A Finder's Fee (12 page)

The conversation I didn’t want to have with him seemed to have been averted. “I get it. I’m sorry. He really is just a friend. And we really did eat and look at prehistoric horses. Want to see them?”

“What about that romantic moment in the barn where he pledged his troth to us?” Maggie asked me with a sigh.

Kevin frowned again as I struggled to keep Maggie under control. He either had to think I was crazy, or that I was possessed by a witch, as Shayla had said. I was losing the battle. The separation between us was becoming thinner. I knew by the look on Kevin’s face that my secret wasn’t going to be a secret much longer.

Gramps saved the moment when he came out in his waders and heavy sweater.

“Dae, have you seen my yellow slicker? I can’t find a thing since you cleaned the house. Shouldn’t you be getting ready to go with Amos instead of canoodling with Kevin?”

“Your slicker is on the back porch, where it belongs. And I’m all ready to go. I got up early and made pancakes. What’s canoodling? Sounds like a kind of pasta to me.”

Gramps grinned and swatted at my butt as I walked by. “Always sassy. Good thing I lived with your grandmother all those years or I wouldn’t know how to handle it. Can’t stay for pancakes. I’ve got an early charter. I’ll see both of you later. Take care you don’t get in any more trouble today, Dae.”

Kevin didn’t say anything until Gramps was gone. Neither one of us ate much, and there was no conversation. Maggie stayed quiet.

“Do you want me to stay so you can look at those horses?” Kevin sipped his coffee as he studied my face.

“I really can’t do that this morning.” I smiled, glad I had a legitimate excuse to leave. “Maybe later. Amos Wilson should be here any minute.”

“Okay. Call me when you get back and we’ll set something up.”

“I will.”

“You know you can tell me anything, don’t you? There isn’t anything that could happen to you that I wouldn’t want to hear, and help with.”

“I know.”

He took a deep breath before he got up, kissed my forehead and left. I waved to him from the door as he got back in his blue golf cart to leave.

I wanted to say something, find some way to explain about Maggie. The words wouldn’t come. I wasn’t afraid of his reaction. I was worried that he would try and stop me from what I needed to do.

Treasure yawned and turned away from the door. He clearly was bored with the situation once the pancakes were gone.

“I’ll see you later.” I ruffled his newly cleaned fur. I knew from the look he gave me it would take hours to reclean it. “If there’s time, I’ll pick you up before I go to the shop.”

Amos, Mad Dog’s son, was waiting for me when I stepped out the door. I didn’t know him well. We saw each other at council meetings and other town events. He seemed to be a very serious man. He looked more like his mother than his father. He also seemed to have her quiet, nonflamboyant temperament.

I hurried out to the late-model Buick and got in the passenger door. “Thanks for waiting. Sorry it took so long.”

He reversed the car out of the driveway. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not like I’m looking forward to spending all morning with the woman who ruined my father’s life.”

I
f I was looking for the hostility Laura Wilson was lacking,
I found it in her son. I wished a hundred times on the way to Manteo that I’d driven there with Kevin.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve even pretending you want to help my father.” Amos could barely look at me. “You may have convinced my mother that you’re sincere, but I’m willing to bet you aren’t going to find anything to help my father right before the election.”

I had to answer back. I wished I could sit there and take it—everything I said was bound to make it worse. “What makes you think I knew that car was down there? I wasn’t looking for it. It just happened.”

“Everyone knows what you do. You find things other people can’t find. Don’t you think that’s a little suspicious in this case? Don’t bother trying to play innocent with me. Your guilt is written all over you.”

“Look, I’d rather not win the election because your father has to go to prison. I don’t even want to win because he was accused of killing Joe Walsh. That’s not going to make my job—or my reputation—any better.”

“That’s right.” He sneered at me. “And that’s my only consolation. Everyone knows you dug this up to stop my father from being mayor. I’ll make sure no one forgets it either.”

I was so glad to see the county courthouse that I almost got out of the Buick while it was slowing down. I bit my lip as Amos parked the car then got out and walked as fast as I could up the courthouse steps without waiting to see if he was coming too.

Mad Dog’s lawyer was a white-haired man from Nags Head who said he knew Gramps. He shook my hand and then we walked down the long, green hall that led to a small room where we waited for Mad Dog.

I was relieved when the lawyer told Amos that only one of us at a time could come back and talk to his father. Amos seemed to have lost all of his steam in the car yelling at me anyway. He sat down on a bench in the hall to wait without complaining. I didn’t mind that at all. I knew facing Mad Dog was going to be hard all by itself.

