'Did she say who?'
'I didn't ask. I mean, why should I care? I know she had a thing for her boss, but he's like fifty or something…'
'Did she tell you she was going anywhere? Did she say anything about changing jobs or moving?'
He shook his head.
'She never said anything about going to Ocala?'
'Ocala? Why would she go there?'
'Her boss says she quit her job and moved to Ocala to take another.'
'That's news to me,' he said. 'No. She wouldn't do that. It doesn't make any sense.'
'Thanks for the info.' I pulled a card from my pocket, my phone number scribbled on it. 'If you hear from her, would you call this number and leave a message?'
Chad took the card and stared at it.
I went back to my car and sat at the end of the Seabright driveway for a moment. I looked around the neighborhood. Quiet, lovely, expensive; golfers lining up a tee shot beyond the backyard. The American dream.
I thought about the Seabrights. Well-off, successful; neurotic, contentious, seething with secret resentments. The American dream in a fun house mirror.
I parked on the street in front of the school, the soccer moms and me. I would have felt less out of place in a chorus line. Kids began to pour out the doors and head for the buses or the car-pool line.
There was no sign of Krystal Seabright, not that I had expected to see her. It seemed quite clear to me that Molly was just a small person who happened to live in the same house as Krystal. Molly had turned out the way she had turned out by luck or self-preservation or watching A amp;E. She had probably watched all the drama and rebellion and parental conflict of Erin's life, and consciously turned in the other direction in order to win approval.
Funny, I thought, Molly Seabright was probably exactly who my little sister would have been, had I had a little sister. My parents had adopted me and called it quits. I was more than enough to handle. Too bad for them. The child learning from my mistakes might have been exactly the daughter they had wanted in the first place.
I got out of the car as I saw Molly come out of the school. She didn't spot me right away. She walked with her head down, pulling her little black case behind her. Though she was surrounded by other children, she seemed alone, deep in thought. I called out to her as she turned and started down the sidewalk. When she saw me, her face brightened with a carefully tempered expectation.
'Did you find her already?' she asked.
'No, not yet. I've spent the day asking a lot of questions. She may be in Ocala,' I said.
Molly shook her head. 'She wouldn't have moved without telling me, without calling me.'
'Erin tells you everything?' I asked, opening the car door for her. I glanced around to see if anyone had me pegged as a child molester. No one was paying any attention at all.
'Yes.'
I went around to the driver's side, got behind the wheel, and started the engine. 'Did she tell you she and Chad were involved with each other?'
Her gaze glanced off of mine and she seemed to shrink a little in the seat.
'Why didn't you tell me about Chad?'
'I don't know,' she mumbled. 'I would rather not acknowledge Chad's existence.'
Or that Erin had shifted from sister to sexual being, I thought as I drove back toward the cul-de-sac where Molly lived. Erin had been her idol and protector. If Erin abandoned her, then Molly was all alone in the land of dysfunctional Seabrights.
'Chad was at Erin's apartment Friday night,' I said. 'They had an argument. Do you know anything about that?'
Molly shrugged. 'Maybe they broke up.'
'Why would you think that? Was Erin interested in someone else?'
'She had a crush on her boss, but he's too old for her.'
That was a matter of opinion. From what I had learned about Erin so far, I wouldn't have been at all surprised to find out she had her sights set on a man old enough to be her father. And if past history was anything to go by, Jade wouldn't draw that line for her.
'Anyone else?'
'I don't know,' Molly said irritably. 'Erin liked flirting with guys. I didn't pay attention. I didn't want to hear about it.'
'Molly, this is very important,' I said as I pulled to the curb at the end of her street. 'When I ask you questions about Erin, or about anything, anyone, you have to tell me the absolute truth as you know it. No glossing over details you don't like. Got it?'
She frowned, but nodded.
'You have to trust me,' I said, and a bolt of white-cold fear ran through me.
Molly looked at me in that steady, too-wise way and said, 'I already told you I do.'
This time I didn't ask her why.
7
I stand at the side of the Golam brothers' trailer. I've been told to stay put, to wait, but I know that's not the right decision. If I go in first, if I go in now, I've got the brothers dead-bang. They think they know me. I've worked this case three months. I know what I'm doing. I know I'm right. I know the Golam brothers are already twitching. I know I want this bust and deserve it. I know Lieutenant Sikes is here for the show, to put a feather in his cap. He wants to look good when the news vans arrive. He wants to make the public think they should vote for him in the next election for sheriff.
He's stuck me on the side of the trailer and told me to wait. He doesn't know his ass. He didn't listen to me when I told him the side door is the door the brothers use most. While Sikes and Ramirez are watching the front, the brothers are dumping their money into duffel bags and getting ready to bolt out the side. Billy Golam's four-by- four is parked ten feet away, covered in mud. If they run, they'll take the truck, not the Corvette parked in front. The truck can go off-road.
Sikes is wasting precious time. The Golam brothers have two girls in the trailer with them. This could easily turn into a hostage situation. But if I go in now… They think they know me.
I key the button on my radio. 'This is stupid. They're going to break for the truck. I'm going in.'
'Goddammit, Estes-'
I drop the radio into the weeds growing beside the trailer. It's my case. It's my bust. I know what I'm doing.
I draw my weapon and hold it behind my back. I go to the side door and knock the way all the Golam brothers' customers knock: two knocks, one knock, two knocks. 'Hey, Billy, it's Elle! I need some.'
Billy Golam jerks open the door, wild-eyed, high on his own home cooking-crystal meth. He's breathing hard. He's got a gun in his hand.
Shit.
The front door explodes inward.
One of the girls screams.
Buddy Golam shouts: 'Cops!'
Billy Golam swings the.357 up in my face. I suck in my last breath.
He turns abruptly and fires. The sound is deafening. The bullet hits Hector Ramirez in the face and blows out the back of his head, blood and brain matter spraying Sikes behind him.
The image faded slowly from my brain, and the building I had worked out of slowly came into focus before me.
