A Minute to Midnight

by David Baldacci

  “If he’s compiling a family, maybe he lost his somehow.”

  “Wife and kids, you mean?”

  Pine said, “Yeah. Or wait, it could be all four; this guy could be looking from the outside at the loss of another family maybe close to him.”

  “Shit, how do we begin to track that down?”

  “This is a small town—if the killer is from here it shouldn’t be that difficult. There just aren’t that many people.”

  “But if he’s not it might well be impossible. You lived here for a while, Atlee.”

  “I left here when I was a little kid.”

  “Okay, since you’ve been back has anyone mentioned a whole family getting wiped out?”

  As she thought about this, Pine’s features took on a hollow look.

  “What?” he said, noting her reaction.

  “I guess it depends on your definition of wiped out. If you define it one way I do know of that happening to a family of four people from here.”

  “Who were they?”

  She looked up at him, dread in her features. “My family.”

  Chapter 49

  PINE DROVE while Laredo was in the back seat and Carol Blum was riding shotgun.

  They pulled up in front of Pine’s old house.

  Old Roscoe was on the porch and struggled up on his weakened hind legs to greet them with a friendly bark and his tail wagging. Cy Tanner’s old, rusted pickup was parked in front of the house.

  “This is where you lived?” asked Laredo as they climbed out of the vehicle.

  “A different universe from Queens,” replied Pine.

  “No, really, I like the dirt.”

  Smoke was pouring out of the trash barrel, and they could all hear noises coming from the rear of the house. Pine walked over to Roscoe and scratched the dog’s flappy ears. “How you doing, old man? You doing okay?”

  Roscoe answered with several licks to her hand.

  “Cy?” called out Blum. “You around?”

  They got no answer and walked around to the back of the house, following the noise coming from there. There was an old wooden building standing back there. The door was open, and they could hear the noise emanating from inside.

  It sounded like a power saw.

  They reached the door and Pine rapped on it once and then a second time, louder.

  The sounds of the power saw stopped, and Tanner appeared in the doorway, lifting off a pair of safety goggles. He was dressed in a white T-shirt that showed off the corded muscles in his arms, and corduroy pants with his Budweiser belt holding them up over his slim hips.

  “Hey, folks,” he said, eyeing them all curiously.

  Then, to their amazement, a little girl appeared behind him. She, too, had on a pair of safety goggles, which were too big for her. She looked up at them with blinking eyes behind the plastic.

  “Who is this?” inquired Blum, looking brightly at the child.

  Grinning, Tanner bent down to the little girl. “This here is Jenny, my youngest daughter’s girl. She just turned seven a month ago. She’s come for a visit, ain’t that right, Jenny?”

  Jenny, all blond curls and enormous blue eyes, looked shyly at the adults gathered there and tugged on her grandfather’s pants leg.

  Pine looked at Tanner. “A visit? Is her mom here with her?”

  The grin faded from Tanner’s mouth. “Uh, no, she’s got some…things she’s dealing with.”

  Blum looked back at the house. “And she’ll be staying here? But don’t you have to work?”

  “Well, I was hoping that Agnes could come over and stay with her if need be.”

  “Agnes is a little old to be looking after a little kid,” said Pine.

  “Was there no one else Jenny could stay with?” persisted Blum.

  Tanner suddenly looked upset. “I can take care of things, okay? And I don’t remember asking for permission.” He looked at Pine. “What do y’all want anyway? I was busy.”

  Pine said, “I’d like to ask some questions, but maybe not in front of Jenny.”

  Tanner looked confused, but Blum stepped forward. “Jenny, have you had some breakfast?”

  The little girl looked up at her grandfather, who stared down at her. He said haltingly, “I…I was gonna get to that real soon.”

  “What do you have in the house?” asked Blum. “Cereal and milk, maybe some toast?”

  “Yeah, I got stuff like that. But check the milk. It, you know, it, uh.…I was gonna go to the store today. But I don’t have no toaster.”

