Aftermath

by Terri Blackstock

  After that first year of widowhood and single motherhood, she had eased back into praying, but she had never returned to the deep, intimate talks with God, or the yearning to hear his still, quiet voice.

  But now there were Dustin’s tragic circumstances and Crystal’s urgent needs. Where else could she go for help on either of those things? She needed some quiet alone time with God.

  “Did Wendy say your name is Jamie?” Wendy’s friend asked her, cutting into her thoughts.

  She looked at the woman Wendy had introduced as Emma. “That’s right. How long have you known Crystal and Travis?”

  “Two or three years.”

  “Do you know Dustin, too?”

  “Yeah, we’re all friends,” the woman said, lowering her voice. “I couldn’t believe what I saw on TV last night. Dustin would never do that.”

  “No, he wouldn’t.”

  “I was stunned when I saw it. It’s unbelievable that this is all happening at the same time.”

  “I’m the attorney representing Dustin.”

  “You are?” Emma sat straighter. “Is he going to get out of this?”

  “We’re working on it,” Jamie said. “When’s the last time you saw Dustin?”

  “I’ve seen him up here a couple of times in the last week. He comes whenever he can. He’s been trying to keep their business going. And there are times when Travis asks us not to come.”

  Jamie shifted on her table. “Does Dustin have any enemies you can think of?”

  “Not one,” Emma said with certainty. “He doesn’t make enemies. He’s a good guy.”

  “I know,” Jamie said. “I’ve known him since I was a kid.”

  “Do you think he was set up?”

  She didn’t want to go into the evidence she’d found. “It looks like it.”

  “It has to be the person who bombed the rally, right?”

  While Jamie considered how to answer that, the nurse came to the man on the other side of Emma and removed his IV. “You’re all finished. I’ll get you some juice.”

  Emma looked over at him. “Babe, Jamie is Dustin’s attorney.”

  He slid his legs over the side of the table. “He’s innocent.”

  “I know.” Jamie asked them as many questions as she could manage without appearing to interrogate them, but other than a few random names of other friends who’d visited the hospital, she didn’t get much that would help Dustin.

  She only hoped that her blood platelets would do more good for Crystal.

  39

  When Jamie brought Avery home that evening, Dustin’s car was parked at the Airbnb. She had picked up a pizza on the way, and when they got inside, she knocked on his bedroom door to offer him some.

  He opened the door but didn’t come out. “I’ve already eaten,” he said. “But thanks.”

  Even though Dude bounded out of the room to greet her and Avery, Dustin stayed where he was. She stood there for a moment, wondering if he was upset about Crystal or his plight, or the combination of everything. She wanted to help, but she didn’t know how.

  Avery had turned the TV on to Sofia the First and was watching as she shared her food with Dude. “Where’s Dustin?” she asked.

  “In his room. He’s already eaten.”

  “He seems nice,” Avery said. “I like him.”

  “You have good judgment.”

  Avery smiled. “When can we go home?”

  “I don’t know, sweetie. But it’s not so bad being here, is it?”

  “No, it’s nice, and I love playing with Dude. But I want to play with my friends, too. And I need my own stuff.”

  “I get it. This is all inconvenient. But it’s just temporary.”

  “And it’s for a good reason,” Avery said.

  “Yes, it’s for a very good reason.”

  Avery’s attention turned to the TV, and Jamie tried to eat. Dustin’s state of mind weighed heavily on her. Had she offended him today when she suggested that Travis could be a possible suspect? With all the other offensive things happening in regard to him, she couldn’t see how that would have shut him down.

  She thought of taking him something to drink, but he clearly wanted to be left alone.

  She spent the evening upstairs with Avery, and when her daughter was asleep, Jamie went quietly downstairs. Dustin was still in his room. She went to his door and knocked lightly.

  He opened the door and looked out at her. He hadn’t changed clothes from when he’d been in her office today, so at least she hadn’t gotten him out of bed.

  “Are you okay?” she asked. “I’ve been worried about you.”

  “I’m fine,” he said.

  “I know Crystal’s not doing well. I went to the hospital and gave blood.”

  “Thanks for that.”

  “My mom and her posse are giving, too.”

  “That’s great. Thank her for me.”

  He didn’t want to talk, but she couldn’t seem to stop. “I met some of your friends when I was giving blood. They think a lot of you. I think you’ll be in good shape with character witnesses if this does have to go to trial.”

  He looked at the floor without answering, and she wondered what was bothering him the most—the fact that she’d discussed him with his friends, or the idea of it going to trial. “I’ll go to bed now. I just wanted to say good night. There’s still some pizza in the fridge if you want some.”

  “Thanks.”

  Glad he couldn’t hear the insane narration in her head, she went up to her room and resolved not to see him again until tomorrow.

  Avery was already asleep in Jamie’s bed, so she went into the other upstairs bedroom and sat on the bed. It was time to pray—not just drive-by prayers, but a real, in-your-face talk with God. She lay on the bed facedown and whispered aloud how sorry she was that it had been so long since she’d last talked to her creator like this. As she grew closer to the throne of God, an old sense of homesickness came over her. She had missed him.

