"Perhaps she's a little honey he has set up down there," Ray said. "This Elizabeth Montgomery might be a woman scorned or might have a jealous husband."
Kagan joined in, "At the very least, we've another suspect and more reasonable doubt."
"I need to dig more into Towson's life as well," Sandy said. "See where he pops up in official records. Search for other names. See the court record of the divorce proceeding. Are there children no one knows about? Like that."
"Jerry, could he actually have made it to the Governor's Mansion? I heard he had big time opposition," Ray asked.
"Slam dunk, as good as elected. His opposition was ruthless and well funded, but he definitely would make it. Some Cuban-American big-money interests were pushing to legalize casino gambling in Florida. They're out already optioning land for casinos and getting politicians lined up. Towson stood for old Florida and the status quo, anti-growth and all that.
The ideal candidate. The campaign would be tough, but would be grass roots. John Q. Public against big-money interests."
"Be less fuss to shoot a state senator now than assassinate a governor later," Ray said.
"The link for us there is Norma Martin," Sandy said. "Here's how her story goes so far. She breezed into town a couple of years ago and bought the Jardin Café. The owners weren't even thinking about selling the place until she came along. The place wasn't in good shape. They were thrilled when they named their price, and she handed them cash. The cover story was she cashed out on a large house up north in a divorce settlement. Everyone assumes she owns that restaurant. I found out she doesn't. A Delaware Partnership owns it, but the partners might well live in Tampa."
Ray said, "She's Cuban-American. If she's connected, would the Tampa big-money go so far as assassinate him?"
"I suppose that could happen here, happens in Miami. Billions are at stake," Kagan replied. "The pro-casino faction definitely wanted the senator out of the way."
Sandy's phone buzzed. It was Meg Emerson. "Sandy, I brought up reports on all the principals you named. Here we go. This is all confidential and a violation of every Federal privacy law on the books. So cover my tail please. I found zilch on Norma Martin. Are you certain she actually exists? I'd need a Social on her to check further. Tammy's fine, owns a couple of small rentals, she's a saver, no visible problems. Sonny Barner somehow got into financial trouble while he was a toddler, maybe earlier and hasn't been out of money trouble since. Don't buy a used car from him. Loraine Dellin is hurting financially, heavily mortgaged and margined, not yet critical, still she's been selling off her securities to live. She's literally eating up her principal. Got all that?"