The Guilty

by David Baldacci

  to be backin’ your congressional run?”

  “I haven’t even decided whether I’m goin’ to run or not,” snapped Davis. He turned to Robie. “And what did Bobby Wendell tell you? What was his daddy bein’ blackmailed for?”

  Robie took out the photo and passed it over to Davis.

  The man looked down at it and then flinched. “What the hell is this?”

  “Sherman Clancy’s blackmail tool.”

  Davis looked up. “Pedophilia?”

  Robie nodded.

  “Are you tellin’ me this is Nelson Wendell?”

  “Yes. Bobby Wendell confirmed it was his father. The picture’s from many years ago, of course.”

  Davis studied the photo and then his features became resigned. “My God. I guess money and bein’ from a fine family don’t matter a’tall.”

  Reel said, “For the record, you can find scum in the rich, the middle class, and the poor.”

  Robie added, “And while of course he wouldn’t admit to it, it’s nearly certain that Bobby sent a bunch of goons after Pete Clancy when he decided he wanted a piece of the blackmail action after his father died. I saved his butt from them. Then they kidnapped Sara Chisum to use her as bait to try to kill me and my partner here.”

  Davis nodded slowly, his penetrating gaze on Robie. The “aw shucks” demeanor of the man had completely disappeared. And in that look Robie seemed to realize that the insufferable man might actually be a cagy prosecutor.

  “Did Bobby Wendell have Sara Chisum killed?” asked Davis.

  “I don’t think so but I can’t be sure. Same answer on whether he killed Clancy and Janet Chisum.”

  “So who then? This serial killer just happens on the scene and starts killin’ folks that are blackmailin’ rich folks? And Clancy I get, but how did the Chisum sisters get involved?”

  “Clancy probably told them while he was drunk and having sex with them,” replied Robie.

  Davis shook his head. “The Devil gets inside’a you, no tellin’ what trouble you’ll get into. So the girls were after money too? They bit off mor’n they could chew. But your gut says you don’t think the Wendells killed them?”

  “No, I don’t think so. Bobby tried to get these photos back. And the men we killed were part of that effort. And after she was nearly murdered by those guys, I seriously doubt that Sara would have arranged to meet with them alone late at night in the woods.”

  “But that just leaves this serial killer person,” said Davis.

  “No,” said Reel, tapping the photo. “That leaves whoever took this picture.”

  “And how do we find this person?” asked Davis.

  “Working on it,” said Robie.

  “You said you talked to Sheriff Monda?”

  “We did. And with only Pete the blackmailer’s word to go by he’s not touching the Wendells with a ten-foot pole.”

  “But you said that Bobby Wendell said this was his father.”

  “Yes. But that only gets us so far. And he’ll have lawyered up by now, so no one will be talking to him.”

  Davis sat back. “Shit,” he muttered. “You think somethin’s nice and straightforward and then before you know it it’s all twisty-turny like the damn Mississippi River.”

  “Huh, who would’a thought life wasn’t black-and-white,” said Moses.

  Davis shifted his gaze to her. “Okay, Toni, okay, I get your meanin’ loud and clear.” He looked at Robie. “So what do we do now?”

  “The killer is still out there and we have no idea who it is.”

  “But what do we do with your daddy?” said Moses.

  Davis said, “I’d leave him in jail. He’d be safer there. But—”

  “But what?” asked Robie sharply.

  Moses answered. “That was the other reason I wanted you to come in. The judge has set bail for your father. And he’s paid it. Which mean he gets out in about twenty minutes.”

  Chapter

  57

  HERE HE COMES,” said Robie.

  He and Reel were sitting in their car across the street from the jail.

  The door to the jail opened and Taggert appeared there. Right behind her was Dan Robie, presumably wearing the clothes he had been arrested in: chino pants, white shirt, and loafers.

  As Robie started to get out of his car, a Volvo roared down the street and screeched to a stop in front of the jail. Victoria jumped out of the car, hurried over to her husband, and wrapped her arms around him.

  Observing this, Reel said, “Apparently, you’re not the only one feeling guilty.”

