Дэвид Балдаччи - The Guilty

“Maybe. I guess if Janet Chisum had those pictures too.”

Reel nodded. “And when she gets popped Sara takes up her sister’s opportunity and dies, too. Although it was pretty stupid of her to meet the person out in the middle of nowhere after what happened to her sister, don’t you think?”

“And Sara wasn’t stupid. Which means something is off there. I just don’t know what.”

“We could be missing a few pieces of this puzzle,” pointed out Reel.

“Granted. But how do we find out what they are?”

“By playing detective. But that’s all we’d be doing — playing — since that’s not what we do, Robie.”

“I’m not leaving this damn place until I figure this out.”

“What if you can’t figure out all of it?”

“What do you mean?”

“You might piece together who killed whom. But that’s not your endgame, is it?”

“Then what exactly is my endgame?”

She touched his trigger finger. “Getting this to work again. Isn’t that what you want?” When he didn’t say anything she said, “Isn’t it?”

“What if I can’t answer that question?”

“Then I’d say that’s an answer in itself.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“Asking all these questions about me?”

“I thought that was obvious. I’m trying to get to the bottom of what’s going on inside your head. It’s not easy, Robie. It wasn’t easy for me when I had to do it. But you do have to do it. You were right. To go forward, you have to go back. You get this square, your foundation is set. You can move on. But until then, you’re going to be damaged goods.”

“This all started with a screwed-up mission. Me killing a little girl.”

“I think this would have happened regardless. The moment you learned your father was in jail for murder.”

“You can’t know that for sure.”

“Why not? Seems obvious to me.”

“Look, you can stop interfering in my personal life. I don’t need that. Not now. Not from you.”

“Okay, so do you want me to leave?”

Robie said nothing. For a very long time.

Reel waited him out, her gaze held steady on him.

“No, I don’t want you to leave. I need you.”

“Are you sure, Robie? It won’t hurt my feelings if you tell me to go to Hell. I’m a big girl. I can take it.”

“I don’t want you to leave, Jessica,” he said slowly.

“Okay, then I’ll stay. So where to now?”

“We need to find the guy who took the pictures.”

“Okay, how?” asked Reel.

He let out a long breath. “If I knew that I would have already found him.”

Victoria was not at home when they returned.

Priscilla was taking care of Tyler.

“Don’t know where she went, don’t know when she’ll be back” was all the normally loquacious Priscilla would say on the subject.

Robie’s phone buzzed.

It was Toni Moses. She wanted to see them.

“Is my dad okay?”

“He’s fine. But I’ve met with Aubrey Davis. And we need to do a pow-wow with the fine, upstandin’ prosecutor. Can you be here in thirty minutes?”

“Yes.”

With Reel driving they made it in twenty-eight minutes, although their car was caked with road dirt by the time they got to town. Reel parked in front of Moses’s office and they climbed out.

“Hey, Mr. Robie.”

Robie looked over to see Little Bill holding a plastic bag from the local supermarket.

They walked over to him.

Robie said, “Thanks for the help on the computer. My partner here says you’re really good.”

Little Bill said, “Hell, gave me somethin’ to do besides add to my scores on Kill or Be Killed .”

“You ever think about a career in cybersecurity?” asked Reel.

Grinnng, he said, “I’m from Cantrell. I ain’t thought about a career in nothin’, really.”

She studied him so closely that his grin disappeared.

She said, “You clearly have the technical skill. But do you have the drive?”

Little Bill looked at Robie and then at Reel. “My daddy is real sick.”

“But we’re not talking about your daddy. We’re talking about you .”

She handed him a card. “Think about it and then, if you want to pursue it, give me a call.”

Little Bill took the card. “Are you folks with the government?” he said.

Reel replied, “Does it matter who we’re with, so long as it’s not the bad guys?”

“I guess not.”

“Think about it,” said Reel.

Robie said, “How’s your dad doing?”

“The same.”

“I’ll be by to see him again.”

“Okay, thanks.”

And they left him there staring down at the card Reel had given him.

Robie said to her, “You have to be careful with making offers like that.”

“We still want the best and the brightest, right?”

Robie shrugged, and a minute later they were in Toni Moses’s small conference room. Aubrey Davis sat across from her.

The man looked like someone had stolen all of his toys, but the Mississippi prosecutor was evidently trying to put on a game face.

“Hey, there, Will. How you doin’? We still got to have us that drink.”

Robie and Reel sat next to Moses, who had papers and files spread out in front of her.

Robie looked at Moses. “So what’s happening?”

“What’s happenin’ is that with all of the stuff I’ve shared with my colleague over there, I believe it’s time he strongly reconsiders his case. And I wanted you two here to help convince him.”

Davis began to protest. “Look here, Ms. Moses, the defendant has been charged and it is my duty to—”

“To what?” broke in Moses. “Screw up your chance to be the next congressman from the fine state’a Mississippi? Because if you try this case and lose it, that’s exactly what you’ll be doin’. You couldn’t win an election for town drunk after that.”

Davis swelled with indignation. “I take umbrage at the accusation that I am puttin’ any political ambitions I may have over—”

“Aubrey,” she said, interrupting him again. “Do you or do you not want to find the real killer in this case?”

“Of course I do. How dare you suggest otherwise?”

“Then let’s get down to it. First things first. What do we do with my client?”

“He is still charged with murder,” said Davis promptly. “And he’s the only credible suspect we have.”

Moses looked at Robie. “What do you say to that?”

Robie kept his gaze on Davis. “Quite a few people have been killed,” he began. “And that nearly included my partner and me. I’m convinced that Sherman Clancy’s murder and the murders of the two Chisum girls were done by the same person.”

“Which lets Dan Robie out because he was in prison when Sara Chisum was killed,” said Moses promptly.

“ If they were committed by the same person,” said Davis. “And from where I’m sittin’ that’s a mighty big if.”

Robie told him about the suspected serial killer that Special Agent Wurtzburger had informed them about.

“Why the hell didn’t he come and tell me that!” barked an obviously irritated Davis.

“No idea,” said Robie. “And on top of that, Clancy was blackmailing someone, which gives a prime motive for murder.”

“Who was he blackmailin’?”

“I take it you haven’t talked to Sheriff Monda,” replied Robie.

“Meanin’ what exactly?”

“Meaning that we already told him the person being blackmailed was Nelson Wendell.”

Davis sucked in a breath. “Bullshit! Nelson Wendell! He died just recently.”

“I know he did. We’ve just come from talking to his son, Bobby Wendell.”