The Guilty

by David Baldacci

  Wurtzburger continued, “I tend to believe my superiors, so this will be a voluntary association, Robie, and nothing more than that. The last thing we need is for Feds to be duking it out with each other.”

  “Agreed.”

  “We understand that Sherman Clancy’s house was set on fire either last night or early this morning.”

  “I heard that, too.”

  “Did you hear any more than that?”

  “I might have.”

  “Can you enlighten us?”

  “Pete Clancy is trying to follow in his father’s footsteps with his casino partners. This apparently did not sit too well with some of them. They paid Pete a visit at his house. I happened to coincidentally stop by at the same time. They were giving Pete a hard time and I politely asked them to back off.”

  “And did they?”

  “Surprisingly, they did.”

  Wurtzburger’s expression was one of healthy skepticism. “Right. Did you kill any of them?”

  “No. If I had that would have required me to report it to the police.”

  “Did you injure any of them?”

  “Not permanently,” said Robie. “Except maybe for two. It was hard to tell. It was dark and things happened a bit fast. I didn’t wait around to triage them.”

  “I can understand that. Where is Pete Clancy now?”

  “He was not as grateful as one would have expected, so he drove off in his Porsche. He might be a long way away by now. If he’s smart, that is. But he might not be smart.”

  “And these folks burned down the house?” asked Wurtzburger.

  “I wasn’t there when that happened. But if I had to guess, they would have burned it down after they finished looking for what they wanted.”

  “Which was what exactly?”

  “They said Pete had sent some e-mails to them that evidenced he knew things about them that his father had known. They weren’t pleased about that. And they voiced that displeasure. They wanted him to show them what he had in the way of documentation backing up his position of knowledge. They threatened him with an acid bath unless he complied.”

  “And a quick bullet if he did?” said Wurtzburger.

  “Yes.”

  “Could you ID these men?”

  “Probably. But I doubt they’ll be available for a lineup.”

  “Can you give us descriptions?”

  “I can.”

  Robie took a minute to do so while one of the agents wrote it down.

  “What sorts of things do you think they were looking for?” asked Wurtzburger when Robie was finished.

  “Probably anything that had to do with their businesses. The Rebel Yell makes a lot of money. Apparently a lot more than the other casinos. So maybe they have more product lines in addition to the cards and chips.”

  “Local scuttlebutt again?”

  “It’s amazing what you hear if you just listen around this place. Folks love to talk.”

  “Have you told anyone else about this?”

  “No,” lied Robie.

  “What you found out could be a great motive for killing Sherman Clancy. Which might mean your old man gets off the hook.”

  “That had occurred to me,” said Robie.

  “But keep in mind that if you screwed with the casino boys they’re going to want retribution. And they probably already know who you are.”

  “I agree, on both points.”

  “You want some protection? I can spare an agent.”

  “I think you have your hands full. I’m good. But thanks.”

  “Change your mind, give me a call.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  As Robie was getting out of the car Wurtzburger said, “I can understand that you’re probably very good at what you do, but nobody’s invulnerable.”

  “I’ve never thought otherwise,” replied Robie.

  Chapter

  34

  HELLO?”

  Wurtzburger and his men had just driven off. Robie turned to see the girl standing there next to his car. She was staring up at Robie with the expression of a child lost in a storm.

  Emma Chisum. He remembered her from the arraignment. She’d been sitting next to her sister, Sara.

  “You need something?” asked Robie, drawing closer to her. Then something struck him. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

  “Mom homeschools me. She had some stuff to do this mornin’.”

  “Okay, everything all right?”

  “You talked to my sister. She told me.”

  “I did. Yeah.” Robie paused. “I’m very sorry about Janet.”

  “She made her choices. That’s what Dad says. And then she paid the price for those choices. Bad choices.”

  Robie was taken aback by the bluntness of the statement. And then he noted that the girl actually didn’t look lost in a storm. She just looked indifferent.

  “What can I do for you?”

  “Sara said you wanted to know things. Stuff that she might know about.”

  “That’s right. I do. You know about my father?”

  “Of course I do. Everybody in Cantrell knows about that.”

  “Do you know anything about it?” asked Robie.

  “Yes. And I can tell you. But it won’t be free. It’ll cost you.”

  Robie nodded slowly, repulsed by the Chisum girls’ obsession with money. But maybe they had never had any. He doubted Baptist preachers in backwater towns made much.

  “How much?”

  “A hundred,” she said promptly, as though she had planned this all out.

  “That’s a lot of money. How do I know what you have to tell me is worth it?”

  “That’s the catch. You don’t. And I want the money up front. Then I tell you. Then I leave. Those are my terms. Take ’em or not.”

  She swished her long hair out of her face and stared up at him with a coldness that was unsettling.

  Robie gazed around. “It might look funny to folks if I gave you a hundred bucks out in the open.”

  “Do you really wanna do this in private? You and a young teenage girl exchanging money?”

  Well, thought Robie, she had a point there.

  “How about at the café over there. You thirsty? I can slip you the money while we’re sitting.”

  “Let’s go,” she said. “I have to be back home in an hour.”

  They got their drinks, Robie a Coke and Emma a cup of coffee.

  Robie said, “Coffee stunts your growth.”

  “That’s bullshit,” she said taking a sip. “And what did you expect me to get, a glass of good, wholesome milk?”

  They were sitting at a corner table in the rear of the place that was pretty much empty at this time of day.

