Karin Slaughter - Broken

There were two cars parked in front of the Braham house. One was a police cruiser. The other was a four-door Ford pickup. Will parked behind the truck. Exhaust drifted up from the tailpipe. He could see two figures in the cab. Lena Adams was in the passenger seat. A man was behind the wheel. His window was down, even though the rain hadn’t let up. He held a cigarette in his hand.

Will went to the driver’s side. His hair was plastered to his head. He was freezing. His socks were still soaking wet.

Lena made the introductions. “Gordon, this is the agent from Atlanta I told you about. Will Trent.”

Will shot her a glance that he hoped conveyed his intense level of irritation. Lena was being investigated for her part in Tommy’s death. She had no business talking to his father. “Mr. Braham, I’m so sorry to be meeting you under these circumstances.”

Gordon held the cigarette to his mouth. He was crying openly, tears streaming down his face. “Get in.”

Will climbed into the back seat. There were a couple of fast-food bags on the floor. Work orders with the Georgia Power logo were stacked in an open briefcase on the seat opposite. Even with the open window, smoke hung in the air like a shroud.

Gordon stared ahead at the road. Raindrops popped against the hood of the truck. “I can’t believe my boy would do any of this. It’s not in his nature to be hurtful.”

Will knew there was no use wasting time with kindness. “Can you tell me what you know about Allison?”

He took another hit off the cigarette. “Paid her rent on time. Kept the house clean. I gave her a discount for doing the laundry, looking after Tommy.”

“Did he need looking out for?”

Gordon glanced at Lena. “He knows, right?”

Will answered, “I know that he was slow, Mr. Braham. I also know that he held down several jobs and was well respected in town.”

The man looked down at his hands. His shoulders shook. “He did, sir. He worked real hard.”

“Tell me about Allison.”

Gordon’s composure came back slowly, but his shoulders were still slumped. When he moved the cigarette to his mouth, it looked as if his hands were weighted down. “Was she raped?”

“No, sir. There were no signs of that.”

He let out a ragged, relieved breath. “Tommy had a crush on her.”

“Did she feel the same way?”

He shook his head. “No. And he knew it. I taught him early on to be careful around girls. Look but don’t touch. He never had any trouble. Girls saw him like a puppy dog. They didn’t see that he was a man.” He repeated himself, “He was a man.”

Will gave him some time before asking, “Allison was living in the house?”

He lit a new cigarette off the old one. Will could feel the smoke clinging to his wet hair and clothes. He made an effort not to cough.

Gordon said, “She rented the garage at first. I didn’t want to let her. That’s no place for a girl to be living. She started talking about discrimination, said she had lived in worse, so I told her fine. I figured she’d move out in a month.”

“How long had she been renting from you?”

“Almost a year. She didn’t want to live in the dorm. Said all the girls there were boy crazy, staying up too late. She knew how to flirt to get what she wanted, though. Had Tommy wrapped around her little finger.”

Will didn’t address the tone of blame in the father’s voice. “She wasn’t living in the garage, though.”

He didn’t answer immediately. “That was Tommy. He said it wasn’t right for her to be out there when it was so cold, having to run back and forth to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night. He changed rooms with her. I didn’t know until after the fact.” He blew out a dark plume of smoke that wreathed around his head. “I told you, she had him wrapped around her finger. I should’ve put my foot down, paid more attention to what was going on.” He inhaled sharply, fighting his emotions. “I knew he had a crush on her, but he’d had crushes before. He liked the attention she was giving him. He didn’t have a lot of friends.”

Will knew he couldn’t tell the man details about an active case, especially one that could result in a nasty lawsuit. But he felt for the father, wished he could give him some words of comfort about his son. Instead, he asked, “Did you spend much time at home?”

“Not much. Mostly, I’m at my girlfriend’s house. Tommy didn’t know, but we were planning on getting married in the spring.” He exhaled sharply. “I was gonna ask him to be my best man once I got back from Florida.”

Will gave the man a few minutes to collect himself. “Did you know Allison’s boyfriend?”

“Jay. James.”

Will guessed, “Jason?”

“That’s right.” He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “He wasn’t around much. I didn’t let her have anybody sleep over. Wasn’t right for a girl that age to be fooling around.”

“Did Tommy know Jason?”

He shook his head, but said, “I guess. I don’t know. I wasn’t involved in his life as much as when he was little. He was grown. He had to figure out how to be on his own.” His breath caught as he tried to inhale some smoke. “I know my son. He would never hurt anybody. I know what he did to Brad, but that’s not my boy. I didn’t raise him that way.”

Lena cleared her throat. “I saw what happened, Gordon. Tommy was running, but then he turned around. Brad didn’t have time to slow down. I don’t think your son meant to stab him. I think it was an accident.”

Will chewed the inside of his cheek, wondering if she was lying to help the man feel better or telling the truth.

Gordon seemed to have the same question. He wiped his eyes again. “Thank you. Thank you for telling me that.”

Will asked, “Was Tommy acting differently lately?”

He swallowed hard. “Frank called me a week ago about some mess he’d gotten into. One of the neighbors got mad at him. He never yelled at people before. Never had a temper. I sat him down and talked to him. He said they were giving him grief about Pippy barking too much.” Gordon blew out some smoke. “He loved that stupid dog.”

“Did he drink?”

“Never. He hated the taste of beer. I tried to get him used to it, thought we could sit around on Saturdays, have some brews and watch the game together, but it never took. He got bored. Basketball was his sport. He couldn’t keep up with all the rules for football.”

“Did he have any friends? Was anyone giving him trouble lately?”

“He never met a stranger,” Gordon answered. “But I don’t think there was anybody specific he was close to. Like I said, he was into Allison, and she was sweet to him, but more like you’d be with a little brother.”

“Did they hang out much?”

“I wasn’t here to see it. He talked about her a lot. I won’t deny that.”

“When is the last time you spoke with your son?”

“I guess the night he …” Gordon didn’t finish the sentence. He took a hit off his cigarette. “He called because he needed permission to use the credit card. He thought Pippy swallowed one of his socks. I told him to take her to the vet.”

“We haven’t found his cell phone.”

“I made him get one of those pay-as-you-go deals. He had a good job. He was a hard worker. He didn’t mind paying his own way.” Gordon flicked his cigarette out into the street. “I can’t be here anymore. I can’t go into that house. I can’t see his things.” He told Lena, “You can go on in there. Take whatever you like. Burn the place down. I don’t care.”

Will opened the door, but he didn’t leave. “Did Tommy collect knives?”

“I never let him near knives. I don’t know where he got one. Do you?”