Maresco can’t come up with the scratch to extend their lease on drilling rights
and it goes to auction, a lot of oil companies, big and small, will make a bid for
them. Does A.J. think it’s a slam dunk that he can win the auction for Arroyo?”
“Based on some things he alluded to, I think he knows someone on the inside who’ll
leak the other bid amounts so he can outbid them.”
Conaway said, “If he set the blowouts, why would he tell you? A.J.’s not too smart,
but he’s not a complete idiot.”
Robichaud’s lip quirked. “Greed trumps stupidity. He thinks I come from money, and
offered to cut me in on the buy.”
Her eyes narrowed. “So, do you come from money?”
He wordlessly peered toward the activity at the SUV.
“You’re just rude and nosy enough to make a great reporter, Conaway,” I murmured.
She swung her gaze to mine and I shrugged. I remembered Deke said Robichaud was from
an old Louisiana family, but he hadn’t mentioned money. Nick Robichaud was a mystery
in more ways than one. I was still imagining what he’d look like naked.
We watched the three men as they settled Dylan into the back seat of his SUV. “I think
I’ll call those FBI agents and tell them.”
“I already did. I suspect a motive was what they were missing, and now they have one.
Along with an arrest.”
Vague memories came back to me. I’d thought myself in love with A.J. He’d come on
strong and never let up, literally sweeping me off my feet. I’d never been much for
dating, I suppose, because I wasn’t into things like make-up and clothes. I was an
egghead and guys tend to avoid geeky math girls. A.J. changed all that, or so I’d
thought. He said he thought it was sexy how smart I was. Barely twenty-two, with extremely
limited romantic experience, I was ripe for flattery. And a big fall.
I took to sex like a fish to water. Maybe because I ignored my mother’s constant lectures
about not letting boys ‘take advantage.’ Or maybe because my goals always included
doing anything and everything Mama told me I couldn’t. I used to wonder if she’d had
sex exactly four times in her life, once for each of her daughters. My mother appeared
to think of anything sexual as base, crude, and terribly white trash.
I, on the other hand, think sex is about feeling alive, powerful, and feminine. Maybe
I don’t live a girly-girl life, but the fact remains, I am a girl, and at no time do I feel so female as when I’m naked, tangled up in the sheets
with an equally naked male. For all A.J. was a thieving, lying bastard, he’d been
a great one to teach me the wonders of the bedroom.
What did it say about me that I trusted him?
As soon as his son was deposited in the back seat, Hoyt climbed behind the wheel and
peeled out, leaving a cloud of dust as he tore down the lease road. I supposed he’d
return for his high-dollar sports car later.
Robichaud said, “Let’s blow it tonight and get the hell outta here.”
“I’m game. Can’t think of a job I ever wanted to finish so much as this one.”
Conaway’s pretty blue eyes lit up with excitement. “Awesome!”
…
Hours later, Conaway’s enthusiasm had waned a bit. Blowing a well fire is a tedious
undertaking, a lot of time and effort for a brief moment of thrills and chills. Kind
of like standing for hours in a long line at a theme park to ride the biggest, baddest
roller coaster. But it’s so damned cool, we do it again and again.
I’d called the FBI guys, as instructed, and informed them of our intent to kill the
fire. They’d stressed how important it was for them to work the site as soon as the
fire was out to determine if the blowout was deliberately set before anyone had an
opportunity to muck up the scene. They arrived close to sunset, almost nine o’clock
in the west Texas summer, with another agent in tow. He was a bomb expert. Unfortunately,
Tim Fresh came along for the ride. The
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