Act of Aggression

Dr. Jim Bob Brady has settled into his new position at Hill Country Medical Center, and despite his best efforts to slow down the pace of his practice, his schedule is approaching the one he left behind in Houston. He’s also recovering from the death of Sandy Lowell III and the mysteries and tragedies surrounding him and the cosmetic-filler business. There is a new golf club development in Marble Falls called La Cava, with an 18-hole golf course, a clubhouse, and a 300-acre housing project. Brady finds himself in the temporary office-an Airstream trailer-waiting for Patsy Simmons, in charge of all administrative issues. He’s there at the behest of Dr. Buck Owens, his mentor and a representative of an investment group referred to as the Permian Basin boys. They have funneled a great deal of money into La Cava but have been unable to get accurate financial statements from the developer, Louis Devlin. Brady’s job is to try and gain financial information for the Permian boys, even to the point of the consortium buying a membership and paying the dues for Brady and his wife, Mary Louise.And yet that investigation isn’t the only one Brady finds himself involved in. Earlier in the week, on a Sunday afternoon, while he and Mary Louise were playing a practice round of golf at La Cava, they heard a gunshot in a house under construction, and they discovered a body, who happened to be Louis Devlin’s wife. Two more women are soon murdered, including Patsy Simmons. At the autopsy, Dr. Jerry Reed, pathologist, discovers that two of the women share a congenital condition known as intersexuality. Susan Beeson, longtime friend of the Bradys and now ASAC of the Austin FBI, becomes involved in the investigation, which reveals that Devlin and his associates have been in prison and have changed their names, and that organized crime figures may have participated in the murders and in the development of La Cava Golf Club.What are the developers’ plans with the money they’ve raised? What do the three murders have to do with the La Cava Golf Club? What role does the congenital condition in the two women have to do with the project? What is the background story of Devlin and his possible criminal associates? Is the project a matter of just doing business with shady characters, or has it caused an act of aggression?