Free Chasing Justice: A Matt Royal Mystery by H. Terrell Griffin

to let me talk to the Lesters, but he said I could pass it on to you. He said he’d be protected by the attorney-client privilege, and you couldn’t talk about what he had to say.”
    “Actually, the work-product privilege would protect the information, but it serves the same purpose. I can keep it all confidential. What did he have to say?”
    “He’s not happy with the agent investigating Abby’s case.”
    “Wes Lucas,” I said.
    “That’s the one. Apparently, there’s some bad blood between Strickland and Lucas.”
    “Then why assign Lucas the case?”
    “Lucas told Strickland he wanted it, and Strickland felt he had to give it to him. It seems that Lucas has some highly placed friends, and what Lucas wants, Lucas gets. Strickland is sick of dealing with it, and thinks that maybe a little publicity about how Lucas barged into the Lester case might have some effect on the higher-ups who are pulling the strings.”
    “Highly placed in FDLE?” I asked.
    “Higher than that.”
    “Did he tell you who?”
    “He doesn’t know, but he’s had pressure before when he tried to discipline Lucas for stepping over the line in cases he was working.”
    “Lucas said he was in Sarasota working on another matter when FDLE was called in. That’s the reason he was assigned to Bannister’s murder.”
    “Strickland says that wasn’t the way it happened. Lucas called him on the morning the body was discovered and said he wanted to be the lead investigator. The thing is, Lucas called before Strickland even knew there was a murder.”
    “That’s strange. I wonder if Lucas was in Sarasota and heard about the case and Abby’s possible involvement.”
    “Don’t know, but Strickland said Lucas was very insistent that he get the assignment.”
    “Are you going to follow up on this?” I asked.
    “Maybe. But, Matt, I won’t be able to keep you informed on what we find. If I can print it, you’ll see it, but I can’t let my people become part of your investigation.”
    “I understand, and I appreciate your calling me on this. Do you think it’d be okay for me to talk to Strickland?”
    “I don’t see why not. He specifically gave me permission to talk to you.”
    “Thanks, Matt.”
    “You’re welcome, Matt.” The line went dead.
    I told J.D. what Walsh had said. “Lucas must have a direct line into Sarasota PD. Somebody’s leaking him information.”
    “Maybe not,” she said.
    “I don’t know of any other way he could have known about the murder so soon.”
    “Unless he was part of the murder and the framing of Abby in the first place.”
    I hadn’t thought about that possibility. “You have a devious mind. I wonder, though. You might be onto something. I’ll look into it.”
    “I’d like to know who is protecting a scumbag like Lucas,” she said.
    “So would I. What were we talking about when Walsh called?”
    “My murder case. I haven’t heard back from New Orleans on my record request. I don’t know if the files on Darlene Pelletier even exist, or whether everybody out there is just too lazy to look for them.”
    “What are you hoping to find?”
    “I don’t know. I’m just stirring the pot, hoping some bit of information will float to the top. I have nothing at this point, except that the husband has disappeared. We’ve tagged his credit cards, but there have been no hits anywhere. Late this afternoon, Tampa PD found his car in a long-term parking lot at Tampa International, but nobody named James Favereaux has taken a flight out of there since last Friday. And we know he was home on Friday afternoon when the maid left for the day.”
    “Nothing else from the DEA?”
    “Nothing. I thought I might get a call back from Agent Michel, but not so far. Maybe he’ll call tomorrow.”
    “I wouldn’t bet on it. If you don’t have information to trade him, he’s got no reason to give you anything. He was looking for Darlene Pelletier, and you told him she’s dead. He’ll follow up on that