Page 78 of The Dollmaker

“You picked him up at the convenience store at nine on Sunday night. What happened to Terrance after he got in your car?”

“I don’t know.”

“Look at the picture. Look at your dead son and tell me you didn’t know what happened to him.”

Dillon shifted in his chair.

“Look at it!”

Dillon’s gaze dropped to the picture. “Could I get a soda? I’m not feeling so well.”

Sharp wanted to grab the man by the scruff of the neck, but he didn’t. He would back off, knowing the short reprieve might get him what he wanted faster. “Deputy, would you have someone bring Mr.Dillon a soda?” He raised a brow. “Would you like a cup and crushed ice?”

Dillon looked at Sharp closely. The man had been in the system long enough to know when the thin ice under him was cracking. And he rightly sensed there wasn’t an ounce of goodwill behind Sharp’s smile.

When another deputy returned a minute later with a cold soda and a cup, Sharp popped the top and slowly filled the plastic cup. He set it carefully in front of Dillon.

The older man drank, paused to take in a breath, and then drank more. When finished, he burped and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Hit the spot.”

Sharp poured the remainder of the soda in the cup. Images of Terrance on the autopsy table flooded his thoughts. This kid deserved Sharp’s best. “Talk to me about Terrance. What happened after you two left the Quick Mart?”

“I don’t know exactly.”

“Jimmy, you’re not stupid. In fact, I think you’re smart. We both know you did time for drugs. Did you use the kid for a buy?”

“I might have had a bag of goods that needed to be dropped off.”

“What was in the bag?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re really starting to irritate me.”

“I didn’t know because I didn’t want to know what was in the bag. I’ve always found it safer to know as little as possible during a transaction.” He drummed his fingers on the side of the cup.

“When you sell drugs?”

He tapped one finger some more. “When I sell any item. The dumber the better.”

“Who put the drugs in the bag?”

“I didn’t say drugs.”

Sharp rose, crushing the soda can in his hand. “You are now wasting my time. Better get a good lawyer.”

“Wait. Don’t rush out of here.” Dillon’s cuffed hands trembled as he dug his fingernail into the cup. “Some woman who works in the medical building. She said her name was Frances, but I think she was lying. She acted like she’d done this before. She told me she had some goods for me to deliver.”

“How’d she find you?”

Dillon dug his thumbnail into the cup’s rim. “We’re from a small town. It didn’t take long for word to get around I was out and back in town, holding court in my favorite bar. Everyone in town knew why I’d been sent away.”

“How did Terrance get looped into this?”

“While I was away—”

“Away in prison,” Sharp interjected.

“Yeah. Away. Terrance wrote to me. It’s natural for a boy to write his father, right? I wrote to him. It’s always good to have contacts on the outside. Anyway, Terrance and I reconnected. When I got out, I looked him up a couple of weeks ago just after I met with Frances.”

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