The lawyer and I made polite conversation about the weather and how many large fish Gramps had caught recently. I looked around at the bleak room, the plain chairs and table, and felt bad for Mad Dog. I hoped he wasn’t the killer. When I touched his hands, I wanted to find something inside of him that would show me that he didn’t kill Joe Walsh.

Mad Dog was as feisty as ever when the jail guards finally walked him into the room. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit that didn’t suit him like his normally flamboyant clothes.

He wasn’t handcuffed, and that started me wondering why he was here at all. It seemed hard to believe that he hadn’t been able to make bail. I knew he owned property, which was usually all it took.

“You know, Laura said you were coming today. I couldn’t believe it.” Mad Dog chuckled as he sat down. “Why are you here? We both know you have me right where you want me.”

I looked across the table and felt even sorrier for him. “I know you think I did this on purpose, and I don’t blame you. I’d probably think the same thing if I were you.”

“Good. Then we’re on the same page. You might as well leave.” He looked away from me.

“Why are
you
here? Why aren’t you out on bail?”

“I’m not giving the county my property to set me free when I haven’t done anything wrong. Those jackals want what’s mine. I won’t give them that satisfaction.”

I glanced at the lawyer, who shook his head and shrugged. I knew Mad Dog knew better. He understood how a bail bondsman worked. As long as he showed up for court, he wouldn’t lose anything. As for calling government officials jackals, it was like referring to himself, since he was a councilman.

“I told you to leave.” Mad Dog tapped his fingers impatiently on the table between us. “Why are you still here?”

“I may be the only one who can help you. I drove all the way out here with Amos calling me everything bad he could possibly think of. I don’t want to win the election because you’re too stubborn to let me help you. Put your hands over here so I can see what’s going on.”

I used the same voice I’d heard all my life from Gramps and my teachers in school. I assumed it was a parent’s voice telling a child what they should do.

Would it work?

I wasn’t sure.

What I did know was that, despite his bravado, Randal “Mad Dog” Wilson was scared. Not only for his life but also for his reputation and standing with his friends and neighbors in Duck. He was desperate inside. I hoped I could use that to help him.

He stared at me like he’d never seen me before. His usually clean-shaven face was prickly with gray stubble. His hair was uncombed, and there was a spot of jelly near his lips. He was a man who was scrupulously careful with his appearance. Now that didn’t matter.

“I
know
. I understand why you aren’t letting yourself be released. You don’t want people to see you this way. You don’t want to see in their eyes that they might think you killed Lightning Joe. I don’t have to touch you to see that.”

It was exactly the right thing to say. Mad Dog started crying. I sat back in my chair, not sure what to say or do next. I hadn’t thought he would break down that way. I’d wanted him to cooperate, not fall apart.

“You’re right, Dae.” He sniffled, using his lawyer’s clean white handkerchief to wipe his nose and eyes. “I don’t want anyone to see me this way. I’ve worked too hard all my life to have this happen. I swear I didn’t know my old car was down there. I sure didn’t know Joe was in it.”

“Then let me try to help you. I can’t promise anything, but it might work.”

“Okay. I have nothing to lose.” He smiled at me through his tears. “One time, Horace brought you over to my house. You were just a kid. You found a notebook for me. I’d lost it at the beach. It had all my insurance customer contacts. It wasn’t like today where everyone makes copies of everything on their computer. You held my hand and told me where it was. You’ve always been a good girl, Dae. I know we don’t always agree, but I’ll always remember how you were that day at my house.”

He held out his hands to me across the table. His bloodshot gaze was glued to mine. I held his hands and closed my eyes.

At first, being in someone else’s head is like trying to sort through what’s left after a hurricane. Everything is jumbled up, not necessarily where it should be. I have to find a point of reference to use or I get lost in all the confusion.

I thought the car could be that reference. “I need you to think about the last time you saw your number twelve car. It was lost for years. When was the last time that you drove it?”

“The last time was when I hurt my leg. I flipped the car going around a turn too fast. I thought I was a goner. I couldn’t get out. I was pinned in.”

I was beginning to get a clear image of the car Kevin and I had unearthed. It was damaged but shiny with new paint. A truck was coming for it.

“You got out. What happened next?”

“They took me to the hospital in Kill Devil Hills. The car was wrecked—so was I. They tried to operate on my leg and make it better. It didn’t help much. When I got out of the hospital, my car was gone. A truck had come to get it and tow it off, but nobody knew whose truck it was. I never saw it again.”

I tried to push him one step further. “And Joe? When was the last time you saw him?”

The image of the race car stayed clear in Mad Dog’s mind. He loved that car. I saw hundreds of images of him painting it, changing the tires, working on the engine. He was devastated by its loss. It was a life-changing event for him. The one thing he’d loved in life was over. It was symbolic to him that the car that had made his reputation was gone too.