  Blum got down on her haunches and looked at Jenny. “I have a bunch of granddaughters and two of them look just like you, Jenny. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

  Jenny shook her head.

  “Would you like to see pictures of my granddaughters?”

  Jenny glanced at Tanner, who nodded. She said in a small voice, “Okay.”

  Blum rose and put out a hand for Jenny to take. “Now, let’s go get some food and maybe we can find something for Roscoe to chew on too, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  The two walked off to the house.

  Pine looked after them for a moment and then turned back to Tanner.

  “Cy, what the hell is going on? How did she even get here?”

  Tanner sighed wearily, stuffed the safety goggles into his pants pocket, and ran a hand through his thick hair.

  “My daughter’s boyfriend dropped her off just this morning.”

  “Were you expecting her?”

  “Hell no. I didn’t even know about the damn boyfriend. When I saw Jenny in the truck with him I ran over and was about to bust him up. I didn’t know why he would have Jenny with him. But then he explained who he was, and that Linda needed me to take Jenny for a while.”

  “For a while? Where does she live?”

  “Alabama. Near Tuscaloosa.”

  “Tuscaloosa!” exclaimed Pine. “That’s over four hours from here.”

  “Yeah, they started out real early.”

  “But why would the boyfriend bring her here? Why not Linda?”

  “Well, the boyfriend—hell, I forgot his name—said Linda’s gone back into rehab.”

  “Drug rehab?” asked Laredo.

  Tanner nodded. “She got hooked on meth a long time ago. Thought she’d kicked it. She fell off the wagon when Jenny was two. Then got clean. Thought things were good, until this morning.”

  “Is the boyfriend the father?”

  “No. Hell, I don’t think Linda even knows who Jenny’s father is.”

  “How did they even know where you lived?” asked Pine.

  “Linda and Jenny have been here to visit a few times. She gave the boyfriend the directions.”

  “How long are you supposed to keep her?” asked Laredo.

  “Well, that wasn’t clear.”

  “And the boyfriend couldn’t do it? Or Linda’s other friends?”

  “He’s an idiot who can barely take care of himself. I’m astonished he could even find my place. Linda doesn’t have any friends, least that I know of.”

  “And Linda’s mother? Your wife?” asked Pine.

  “Dead six years now.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Pine.

  “We were long since split up. Mostly my fault. She was a good lady. Drank too much sometimes, but don’t we all.”

  Pine said, “But what are you going to do? You can’t care for a seven-year-old by yourself. She can’t sleep in the bean bag with you. Do you have a working toilet? A functioning kitchen? A place to shower? And there’s the matter of her going to school, too. Were you going to enroll her locally?”

  Tanner scratched his chin. “Yeah, I know there’re a lot of details. But, hell, this was just dropped in my lap,” he said defensively. He added, “I did have her put on safety goggles when she was in the workshop with me.”

  Pine and Laredo exchanged a worried glance. Pine said, “Let me see what I can do to help. There might be some folks in town who can…assist with the situation.
Okay?”

  Tanner looked relieved. “That would be mighty welcome, yeah.” He changed expressions. “So why are you here again? You said you had some questions?”

  Pine looked at Laredo. “Tell him your theory about the nuclear family.”

  Laredo did so, and Tanner looked like he might vomit.

  “What the hell kind of world do we got where sick bastards like that are walking around?” he raged.

  “I know, Cy. But if it is in some way connected to my family we need to know if you’ve seen anyone around here. Maybe a car or truck parked nearby, watching the place. Anyone you’ve seen showing an interest in this house or the property at all?”

  Tanner leaned against the doorjamb and thought this over. He finally shook his head. “Only people come by here are you and Agnes. Wait a minute, that Graham lady came by a couple times.”

  “Lauren Graham? Why?”

