Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

D EVINE RENTED A TOYOTA 4RUNNER. Google maps showed the Kittitas county line to be about 115 miles away, all on the interstate with passage over a section of the Cascade Mountains. Although with the directions he’d been given by Korey Rose, he would have to tack on more miles and time to get to the trailer and that would not be on an interstate. He figured he might need some extra oomph and four-wheel-drive capability once he got off the highway, especially if the weather unloaded on him.

He drove out of Seattle and headed east. The verdant wall of the Cascades ran from Northern California to British Columbia and continually filled his windshield the farther east he traveled. A herd of semis occupied all the lanes, which, during the trip, went up and down in number from four to three to two. Later, he got off I-90 and started following the directions that Rose had provided him. It was hilly, mountainous country. He became lost once but then figured out his mistake, backtracked, and pulled up to the Odoms’ home about twenty minutes later after traversing a single-lane unpaved road through some dense forest. It was darker and cooler here and he was glad he had worn his heavier jacket.

The trailer was a double-wide with white aluminum siding and a black-shingled roof planted on strategically placed short columns of cinderblocks. Knotted pressure-treated plank steps led up to the front door. Nate Shore had not been kidding about the Odoms living in the boonies. Devine wondered why they had chosen this location to literally set down their first home.

He parked, got out, and looked around.

Since the Odoms’ deaths had been ruled an accidental overdose, he supposed the police had not made a search here. The home was apparently just sitting empty.

He did a perimeter walk and in the rear yard saw an old blackened and dented fifty-gallon metal barrel that looked like it had been used to incinerate trash. A large propane tank was set next to the right side of the home. The back door was locked. Devine took out his lockpick gun and it made short work of this obstacle.

Devine found himself in the small kitchen, which occupied the middle of the structure. As he looked around, Devine saw that it was roomier inside than it had looked on the outside. There were three bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen with a small dining room adjacent to it, and a tiny living room as an afterthought by the front entrance. Although only about nine hundred square feet, Devine thought it must have felt like a mansion of permanence to a family that had previously endured periods of homelessness.

He did a quick search of the largest bedroom at one end, which was clearly Dwayne and Alice’s space, and found nothing helpful. He also didn’t find any drug paraphernalia, which bolstered Odom and her friends’ claims about her parents not being users. The middle bedroom looked used, only he wasn’t initially sure by whom. But when he saw some of the items in it, he had a clearer idea of the occupants.

At the other end of the trailer was obviously Betsy Odom’s room. It looked like a typical preteen’s room, whatever that actually meant these days, although he saw no computer or other electronic device. But Devine knew she had her phone with her. Piles of clothes and stacks of books, which he noted had been borrowed from the public library. The girl’s tastes were eclectic—fantasy, sci-fi, a couple of what looked to be romances, a primer on flowers and herbs, a cookbook, three biographies on women who had pulverized glass ceilings and… He sat on the bed and looked at the last book in the stack.

Think and Grow Rich. It was a revised and updated version of the longtime bestseller.

He opened it and saw that there was a stamp on the inside cover: BOOKCAVE SECONDHAND BOOKS. With a price tag of one dollar.

Devine flipped through the book and saw many underlined sentences and margin notes written presumably in Betsy Odom’s hand. Things like, “Remember the part about believing in yourself.” And “You can do this too.” And lastly, “I will take care of my parents.”

Okay, that qualifies as heart-wrenching.

He slipped the book into his jacket and looked around at the mess of clothes. They must not have let her come back here after her parents’ deaths, or else someone had gotten Odom a few things to wear.

He then remembered her complaint about her tight clothes and shoes. He looked around, found an empty duffel bag, and piled as many clothes, shoes, books, and other things that the girl might want or need into it as he could, and zipped it closed.

He was about to head out when through a window he noted movement in the woods on the left side of the trailer. He squatted down and peered through the glass. When he saw who it was, Devine rose and walked out the rear door, the duffel hefted over his shoulder.

“What are you two doing back here?” he asked.

Korey Rose and Nate Shore, both looking startled, walked out of the woods and came over to him.

“Hey, Korey and Nate , good to see you again,” said Devine.

Rose said sheepishly, “You talked to Betsy, right? She told you who we was?”

“She also said you were nice guys who helped out around here.”

“They helped us mor’n we helped them, that’s the dang truth,” said Shore.

“She also said you were a great cook, Korey.”

