Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

"I don't remember you being this clueless about women," Luke began as we headed for the post office.

"She'll ask questions, and I don't have any answers yet, and she'll worry. She's already worried about Poppy; she doesn't need this until I can tell her what's going on."

"Yeah, because being ignored isn't going to upset her," Luke said, but I was looking past him at a shiny stainless-steel vehicle that looked like it came off the set of a science fiction movie rolling down State Street.

"Tesla Cybertruck," Luke said.

"A what?"

"The pickup truck. It's a Tesla Cybertruck."

"It's ugly as sin."

"Stainless steel body," Luke said. "Supposedly bulletproof."

That caught my interest. "Really?" We could have used that when we'd assaulted Poppy's kidnapper. But then again, Luke's old minivan had bulletproof glass, and Luke, and a really big gun that Luke could handle, so no.

"Nothing is truly bulletproof," Luke said. "You just need a bigger bullet. But yeah, the steel helps. Self-driving, supposedly, but I'd never trust a car to drive me."

"Planes have autopilots," I noted.

Luke shot me a look. "Yeah, but they still have the pilot."

"I assume there's a driver in there."

I realized there was no engine noise except a low hum.

"Electric power," Luke said. "Ask Darius about it. He can give you all the stats. He wants me to get one, but I love my van." He looked at the truck as it went past. "The van is electric, too, but it's not creepy."

The Cybertruck's windows were tinted so I couldn't see who was driving. It reached the T-intersection in front of Oddities and instead of turning right to head back to the main road and out of town like most sane people, it turned left toward the killer river and disappeared around the corner.

"Stranger in town," I murmured. "Weird stranger."

"Should fit right in," Luke said. "You have."

"Funny," I said, and we covered the short distance to the battling post offices of Rocky Start in silence.

The North Carolina post office was closed, which was a blessing: No Dottie. That meant we were stuck with Tennessee and Lionel. Still better than Dottie.

We walked in together, but Lionel only glared at me. "Thought you'd be gone by now."

"You're married, Lionel," I said. "Rose is too smart to get involved with a married man."

Lionel's receding chin went up as far as it could. "I'm gettin' a divorce."

"If Dottie lets you live that long," Luke said. "We need to see the tapes for State Street from last night to . . ." He looked at me.

"Late afternoon yesterday to early morning today," I said. "Focusing on Melissa Merriweather's place."

"Something happen?" Lionel said, avid now.

"Yeah," I said. "There's a dead body in the funeral home."

Lionel glared at me. "We don't have tapes, it's all digital. Tapes are last century."

"We would like to see the digital," Luke said, no sarcasm, no threat, and in his own way, impressive just because he was so big and wasn't bothering with threats. "Now."

Lionel rolled his eyes but walked around the counter and put the CLOSED sign up on the door, shutting down postal service for all of Rocky Start since Dottie was out delivering the mail. Or plotting revenge in her apartment and there was no mail being delivered.

He led us behind the counter. We went into the back area full of carts and tables for sorting mail and a cot with a blanket. He flipped up an advertisement for American flag stamps and placed his palm on an electronic scanner. There was a beep, then a section of the ceiling smoothly lowered on hydraulic arms, revealing steps. We went up and the trapdoor closed behind us with a solid thud as dim lights illuminated the Ferrells' secret lair. There were a half dozen monitors glowing, but they all had screensavers of hot women. The room was warm and there was the hum of machinery. Fans were cooling a bank of powerful computer servers along one wall. There were no windows.

Luke was looking appropriately bored.

"Tempest-proof?" I asked.

Lionel nodded, indicating the room was lined with material that prevented electronic eavesdropping from outside. It was an electronic Vegas—what happened in here, stayed in here. What we called a SCIF: a Secure Compartmented Information Facility like they had at the Pentagon, the NSA, and the White House emergency operations center, and Oz and Pike had stolen the old Soviet version from the Russians way back when. And here we had a modern, US one in good old Rocky Start. It seemed overkill even for Herc.

"Does Dottie have something like this over her post office?" I asked.

Lionel shook his head. "This is the master. She can dip in from her own feed, which is hardwired and secure. Our apartment is above her office," he added bitterly. "It's not safe for me."

That was an understatement.

"Show me what you have," Luke said.

"CCTV on State Street." Lionel sat down at a monitor. He tapped a few keys, bringing up an image of the main drag. He sped it up. Nothing untoward at Melissa's from last night through this morning. No one else going in or out of her shop.

"We don't have coverage of the alley behind," Lionel said.

"Dry hole," Luke said. "Thanks, Lionel." I had more questions, mostly why the sophisticated setup here in Rocky Start, but decided to follow Luke's lead and leave those questions for later.

Lionel opened the SCIF up and we trooped downstairs and outside, leaving Lionel to his lonely perch inside the post office.

"Now what?" I asked Luke when we got back outside.

"Now you go back and tell Rose what's going on," Luke said. "That was a dumb move back there. She's not stupid, and she deserves to know."

"I don't have time?—"

"You have plenty of time." Luke met my eyes straight on and I could see why people did anything he asked. "Oz didn't want her to know anything and that's why she got blindsided when he died. You really want to protect her? Tell her everything as soon as you know something. Don't keep her in the dark thinking you're protecting her. You aren't. She's a smart woman; she won't risk herself because she needs to be here for Poppy." He shook his head. "Single parenting. It's not fun, Max. And you're making it harder for her. Tell her the truth as soon as you know it. Always."

Telling Rose everything, making her part of this mess, would just add another degree to that. But Luke was right, she needed to know. And I was already too close to her, getting closer would be . . .

Pretty damn good, actually. I'd wanted warm clothes, but I was starting to think what I really wanted was a warm Rose, looking at me with those big brown eyes that said, "You're not fooling anybody, Reddy, your ass is mine."

Or maybe that was the entity again, laughing its ass off at me.

"Max?" Luke said.

"I'll talk to Rose," I said.

Luke nodded. "We can talk to Sid about the autopsy this afternoon. Melissa's not getting any deader."

I figured that meant he was in on the temporary partnership bit, and we'd find Melissa's killer fast and that would be it.

So I nodded and headed back to Oddities.

This was not going to be a pleasant conversation.