Page 79 of To Die For

“But, Devine, why would she have divulged all that to you? By doing that she as good as told us the mole is still around.”

“Because she doesn’t need the mole anymore, sir.”

“So she saved your butt just so she can kill you herself? The lady must hold a grudge.”

“I think it’s only partly that.”

“And the rest?”

“She had a mission. She failed. She’s the sort who will push through every wall, run over anyone she has to, endure all the shit in the world to make it right and complete the mission.”

“Reminds me of you actually.”

“And she has principles. She could have let me die in those woods, and later claimed credit for it.”

“A killer with a sense of honor. And her warning to you? Why?”

“I will take the woman at her word. She says this is bigger than Glass, bigger than my mission. The chopper she mentioned, ring any bells?”

“I have to make inquiries. Very, very discreet ones.”

Devine quickly noted that there was suddenly a level of apprehension in the other man’s voice that he had never noticed before.

“She must have gone to that building while Betsy and I were in the bookstore, and wrote out the message. Then she came back, let me make her, and then did what she did. I don’t think she even went back into that building when I was chasing her. I think she hid behind one of the Dumpsters in the alley and let the open door suck me in. Then she goes on her merry way.”

“Pretty good plan to execute on the fly,” noted Campbell.

“She said something more than 3D chess?” noted Devine.

“There aren’t many things more complex than chess, 3D or otherwise. However, the world you and I operate in is one of them.”

“How can someone like Danny Glass be caught up ingeopolitics?”

“I don’t know. And we as yet can’t take what she’s said as true. It hasn’t been corroborated.”

“How do we corroborate it?” asked Devine.

“When you think of an answer, let me know, and I’ll do the same. Until then, watch yourself, and let me get back to work. And you likewise.”

He clicked off as Devine got out of the cab in front of the hotel.

CHAPTER

36

ODOM WAS IN THE BATHROOMtaking a shower, so Devine took a few minutes to fill in Saxby on his talk with Odom at the bookstore.

“I followed your advice and it worked,” he said. “Thanks for the assist.”

“Any parent of a daughter could have done it. But she said Glass made her mad when he said that good things sometimes come from bad events?”

“Yeah, but he followed that up with the statement, uncorroborated, that Alice Odom wanted him to take care of Betsy in case anything happened to her or Dwayne.”

“Pretty convenient for him,” noted Saxby.

“My sources also tell me that Alice was really upset when two men showed up where they were living before they moved to Kittitas. I think those men, or whoever they were working for, directly paid for the Odoms’ car and home.”

“You think they worked for Glass and he was the one who actually paid for it?”

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