said to get you back to Merritt, so that's what I'm doing. Besides, I want to get back there myself.'
'You're tired of playing my babysitter.'
He met Berry's eyes in the rearview mirror. 'No. I just want to be there when this son of a bitch is captured. I didn't get face time with Creighton Wheeler, and I had a personal grudge against that guy for what he did to Maggie.'
'Who's Maggie?'
'Derek's dog.'
He told them the story of the Atlanta playboy who was now serving a life sentence in prison. 'They've got him in a section for the really scary psychos, which is still too good for him. Kinda sad for his folks, though. For rich people, they're okay. Because of Creighton, most of their friends have abandoned them. Julie's good to them.'
He rambled on. Berry realized he was doing so to keep her and her mother diverted during the drive to Merritt, but she didn't really mind. She now had a special interest in anything he said.
Having had her suspicion confirmed that he was her father, she'd found it hard to behave as though she was still in the dark about it. Even while rushing from the hotel, she had wanted to pause and study him. She was seeing him in a new light and wanted to learn everything she could about his life.
So she listened to his digressive monologue without interrupting, enjoying the sound of his gravelly voice, clinging to every word from his mouth, most of which were colorful, irreverent, or profane. Even though he talked largely about Derek and Julie Mitchell, Berry was able to piece together, from hints he inadvertently dropped, a few facts about his life. The picture that began taking shape in her mind was rather depressing.
As they approached their destination, he said, 'Ski said we can join him at the scene if you can keep out of the way. Can you?'
She and Caroline promised not to do anything that would impede the investigation. Dodge rolled to a stop at the entrance gate of an RV park. A car with the sheriff's office insignia on the door was parked horizontally, blocking the road. A deputy got out and walked over to them, leaning down to address Dodge. 'Mr. Hanley?'
'You got it.'
'Follow this main road to the first fork. Go left. You'll see the commotion.'
The deputy returned to his car and pulled it onto the grass long enough for Dodge to drive through the gate. The park was well maintained and pretty. Berry, thinking back on what Dodge had told them earlier, asked, 'How old did Ski say they were?'
'Seventy-something.'
'Lord,' Caroline said. 'Who could harm people that age?'
'Same person that could shoot a woman in the head, then zip her into a garment bag.'
A hundred yards beyond the road fork, the tranquil RV park took on the appearance of an armed bivouac. Double the number of law enforcement agents were here as had been at the Walmart store the day before, and also twice the number of spectators, campers who had been awakened with shocking news.
Uniformed officers were questioning them in groups or singly. Others were speaking into walkie-talkies or cell phones. Some appeared to have nothing to do but were trying to look as though they did. A helicopter circled overhead, adding its noisy clapping to the scene.
Dodge got as close to the yellow crime scene tape as he could, parking next to an ambulance. Through its open rear doors Berry saw a man, who was much younger than seventy-something, being examined by an EMT. Dodge got out of the car and whistled shrilly. 'Deputy!'
The young deputy named Andy turned, and, when he saw Dodge, his apple- cheeked face grew even redder with anger. He stalked toward them. Berry lowered her car window so she could hear what was being said.
Without preamble, the deputy said, 'You got me in a heap of trouble with Ski.'
Dodge didn't apologize for whatever the nature of the trouble had been. 'Serves you right for being such a gullible bonehead. You'd be smart to learn a lesson from it. Where's Ski?'
'In the RV.' Andy nodded toward a large gray RV with a bright blue wave painted on its side. All its doors were open. 'Texas Rangers' CSU just finished in there. Ski's talking to them, but he told me to let him know when y'all got here.' He reached for the walkie-talkie attached to his belt.
Dodge asked, 'That the victim?' He was looking into the open ambulance.
The deputy shook his head. 'They already transported the old folks to the hospital. That's the guy who found them. He had a spider bite. The ambulance was here, so--'
Ski's voice interrupted him through the walkie-talkie's speaker. 'Go ahead.'
'Hey, Ski. Andy. They're here.'
'Five minutes.'
They waited. A little more than five minutes later Ski stepped out of the RV. He spotted them immediately and came toward them, looking thin-lipped and grim. Berry got out of the car along with Caroline and joined Dodge just outside the yellow tape.
Ski ducked under it. His eyes searched Berry's for several seconds, then he said, 'We know how Starks pulled the vanishing act from Walmart.'
Talking in choppy phrases, he explained that Starks had hijacked the RV at gunpoint. 'Elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Mittmayer. They'd just rolled in from Iowa. Planned on spending a couple days here before going down to Corpus Christi. They wanted to see Padre Island.'
'What the hell were they doing at Walmart at three a.m.?' Dodge asked.
'They had planned to spend the night at a park in the Ozarks, but when they got there, it was overcrowded, no choice spots left, so they decided to drive on down here, their next scheduled stop. They pulled into the Walmart parking lot to pass the rest of the night until the check-in office here in the park opened the following morning.
'According to Mrs. Mittmayer, Starks limped up to their RV. He looked like he was in pain, in distress. Her kindhearted husband opened the door for him, despite her cautioning him against it.
'Starks lunged inside, hit the old man in the head with the butt of a pistol, knocked him out cold. He backhanded Mrs. Mittmayer and told her if she didn't stop screaming, he was going to shoot her husband first, then her. He bundled both of them into the back, tied them up, and gagged them.'
Dodge dragged his hand down his face. Caroline was looking into the surrounding trees, shaking her head over the unnecessary cruelty. Ski locked eyes with Berry and held, then continued.
'At nine a.m. yesterday, Starks drove the RV here and forced Mrs. Mittmayer to go into the office and check in, as though nothing was wrong. He threatened to drive away and kill her husband if she gave him away.'
'Where had they been in the meantime?' Berry asked. 'Between Walmart and here?'
'Mrs. Mittmayer doesn't know. She was in the back, couldn't see out. Besides, she's unfamiliar with the area. All she knows is that they left Walmart, drove for about half an hour, then parked. Starks rummaged through their pantry, ate some bread and a can of tuna, drank two Diet Cokes.
'His leg was giving him a lot of pain, she said. When he raised his pants leg to examine it, she saw that it was grotesquely swollen and discolored. He took a handful of Advil he got from their medicine cabinet. Then he dozed.'
'They didn't try to--'
Ski interrupted Dodge, shaking his head. 'She was scared out of her wits. Worried about her husband. He was in and out of consciousness. His head was bleeding. She was afraid Starks would kill him if she so much as moved.
'Starks roused himself at dawn. Ate some peanut butter crackers, drank another
