LITMIR.BIZ

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it’s the truth,” Aaron agreed. “All right, then. We just lie low. When asked, we say that we don’t know what was going on in his mind at the end but that we loved him and he did a world of good. We’ll say that we’ll never forget him or what he gave to others. However, don’t bring up the subject unless you’re asked. So, everyone, have a good night.”

      “Wait, wait, wait,” Olivia said, rising. “I think what we’ve talked about here is important. We also need to find out what happened.” She looked around at all of them. “Do you honestly think Marcus just had a stash out in the woods? That he had it there for a long time—just in case the day came when he suddenly broke after decades of clean living? We need to pursue the truth.”

      “How?” Mariah asked. “We’d need an army to comb the property and the woods. There are just seven of us. The police have other things to do, and we’re not asking clients—some of them addicts—to look for drug paraphernalia!”

      “There’s his house,” Olivia said, turning to Aaron. “If his house was searched, we’d at least know he wasn’t using there—or considering it.”

      Aaron left out a soft sigh. “I believe that, as of tomorrow, the house will be mine. You can search to your heart’s content, Liv. And if any of us thinks of a forest hidey-hole, we can search that, too. Liv, I don’t know what else to do!”

      “I’ve been in his house,” Sydney said. He worked the cap furiously in his hands. “I went to get his suit for the funeral home. I didn’t search the place, but it’s not big, and I sure as hell didn’t see anything that would indicate Marcus had lost it. Of course, that was before they released the autopsy report.”

      “Maybe tomorrow night you and I can go back,” Olivia suggested.

      “Yeah,” Sandra said. “Oh, Olivia, honey, I know how much you loved Marcus. But what can we possibly prove?”

      “That he didn’t fall back on drugs, Sandra! It could mean everything for the Horse Farm.”

      “You search his house tomorrow night if you want,” Aaron said. “Olivia, you can do anything that’ll make you feel better, and when you need our help, just say so.”

      She had the feeling that what he really meant was emotional help; still, it seemed that Aaron was on her side, and that mattered.

      “Thanks,” she told him.

      “So the attorney is coming here at ten,” Aaron said. “See you in the morning.”

      They all moved. Some of them would get into conversations about Marcus—or about Dustin, Olivia knew.

      She didn’t want to get into a conversation.

      She drove home. Sammy greeted her and she stroked the dog’s back and spoke to him for a minute before she looked around downstairs.

      “Marcus?” she called.

      There was no answer. She went up to her room and changed into comfortable sweats, then came back downstairs.

      Marcus was there, in the kitchen. “Wish I could’ve put the teakettle on for you,” he told her.

      “That would have been nice.” She put the kettle on and leaned against the stove. “Maybe in time,” she said.

      “In time!” he protested, then smiled at her. “That’s almost Biblical. A time to reap, a time to sow—and a time to walk into the light. I want to walk into that light, Liv. I’ve seen it. It’s beautiful. I should go there.”

      “Oh, Marcus.” She wanted to give him a hug—but she couldn’t hug a ghost. “Marcus, if the light is there...and it’s what you want, then you should go into it. We’ll get along here, I promise. I’ll do everything I can. Malachi sent an agent out to investigate.” She paused. Yeah, and he likes to play Ping-Pong and go camping!

      “Marcus, have faith. In me, I mean. You can go to the light.”

      “No, actually, I can’t. Not yet. Not until I’m proven innocent. People do fall back into drugs. But the thing is—I didn’t. So I just can’t leave.”

      “Why not?”

      “I don’t know why not!” he said, aggrieved. “You figure out the meaning of life and death—I sure as hell don’t know it!”

      Before she could respond, Sammy suddenly stood up and barked. Right after that, there was a knock on her door.

      Olivia stared at Marcus, wondering why she should feel so alarmed. “Why don’t you answer that?” Marcus asked.

      She nodded. “Fine. You stay put.”

      She squinted through the peephole. The man at her door was Dustin Blake.

      Surprised, she opened the door.

      “We’re really not supposed to fraternize,” she said. “Not when I’m your therapist.”

      “You’re not really my therapist,” he said. “And I’m not really in therapy. May I come in, please? I need to understand a lot more about what’s going on around here. One of our computer whizzes back in D.C. got me a copy of the autopsy report. There was heroin in Marcus Danby’s system.”

      “Yes, I understand that. We may be in the backwoods of Tennessee, but we do have a county morgue and intelligent, well-educated medical examiners. I didn’t doubt the report. But the drug was administered to Marcus somehow. That’s the point.”

      He stood just outside her door, stoic and patient. She recognized that he was kicking into true professional mode. “Ms. Gordon, I would be most unlikely to fault the capabilities of agencies in Tennessee, since I’m from the state myself and continue to love and admire my homeland. What I’m trying to tell you is that the facts of the situation are going to make it very hard. I’m trying to have a real discussion with you and find out everything you can possibly tell me.”

      She opened the door wide. “Please come in. You actually don’t need to hear it from me. Would you like some tea, Agent Blake?”

      She heard him close the door as he stepped in. Sammy gave a loud woof, then wagged his tail energetically and ran to the newcomer. Dustin Blake leaned down to scratch the dog’s head. “Hey, fellow, you’re a handsome lad. Poor thing, how’s the leg doing?”

      “He’s healing nicely, thank you,” Olivia said. She led him into the kitchen; if Malachi had sent this man, if he was part of a Krewe, he must have some sense that the dead could, and sometimes did, speak.

      “You should hear it from Marcus himself,” she said, coming around the counter.

      But Marcus was gone.

      Once more, he’d cut out on her without so much as a wave—now, when she needed him most.

       4

      Olivia Gordon had appeared irritated—and smug. As if she’d been about to prove to an upstart that her every word was true.

      But she was obviously perplexed as they walked into the kitchen. Surprised by something, and off balance.

      “What’s wrong?” Dustin asked.

      She had the ability to collect herself quickly. “Nothing. Would you like tea?”

      “Uh, sure.”

      She went through the motions, moving a little too precisely, setting the mugs down a little too hard.

      “Black or green?” she asked. “Milk? Sugar?”

      “Black or green, and just plain, thank you,” he said. She knew, of course, that he was watching her. “I was going to hear what happened from Marcus?” he asked quietly.

      She looked at him as if she wasn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t her cousin, but he’d come because of her cousin.

      “Hey,”

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