CHAPTER TEN
The funeral for Dorothy Martin was attended by hundreds of former students whom she’d helped get their start in business. Many still managed those businesses, free because of her.
The lines to pass her coffin took hours to complete. Former fellow teachers, a few students, and Rod gave touching tributes to the woman who was a mystery to them all.
At the cemetery one man stood off to the side, elderly, well-dressed, his cane digging into the soft earth. He didn’t move closer, didn’t speak to anyone. Just stood there staring as she was lowered into the ground. Behind was a man they were certain was a bodyguard or some sort of security.
“Who is that man?” asked Luke.
“No clue,” said Eric. “I’ve never seen him before. Or if I did, I don’t remember him.”
“You know him,” came the whispered voice between the two men. It was Matthew. He was hidden from the others, but Luke and Eric knew exactly who was standing there.
“Grandpa, can you give me a hint.”
“Burton Drilling,” he said softly. Luke frowned and then looked at Eric and back at the old man.
“Hollis Burton,” frowned Eric. “I thought he was dead after what happened on Platform Nine.”
“You would have thought it would’ve killed the bastard, but no. He’s still standing and all those men are dead. Why is he here?” asked Luke of his grandfather.
“That’s what you need to figure out. Remember, she held a huge number of shares to his company.” Matthew disappeared before Eric or Luke could say anything. When the service ended, they made their way toward the old man.
“Mr. Hollis?” called Luke. He turned frowning at the young men.
“Now is not the time to ask for a job young man. A wonderful woman has died.”
“I don’t need a job from you, Mr. Hollis,” said Luke. The tone of the ‘from you’ made Hollis instantly bristle. “My name is Luke Robicheaux.”
“Ah,” he said with sudden recognition of the name. “The famous Robicheaux Oil and Gas. Don’t you own enough? I’m not selling anything.”
“You seem determined to make me your enemy, Mr. Hollis. That is not my intention but I assure you if you want an enemy of me, it won’t end well for you.”
The man bristled, his lip quivering in anger as he gripped the handle of his cane tighter.
“What do you want?”
“We want to know how you knew Ms. Martin,” said Eric.
“She owned a huge portion of shares for Burton Drilling,” he said calmly.
“Obviously, I came to pay my respects. She was an investor and we appreciated her loyalty to Burton. I only wished she’d given us the chance to buy her shares back instead of sending them to charities that have no knowledge of how to handle such matters. ”
“That’s why charities have legal teams, Mr. Burton,” said Eric. “They’ll manage the shares just fine.”
“Hmmph!” he scowled. “Schools, delinquent children’s home, a church! Ridiculous. She was a ridiculous old woman and wasn’t in her right mind.”
“That’s funny,” said Luke with a grin. “When she rewrote her will, she made sure to include a recent psychiatric evaluation. I wonder why she would do that unless she was concerned about someone trying to make the claim that she wasn’t in her right mind.”
“Young man, I am very busy. We are done here,” he said turning to walk back to the waiting black car.
“We’re done for now,” said Luke. “I’m sure we’ll see one another soon.”
They watched as the black sedan pulled out of the cemetery. It was going far too fast for a cemetery road and everyone’s heads turned, watching the rude guest leave.
“I think we have our first potential killer,” said Luke. “Get a few of the boys to apply to Burton. Remy and Robbie are experienced. They know what they’re doing. So does Hex. Just make sure their cover is solid.”
“You know we will,” said Eric. “Let’s see if we can find out how Burton Drilling is actually doing. After Platform Nine, I would have thought the government would have shut them down.”
“I guess we’ll find out.”