained to hear her reply.
    â€œNo, but there has to be a connection. Get this—the Montgomery evidence file was the only old case that the chief signed out. All the others were current ones.”
    â€œInteresting,” Bannon said slowly.
    â€œThere’s more. This missing one apparently has letters, along with