The Hallows, page 12
“Got something,” Jia said.
“What is it?”
She slid the page she was on over to me. “Ten-thousand-dollar charge to a REU Realty.”
“Is that in town?”
“One town over, in Loxum.”
I remembered Loxum as a little dirt town with one gas station, but when we pulled in, it had a strip mall, several grocery stores, and tons of ongoing construction for new office and residential buildings. Apparently they had been doing something right while River Falls stayed the way it was.
REU Realty was on the first floor of a white office complex. A thin blonde woman in a gray suit met us at the door, and I said, “Tatum Graham.”
“Suzanne, hi, nice to meet you.”
“You as well. Not to seem too blunt, but we’re in a little bit of a time crunch.”
“Of course, I have what you requested, but unfortunately, we need court documentation that we were forced to hand it over. I have to keep my clients’ purchases private.”
I stared at her a second. “You’re kidding.”
“Afraid not.”
“Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but when someone buys a piece of property, they have to record it at the county recorder, right? That’s public information.”
“Yes, well, it’s company policy.”
Ah. I had a feeling it was only company policy for the rich, who may or may not have registered the property under their own name.
“It’s not under his name, is it? Look, I don’t give a crap. I’m going to search that property, and if I have to have you arrested for obstruction of justice to do it, I will.”
“Excuse me?” She bristled. “You don’t come in here and talk to me that way. I think it best you speak to our company attorney from now on.”
She shut the door on us.
“Obstruction?” Will said, staring at the closed door.
I shrugged. “Rolled the dice and lost. It happens.” I put my hands on my hips and glanced around the parking lot. “Well, I’m open to ideas.”
Jia said, “We could try to meet with Anderson and pretend we know about it already. See if he might give up some information.”
“No way Russell lets us talk to him, and there’re rules you bend and rules you break, and speaking to someone that’s represented isn’t either of those. Good way to get the case tossed and you disbarred. What else?”
Will said, “We could ask around to some of the girls he’s dated. Dollars to doughnuts he’s brought them to his condo or whatever before if he has one.”
I pointed at him. “That is a great idea. And don’t ever say dollars to doughnuts again. All right, Jia, I want you at Steven’s house. They should be wrapping up by now. He’s got his own lawyer, but I bet you Russell will be there, too. Let them know we’re not giving them any easy outs. Will, you know these people. Talk to anybody Anderson’s dated.” I checked my watch. “I got an appointment to keep.”
35
I went to the home of Nikyee Geller, who I’d learned had adopted her new husband’s name of Ellison, and waited in my car the half hour until our appointment. I watched the neighbors coming and going; several of them were retired elderly. One guy kept glaring at me.
I got a text from Will:
Sorry, boss, Mayor was at a charity dinner in Mesquite the night Patty was abducted, and at a family reunion the night before her body was found. There’s photos of him at both with his wife and kids. Wife says they went home after both and he was with her both nights the entire night
Damn. It would’ve been so much more satisfying to get a conviction against a corrupt jackhole mayor than two kids barely out of high school.
A black SUV pulled into the garage and Nikyee stepped out. A young kid with floppy brown hair jumped from the passenger seat with some drawings in his hand. I got out of the car and grabbed a brown paper sack from the back seat. Nikyee saw me and grimaced. I guess she’d thought I wouldn’t actually show up.
“Hi, Nikyee.” I smiled at Lyle and said, “Lyle, how are you, pal? My name is Tatum and I’m a friend of your dad’s.”
“Hi.”
I turned to Nikyee. “Should we talk inside?”
“Sure.”
We went inside through the garage, and she did a few things in the kitchen while Lyle and I sat in the living room. Nikyee came in a second later and sat down next to him. She was wearing workout clothes and had sweat stains on her chest. She folded her arms and said, “Lyle, Tatum has a few questions to ask. Just be honest with him, okay?”
“Okay.”
I opened the bag and pulled out his monkey.
“My monkey!” he said. He grabbed it without hesitation, and I saw his mother smile.
“Left it at the campsite,” I said. “Do you remember when you went camping up there, Lyle?”
He nodded.
“Did you have fun?”
“Yeah, we made s’mores.”
“Oh yeah? I love s’mores. I put extra chocolate on mine.”
“I like the marshmallows.”
“Marshmallows are good, too.” I glanced at his mother. “Lyle, something very bad happened up there when you were camping. Somebody got hurt. A very nice girl. And I’m trying to figure out who was responsible. Do you know what responsible means?”
He lost his smile and nodded without looking at me. “Yes.”
“What does it mean?”
“It means someone did something.”
“That’s right. It means someone did something.” I hesitated. “Did you see anyone up there? Someone that could’ve hurt someone else?”
He didn’t answer. His mother looked worried now and said, “Lyle, did you see something?”
He blinked and nodded.
“What did you see, pal?”
“I . . .”
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m a friend. I’m here to help. So you take all the time you need. Just think about it and put it into your own words what you saw.”