  Tears flooded her eyes, and she whispered her love and her desire to get back in touch with him. Then, in a rush of need, she poured out her fears and supplications for Dustin and begged for God’s intervention. Then she pled for mercy and healing for Crystal and peace and preparation for her family and friends, if it was God’s will for her life here to end.

  An hour passed before she felt God’s warmth comforting her. He had heard her, and he wouldn’t leave her prayers unanswered. He never really had, she realized. He had answered her, had taken care of her and Avery, had seen them through the dark times. He hadn’t forced Joe into compliance no matter how much she had wanted him to. God didn’t work that way, and as hard as that was to accept, she had known that all along.

  His ways were mysterious and sometimes painful. They didn’t always make his children happy. But one thing was for sure. God used everything. He always had a purpose.

  She dried her face and went into the hall. It still sounded quiet downstairs, so apparently Dustin hadn’t come out of his room. She went back into the bedroom where her daughter slept and crawled under the covers with her.

  With the knowledge that God was listening, she allowed herself to drift to sleep.

  40

  “You didn’t sleep last night, did you?”

  Taylor, sitting on the couch with her computer on her lap, turned her weary gaze to her sister. “Why does that sound like an accusation?”

  “Because it is. I checked the sleep medication the doctor gave you, and you haven’t used it. When’s the last time you slept?”

  Taylor sighed. “You really should go back to your apartment. I don’t need a babysitter.”

  “Well, clearly you do! I promised Mom and Dad that I wouldn’t leave you until I was sure you were okay. Did you at least eat?”

  “Yes, I ate.”

  “What did you eat?”

  “I went out before you even woke up and got something at Burger King.”

  Harper sat down on the coffee table in front of
her sister and stared at her over the laptop. “That’s another thing. You were out so much yesterday, but you didn’t go to work and you didn’t buy anything for the funerals. What were you doing?”

  “I ran errands. I do have a life, you know. I never had to check in with you before.”

  “Are you at least taking the new medication?”

  “Yes. I took it this morning. Trust me, I know I need it.”

  Harper left her alone then, and Taylor knew she was probably in the bathroom checking the number of pills in the bottle to see if she had missed a dose. That was fine. She had actually taken it. She had a racing pulse to prove it, and her palms itched, and every now and then she broke out in a cold sweat. She couldn’t see any benefit to the medication yet. Her intrusive, repetitive thoughts had multiplied and were more frequent, but she supposed they were harmless.

  She locked back in on her computer screen and studied Dustin Webb’s face. She had used her credit card to sign up for a service that gave her every public record about him that it could find. That included criminal records, but nothing had been added to that part of Dustin’s report since some minor things in high school and college. She’d been studying every detail of it, cross-checking it with other information she’d found about him on the Internet.

  Yesterday she had driven by his house and his business, hoping to find him at either place. There were media out in front of his house, so she couldn’t go to the door. His office parking lot was empty.

  She had no idea what she would do when she found him. Confront him and tell him what a reprehensible, bloodletting psychopath he was? Or go into a rage and attack him?

  She was five-five, and he was six feet tall and outweighed her by about sixty pounds. And a man like him would probably be armed. Maybe she should be, too.

  She printed out the file of data she had on him, then went into her bedroom to get it from the printer. She changed out of the yoga pants she’d had on since yesterday and put on some jeans and a shirt that would make Harper think she’d tried.

  She could hear her sister in the shower, so Taylor quickly grabbed her things. She should leave before Harper got out, then text her that she was shopping for something for the funeral. Maybe Harper would actually go to work and leave Taylor alone for the day.

  She had a lot to do, and she had to do it alone.

  41

  Dustin didn’t come out of his room until Jamie had left to take Avery to school. Before leaving, she texted, asking him to come to her office again this morning. He told her he would, but he dreaded looking her in the eye. She had always been able to tell when he was keeping something from her, and what he’d found in Travis’s computer bag yesterday was huge.

  He just wasn’t sure what it meant. Did it mean that Travis had made the bombs? Had he planted explosives in Dustin’s car and tipped off the police? Had he blown up Trudeau Hall?

  No. Impossible. There had to be a simple explanation. Maybe Travis was just thinking through the bombing, trying to figure out how a truck bomb could have done so much damage. Dustin had done some speculating himself about that.

  But he hadn’t drawn out such a detailed diagram.

  Travis had. That thought swirled through Dustin’s mind. Should he confront his best friend?

  Crystal’s condition still weighed on him. He couldn’t take Travis’s attention away from her right now. Things were too dire.

  Should he tell Jamie? Didn’t she need to know that her gut feelings about Travis might be warranted? But if Dustin’s instincts about Travis were right, that would take Jamie down a rabbit hole that would lead nowhere. He couldn’t assume anything before he talked to Travis. He had to keep this to himself for now.

  Jamie could see that Dustin hadn’t slept much last night, despite the fact that he hadn’t come out of his room even to eat. He had arrived at her office when he’d said he would, but he was brooding and distracted. Something was wrong.