“I know my way ’round a stove and skillet,” he replied modestly. “People got to eat, or so my old granny told me.”

Shore eyed the duffel suspiciously. “Hey, you ain’t takin’ stuff, are you?”

“Clothes and books and other essentials for Betsy. She didn’t have much with her.”

“Oh, okay,” said a relieved Shore. “I thought…” But he looked embarrassed and didn’t finish.

“Don’t tell me you have drugs stashed in the trailer somewhere?” said Devine sharply. “That would not be good.”

“Ain’t no drugs in there, ’cept Advil, swear to Jesus,” replied Rose. “We ain’t doin’ that shit no more. We well on the way to the road to recovery.”

“Okay,” said a clearly not convinced Devine.

“I think Nate was worried ’bout his ‘magazine’ collection. Some classics in there all right,” added a smiling Rose, giving his partner a nudge with his elbow.

Devine looked relieved as he got what Rose was referring to. “Right. FYI, I left the old Playboy magazines right where I found them. A vintage collection for sure. The dumbbells, too. Eighty-pounders. Impressive.”

Rose laughed. “They ain’t mine. I can’t lift even one of ’em with my whole body. But old Nate tosses ’em ’round like cupcakes.”

Shore growled, “Exercise kicks in the endorphins. Natural drug, you see. Then I don’t need the other shit.”

“And the Playboy s stimulate him, too, just in another way,” noted Rose. That got him a punch in the arm from his mate.

“They was my grandaddy’s and he left ’em to me. I ain’t throwin’ ’em in the trash. They worth somethin’ all right. Money in them pages. Just got to find the right buyer is all.”

“Well, since you’ve had them things for a long time now, I ain’t sure you ever gonna find the right buyer, Nate.”

Devine said, “How’d you two make it to Seattle and then back here?”

“Bus,” said Rose. “Dropped us off couple miles away.”

“You guys had money for that?” He noted they had on the same clothes as the previous night. They also each had a rolled-up sleeping bag and blanket bound with bungies.

Shore said, “Worked the last few days at odd jobs, scrounged up some cash that way. And Dwayne give us some money from before.”

“Where’d you stay in Seattle?”

Rose laughed and held up the sleeping bag. “At the Ritz, man. Leastways behind the Dumpster. They only throw away the best food there. Last night I had me prime rib and Nate had him a real nice chicken parm.”

“So what are you two doing back here?”

Shore said sheepishly, “Fact is, we ain’t got no place to live right now… so’s…”

Rose added, “We got us a key, from Dwayne. We was hopin’ to crash here a few days is all. Till we get stuff straight,” he added, giving Devine a hopeful look.

Devine looked back at the trailer. “Well, I can’t tell you what to do. The police clearly haven’t been here, but they may come at some point.”

“We see the cops comin’, we get out real fast,” promised Rose.

“ Real fast,” parroted Shore. “Cops and us is oil and water. We ain’t criminals, but cops look at us, that’s all they see.”

Devine put down the duffel, reached in his wallet, and pulled out some cash. “Here, I don’t know how much good it will do, but it’s all I’ve got on me.”

Both men shook their heads. Shore said, “No way, dude, we ain’t takin’ your last dollar. Shit, we ain’t got much, but we ain’t like that.”

“I can always get some more. And it’s the government’s money, not mine,” he added. “And they can always print more when they need it.”

Shore slowly reached out, took the cash, and gave half of it to his friend. “Thanks.”

Rose said, “Wish we could print us some money.”

“You can, but it’s called counterfeiting when citizens do it. Now, can I drive you anywhere?”

“We ain’t had nuthin’ to eat today,” said Rose. He held up the cash. “Nice little place a few miles from here. Know the cook, does a real good job. Pride in his food. We can spot you for a meal, on your dime.” He smiled weakly.

“Come on, but it’s my treat. You guys have phones?”

They shook their heads.

At the restaurant in the small town Devine drove them to, both men devoured three appetizers and an entrée each. Devine found a place to buy them a prepaid phone. Next he drove them to a grocery store and Rose carefully selected, and Devine purchased, some food for the pair. He also purchased two food gift cards for them. After that, he dropped them back off at the trailer.

“So, it’s really okay if we stay here awhile?” said Shore with a little shiver and coughing into his elbow. Devine noted that his dirty coat was lightweight and the nighttime temps here would quickly fall below freezing.

“In fact, you can watch over the place. I guess now it belongs to Betsy.”