  He chuckled. “She brought me a blueberry pie and then some biscuits.” He grinned. “Now I could be wrong, but she seemed a little sweet on me. But I’m way too old for her.” He looked around at his dilapidated property. “Maybe she’s after my money.” He laughed.

  “Anyone else?” asked Laredo. “Anyone at all. Even somebody stopping to ask for directions?”

  “Well, come to think, there was a car parked nearby, oh, this was maybe three weeks ago. Got up real early and was looking out the window and saw it.”

  “What kind of car?” asked Laredo.

  “Fancy. So red it hurt your eyes to look at it. Looked like the damn Batmobile. Never seen a ride like that before.”

  “No name or emblem or anything on the car that you could see?”

  “Well, I did sneak through the woods to get a better look at the thing. I mean, this is rural Georgia. Seeing a car like that here was like seeing a damn Rolls-Royce on the moon.”

  “So what did you see when you got closer?” asked Pine.

  “Thing had four exhaust pipes coming out what looked like the trunk.”

  “Did you see a name on the car?”

  Tanner knitted his brows. “Yeah, never heard of it before. Pag something.”

  “Pag?” said Pine, glancing at Laredo.

  “Wait a minute, a Pagani Huayra?” exclaimed Laredo.

  “Don’t know ’bout that last name, but yeah, Pa-ganny, that was it.”

  “You know it?” said Pine to Laredo.

  He nodded, still looking disbelieving.

  “Is it expensive?” asked Pine.

  “Depending on the model, about three million bucks.”

  “The hell you say,” barked a stunned-looking Tanner. “For something you go from here to there in?”

  “What can I tell you,” said Laredo. “It comes from the having-too-much-money syndrome. You have to spend it on something. Not that I’m ever going to have that dilemma.”

  Pine slowly drew her gaze from Laredo. “Was there anyone in the car, Cy?”

  “Not that I could tell. The windows were dark and I was afraid to let the person see me.”

  “Why?”

  Tanner looked sheepish. “Look, I’m just staying here because I don’t have no other place. I was maybe thinking this person had a claim on this house and all. I mean, why else would they be here, right? I didn’t want to get into no discussion about that.”

  “Do you remember the license plate by chance?”

  “That’s the thing. It didn’t have no plate, least on the rear.”

  “Okay, if the car comes back or you remember anything else, let us know, okay?”

  “You got it.”

  They walked back to the front of the house, where Pine glanced at the trash barrel that still had some flames in it.

  “Having a fire in that barrel is not a good idea with a little kid running around.”

  “Damn thing keeps lighting back up. Must be some embers down there. I’ll throw some water on it.”

  “Good idea.”

  They found Blum in the house feeding both Jenny and Roscoe.

  Blum finished up and pulled Pine aside. “That child cannot stay here. She’ll be dead in a week from either malnourishment, the stairs falling down on her, or an army of germs.”

  “Working on it,” said Pine as she pulled out her phone and made a call.

  After a couple of minutes of conversation she put it away and looked at Blum.

  “She’s going to call me back.”

  “Who?”

  “Lauren Graham. She thinks she might have a solution.”

  As it turned out, the woman did. Later, they collected Jenny and her small bag with her few possessions after explaining things to Tanner.

  Jenny was going to stay with a family who had two girls around Jenny’s age and who lived one block off the main street. The father was a minister at the local church; his wife stayed at home and had the reputation of being a very caring person.

  Tanner had at first resisted but then relented after Pine and Blum spoke with him.

  Blum said, “The most important thing is Jenny’s welfare, Cy. I know you love her, but I also know you’re not in a position right now to give her the care and attention she needs. That doesn’t make you a bad person. But right now, the priority needs to be Jenny.”

  Tanner hadn’t said anything for a bit but finally nodded. “When I was a kid my grade school teacher told us about the story of Solomon. Well, I’m not cutting up a kid. She needs to go where she’ll be okay.” He looked over his shoulder at the falling-down house. “I can live okay here, but a little kid can’t.”