  “Apparently,” said Robie as he climbed back into the car and closed the door.

  Victoria led her husband over to the Volvo. They got in and she drove off. Taggert went back inside the jail and closed the reinforced door behind her.

  Reel said, “So what now? I assume they’re heading back to the Willows.”

  “Then so are we,” replied Robie.

  “Well, this could get interesting,” remarked Reel.

  * * *

  By the time they reached the Willows the empty Volvo was parked in front.

  Robie and Reel walked up the steps and through the front door.

  Priscilla met them in the foyer with Tyler in tow.

  “They gone upstairs,” she said.

  “I guess they haven’t been able to…” asked Robie.

  “Well, man’s been absent from his wife a long while,” said Priscilla primly.

  Robie looked up the stairs. When he glanced back he found Reel staring at him. Priscilla had taken Tyler outside.

  Robie hurried up the stairs with Reel on his heels.

  “Robie, you’re not going to—”

  “No, of course I’m not.”

  He turned to the left and went to his room, shutting the door behind him. He heard Reel outside the door for a few moments, but then she walked to her room and closed her door.

  Robie sat on his bed, his face pointed downward. Then he jumped up and started pacing the room. And then his pacing slowed and then stopped as he arrived at the window. He peered out and once more his mind went back to that night. The last night he would see Laura Barksdale. He had been looking up at this window and had seen her silhouette pass across it. After that, crushed beyond all reckoning, he had climbed back into his car and set off for his new life, alone.

  In the ensuing months, he had written to her several times. He had also phoned and left messages.

  He had asked why she had not shown up that night. What had kept her from her promises. Then his letters and phone messages had grown angrier. Finally, he had simply stopped writing. Or calling.

  He left his room and walked outside, sat in front of a pond, and watched a couple of ducks paddling their way across its surface.

  A shadow fell over him about a half hour later.

  It was Victoria.

  Her hair was damp and she carried the fresh scent of a recent shower. She had on shorts and a tank top. Her feet were bare, her shoulders freckled.

  “How’s he doing?” he asked.

  “Better now,” she said, a satisfied smile playing over her lips.

  “Toni told me he was getting out on bail,” he said, ignoring her look.

  “He never should have been locked up in the first place.”

  “Well, the case against him was pretty compelling.”

  She sat on the ground next to him. “‘Was’? So there are developments?”

  “There is reason to hope he’ll get off, yes.”

  She searched his face and then looked away.

  “He didn’t kill anybody.”

  “I know that. We just have to convince everybody of that. Beyond all doubt,” he added, recalling their earlier conversation. “So he can stay in Cantrell with his head held high.”

  “You make that sentiment sound silly. It’s not. At least for him.”

  “If it came out that way, I apologize.”

  “I love your father.”

  “I’m sure
you do.”

  “And I’m not a slut. I never cheated on him. I know what people said about me and Clancy, but I never slept with that man.”

  “But you also never explained why you were with him that night. You said you had business with him. You never said what.”

  She stared over at the water, her brow creasing.

  “He was blackmailing me.”

  Robie flinched. “Blackmailing you? How?”

  “Before I met your father I had some issues.”

  “What kind of issues?”

  “Specifically, I had a drug problem. I was hooked on painkillers from an accident I was in. Then I got hooked on stronger stuff. Then I had to steal to support my habit. I sought help, went into rehab, kicked my problem, and started my life over.”

  “But Clancy found out about that? How?”

  “He never said. Apparently, he makes a business out of doing stuff like that.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Things he let slip.” She looked at him. “You believe me, don’t you?”

  “Yes. We’ve actually uncovered other instances where Clancy was blackmailing people. So what did you do at the meeting?”

  “Paid him off. He insisted I do it in person.”

  “But you stayed with him a long time. If it was just a payoff, why drink with the guy for hours? Why not just drop off the payment and go?”

  “Because that was another condition of his, Will. He wanted me to stay and drink with him. And he also wanted me to sleep with him. I refused and told him to go to Hell. After that he stopped asking. But I had to stay and drink with him. He wanted it that way, because I think he was planning on blabbing about it to everyone to rub Dan’s nose in it. Let them think we had slept together. But at that point I didn’t care. I didn’t want Dan to find out about what I had done. That was more critical to my thinking. The stuff with Clancy far less so. I knew Dan would never really believe I had slept with that jerk.”

