“Why don’t you ask someone from GBI to run it for you?” she asked.
Daniel hesitated. “I’d rather not. My boss wanted me to initiate a missing-person case. I told him I would when I had evidence that this was more than a simple vacation.”
“Your boss is right,” she said coldly. “You should do this by the book.”
“I will, once I’m convinced they are missing, and not on vacation. So can you run Grandma’s LUDs?”
“I’ll do my best. Don’t call me again. I’ll call you if and when I find something.”
Daniel winced when the phone clicked in his ear. It had actually gone far better than he’d anticipated.
Tuesday, January 16, 1:15
A.M.
The occupants of the second row were completely personal. The old man and his wife were already buried there. Soon the empty plots would hold the old man’s spawn. How fitting that the family would spend eternity together… in my graveyard. His mouth curved. How fitting that the only one buried in the family plot behind the little Baptist church in Dutton, Georgia… is me.
He hadn’t asked for the confrontation now. Artie and his wife had brought it to him, right to his doorstep. He’d always planned to wage this war, but after he’d made his mark. After his goals were met. When he had true success to shove down the old man’s throat. When he could say, You said I’d never be anything. You were wrong.
It was too late for that. He’d never be able to say, “You were wrong.” Artie started it, but now that he was engaged in battle, he’d finish it, once and for all. The old man had paid dearly for his crimes. His offspring would soon follow.
Artie’s daughter would play the final major role in his game-she would become the Queen, the only character standing between the Inquisitor and the throne. She would be, of course, destroyed. Painfully.
Artie’s son would play a mere peasant poaching the king’s land. A minor role in the game. He stood abruptly. But his death will close a significant chapter in my life. He crossed the floor of his studio with a purposeful stride, no longer tired. Opening a cabinet, he carefully drew out the tool that would deliver his vengeance. He’d saved it for years, just waiting for this time. Setting it on his desk, he pried open the jagged steel jaws and set the trap. Hands steady, he lowered a pencil between the jaws and tapped the release. The jaws snapped shut and the shattered pencil flew from his hand.
He gave a hard nod of approval. Artie’s son would know pain-intense, excruciating, unimaginable pain. Artie’s son would scream for help, for release, and finally for death. But no one would hear him. No one would save him. I killed them all.
Tuesday, January 16, 6:00
A.M.
Vito stumbled into the kitchen, lured by the smells of coffee and sizzling bacon. Then smiled at the sight of his sister Tess sitting at the kitchen table, feeding baby Gus in his high chair. Or trying to.
Gus pushed his bowl of oatmeal away. “Want cake,” Gus said, very distinctly.
“Don’t we all?” Tess asked the baby wryly. “But we don’t always get what we want, and I know your mama does not give you cake for breakfast.”
Gus tilted his head, measuring her slyly. “Tino cake.”
Vito’s lips twitched. Cake had been Tino’s answer to every child-care calamity since the boys had arrived. “I guess we’re busted.”
She wheeled around, eyes wide. But the startled look quickly gave way to her gorgeous smile as she quickly crossed the small kitchen into his open arms. “Vito.”
“Hey, kid.” Something was wrong. Her smile had been genuine, but her body was tense as she hugged him. “What’s wrong? Is it Molly?”
“No, she’s better this morning. You worry too much, Vito. Sit. I’ll get your plate.”
Still wary, he sat. “I found the snack you left in the fridge last night. Thanks.”
She threw a look over her shoulder as she heaped eggs and bacon on his plate. “That was an entire ravioli, not a snack. But you’re welcome.” She put the plate on the table before him and took the other chair. “What time did you get home last night?”
“Almost one.” On the way home he’d stopped at the bar where Warren Keyes had waited tables. Interviews with Warren’s boss and coworkers had turned up nothing new. No one had noticed anything or anyone out of the ordinary. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
“You didn’t. The boys wore me out last night.” She tickled Gus’s feet through his socks. “This one moves fast on these chubby little legs and you’ve got too many things lying around that he can break. Once I got Gus and the others asleep, I crashed.”
Vito frowned. “Dante was awake when I got home, crying out on the back porch.”
Tess’s eyes widened. “The back porch? It’s freezing cold out there.”
Vito’s back porch was enclosed with glass, but it wasn’t heated and it had been freezing cold. “I know. He was wrapped up in his sleeping bag, but still. I was scared shitless when I came in and saw he wasn’t asleep on the living room floor. I think I scared him shitless when I found him out there. He said he just wanted to be alone.”
“He was upset about Molly,” Tess said. “That’s understandable.”
Vito had his doubts, but hadn’t pressed the boy. “Maybe. I made him come back in, but keep an eye on him.” He regarded Tess over his cup. “So what’s wrong?”
Her chuckle was wry. “You’re nosy, you know that?”
Sophie came to mind and he felt a sharp stab in his heart. “So I’ve been told.”
Tess lifted her brows. “I’ll tell if you tell.”
“I should know better than to probe a shrink. Okay, but you first.”
She shrugged. “Being around the kids is hard. Aidan and I have been trying to…” She looked down. “Both of us are one of five kids, and we can’t even have one.”
“Maybe you just need to give it some time.”
She looked up and his heart wanted to break at the sadness in her eyes. “It’s been eighteen months. We’re starting to talk doctors and treatment and adoption.”
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry, kid.”
Her lips curved, still sadly. “Me, too. So now it’s your turn. What’s her name?”
He huffed a laugh. “Sophie. And she’s very pretty, very smart and I like her, but she doesn’t want to like me. She pretty much asked me to leave her alone and I will.”
“Advisable from the standpoint of not becoming a stalker, but utterly uncharacteristic for you. I don’t think I’ve ever known you to not pursue a female that caught your eye.”
That had been true until Andrea. She’d said no at first, but he’d been infatuated. He’d pursued and she’d eventually changed her mind. It ended up being the worst thing that could have happened to either of them. “Maybe I’ve just grown up.”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded, clearly unconvinced. “Right.”
He stood up. “Well, right or wrong I have to get out of here. I have to stop at the bakery and the morgue before work.”
Tess made a face. “Bakery and morgue are two words that should not be used together, Vito. Will you be home for dinner?”
“I don’t know.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll call you either way.”
“I’ve got to get the boys off to school.” She looked around the kitchen. “Then I think Gus and I will go shopping for curtains. Your windows look sad.”