Page 43 of To Die For

She thought for a moment. “The waitress had on a black skirt and a white shirt.”

“Pretty standard. What else?”

“There was a bar.” She squinted. “And a jukebox.”

Saxby said, “Do you remember if your meal had a particular name? Or did the food have a theme to it?”

Odom brightened. “Yeah, the menus.”

“What about them?”

“They were shaped like a hat. A cowboy hat.”

Devine glanced at Saxby. “Okay, that should be enough. So your parents never told you why they were there?”

“No. We just had lunch. Then they met some guys later while I was in the car.”

Devine stiffened. “Some guys? Where did they meet them?”

“We got in the car and drove out of town a bit. My dad pulled off. There was another car parked there. Two guys got out and so did my parents. They told me to wait in the car.”

“And they talked?” interjected Saxby.

“Right. For a few minutes.”

“Did they just talk or did they do anything else?” asked Devine.

“One of the guys gave my dad something.”

Both Devine and Saxby perked up. “What?” asked Devine.

“It was a duffel bag.”

“How big?”

“About the same size as the one you just brought me with my stuff.”

“Then what happened?”

“My dad set it down, opened it, and looked inside. Then he closed it and the guys left and my parents got back in the car and we drove off.”

“Did they show you what was in it?”

“No, my dad put it in the trunk before he got back in the car.”

“And they didn’t tell you anything about the meeting? Or what was in the duffel?”

“No. I was sleepy after lunch and I was sort of dozing off when they got back in the car.”

“And how much later did they start to get sick?”

“It was only a couple of minutes. Dad suddenly pulled off the road. He was having trouble breathing. I… I didn’t notice right away because I guess I had started to doze off again. I asked him what was wrong and then I saw that my mom was looking bad, too. And then they… they both weren’t breathing.” She looked away. “I called nine-one-one and they came and… that’s all I know.”

“What happened to the duffel?” asked Saxby.

“I don’t know. I guess it might still be in the car.”

“Which is still in Ricketts?”

---