Page 172 of To Die For

Glass nodded.

“Who were they?”

“The same ones you’re after. They were looking for extra dirt to keep me in line and found a willing source in old Dwayne.”

It all seemed to click in Devine’s brain. “So 12/24/65 paid off Dwayne to get your secret. But how would they even have known he knew something like that about you?”

“I think Dwayne actually went out and shopped what he knew. These people, who were on the lookout for anything having to do with me, for obvious reasons, found out. And paid him off.”

Devine thought this through. “Okay, then later they found out Rollins was trying to sell the same secret and they took him out. Otherwise their hold over you would be diluted.”

“That’sanother reason why I haven’t committed to cooperating with the feds, even with them dropping the RICO case.”

Devine said, “You don’t want Betsy to know that you’re her father?”

Glass looked up at him, tears now sliding down his cheeks. “She loved Dwayne. He was her real father, not me. And if she finds out that ‘Uncle Danny’ slept with her mom, mysister, even if she was adopted? She’ll hate my guts. I can survive a lot, Devine. And I have.” He shook his head. “But I can’t survive that.”

“But why would they kill Dwayne and Alice if they had already paid them off?”

“Dwayne, like I said, made a big mistake.”

“Which was?”

“He told me he was going to go public with the truth of my fathering Betsy. To make sure she and I would never have a relationship. These people found out and offered him a shitload of money to lure him to Ricketts. Then they killed him. And Alice. I’m not sure how it was done, though.”

“They were poisoned by a chemist turned waitress at the restaurant where they had lunch. She was part of 12/24. But how could they know they would stop there to eat?”

“They were told to eat there by someone before the meeting with the two men. They said they would leave a message at the restaurant telling Dwayne where to meet the men with the money.”

“If you knew all this, why didn’t you stop it?” demanded Devine.

Glass retorted, “Because I didn’t know before! I only found outafter.”

“From whom?”

“I got somebody on the inside with these people. She told me.”

“She?Let me guess—Mercedes King?”

Glass looked surprised. “How’d you know?”

“She’s ex-CIA and is obviously hedging her bets by playing both sides. I’ve been told that Ricketts is the mother ship for 12/24/65, but I’d like some corroboration on that.”

Glass gave him a sideways glance that showed more than a glint of dread. “There are actually about a half dozen ‘mother ships’ around the country that I know of, and Ricketts is one of them.”

“Right now I’m only concerned with the one in Ricketts.”

“Why?”

“Because I think they have Betsy there.”

“Are you sure?” Glass said sharply.

“I’m not sure of anything, Danny. But it makes the most sense. They control that town. They take her somewhere else, even by private plane, or another country, it gives someone who’s not on their payroll an opportunity to see something and say something.”

Glass stood. “Then we need to go and get her.”

“No,Ineed to go and get her. It was my job to protect her. It’s my job to get her back. And they have every incentive to kill you, Danny. So you need to stay on the sidelines behind a wall of federal lawmen.”

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