“Looks like some kind of revenge,” Walker added. “Sometimes that’s the way these things play out.”
But Kevin, who’d stuck with me like a shadow, disagreed. “The timing is too perfect. For the first time in years, your group knew Bunk was out here. But before you could get out here to question him, he’s gone? Except for the dead men at the dock, there’s no real lasting damage here. Someone could come back, clean up and live here again next week.”
Walker and the two police chiefs nodded. But Gramps said, “I don’t believe Bunk would kill a few of his own men out front for a show. He’s too old school, too much the country gentleman the way Dae described him. I think someone attacked him out here and he left the island. Probably won’t see him again anytime soon either.”
I could read in his bitter tone that he wished Bunk had never come back. Without Bunk’s interference, I wouldn’t know about my father and Gramps and I wouldn’t be on the outs. I supposed I’d wish that too if I were him. Maybe I did a little anyway. I didn’t like us arguing. But I couldn’t let this lie about my father go unchallenged.
So the chiefs argued with Walker, and I walked around the grounds thinking what a change a day can make. Kevin kept pace with me, but he was quiet as I looked around for some clue about what had happened.
I picked up a few things and held them, but they revealed only garbled images that made no sense. I believed Bunk would leave something for me. Call it intuition, but he knew about my gift. I thought he might find a way to use it to his advantage.
Kevin and I walked through the gardens. The SBI and police departments had given this area only a cursory glance since they were more interested in the house and the dead security men. We were near the fountain where Bunk and I had first met when I spotted his walking stick. I never saw him use it but he’d had it with him the whole time I was here. It was out of place and drew me to it. It seemed exactly the kind of thing he might use to contact me.
“Wait!” Kevin stopped me as I crouched down to pick it up. “You don’t know what you might be taking on if you touch that!”
Chapter 20
“Be careful,” Kevin warned.
I nodded before I reached for it, as prepared as I could be for whatever I might pick up from the walking stick. Images exploded in my head when I touched it. It was made in Thailand, especially for Bunk, but it was one of dozens exactly like it. He was never without one.
The problem with that was there were no memories, no strong emotions for me to feel. It was like picking up something new, something with no background to share.
I was disappointed. I’d hoped the stick had a message for me. Kevin examined the stick and pried off the top piece, glancing toward the house. “People like to hide things in these.”
Kevin wasn’t psychic, but he’d guessed well. Inside was a small, rolled-up piece of paper. I could feel Bunk’s amusement on hiding it for me before he left the island.
“Well it proves he was here.” I frowned and rolled up the paper again.
“The FBI probably already knew he was here,” Kevin said. “Just because they didn’t tell anyone else doesn’t mean they didn’t know.”
“Whoever this guy is, Bunk is really afraid of him.”
“You can only hire so many people to protect you. The fact that whoever did this got so close despite Bunk’s crew of trained professionals—it must’ve really scared him.”
“I suppose so.” Bunk was gone with all the answers. And he’d left us still trying to find the right questions. “Why would someone want to kill him?”
“Who knows?” Kevin shrugged. “A wily old devil like him probably has a hundred people waiting in line to do the job.”
“But this one he couldn’t strike out at.” I told Kevin that I hadn’t seen Roger among the dead. “I think Roger may be the one Bunk couldn’t kill because he cares about him.”
“And why would that be, Mayor O’Donnell?” Agent Walker asked, catching up with us.
“I don’t know exactly. I think whoever did this is related to Bunk. Family, you know?” I thought about what Bunk had said in the sunroom about Max not being the target. “Maybe Agnes was always the target, not Max or Sam. She was at the museum before it exploded too. Maybe Max and Sam got in the way, like Bunk said.”
“You mean the woman he told you was his daughter?”
“Yes. Max knew the truth and he was killed. Bunk said he was worried about Sam. Maybe Sam knew the secret Bunk was trying to hide, even though it was by accident. Someone tried to burn down Agnes’s house with her inside. Maybe it’s all about the gold and who gets it when Bunk dies.”
Walker seemed to think it over but then dismissed the idea. “I don’t buy it. Sorry. Organizations don’t work that way. The spoils go to whoever takes over.”
“I don’t know if you could classify Bunk Whitley as an organization,” I said.
Walker nodded at the cane Kevin still held. “Did that belong to him? We’ll have to take it in as evidence.”
I didn’t volunteer the note. I wasn’t sure it would really make any difference to Walker or the case. But it meant something to me.
Walker told us we’d have to leave the island. They were locking it down for a special SBI forensics team that was coming in to go over everything more thoroughly. I was ready to go anyway. I guessed I’d found what I came for in part, if not everything. Bunk’s quick departure (probably by helicopter—Kevin pointed out the tracks in the sand) left me wanting to know more but with no one to ask.
Since Walker and his men stayed on the island, that left me, Gramps and Kevin going back on the
“It was a long time ago, Dae. I guess I never expected it to come up. Or at least I hoped it wouldn’t. I can’t even figure out how Bunk knew about it. We kept it a secret between us, your mom, your grandmother and me.”
“I think Bunk makes it his business to find out useful secrets. Maybe he thought he could use it against you. You
“Maybe. He probably got it from your father. He’s that kind of man.”
“What kind?”
“The troublemaking kind. He’s been in and out of jail his whole life. I begged your mother to stop seeing him, but she kept sneaking out. Then it was too late. She found out she was pregnant. She couldn’t wait to tell him. She really thought he’d want to settle down with her and the baby.”
“But he didn’t?”
He laughed in a terrible, sad way. “No. He took off for parts unknown. He told your mother to call him when she took care of the problem. She was so far gone over that boy that she almost did it too. Your grandmother found her at an abortion clinic in Elizabeth City and dragged her home by the ear.”
The thump-thump-thump of the engine kept time with my heart. I’d asked for the truth not knowing how
