Vows of Silence by Debra Webb Page B

disappearance.” Rick flipped open his notepad. “You stated that on the day of his disappearance you were here at the office all day.”
    Canton nodded. “That’s correct. The secretary, Rachel Hill, can confirm my whereabouts. We worked on several proposals that day. Neither of us left. We had lunch delivered right here.”
    Rick studied his hastily scribbled notes a moment longer before dropping the bomb. “Chief Taylor mentioned in his final report that there was some question as to the exact nature of your and Miss Hill’s precise relationship.” His gaze settled fully onto Canton’s. “Can you clarify that relationship for me?”
    Any openness Canton had previously displayed disappeared in a flash of annoyance. His expression closed so completely he could have lapsed into a coma and looked more alert.
    “We…” Canton cleared his throat. “Our relationship was first and foremost a working one. But, as you may recall, that was a very difficult time for me and we became more intimately involved.”
    Rick nodded his understanding. “That was during the time you thought your wife and your partner were intimately involved, is that correct?”
    Canton’s eyes narrowed. “You know it was, Summers. Why rehash those nasty details? I shouldn’t have to relive that misery. There’s nothing else I can tell you that you don’t already know. Why would I have killed him? As you well know, I was forced to continue operations here as if he were still alive for seven long years. I couldn’t buy out his share until he was officially pronounced dead. I worked for seven years and gave fifty percent of the company’s earnings to a dead man. I should be stricken from your suspect list for that alone.”
    “There is one thing that Taylor failed to ask you ten years ago.”
    His patience at an end, Canton snipped, “What? If I cared that my wife was screwing around with the bastard?” His jaw worked a moment before he answered his own question. “Hell no, I didn’t care. It kept the bitch off my back, if you want to know the truth. But the humiliation was something else entirely. Discretion never was one of my former partner’s finer points.”
    “Actually,” Rick countered, “I was going to ask if you remembered Charles having had any dealings with Bent Thompson.”
    Surprise captured Canton’s expression to the point that his lower jaw sagged. “Bent Thompson?”
    The name brought a certain stigma with it. No one wanted to confess even knowing the small-time hood, much less having had any dealings with him.
    “I would say no, most assuredly,” Canton replied thoughtfully, “but there was that once about a week before Charles disappeared that he stayed late for a meeting. He said it was private, not company business.” Canton lifted his shoulders and let them drop in a show of indifference. “I assumed he intended to meet one of his female friends. I wasn’t particularly concerned since my wife was out of town.” His brow furrowed as if he was working hard to recall the precise events that occurred next. “As I was leaving the office that day, I noticed Thompson parked across the street. Generally I didn’t pay attention to who visited whom along this street, but that day the cigarette smoke rising from the open window of his car drew my attention.”
    Elm Street, the one running parallel to the building, was occupied by a number of businesses, from small medical practices to accounting offices. Some were housed in new upscale buildings like this one and others had merely taken over former homes.
    “I’m sure he wasn’t the first person to sit outside in his car and smoke, mind you,” Canton went on, “but he seemed to blow the smoke in my direction almost as if he wanted me to see him.”
    Bent Thompson liked to intimidate. Rick could definitely see where he would enjoy making a man like Canton shake in his shiny leather loafers.
    “But you can’t be sure he was the appointment Charles had that