Free Protecting Lulu (Global Protection Agency) by J. M. Jeffries Page A

Wilder sat down on the sofa and the others took chairs around him.
    “Maybe
someone is trying to get to you by threatening your sister.” He typed on his
iPad. “We’re going to need to dig deeper into your personal life, Mr.
Bennington.”
    “Welcome
to my world, sweetie,” Lulu said with a half-laugh. “Let me get comfortable.”
    “So
who have you pissed off in the last few years?” Bain asked
    Wilder
rubbed his forehead again. “I don’t know where to start.”
    “Then
let’s start with your parents,” Callahan said. “Have you been investigating the
murder?”
    “I’ve
never stopped investigating it. I’m no closer today than the police were twenty
years ago.” Flashes of memory appeared in his mind and Wilder closed his eyes
as he saw himself in the water being towed by Lulu as she swam the lake toward
their grandparent’s house. He remembered the cold and the aching numbness
surrounding his body.
    “You
may think you’re no closer,” Callahan said, “but someone else may not feel that
way.”
    “Nothing
new has come up?” Bain leaned back in his chair.
    “The
investigator I hired to look into the murders died of a heart attack three
months ago. I haven’t hired anyone new.”
    Desha
pointed to his computer. “Then how come you have a ten million dollar reward on
the internet? That’s a lot of incentive for someone to come forward with
information.”
    “That
reward has been available for several years. I didn’t handle that directly, that’s
why I hired the private investigator. He said a lot of people had theories, but
none ever panned out. My parents’ murder is up there with the Lindbergh baby’s
kidnapping and D.B. Cooper. I doubt it will ever be solved, but I’m never going
to stop trying.”
    “Then
business rivals?” Bain asked.
    “He
has those aplenty,” Lulu broke in. She sat in her chair with her legs crossed
and a rather sad look on her face.
    “Anyone
in particular come to mind?” Callahan asked.
    “Presidents
and stockholders of NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, the pie is only so big gentlemen and
we’re always looking for ways to increase our share.”
    “Something
a little more personal than that?”
    “Like
women?” Lulu clapped her hands. “I’m all ears.”
    Wilder
frowned at her. She was back to making light of everything again.
    She
grinned. “Mr. Callahan, you probably should talk to Sylvia. She knows more about
my brother’s private life than he does.”
    Wilder
shot her an annoyed look.
    Lulu
held a finger up. “Don’t scowl at me, Wilder. If not for Sylvia, I’d think you
were a monk.”
    Wilder
clamped his lips shut. His private life was supposed to be his private life. He
hated airing his dirty laundry.
    Desha
turned his computer around for everyone to see. “Dude, Candace McBride. I’m
impressed.”
    On
the screen Wilder saw a photo of him and Candace walking into a restaurant. He
held the door open and Candace was looking up at him with an adoring look on
her face. How had that happened? He hated being stalked by photographers and
went out of his way to avoid them. “I like my private life to remain private.”
    Desha
pulled his computer around again. He typed for a few seconds and then his
eyebrows went up. “Says here you fired Danny Mills.”
    “I
didn’t fire him,” Wilder said, “I chose not to renegotiate his contract.” Danny
Mills had had a radio show with a station Wilder had bought. Danny had thought
that an expanded audience allowed him to say what he wanted, when he wanted, be
mean and nasty. Wilder had asked him to keep his show on a professional level,
but the man had refused to listen. Making fun of Lulu had been the last straw
in Wilder’s book.
    “Why?”
Callahan asked.
    “When
you call the boss’s sister a fat bitch on air, there are consequences.” Wilder
gritted his teeth. If Lulu hadn’t intervened Wilder would have beaten him to a
pulp.
    “Yeah.”
Bain smiled. “That would be bad.”
    “What’s
the story,”