  Blum smiled. “Well, you just showed yourself to be a very wise grandpa.”

  * * *

  “I’ll come visit you every day, Jenny,” he told his granddaughter through the open window as she sat in the back seat of Pine’s SUV.

  “Okay, Pop-pop.”

  “You be good for these folks, all right?”

  He leaned through and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She giggled and rubbed her skin where she had kissed him. “You’re scratchy, Pop-pop.”

  “I’ll shave real good before I come to see you again. I promise, sweetie.”

  Blum put a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll check on her a lot. She’ll be well taken care of.”

  Tanner turned to her and said in a low voice, “I know. I…I just wish it hadn’t come to this.”

  “In life, it almost always comes to something like this. And then you adapt and get through it. But I would check on your daughter and make sure she really is in rehab.”

  “Yeah, I was thinking about that, too, Carol.” The two exchanged a knowing look.

  She said, “We never want to think ill of our children, but sometimes it’s the prudent thing to do. Sometimes it’s the only way to help them.”

  Tanner stepped back, and Blum climbed into the truck to sit next to Jenny. Pine started up the SUV. Laredo, who was sitting next to her, said, “There can’t be many people around here who might own a Pagani.”

  “I can really think of only one,” said Pine. “Jack Lineberry.”

  Chapter 50

  THEY DROPPED BLUM and Jenny off at her new, temporary home to get settled in, and then Pine and Laredo drove back to the Cottage.

  On the way Laredo made a call and sent some emails. He finally put his phone away and looked dissatisfied. “I can’t find a Pagani registered under Jack Lineberry’s name, but he could have it registered under a corporate entity.”

  “He may very well have.”

  “But why take such a conspicuous car on what might have been a stakeout of your old home?”

  “Wish I had an answer for that.”

  “I assume we’re going to check this out?”

  “Yes, we will. But we need to lay the groundwork first.”

  “You used to like flying by the seat of your pants, if I recall.”

  She glanced over at him. “I like prep as much as the next person. But you don’t always have the time for it.”

  “I imagine you have to think quick on your feet
out in Arizona.”

  “You would imagine right. I’m usually the only FBI agent around.”

  “And you really like it that way?”

  She gave him a sharp glance. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “I like having resources. Make a call and you got a team responding in minutes. Or I need some grunt work done and there’s an agent or team of admins to do it.”

  “I don’t mind the grunt work if it leads to an arrest.”

  “Along with doing a 411, your friend Blum read me the riot act the other night.”

  “How so?”

  “She was defending you. Telling me how high you set the bar. Wanted to make sure I wasn’t here to do you dirty.”

  “She’s a good partner.”

  “She also made it clear that as an admin person she’s really running the show.”

  “I wouldn’t disagree with that.”

  “I know Clint Dobbs runs the Phoenix Field Office. Hear he can be a real pain.”

  Pine said, “But he gave me an opportunity to get things right, and I respect him for that.”

  “And if you can’t get things right?”

  “I’ll cross that bridge if I get to it.”

  * * *

  They parked in front of the Cottage and got out. Across the street was a small, open, grassy area. A group of kids was playing there with an old kickball.

  “No school today?” said Laredo.

  “Guess not.”

  He headed toward the front door of the Cottage but then noted that Pine was standing there watching the kids.

  He walked back over to her.

  “Thinking about your sister or maybe Jenny?”

  “Maybe both.”

  Laredo watched the two biggest kids face off with the rest of the group. “Sometimes it would be nice if we could stay young and innocent and play kickball forever.”

  “Do you know how bored we’d be?” replied Pine.

  “Seriously, those kids will have a lot of challenges when they grow up, and I don’t mean because they come from a small town. The world is changing way too fast.”

  “But in some ways it stays the same. It still has bad people doing bad things.”

  “I guess we’ll never want for a job.”

  “Although it would be nice if we became obsolete.”