Page 108 of To Die For

“But their deathsdidopen the way for you to become Betsy’s guardian and then potentially adopt her. That was not possible while her parents were alive.”

A wet-eyed Glass barked, “You don’t think I know how this looks?”

“I think you know exactly how it looks. And I also think you had good reason to kill Dwayne. He was keeping you from what you wanted.”

“I would never have done that, for two reasons.”

“What?”

“Alice and Betsy. They loved the guy. I was never going to take him away from them, no matter how much I wanted to. If I had, Alice would have known. She…” He didn’t finish and looked down at his loafers.

“Some men tried to kill me when I went to the town of Ricketts, to find out what happened to your sister and her husband. You know anything about that?”

“Whether I do or don’t, Devine, it doesn’t matter.”

“Surprising admission coming from someone like you. I thought you always mattered.”

“In my world, I do. But I’m not in my world right now, am I?”

“What world are you in then?”

“Your world, Devine. I’m inyourfucking world.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, until I can get custody of Betsy, you have to protect her, with everything you have.”

“Does she have enemies?” asked Devine.

“Ihave enemies. Lots of them. Which meansshehas enemies.”

“Then she’s your Achilles’ heel?That’swhy the FBI is guarding her?”

“Half-ass guarding her, you mean. One lousy middle-aged burned-out agent. I had six guys surrounding that hotel, followed them wherever they went. When you went to the burger place, they were there. And the bookstore.”

Devine thought back to the first time he’d visited Saxby and Odom at their hotel. He thought he’d heard the creak of a door, the sound of a footfall, the presence of someone.

Danny’s army protecting his niece.

“Why did the FBI go light, then, if it was so important?” he asked.

“Because apparently, you feds don’t talk to each other. I don’t know how the hell you get anything done. I don’t know how the hell you were able to lay the RICO shit on me. You’re like a bunch of snotty kindergartners running around with scissors.”

“Not all of us.”

Glass appraised him coolly. “You gave me all that credit for the shit that went down in Iraq. But we both know you had just as much to do with the outcome as I did. Only I was a grunt and you were an officer. You wrote me up for the commendation and the medal, and you got a pat on the back.”

“I wasn’t in the job for medals, Danny, and neither were you.”

“Amen to that.”

The two men fell silent for a bit.

Devine broke it. “Why did you have your sister’s and her husband’s remains cremated?”

Glass jerked up. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Someone in Ricketts told me that you had ordered them cremated.”

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