“Yeah, we look after it for her,” said Rose enthusiastically. “And tell her we say hello.”

“Do you know how they came to live here?” asked Devine.

Rose said, “Don’t know why he picked this place, but Dwayne bought a couple acres. They delivered the whole dang house on a big-ass truck. We was here when it came rollin’ down the road. Barely ’nuff room to get the sucker in.”

Shore added, “It come in two pieces, see, and these dudes just screwed it together.” He grinned. “Like a damn dollhouse.”

“They was real good,” said Rose. “Did the whole thing in a few hours. Boom, boom, boom. Talked to one of the dudes. He say they got trained real good but they don’t get paid shit. And no health care. I mean, what is that about? Man works hard, he should be able to go see the doc and all if he gets hurt or sick.”

“All that couldn’t have been cheap,” noted Devine.

Rose said, “Don’t know how much the land cost, but Dwayne say it cost over a hundred and thirty thousand buckaroos for the house and to set it up and all. Still way cheaper than a regular house, I guess. Don’t know, ain’t never had no regular house. Hell, no house.”

“But what about when you were growing up?” asked Devine.

“Just lived with relatives here and there, and they either rented or squatted, or lived in the basement of other folks’ places.”

“And your parents?’

“Joy juice got ’em when I was a baby.”

“Joy juice?”

“Heroin and drivin’ ain’t too good a combo. They went right off a cliff, so’s I was told.”

Devine looked at Shore. “You still have family?”

“Cops and cancer got my parents. Lived some with my grandparents. Really been on my own since I was fifteen.”

“I’m really sorry, guys. You said you met Dwayne in school?”

Shore said, “Yep. Went to middle and high school together. He ain’t had nothin’, either, same as us. We formed a little gang. Not a real one, but just for fun. I played football, and Dwayne and Kor would come cheer me on.”

Rose grinned. “He was real good, call him the bulldozer. Dozer for short. Put the hurtin’ on you, man. Coulda got a scholarship to some football college.”

“Then I wrecked a knee, came out a half step slower, and it went asses-up. Glory Days, like the Boss say.”

“That’s Nate’s way of sayin’ we fucked ourselves up real good after high school,” noted Rose. “But you joined the Army, Dozer, while I was doin’ my cookin’ thing.”

Devine focused on Shore. “Army? How long were you in?”

“Too long,” said Shore curtly, while not looking at him.

“How about Dwayne?” asked Devine.

“Naw. Dwayne ain’t too smart but he smart ’nuff not to do what we done,” said Rose.

“Then when he was ’round twenty-five he moved away,” added Shore. “When he come back, he was hitched and had Betsy. Surprised the crap out of us.”

“How’d you reconnect?”

“Hell, he looked us up. Don’t know for sure how he done it. But he come walkin’ into the rehab place we was at one day and said, ‘Hey, Kor, hey, Dozer.’ Like ain’t no time gone by.”

Shore said, “Coulda knocked me over with a feather. Made me feel real good he ’membered us like that.”

“We was surprised,” said Rose. “But then it was like we ain’t never been apart, you know? Just slid back in like it was high school again. And Alice was real nice. She and Dwayne sure loved each other. She was younger than we was. Alice really looked up to Dwayne, seemed to me.”

Devine nodded at all this. “So you have no idea where he got the money for the house and car?”

Rose glanced nervously at Shore, who said, “Look, Dwayne was a real nice guy, give you the shirt off his back, but he would say shit, too.”

“Like what?”

Shore shrugged. “Like he won the lottery. That how he say he got this place and the car.”

“The lottery? So you didn’t believe him?”

Rose chuckled. “When he say it, I was lookin’ at Alice and she done this eye roll thing, man. And…”

“And what?”

“Well, she ain’t look too happy is all.”

“And you never asked her where the money really came from?”

Shore said, “Tried to, once. But, man, she ain’t want to go there, so’s I dropped it. Alice was real nice, but you ain’t want to get on her bad side. No way, no sir.”

Rose added, “She pretty much did what Dwayne wanted, but that don’t mean she agreed with everythin’ Dwayne wanted neither.”

“Okay, thanks for the info.” Devine gave them his phone number. “If someone shows up and gives you trouble or you think of anything else helpful, or just need to get in touch for anything, call me, okay?”

The men said they would, thanked him profusely, and Devine drove away thinking: There but for the grace of God…