Side Story #1 - Colt - Page 60

Now there was a question that required a careful answer. "Just a hunch, mainly," said Colt. "Most murders are committed by someone who knew the victim well. And being a part of the police investigation, Pink would have been ideally positioned to get it ruled a suicide."

Malcolm mulled that over for a bit. "...How'd you learn about his relationship with Rex?"

Agh. This guy wasn't the type to just let things pass him by without question, was he? "What difference does that make?" said Colt

"Professional curiosity," said Malcolm.

"If have to tell you how I find out all the things I know, we'll be here all day."

"Hmm. I've got time."

"So do I. What I don't have is patience. And we're not partners. I'm not obligated to tell you, anything."

"Heh. You sayin' that if we were partners, you would be obligated to tell me?"

"No."

"You're a real sourpuss, y'know that?"

Wasn't the first time he'd heard that. "If you want to swap info, then great. But I ain't interested in hearing about every little trick you used to acquire that info." That wasn't entirely true, of course. He mainly just didn't want Malcolm asking too many questions about his own methods. If he was curious about Malcolm's, then he'd just ask Boh to start following him again.

"Hrm." Malcolm looked like he had more to say, but he kept quiet.

Maybe this was a dirty trick, but Colt didn't rightly care. He intended to press every advantage he could.

After a while longer of silence, however, Malcolm found his words again. "...Phil hired you earlier today," he said slowly. "And yet you already seem pretty knowledgeable about the case."

"I'm an attentive guy."

That pulled a smile out of Malcolm. "Heh. Guess you'd have to be in order to live way out here." He smiled waned, however. "You wouldn't happen to have some other interest in this investigation, though, would ya?"

Other interest? What was he talking about? The missing money? Did he think that's what Colt was really after?

Well, it would make sense. More sense than seemingly putting himself in harm's way by tracking down a murder. Malcolm lacked the context of Colt's status as a servant. He didn't realize that Colt wasn't terribly concerned about some normal, punkass killer taking him down.

Hmm. He didn't want Malcolm thinking that he was just in this for the money, though. That would start to sound an awful lot like motive, and he really didn't need this motherfucker suspecting him as the murderer, especially given his apparent ties to the cops in the capital.

"To be perfectly honest with you," said Colt, "I do have another interest in it."

"Oh?"

Colt let his gaze hold on the crackling fire in front of him. "I came to this town 'cause I wanted a nice and quiet place to raise my kids. I've invested a hell of a lot of time, effort, and money in order to do that, you understand? But it turns out, there's a murderer living here. So now I've got a decision to make." Colt left an opening for Malcolm to respond.

The merely man remained quiet, however.

"Depending on who the murderer is, it might be better to just cut my losses and leave Orden behind."

Malcolm blinked. "Depending on who it is? You mean if it's someone in a position of authority."

It was Colt's turn to remain quiet.

Malcolm seemed to take his silence in the affirmative and nodded. "I see..." And he paused again, thinking. "Do you really think it could be someone like that?"

Colt just gave a shrug.

"If so, then conventional wisdom is against you," said Malcolm. "People in power usually have too much to lose to risk resorting to murder. And yeah, while that might sometimes provide them with motive, it also tends to provides them with other methods of neutralizing people who are 'inconvenient' to them. They don't generally need to kill someone in order to destroy them, y'know."

Wow. Colt wouldn't have expected to hear something like that from this guy. It sounded like he might be speaking from personal experience. Was that how the corrupt motherfuckers in Lagoroc ran things? Maybe that was why Malcolm quit being a cop. "Conventional wisdom has its limits," said Colt. "That kind of logic only really works when compared against street level murderers. This was a premeditated killing of a law enforcement officer in his own home. What's more, they tried to make it look like a suicide. And almost succeeded, too, from the sound of it."

"Fair point," said Malcolm. "From what I've heard, my buddies over in Lagoroc are still conflicted about that. They might rule it a suicide, still."

"Isn't a bit late for that?"

"Yeah, but there are complications with this case."

"Aren't there always?"

"Heh. Not like these." Malcolm scratched his nose. "How much do you know about the gang situation in the capital?"

"Tryin' to steer me back toward this Hopper guy of yours, already?" said Colt.

"No, no, no." Malcolm broke for a bob of his head. "Well, yes, but that's beside the point. There are multiple rival gangs in the capital, and the cops really don't want Rex's death to be tied to one of them."

Colt's brow flattened with doubt. "What're you talking about? Cops love to pin shit on gangs, even when they don't have enough evidence for it. Makes their world a much simpler place."

Malcolm gave him a look, perhaps wondering how he'd come to have that point of view. "Not in Lagoroc. The gangs are a real problem there. The mayor won't want news of another gang killing getting around. He's a real piece of work that way."