“What?”
“Sounds like the grandfather, Eli, hired somebody to off his son and his grandson, leaving him with all of the eight hundred million from the sale of the business.”
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S t u a r t W o o d s
“That’s nice and symmetrical, but what would a guy in his eighties do with eight hundred million?”
“Maybe he just hated his son and grandson enough to want them not to get any of it. It would be interesting to know who the money goes to if Eli kicks off soon.”
“I’ll ask Eggers next time we talk. Call Tommy and tell him about this.”
Dino made the call while Stone listened in.
“That’s an interesting turn of events,” Tommy said.
“Tommy,” St
one broke in, “were there autopsy photographs taken of the corpse you thought was Charley Boggs?”
“Yeah, I’ve got ’em in my desk drawer.”
“See if there’s a knife wound to the left rib cage.”
Tommy took a moment. “No, nothing visible. Why do you ask?”
“The guy we thought was Evan Keating had a knife wound treated at Key West Hospital. Annika was his doctor, and she said he was clean-shaven.”
“So the real Charley Boggs had been knifed, as well as shot?”
“Something else: he paid his hospital bill with a black American Express card.”
“I’ve never seen one of those,” Tommy said.
“It’s their most elite card, limited to subscribers who spend a lot on their Amex cards.”
“So?”
“The card was in Evan Keating’s name. Do you think Evan Keating, during his identity swap with Charley Boggs, would loan Charley his credit card, one with no limit?”
“Well, let me put it this way,” Tommy said. “If you and I swapped identities and I had one of those black cards, I think I’d hang on to it.”
“So would I,” Dino said.
“So I take it you’re thinking that Charley Boggs might be Evan Keating instead of Charley Boggs?”
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L o i t e r i n g w i t h I n t e n t
“It crossed my mind,” Stone said.
“Then why would he come in and confess to killing the real Charley Boggs, but say it was himself?”
“Because I told him that somebody might have put out a contract on him, and he apparently thought it was his father. Maybe he fi gured that if he was dead, his old man might save the money on the hit man.”
“That makes sense. Where is this guy now, do you know?”