Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33

O DOM STROLLED AROUND THE BOOKSTORE, idly taking a book off a shelf and glancing over some pages before placing it back.

Devine paralleled her, looking around and making sure no one was taking a heightened interest in them.

“You like reading, I take it?” he said as she picked up a fantasy novel in the YA section of the store.

“Yeah. My mom told me it was important and fun. She said she wished she’d read more when she was my age. But I don’t think her dad was really good about that. He didn’t much care for stuff like that, I guess.”

“Did she tell you anything else about your grandfather?”

She glanced up at him from the book she had been checking out. “Not too many good things. He was apparently… not too nice to her or my uncle. I never knew him, or my mom’s mom. They’re dead.”

“And your dad? Was he a reader?”

She smiled wistfully. “Dad couldn’t sit still long enough to read a food label on the cereal box, much less a book.”

“Did you know your other grandparents?”

“No. My dad’s parents were in a car accident or something before I was born. He had a sister but she died in the car crash, too.”

“That’s really awful.”

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “I think… I think it made my dad feel like… helpless, you know? Like what happens, happens. So he just didn’t worry much about stuff. Just thought if it was supposed to work out, it would, you know? Maybe that’s why he never found something that he… you know for a job and all. But he was always there for me and stuff. We would play and talk all the time. Sometimes, it was like having an older brother, you know?”

Her tone was so poignant and her look so wistful that Devine’s heart went out to her.

“Yeah, I know. Do you know how your parents met?”

Devine had learned some of this from Campbell’s digging into the Odoms’ histories, but he wanted to hear her perspective.

“My dad grew up around here. My mom was from the middle of the country, and my dad moved there at some point. He’d been out of school for a while by then. I guess he wanted to try something new. My mom was working at a restaurant in the place where he moved to, and my dad came in to eat lunch one day. After she got off work, he was waiting for her, with flowers. Then he took her to dinner. Kinda romantic. Anyway, after a while they got married, had me, and then we… well, we moved around some before coming back to where my dad grew up.”

“Find something?” he asked. She had gone on looking at books while they’d been talking before pulling one out and keeping it.

“Yeah. I’ve read the first three in this series. They’re cool. What do you like to read?”

“Besides thrillers and military histories, anything with cute bunnies.”

She smiled at his quip. “Can I also get a sketch pad and some pencils?”

“Sure, I know you like to draw. Korey told me, said you were good. And I saw some of the sketches in your binder, and he’s right, you are good.”

She smiled shyly. “My mom liked to do it and she taught me.”

They found a suitable sketch pad and the pencils and he bought them and the book. Then Devine suggested, “How about something to drink and a snack? I could use a coffee.”

“Sure,” she said excitedly. “They have scones. I saw them.”

Odom got a raspberry scone to go with her iced strawberry Frappuccino, while Devine selected a blueberry muffin to pair with his coffee.

“Enough sugar to keep you lit for a week,” noted Devine.

After they sat at a table, Odom said, “Thanks for bringing me here. It’s been a while since I got a book.”

“Well, you’ve had a lot going on.”

She took a sip of her drink and broke off a bit of the scone. “Do you really think you can find out what happened to my parents?”

“I’m trying my best.”

“But it’s dangerous, right? Those people who tried to hurt you?”

“It’s part of the job, Betsy. And it’s my concern, okay? Don’t add that to your worry list.”

“You think it was my uncle, right? Who did it?”

“I don’t know. But he’s certainly on the suspect list.”

“But why would he? My mom was his sister .”

“For some people, it doesn’t matter. They don’t think like you and I do.”

“If he wanted to be in my life, he could have been without killing anybody. So what would his motive be?”

“ Motive? Sounds like you watch cop shows.”

“I like to broaden my horizons as much as the next person,” she said in such a grown-up tone that Devine had to smile.

“And I saw in your journal that you have FBI agent on your list of possible future careers.”

She glanced down. “I know it sounds stupid.”

“It doesn’t sound stupid at all. Quite the opposite actually.”

She looked up at him. “Why do you say that?”

“There are already too many guys like me doing this sort of stuff. We need a lot more women. They bring different skill sets and perspectives, and, well, it’s just important. Based on my personal experience, sometimes guys’ testosterone is a real problem. We escalate instead of de-escalating. And you’re smart and observant. Two good traits in a federal agent.”

“Thanks,” she replied, looking both embarrassed and pleased.

“Nate and Korey told me about a couple of guys in suits who visited you in your old apartment. You remember them?”

“Yeah. We went out for ice cream while my dad talked to them.”

“And then sometime after that you all moved to your house. And your parents bought that car, which alone cost around fifty grand by the way.”

She shot him a nervous glance while she sipped on her drink. “You think they gave my dad some money, you mean?”

“No, our records show that the money was sent directly to the vendors for the car and the land and home. Didn’t you wonder where he got the funds to buy all that?”

“He said he won the lottery.”

“Same thing he told Korey and Nate. You believe him?”

She said, “No. I always knew when he was lying. He had a tell.”

“What sort of tell?” asked Devine.

