Page 43 of Targeted at Christmas

Cooper’s gaze hardened. “Did he happen to say who the developer was?”

“Yes,” she answered tensely. “Jarrod Inzunza, the managing partner at Wolftyn Senmoore Developments.”

Cooper took a moment or two for that to sink in, and asked a couple more questions, before Jarrod Inzunza suddenly became a person of interest as a suspect in a possible conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of Neal Zapponi and Horace Eckhart.

COOPER STEPPED INSIDE the offices of Wolftyn Senmoore Developments on East Indian School Road. He wanted to know whether or not the managing partner for the real estate development company, Jarrod Inzunza, had in fact been involved in public corruption that morphed into a pay-to-kill scenario.

In the lobby, Cooper spotted the man he was looking for—having seen him at the recent groundbreaking ceremony for a development near the Roosevelt Row Arts District. Lexi had mentioned that Inzunza was romantically involved with her architect friend, Pamela Rennick. Though this was an eye-opener to Cooper, knowing that the managing partner was married with children, infidelity wasn’t a crime—and therefore, none of his business. But bribery and murder were crimes and definitely the Bureau’s business.

Inzunza walked up to him. “Agent Reid, I assume?”

Cooper gave a nod and took his extended hand for a shake. “Thanks for seeing me,” he told him routinely—having briefed Inzunza on the gist of the visit—though knowing the developer had little choice in the matter.

Inzunza met his gaze fixedly. “Why don’t we step into my office?”

Cooper followed him to a spacious office with concrete flooring, floor-to-ceiling windows and custom wood furnishings.

They sat in mid-century modern corduroy armchairs that were kitty-cornered, after which Cooper said levelly, “The FBI is in the midst of a public corruption investigation, centering around the late building inspector, Horace Eckhart—who was suspected of accepting cash payments illegally for special services rendered. That probe has extended to a homicide investigation with Eckhart’s murder.”

“Yes, as a developer, of course I’m familiar with what happened to Horace and what he’s been accused of,” Inzunza said. “But what does it have to do with me or Wolftyn Senmoore Developments?” His brow creased. “You’re not suggesting that we would engage in public corruption in any way?”

Cooper stared at him. “You tell me. Would you—if it meant gaining a leg up on the competition in the commercial or residential real estate development?”

“Absolutely not!” Inzunza’s mouth became a straight line. “I resent the insinuation.”

Unmoved by this show of denial and outrage, Cooper went right to the punch line. “The Bureau’s also looking into the murder of contractor Neal Zapponi.”

He watched Inzunza’s reaction before the developer said, “I understood that he was the victim of a carjacking?”

“That’s true,” Cooper admitted. “Same with Eckhart. Only we believe that both homicides are connected to their respective occupations related to the local construction business. Which brings me to why I’m here…” He took a breath. “We have information that the day before he was murdered, Zapponi argued with you—then was suddenly the victim of a deadly carjacking.” Cooper peered at Inzunza. “Mind telling me what the argument was about?”

Inzunza’s face became rigid. After a moment or two, he answered unwaveringly, “First of all, I had nothing to do with Neal’s death. Yeah, we had our disagreements, but not so much to want him dead. Much less, Horace Eckhart.” He sucked in a deep breath. “As a builder, I’m a perfectionist—one of my many faults, if you want to call it a fault. Neal was a hard worker, having been a contractor for Wolftyn Senmoore Developments on a number of projects. Given his own dedication to his craft, we were bound to bump heads from time to time on the details of what we both wanted to accomplish. That’s what we were arguing about,” Inzunza insisted. “Nothing more—and certainly nothing nefarious in intent. If anyone suggested otherwise, they were wrong.”

Being somewhat of a stickler in his own profession, Cooper couldn’t exactly indict the man on that score. And with no proof that he had anything to do with Zapponi’s murder—or engaged in bribery or other forms of public corruption—Cooper could only assume for the time being that Brianne Prichard’s assessment of Zapponi’s interaction with Inzunza was misinterpreted. Unless proven to the contrary.

Cooper regarded the managing partner and told him evenly, “I think you’ve given me all I need at this time.” He rose. “I can see myself out.”

Inzunza stood, too. “Just for the record, Agent Reid, we’re one of the most successful real estate developers in the county—if not the entire country—because we play by the rules. Anything less would be unforgivable, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it would be,” Cooper responded, meeting his gaze, while contemplating some other things in life that were just as unforgivable—before leaving the office.

LEXI SAT IN her studio with Pamela, happy to have the company of her longtime friend. Especially in light of the victimization of her neighbor in a brazen daytime home invasion.

“I am so sorry to hear about Eleanor,” Pamela remarked, as they sat on designer gold-colored barrel chairs.

“Me too.” Lexi wrinkled her nose. “It could have been much worse,” she acknowledged. “Fortunately, the home invaders appeared to be more interested in robbing her blind than seriously hurting Eleanor.”

Pamela rolled her eyes. “Thank goodness for small favors, right?”

“Right.” Lexi sighed. “There’s still the matter of catching the perpetrators.”

“I’m sure the authorities will,” Pamela said.

“They’d better.” Lexi was pensive. “Especially since I believe they may be the same people who were following me around in an SUV.”

“What?” Pamela’s mouth opened wide. “When…?”

Lexi revealed her suspicions and added, “I should have mentioned this to Cooper sooner.”