tonight and a full day tomorrow.”
He yawned and nodded, although I knew that once he was with Mary Pat and Jake, the excitement and anticipation would kick in.
When I dropped him off at Kate’s, Erin Gladstone, the live-in nanny, told me that Kate had already planned some downtime for the children that afternoon. Erin planned to head out after lunch to spend Christmas with some friends in Durham, so I handed her a small gift and a fairly large check and wished her lots of merriment.
Although we didn’t get started much before 9:30, court was due to recess for the holiday at noon. Happily, I had heard everything on my docket by 11:17, so when Dwight sent word for me to stop by his office when I was finished, I wished everyone a merry Christmas, slung my robe over my arm, and headed downstairs.
With the search warrant I had signed for him that morning, he had picked up Charlie Barefoot’s phone and Mayleen Richards had transferred the uncensored message to a DVD disc.
Dwight was disappointed with it, though, and when we were in his office with the door closed, he said, “It doesn’t give us any more information about the wreck itself, but she was sure as hell upset about something, and that, combined with the other stuff in her system, probably had her too distracted to pay attention to the road. You picked up on something we missed the first time around, let’s see if you can make more sense out of this than I can.”
A DVD player from the squad room now sat on his desk and he mashed a button and once again I was listening to Mallory Johnson’s angry young voice over the bells of “Silent Night.”
I had to take several deep breaths after listening to Mallory die again. “Who’s Gallie What’s-his-face?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“Didn’t you ask Charlie?”
“Of course I did. He says he never met the kid, and yet I get the feeling there’s something there that’s important.”
He told me how he had gone by the Johnson house, how Sarah had given him all of Mallory’s presents to donate to the clerk of court’s gift drive, and how she, too, had first denied knowing any Gallie and then told him it was none of his business.
“Mallory said this Gallie’s mother was mad at him for being late,” I mused. “Why would a kid getting home late ruin Christmas for everybody? Does he go to West Colleton?”
“I spoke to Mama and she said she’d ask around, but she’s never heard of a student called Gallie at her school.”
“I guess you don’t want to ask Malcolm yet?”
“Not after Sarah’s reaction. She doesn’t want him to know and the poor guy’s hurting bad enough without adding to it. Whatever’s going on in that family, I guess she’s right. If it doesn’t have any bearing on the wreck, then it really isn’t any of our business, is it?”
“Every family has its secrets,” I said lightly, hoping he would never learn all the facts behind my first appointment to the bench. “I don’t suppose you want to have lunch?”
“No, I’ll grab a bowl of chili across the street. You off to pick up Cal now?”
“After I run a couple of errands. Don’t forget that Kate and Rob are expecting us at six.”
He gave me an absentminded kiss good-bye and I went out to the parking lot, with Mallory’s words running through my head. Calling him “Gallie What’s-his-face” made it sound as if she didn’t know him. A kid from another high school? On the other hand, something about his mother being mad at him because he didn’t come straight home was ringing a distant bell. Unfortunately, the bell was so distant that it faded from my mind as I tossed my robe in the car and ran through the mental list of things that still needed doing before tomorrow.
Most of Dwight’s family would gather at Kate and Rob’s tonight for dinner and to exchange gifts. Tomorrow was when my family would get together.
Kate and Rob are very dear. I’ve come to love them almost like blood siblings. They are thoughtful and kind and Dwight and I are eternally grateful that Cal can go there after school rather than day care. The evening would be warm and loving and in perfect Christmas-card taste.
And the get-together with my rowdy bunch?
Not so much.
I was smiling as I drove out of the parking lot, but when I got to the intersection where I should have turned left to go home, I spotted Reid Stephenson, my cousin and former law partner, taking the steps to our old office two at a time. Now why did I look at Reid and think
The light changed from red to green. Instead of turning left, I drove through the intersection and parked in front of Lee and Stephenson, Attorneys at Law. Maybe Reid would like to buy me lunch.
CHAPTER 29
—“The Running of the Deer,” Reginald Hall
MAJOR DWIGHT BRYANT— WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, DECEMBER 24
Deputy Mayleen Richards tapped on Dwight’s open door shortly after one and said, “Charlie Barefoot’s here for his phone. Okay if we give it back to him?”
“Find anything else relevant to our investigation?”
“No, sir.”
“Then let me have it.” He took the cell phone and walked down to the front desk where the boy waited. As
