Page 53 of To Die For

“Yes, I do,” said Devine.

“We were wondering what to do with it. Maybe you feds can take it off our hands.”

Okay, a surprise offer, which tells me something.

“I’ll definitely check into that.”

“Uh-huh,” said King. He picked up his phone and ordered a copy of the autopsy reports. “I can take you down to the lot. It’s directly behind the building.”

He surprised Devine yet again by coming around the side of his desk in a wheelchair, which Devine had not noticed, because it had not been visible from where he had been seated.

King looked up at him. “Armed robbery when I was a beat cop. Got shot. Hit the spine. Put me in this chair for life.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m alive. Can’t say the same for the other guy.Myshot hit him in the heart. Guess we both lost, only he lost bigger.”

“Guess so.”

CHAPTER

23

THERE IT IS,” SAID KING,waving his hand at a dark blue Genesis four-door sedan that sat next to a wrecked Dodge pickup.

“A G70?” said Devine. “Pretty fancy.”

“I wouldn’t know. I only buy American. Hyundai makes that. Chinese.” He said the word like it was feces on his tongue.

“Actually, Hyundai is South Korean based. One of ourallies. I pulled duty over there.”

King expertly whipped his wheelchair around and stared up at Devine. “Army?”

“Yeah. You?”

“No. My big brother. I was the youngest with three sisters in between. He fought in Vietnam. He didn’t make it back.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

King nodded. “Key should be under the passenger wheel well. On a magnet. Help yourself.”

Devine bent down, retrieved it, and unlocked the car. He glanced at King. “I’m sure you have other stuff to do. Just let me know where I can pick up the autopsy reports. Oh.” He handed King a card. “And the first responders can call me directly.”

King took the card. When their fingers touched, Devine felt an icy stiffness in King’s. He figured that might be from the damage to the man’s spine.

He watched the man roll off and then turned his attention to the car. He found the registration in the name of Dwayne and Alice Odom in the glove box. The car had been purchased new and was only a year old. He Googled the Genesis and found that a model likethis would cost anywhere from mid-forties to mid-fifties, depending on the bells and whistles.

He searched the car from trunk to engine compartment and underneath as well. He’d gotten good at that overseas when supervising the checking of vehicles for explosives. He found no Narcan, no duffel, no drugs, no unmarked bills wrapped with rubber bands, no copious amounts of poison. In fact, he found nothing. Not even dirt on the floor mats.

Meaning the vehicle’s been swept and stripped. That’s why he let me look at it.

As he turned away from the Genesis, a door to the building opened and a woman in her forties came out holding a file. She had on a white lab coat and her glasses rode low on her nose. She briskly walked toward him.

“Agent Devine?”

“Yes?”

“Here are the autopsy reports you requested on Dwayne and Alice Odom.”

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