“He giggled right after he said something that wasn’t true. I don’t even think he knew he was doing it. He couldn’t help it. And he did it after telling me he won the lottery.”

“So the men who met with your dad probably paid for the car and home. The questions are why and who did they work for. And as far as I know, the only person with money like that was your uncle.”

“But he might have just wanted to help them. They were related. And them dying could have nothing to do with that. And he’s the only family I have left so it’s pretty natural that he would want to adopt me.”

“Is that you talking, or him?”

“What?”

“That sounded scripted. Is that what Glass told you when you two met?”

“A little bit, I guess,” she admitted.

“What else did he tell you?” asked Devine.

“I asked him about the legal stuff.”

Devine tensed. “Really? And what did he say?”

“That the government had just made up their minds to go after him. But he thought it might just go away, or, be dismissed , that was the word he used.”

“He actually said that?”

“Yeah, why? What’s the big deal?”

“If it gets dismissed, it will be because the government witnesses keep on getting murdered. Three and counting so far have been killed.”

She slowly put down the piece of scone she was about to bite into. “Murdered?”

“Yes. He didn’t mention that?”

She shook her head.

Devine just sat there and said nothing.

“Aren’t you going to ask me about what I wrote in my journal? About whether my uncle was good or bad?”

He shook his head.

“Why not?”

“I already asked. You clearly didn’t want to answer. If you want to tell me, you’ll tell me.”

“But you’ll keep trying to find out what happened to my mom and dad?”

“I will, but quite frankly I don’t have a lot to go on. And after tomorrow it might be moot.”

“What do you mean?” she said sharply.

“After the hearing tomorrow, your uncle may have custody of you.”

“Do you mean you’ll stop looking for their killer then?”

“It might be out of my hands, Betsy. I’m not my own boss. I go and do what I’m ordered to do.”

She pushed the Frappuccino and scone away and sat back looking thoroughly dejected.

Devine wanted to say something, but Saxby’s cautionary words came back to him and he remained quiet.

She sat there for a bit while Devine gazed around the small café component of the bookstore.

He turned back to Odom when she said, “My uncle told me that sometimes bad things happen for good reasons.”

“What was he talking about?”

“You’re right. I almost did give you the high sign when he said that. It made me mad. Like how could anything good come out of my parents dying?”

“So that was what he was talking about? Something good coming out of them dying?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you finish the high sign then?”

“Because… because then he told me that I looked just like my mom when she was my age. And that she was smart and funny, just like he knew I was. And that he would have given anything to have her back. But if he couldn’t, then he wanted to take care of me because that’s what my mom would have wanted. In fact, he told me that she made him promise that he would in case anything happened to her or my dad.”

“When did she tell him that?” asked Devine. All his senses were on high alert now because her answer could be significant.

“He said he had talked to her a while back. When… when my dad wasn’t doing too well.”

“Was this before or after he didn’t win the lottery?” asked Devine.

She smiled weakly. “It was before we moved to the trailer.”

“Do you think it’s possible that your mother asked her brother for help?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I knew we were having money problems. My dad had lost his job again and we were going to have to leave our apartment.”

“Did your mother like her brother?”

“I think she did like him, yeah.”

Devine recalled what Shore and Rose had told him about Dwayne not liking Glass, but that Alice had a different opinion of her brother.

“But was it something she told you that made you write what you did in your journal about your uncle?”

She remained quiet for a few seconds and he wasn’t sure she was even going to answer.

“Not my mother, no.”

“Who then?”

“I… don’t want to say.”

“Okay, I think you already told me the answer, but do you still want to be adopted by your uncle?”

She didn’t answer right away. In fact, he had to wait a couple of minutes while he watched her debate this internally. And he could tell it was not an easy process for the girl.

Finally she said, “I don’t know, Travis. Part of me wants it. And part of me…” Her voice trailed away.

He gripped her hand. “This wouldn’t be easy for anyone, Betsy, okay? So don’t beat yourself up over it.”

She nodded and he released his grip and sat back.

It was then that Devine noticed for a second time what he had glimpsed before. The woman at the far table who had glanced their way, not once, but now twice.

She looked to be in her fifties, broad hipped, pale skin, longish brown hair with lots of gray. She was dressed in jeans and a pullover sweater with hunter green boots. A white tennis visor rode on her head. She looked normal and benign and seemed to be right in her element. Perfect. Maybe too perfect.

As Odom finished her drink and scone, something occurred to Devine, and he phoned Beth Walker. She told him she was still going over the 4Runner.

“Nothing to report yet,” she said. “But we might have a few things to go on.”

In a low voice that could not be overhead he said, “Do me a favor—check under the chassis for a tracking device.”

“A tracking device?”

“Yeah, can you do it now? It’s a little time sensitive.” Devine never looked at the woman at the table again, but he was keeping watch on her via her reflection in a large mirror behind the cash registers.

Two minutes later a breathless Walker said, “How did you know?”

“Thanks. I’ll see you in a while.”

Things are starting to make a lot more sense.

He clicked off and looked at Odom. “I’m going to call Saxby and have her meet us outside. She can take you back to the hotel.”

“What? But where are you going?”

“I just need to check out something.”

Or rather someone.