  Robie had taken out five twenties from his wallet and under cover of passing her a napkin slipped them to her.

  She counted them unobtrusively and placed them in her pocket.

  “I could just leave now and not tell you anythin’. And if you tried to stop me I’d say you were tryin’ to pay me to give you a blowjob or somethin’.”

  “I guess you could,” said Robie evenly. “And I could tell your father all about it. He already told me Janet and Sara were sluts. Why not just make it all three? You’re thirteen, right? I’m sure he’d be great to live with for the next five years.”

  Emma stared at him with emotionless eyes, took a sip of coffee, then leaned forward. “Janet told me she was goin’ to meet someone that night.”

  “Who?”

  “She didn’t say who, just someone. But she thought it could mean a lot of money. Enough, in fact, to go back to Mobile.”

  “That was her plan?”

  “That’s all of our plans, except for Dad. We loved Mobile. We hate this place. Janet would be alive if we hadn’t moved here.”

  “I think your father realizes that.”

  “He realizes shit.”

  “I don’t think that’s fair.”

  “Do you want to hear what I have to say or d
o you want to analyze how dysfunctional my family is? Because I’m not goin’ to do both.”

  “Go on.”

  “Janet knew somethin’. I don’t know what. But it was a big secret. She said it had to do with some important people in town.”

  “And that was where the money, the payoff, would come?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Did Sara know about this, too?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “Maybe it was Sara who told you, not Janet.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “They were closer in age. I bet they spent more time together. You were just the kid sister to keep in the dark.”

  “So what!” she snapped. “I can still hear things.”

  “Yes, you can. What else?”

  “Janet went out that night to make a big score. She was happy, really lookin’ forward to it. And then she ended up dead.”

  Robie sipped his Coke and thought about what she had told him.

  “What was Janet wearing that night?”

  “What?”

  “What was she wearing that night?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Just indulge me. Sexy stuff, like for a date?”

  “No. Jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. And sandals.”

  “Good memory.”

  “I watched her get dressed. Those were her favorite casual clothes.”

  So she wasn’t going to hook up with a guy. This was money for something else.

  “Okay. Did she say where she was going for this meeting?”

  “The same spot, she said. I guess Sara knew what that meant. I didn’t.”

  “You know what they were doing with Sherman Clancy?”

  “What, you expect me to be all upset and stressed out? Yeah, I’m pissed that Janet is dead although she just thought of me as her dorky kid sister. But they needed money, and if Clancy was willin’ to pay them, so what?”

  “So you don’t see anything wrong with that?”

  “Consensual sex? No, not really. We’re livin’ in the twenty-first century, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  “Sex for money is illegal.”

  “Lots of things are illegal, that doesn’t make them wrong.”

  Robie rubbed his eyes. He had little experience with teenagers, but he still couldn’t believe he was having this conversation with a thirteen-year-old. Had the world really changed that much while he wasn’t looking?

  She said, “I was also pissed that I couldn’t get any of that money. I bet Clancy would have paid me, too. Sara said he liked them young. And I wouldn’t have done anythin’ that would get me pregnant. I’m not stupid.”

  Okay, enough was enough. Robie stood. “Right, thanks for talking to me.”

  She took another slow sip of her coffee and rose, too.

  “God, I never would’ve taken you to be such an uptight jerk.”

  “Yeah, me neither.”

  They walked out together. And right into Sara Chisum.

  She looked at Robie and then at her sister.

  “What are you two doin’?” she demanded.

  “Just talkin’,” said Emma sweetly. “He had some questions and I had some answers. And now I can get those shoes I wanted,” she added gleefully.

  Sara scowled at Robie. “I told you she knew nothin’. You stay away from her.” She grabbed her sister’s arm and jerked her away. “You stay away from us both!”

  Emma looked back and called out, “Nice doin’ business with you.”

  Robie looked over his shoulder and saw Victoria staring at him from across the street. She had Ty on her hip. She was in front of the jail. She was apparently going to see her husband.

  Robie hustled across to her.

  “What was all that about?” asked Victoria.

  “What? The Chisums?”

  “Yes, of course the Chisums.”

  “Just paying my respects and conveying my condolences.”

  She looked at him with great skepticism. “Right. That’s exactly what it looked like, all right. Come on, tell me the truth.”

  “Emma had a little bit of information about the night Janet died. That she was going to meet someone and that she expected a nice payoff for it.”

  “Really? And who might that be?”

  “She didn’t know. Or didn’t want to tell me. She’s quite grown up for thirteen.”

  “Hell, Robie, girls down here get married at fifteen with their parents’ consent. What’d you expect?”

  “You going to see Dad?” Robie said quickly.

  “Yes.”

  “With Ty?”

  “Yes. I told you I was. Why?”

  “I was in to see him a while ago. I told him you were bringing Ty. He didn’t think it was a good idea.”

  “Well, like it or not, we’re going in.”

  She turned and walked to the jail.

  Robie watched her go and then turned in time to see the sedan pull out.

  There were four men inside it. One of them Robie recognized. It was the guy from Clancy’s house, the one he’d shot in the hand. His face was bandaged from where Robie had clubbed him with his gun.

  And they had seen him with Victoria and Tyler.

  Well, damn.

  Chapter

  35

  ROBIE CALLED BLUE Man and told him of this latest development.

  “Wurtzburger touched base. He said he’d gotten a call. I have to say I was surprised that the Agency was so open with information about me.”

  “If you were indeed surprised, then you managed to miss the meaning