  “But maybe he did believe it,” said Robie. “He threatened Clancy about it in public.”

  “That was just him being a man, protecting his territory. I told him I didn’t sleep with Clancy, and I really think he believed me. I didn’t tell him about the blackmail stuff. I just said we’d run into each other and had a few drinks. No harm, no foul. On the other hand, Clancy had details about my past that would prove far more compelling. And he threatened to show them to Dan. I couldn’t let that happen. Your father wouldn’t have understood.”

  “How much was the payoff?”

  “Fifty thousand dollars.”

  “In cash?”

  “That’s how he wanted it. And that’s really how I wanted it. I didn’t want any trail of money going to him from me.”

  “Where’d you get fifty thousand in cash?”

  “I had a life before Dan,” she said in a defensive tone. “My convention-planning business did very well. I had saved most of it, since I worked too hard to enjoy any time off. I dipped into that.”

  “You could have gone to the police.”

  “I could have, yes, but I didn’t.”

  They sat in silence for a few minutes.

  “This is all so screwed up,” she said in a hushed voice.

  “Yeah, probably in more ways than you know.”

  She looked back at the house. “This Laura Barksdale?”

  “What about her?”

  “You never saw her again?”

  “Never.”

  “But you thought about her?”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “She must have been important to you.”

  “She was.”

  “Like your father is important to me.”

  “I guess. But you have him. I don’t have Laura.”

  “If he goes to prison I won’t have him.” She shot him a glance. “And neither will you.”

  Chapter

  58

  DINNER WAS TENSE, awkward, and uncomfortable for everyone.

  Only little Tyler seemed to be able to rise above the somber mood. Every few minutes he would reach out and touch his father’s cheek.

  Robie could never remember his father smiling like that when he’d been a kid. But he couldn’t begrudge Tyler his positive effect on his old man. He felt his own mouth tugging upward in a smile when Dan Robie reached over and tousled Tyler’s hair.

  He caught Victoria looking at him once, but when he caught her eye she busily passed more food around the table.

  Reel sat there taking it all in, registering every move, every word, and she seemed profoundly unsatisfied with the results.

  Dan Robie took a drink of tea, set his glass down, wiped his mouth, and said, “Toni filled me in on everythin’ before I left jail.” He glanced first at Reel and then at his older son.

  “I appreciate all the work, and the risks you two have undertaken. I probably would’ve been set bail regardless. But I don’t think my case would look as good as it does right now without your efforts. Actually, I know it wouldn’t.”

  “Reasonable doubt,” remarked Reel.

  Dan pointed a finger at her. “Exactly. Alternative explanations and motives.”

  “I thought you wanted a slam dunk to wipe away all doubt, not just from the jurors but from everyone in Cantrell,” interjected Robie.

  “I do want that. But right now I’ll take what I can get.” He glanced at Tyler and then Victoria.

  “For two reasons.”

  Tyler reached out both arms and his father gently lifted him up and set the boy on his lap. He kissed Tyler on top of the head and looked at Victoria.

  “You seem tired. You been sleepin’ badly?”

  Victoria coughed. “Not too good, actually. For obvious reasons.”

  “I hope you’ll sleep better tonight.”

  “I’m sure I will. With you back next to me.”

  “You want to take Ty on out and see if Priscilla has some ice cream for him in the kitchen, hon?” Dan said to his wife. “I need a few minutes with Will and Jessica.” In a lower voice he added, “Not for Ty’s ears.”

  Victoria swept Tyler up in her arms and carried him into the kitchen.

  As soon as the door had closed behind them Dan pulled his chair in closer. “Bobby Wendell is in a lot of trouble.”

  Robie said, “If he hired those people to do what they did, he is. But it still has to be proven.”

  “But you don’t think he had anyone killed? Clancy? The Chisums?”

  “No, we don’t,” said Robie.