Chapter 36

CHAPTER 36

O DOM WAS IN THE BATHROOM taking a shower, so Devine took a few minutes to fill in Saxby on his talk with Odom at the bookstore.

“I followed your advice and it worked,” he said. “Thanks for the assist.”

“Any parent of a daughter could have done it. But she said Glass made her mad when he said that good things sometimes come from bad events?”

“Yeah, but he followed that up with the statement, uncorroborated, that Alice Odom wanted him to take care of Betsy in case anything happened to her or Dwayne.”

“Pretty convenient for him,” noted Saxby.

“My sources also tell me that Alice was really upset when two men showed up where they were living before they moved to Kittitas. I think those men, or whoever they were working for, directly paid for the Odoms’ car and home.”

“You think they worked for Glass and he was the one who actually paid for it?”

“I can’t think of anyone else.”

“So Glass gave Dwayne and Alice a car and home? They are his family.”

“Dwayne didn’t like Glass. I’m not sure he would have just let the man buy him that stuff. From what we found out they’d been in precarious financial circumstances for quite a long time. So why wait until recently to help them out or have Dwayne reach out?”

“Maybe Dwayne Odom had something on his brother-in-law? Like Rollins did?” suggested Saxby. “Blackmail?”

“Could be. And my same sources tell me that Alice was scared from that moment on.”

“Are your sources the two drug users?”

“Look, they’re actually good guys who mean well. Life just threw them some curveballs.”

“As it does to us all,” replied Saxby, a comment that surprised Devine.

Odom appeared wrapped in a large fluffy towel in the bathroom doorway. Her wet hair lay straight down her back.

“Travis, when did you get here?”

“Just walked in.”

“Let me change and we can talk.”

She rushed to her room, and five minutes later, after they heard a hair dryer running for about a minute, Odom reappeared dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt that were part of the clothes he had brought from her home.

She sat next to Devine and said, “I don’t see why I have to meet with my uncle before the hearing.”

Saxby said, “Just because he requested it doesn’t mean you have to accept.”

Odom looked conflicted. “But if I don’t, he’ll probably be mad.”

Devine said, “That’s his problem, not yours.”

They all sat there in silence for a few moments until Odom spoke.

“Well, he asked me questions when we met. Now maybe I can ask him some.”

“Like what?” Saxby wanted to know.

“Like where I’ll live if he does adopt me. Where I’ll go to school. Whether I’ll get an allowance. Whether he’ll set up a trust for me and put me in his will, and if so, for how much?”

Devine glanced sharply at Saxby. “Okay, you’ve obviously given this some thought.”

Then he remembered her heavily marked up copy of Think and Grow Rich .

“It is my life, after all.”

“And while you’re questioning him, why don’t you ask him why he had his sister and brother-in-law cremated so fast.”

Saxby let out a sharp breath. “Devine, do you really want her to go there?”

“Why not? He’ll know that I told her. He’ll blame me, not her. And it’s a natural question. Betsy never even got to say goodbye, right?” he added, looking at the girl.

“I’ll ask him,” she said quietly. “Because I want to know the answer.”

“But the real question is do you want to be adopted by him? The judge will probably ask you that. And you have to have some sort of response.”

“I know,” said Odom, now looking miserable and uncertain.

Saxby suddenly chimed in, “Well, since you’re going to court tomorrow, you need some proper clothes.”

“What?” exclaimed Odom, looking at her in surprise.

“Clothes. The ones you have are not going to cut it for court. I’ll take you shopping.”

“I don’t have any money.”

“It’s on the Bureau.”

“Seriously?” said Odom, while Devine was giving the FBI agent a look that asked the same question.

“Seriously.”

“Well, okay, but I don’t want any old lady clothes.” She ran her gaze down Saxby’s outfit.

“I have a daughter your age.”

Odom looked stunned. “You do?”

“I know you think I’m clueless about young girls, but wait until you’re a mother. The wars you’ll go through? Well, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? At least according to Kelly Clarkson.”

“O-kay,” said Odom warily.

“There’s an Aeropostale store near here. There were some cute things in the window. Go get your coat. It’s getting late. We don’t have a lot of time.”

Odom looked at Devine. “Do you want to go?”

He held up his hands and shook his head. “You’re in far better hands with Agent Saxby.”

Odom rushed to her room to get her coat.

Devine turned to Saxby. “Where did that come from?”

“My own daughter won’t let me take her shopping because I’m not cool. And every female, regardless of age or economic bracket, deserves some nice clothes to wear that she can feel confident in.”

Devine smiled. “I think I might have misjudged you, Agent Saxby.”

“It’s Ellen, remember? And I think I did some misjudging of my own.”

“I’ll be back in time to go with you to the meeting tomorrow.”

“And what will you do now?”

“Places to go and people to interrogate.”

“Someone wants you dead, Travis. Don’t forget that.”

“I never do. Ellen .”