He looked to his mom and then said, “I heard someone getting hurt.”
I glanced at Nikyee again. “How do you know they were getting hurt?”
“They were screaming.”
“Was it a girl?”
He nodded.
“What was she screaming?”
“Just screaming. And she said, ‘Please stop.’ She was crying and screaming.”
Nikyee looked like she might faint. “Why didn’t you tell me, sweetheart?”
He shrugged.
I leaned forward and said, “Did you see who was screaming?”
He shook his head. “Not really.”
“Did you see anyone else up there?”
He played with his monkey a minute and then nodded.
“Pal, if you saw these people again, do you think you would know it’s them?”
He nodded.
I looked to his mother. “Can we talk in the kitchen?”
We went in there, and I looked back to make sure Lyle couldn’t hear us.
“We need him to do a lineup.”
“No way,” she said, folding her arms. “I’m not making him a part of this.”
“Did you know Patty?”
She stared at me a second. “I don’t see what that has—”
“They tortured her for days before taking her up to the Hallows to kill her. You think that’s the type of thing you do once and then stop? They got a taste for it now. How’re you going to feel when you see the next girl on the news? How’s Lyle going to feel when he sees their faces splashed everywhere and hears what they did?”
She sighed and leaned against the wall, her gaze drifting to the ceiling.
“What would he have to do?”
36
As I was leaving Nikyee’s house, I called Jia. She didn’t answer, so I left a voice mail. “Get a lineup set for Anderson and Steven. We got a witness.”
I was about to get into my car and join them at Steven’s house when I got a call from Gates.
“Hey,” I said.
“Tatum, you need to get down to the hospital.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Adam.”
I rushed down to Saint Mark’s and left my car in ER parking. I went inside and asked for Adam Graham’s room. He was down the hall to the right, and when I went in, he was lying in bed with a hospital gown on and Gates was sitting in the chair next to him. She was wearing a blue suit and glasses and quietly talking with him.
“I told her not to call you,” he said.
“What happened?”
“Nothin’. Just a dizzy spell.”
Gates rose. “I need a Diet Coke. Come with me, Tatum.”
I followed her out as Adam turned his attention to the IV sticking out of his arm. We walked down the hallway.
“You remember that time you had a concussion and I brought you here?” Gates said.
“Yeah, I got into a fight with some football player, and his girlfriend popped me in the back of the head with a baseball bat.”
“You remember what the fight was over?”
I shook my head. “No. I assume my natural charm just got to him.”
“He grabbed my ass.”
“Oh, right. I do remember that.”
“When you were unconscious on the ground, I maced him and his girlfriend.”
I chuckled. “I remember thinking you’d thank me, and all you said was you could take care of yourself, and then you drove me to the hospital. I was trying to impress you with my manliness. Boy, that backfired, huh?”
She smiled as we got to the vending machines. “I was grateful, I was, but the guy was twice your size. You gotta fight battles you know you can win.”
“If I did that, I’d still be stuck in this town.” She glanced away, toward someone coming through the emergency room entrance. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it to come out that way.”
She grabbed her drink and turned to me as she opened it. She took a sip. “He’s not well, Tatum.”
“What happened?”
“He fractured a rib from coughing so hard, and it caused him to pass out. He called me when he woke up. I found a towel covered in blood. I spoke to the doctor, and they said he needs to begin treatment immediately. If he waits much longer, it’ll be too late.”
“What do you want me to do? He doesn’t want it.”
“You’re his son.”
“We barely know each other and he hates my guts.”
She shook her head. “I swear, you’re the smartest dumb person I know. Look in the top drawer in his desk at home.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.” She eyed her watch. “I gotta run. I’ll be back to check on him tonight.”
I watched her walk away and then turned back to Adam’s room. He was already asleep. I spoke to the nurse, who told me they’d given him some pain medication and that the doctor was at dinner but would be back soon to discuss his case with me. I took a breath and sat down in the chair Gates had been sitting in and stared out the windows at some trees.
By the time the doctor got in, I was nearly asleep. He was a younger guy, and he smiled widely as he shook my hand. Adam was still asleep, so we spoke there. He told me that the cancer was advanced and he was worried that without starting treatment right away, it would progress to the point that they couldn’t really do much to extend his life.
“The outcomes with treatment are good. With treatment and catching it as early as we did, I’d put it at a sixty percent chance for remission. Without treatment, I’d put his odds at five percent that he survives a year once it develops into its later stages.”
“But I mean, I know he’s coughing a lot, but he doesn’t look that unhealthy to me.”
He shook his head. “This type of cancer is very aggressive. The coughing is already nearly uncontrollable. In mere months, breathing without aid will be almost impossible. He needs to start the treatment protocol as soon as possible.” He grinned. “When I told him that, he said that I was just trying to buy another Ferrari.”
“Yeah, that sounds like him.” I glanced toward Adam. “I’ll talk to him.”