  “I got a list of the employees at ChemEx, showing everyone who has access to the security systems. It’s a big list.” She handed him the printout. “Do you know anybody listed here?”

  He looked over it without much enthusiasm. “Some of them.”

  “Can you mark the ones you know?”

  He circled some names, then handed the paper back to her.

  “Is there anyone on the list you talked to in the weeks leading up to the theft and your arrest?”

  “No. I hadn’t seen those people in a year or more.”

  “Except for Travis.”

  “Yeah, except for Travis.” His words came out quieter, almost as though he were pulling them back even as he spoke them.

  “I keep wondering why the perpetrators didn’t set him up. If they knew you were at the hospital, they must have known he was. Why wouldn’t they have planted the RDX in his car instead of yours?”

  “Just lucky, I guess.”

  She wasn’t amused, and she knew he wasn’t trying to be funny. “Another thing. Why wouldn’t they set up any of the current employees? You’re a step removed from all this, since you’re not really involved with the plant anymore. It would have made more sense to pick one of these people.”

  “None of this makes sense,” he said.

  She stared at him across the conference room table. He seemed listless, as if he wasn’t even trying. Yesterday he had at least offered ideas and possibilities, and had been forthcoming about everything they had discussed. Today she couldn’t get anything substantial out of him.

  “Who knew you were going to the hospital that night?”

  “Didn’t we already go over this?”

  “Yes, but I thought maybe you thought of someone since yesterday.”

  He sighed and shook his head. “I didn’t tell anybody, but it wasn’t like I was disguised. People saw me.”

  “But specifically, did any of these people on the list know?”

  “I told you, I haven’t talked to any of them in a year.”

  “Are you on any online groups for people in the security industry?”

  “No. I’m not a joiner.”

  She knew that about him. “It makes sense that Travis might have told some of your clients his wife was in the hospital. Someone who would have guessed you’d be there.”

  He got up and went to look out the window, thinking. “I guess that’s possible. We were working two jobs. I was the lead on one, and he was lead on the other. You get to know the contractors and architects pretty well. He probably did tell some of them. But all this . . . It’s implausible. That he would mention that Crystal’s in the hospital, and then that they would assume I’m there, and then somehow get into my car without leaving a scratch and plant explosives?”

  “I know it’s unlikely. I’m just trying to find connections. What about Travis’s friends or family? Or Wendy’s? Did she have friends or family who might have come to check on Crystal and saw you there?”

  “I haven’t met any. And the friends of ours who saw me there would never do something like this.”

  She made him write them down. He wrote the names of two couples. “Did anyone else call the hospital to check on Crystal? Anyone who might have asked if you were there?”

  “I don’t know who called! I’m not their family. I didn’t get those calls.”

  He was clearly irritated, and she felt as if she was badgering him. She got up and went to her door. “I’m going to get some coffee. Do you want some?”

  “Yeah, that would be good.”

  She went to the break room and got two cups. What was going on? Why was he resisting her so?

  She brought the coffee and packs of cream and sugar and set them in front of him. She waited as he took a long sip.

  “Dustin, something’s changed since yesterday. You’re a lot more defensive. You’re irritated that I’m asking you these questions. Last night you avoided us completely. What’s going on? Did something happen?”

  He hesitated for a few seconds too long, and she could see that she�
��d hit the nail on the head. “No. I’m just tired and sick of all this. I never thought I’d be in a situation like this.”

  She knew he was evading. Yesterday when he’d left her office, he had gone to the hospital. Had Travis said something that he didn’t want to tell her? Or had it been later, when he went to handle the emergency for his client? Had someone confronted him?

  Why wouldn’t he tell her?

  She studied him for a moment, noting the way he avoided looking at her. “Dustin, you could be indicted any day now, and it won’t be for the original charges. They’ll officially connect you to the bombing this time. You’ll have to go back to jail, probably without bond. While you’re free, we can’t leave a single stone unturned. Time is running out.”

  “I’m well aware that I could be spending the rest of my life in jail. And so is everybody else who watches the news.”

  “We can reverse this,” she said. “I just need all the information.”

  “I’m doing my best, Jamie.”

  But she wasn’t satisfied. His eyes, his choice of words, his body language all told her he was keeping something from her. She resolved to keep working on him. She wasn’t going to give up that easily.

  42

  There was blood on her arm. Sitting in her car in the Walmart parking lot, Taylor realized she had scratched an itchy rash until it was raw.

  Where had the rash come from? She hadn’t noticed the red bumps before, but now she pulled up her pants leg to another itchy spot and saw that it, too, was mottled with red, raised bumps.

  Could it be a reaction to the medication she’d just started? She would have to look it up later and maybe call her doctor. She dug through her purse for the small bottle of hand sanitizer she carried and dotted some over the broken skin.

  Her phone rang, startling her, and she checked it. Her sister had discovered she was gone. She didn’t want to talk to her. Taylor switched it to silent and got out of the car.

  A couple across the parking lot were looking at her, and she crossed her arms as she walked, fear tightening her chest. A woman stood just outside the door, as if waiting for her. Taylor felt herself sweating as she walked past her.