That was it. There was no image of Joe at all.

I let go of his hands and opened my eyes. He was still staring at me like I was a life preserver in the middle of a storm.

“Well, Dae? What did you see?”

“I saw you when you were younger and I saw your car.”

“That’s a
big
help. Everyone knows that car was mine.”

“True. I also know you lost the car right after the accident. You never saw it again. That means you weren’t the one who put Joe in it.”

He gave a little excited yell. “I guess that’s better than nothing.”

His lawyer intervened. “Of course, that won’t help him in court.”

“I know. It doesn’t say anything about who
did
put Joe in the car after he was killed. But it’s a start.”

“Where do we go from here?” Mad Dog seemed happier with what I’d told him.

“I’m not sure. It seems like the next step might be for me to touch the car.” After my recent experiences with touching things that had bad histories, I wasn’t exactly eager to volunteer for that task. But there was no one else.

“I don’t think that will be as easy as it sounds,” the lawyer said. “That car is material evidence in a capital case. I don’t know if being the retired sheriff’s granddaughter will get you access. Let me know if you find any other leads.”

I promised to keep both men up to date about what I found. I shook Mad Dog’s hand and the guard came to take him away.

The lawyer and I parted company at the front lobby after he gave me his business card.

I took one look at Amos’s angry face and decided there was no way I was riding back to Duck with him. I’d walk first.

“I promised my mother I’d bring you home,” Amos argued as he walked beside me down the courthouse steps.

“I’ll call her and explain. She’ll be fine.”

He stopped abruptly. “I don’t know what you expected. He’s my father. You ruined his life.”

“Good-bye, Amos.” I walked across the courthouse parking lot like someone was waiting on the other side to take me home. It was only a show for him. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth. I had no idea how I was going to get home without calling one of my friends to make the trip.

“Dae!” I heard a familiar voice shout my name.

I turned to look and saw La Donna Nelson in her green minivan. I walked to it with a big smile on my face. Providence had to be watching out for me.

“Hi! I’m really glad to see you! What brings you out here?”

“I brought my mother out to get some tax forms she needed. I don’t understand why these things aren’t available online by now. We shouldn’t have to drive all the way out here to pick up paper copies. I know why
you’re
here.” She smiled.

“Probably you and most of Duck. Please tell me you’re headed back to town. I lost my ride home.”

“As soon as we get done with everything here—mother has to return some library books—we’re going home. I’ll be glad to take you. How did you lose your ride?”

I explained about Amos. She understood. “I’m surprised he brought you out here if he had those kinds of feelings about it. Although I can relate. If Randal was my father, I’d hate you too.”

I got in the front seat of the minivan. “Not you too.”

“I don’t think you found that car on purpose, Dae. I’d hate the coincidence and the timing if I were Amos, wouldn’t you?”

“I wish I could do it over.”

“What would you do different?”

“I’d wait and do it after the election.” It was a joke. Maybe I could’ve found some way to stop the geothermal drilling. I didn’t realize it was going to be so hard to get Maggie’s bones so she could be buried next to her boyfriend, Thomas, or that there would be a race car in the way.

“So you saw Randal.” La Donna looked around at the people passing by. “Was he happy to see you? I’ve been wondering about that all morning. Did he
want
to see you, or was that Laura’s idea?”

“You mean you don’t know?” I grinned. “I thought everyone would know that too.”

“Quit stalling and answer the question. What did Randal tell you?”

“He didn’t tell me anything he hadn’t already told everyone else. As far as picking something up from him, the only thing I got was that he truly didn’t know what had happened to the car. I think that means he didn’t bury it there. As his lawyer reminded me, no one cares what I think.”

“So you think he’s innocent?”

“It looked like it to me. I’m afraid I’m going to have to do something I’d rather not do—touch the car and see what’s there.”

“Can you do that?” La Donna looked shocked and a little fearful. “I knew you were doing some strange things recently. I didn’t know you were doing things like that. Is that even possible?”

Before I could answer, La Donna’s mother, Beverly Michaels, hobbled angrily up to the minivan. Beverly was in her early nineties, but she was like a force of nature. The woman did yoga in Duck Park and got through footraces every year during the Fourth of July celebrations.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with those people.” She yanked open the minivan door and I almost fell out at her feet. “And you’ve picked up a hitchhiker. I can’t believe you’d do such a thing with your brother as the chief of police. What do you think he’s going to have to say about that?”

“She’s not a hitchhiker, mother.” La Donna reminded her that she knew me. “Even if she was, I’m old enough to make decisions about my life without Ronnie’s help.”

“Right. Because you made such wonderful decisions when you were growing up. Always hanging out with those fast boys.”