He nodded. “Well, he seems to be better now. You can take him home when he wakes. Make sure to keep him hydrated. I’ll prescribe a stronger cough medication with codeine, but he’s already on so much pain medication that we can’t get too strong because it might affect his breathing. Just make sure to keep an eye on him and contact me if it’s not working.” He looked over to him. “The elderly, in my experience, are frightened of this type of treatment. They know they don’t have long left, and they don’t want to spend it in a hospital bed. It’s a very human emotion, so it’s up to the family to help them overcome it.”
“Not sure he sees me as family, but I’ll try.”
When I got Adam home, I helped him up the stairs to his bed. He was still groggy from the morphine, and he sat on the edge of the bed while I took off his shoes and belt. He lay back on the pillows and groaned. I put a throw blanket over him and he said, “She would leave notes for me.”
“Who?”
“Your mother. She’d leave them in the house. Hide them places she knew I would eventually find. Under the cushions of the couch or in the pantry. I would find them all the time.” His brow furrowed and he said, “I found one a few months ago in one of my dress shoes I never wear. It just said, ‘I’m proud of you.’” A tear rolled down his cheek.
I wiped it away with a clean handkerchief I found on the nightstand. “Get some rest.”
I left the room and watched him from the hallway. He was out almost instantly. I went downstairs and was about to flop on the couch when I remembered what Gates had said.
My father had a small office next to the kitchen. I sat down at the desk.
I opened the top drawer. Inside were newspaper clippings from all the major papers I had been in: a piece in the LA Times about a rap star I defended. A piece in the San Francisco Chronicle about a corrupt cop I had gotten acquitted. A mention in the New York Times about a politician I was defending on a gun charge. There were at least twenty pieces in there. Pretty much all the national newspaper attention I had gotten was accounted for.
I put the pieces back and shut the drawer, looked around the office, and then left the house.
37
I got a call from Jia while I was at Benson’s eating a turkey sandwich.
“Yeah.”
“Nada on Steven’s house. Nothing there. What’s this about a lineup?”
“The monkey. Belonged to a kid that heard Patty screaming. He said he saw who was hurting her. Did you get the lineup set?”
“Yeah, tomorrow morning at eight.”
“Man, I am just loving you more and more every day. I’ll call the witness’s mother and see you there.”
I hung up and dialed Will.
“Nothing yet, boss,” he said by way of greeting. “Trying to track down an old girlfriend of Anderson’s to see if he took her anywhere other than his father’s house. I’m waiting outside her work. Shift doesn’t start until eight.”
“Keep me posted. I want Anderson’s place, Will.”
“I’ll stay on it.”
“I also want a list of everybody that could’ve been one of Patty’s clients: older men with big disposable incomes. The mayor’s been ruled out, but everyone else. We need to go through them one by one and establish if they went on dates with Patty and where they were on the night she was abducted and the night she was murdered. Then get photos of each of them and show them to Diana. Maybe she saw some of them in the bar when she was working.”
“Will do. What about Farah? I can live with turning a blind eye to drugs, but she’s basically pimping out minors, boss.”
“I know the prosecutor at the Attorney General’s Office that oversees the sex trafficking division. Once we’re done with Farah, I’ll put in a call. But until then, we may need her, Will, so play nice.”
“Hey, I’m nice to everyone. Better run, think the ex just rolled up.”
Next I called Nikyee and told her when to be at the station, and all she said was “Okay.”
I hung up and stared out the window. I had an urge to go see someone, and I didn’t know why I wanted to see him right now.
Hank Winchester was working on an old truck when I showed up to his house, which was a large trailer in a trailer park not far from the mechanic shop. Nearby, a boy of nine or ten sat on an upside-down crate and played on a phone. He looked like Patty.
“I love these older trucks,” I said, walking up. “Reminds me of something from better times, maybe. More innocent times.”
“Don’t know about that. These models were first used by people in the Depression coming out west to find work. They got a history of moving desperate people from place to place. You seen the new color videos they got of the Depression?”
“I haven’t.”
“You can see it in black and white and think it’s from way back, but when you see them starving faces in color, it hits home. Think that could happen again? Where the country falls apart and people gotta fight for everything?”
“Don’t see why not. Cell phones and self-driving cars don’t change human nature.”
He nodded and looked to his boy. “Corbin, say hi to Mr. Graham.”
He didn’t say anything and didn’t look up. Hank stared down at his boy awhile.
“Come inside. I wanna show you something.”
I followed him in. He didn’t seem surprised that I was there and didn’t ask why I’d come. In the kitchen, he reached in a drawer and pulled out a photo. It was of Patty, him, and Corbin at an amusement park. Patty wore a wide smile and had her arm around her father’s neck.
“That’s the last photo I took of her. She was teasing me because I still like using real cameras instead of phones.” He smiled as he stared at the picture. “Her mother left us when she was eleven. Said she wasn’t happy and just left one morning. Went into the kids’ room and kissed each of them, came to me and kissed me, and then just left with one bag.”
