Page 72 of To Die For

“Yes, seriously. It’s why they call itemergency.”

“So how do we do that?”

“You mean how doyoudo it since she can’t stand me.”

“But—”

“I didn’t tell you everything about me, Devine. Iamthe mother of two boys, like I said. But I’m also the mother of a twelve-year-old girl.”

“You’re kidding me.”

She took out her wallet and showed him a picture of her and ayoung girl. Saxby was clearly forcing a smile, and the girl looked like she wanted to strangle her mother.

“This is Dana.”

“Why in the hell didn’t you tell me that before?” demanded Devine.

“Because I didn’t have to tell you anything to begin with, and I still confided too much as it was.”

“So what do I do? How do I get through to her?” asked Devine. He felt embarrassed about pleading for help, but right now he needed it. Guns and fighting and blowing stuff up, and how to read a balance sheet and a P&L statement, he knew a lot about. Twelve-year-old females not so much.

“She’s been asking to go to a bookstore. There’s one close by. Take her there. Let her shop, buy her a cookie and whatever cool drink she wants, and then sit there until she decides she wants to talk.”

“And you’re sure she will?”

“I’m not sure of anything, Devine. She’s a twelve-year-old girl.Nobodycan figure them out.”

CHAPTER

33

ODOM STROLLED AROUND THE BOOKSTORE,idly taking a book off a shelf and glancing over some pages before placing it back.

Devine paralleled her, looking around and making sure no one was taking a heightened interest in them.

“You like reading, I take it?” he said as she picked up a fantasy novel in the YA section of the store.

“Yeah. My mom told me it was important and fun. She said she wished she’d read more when she was my age. But I don’t think her dad was really good about that. He didn’t much care for stuff like that, I guess.”

“Did she tell you anything else about your grandfather?”

She glanced up at him from the book she had been checking out. “Not too many good things. He was apparently… not too nice to her or my uncle. I never knew him, or my mom’s mom. They’re dead.”

“And your dad? Was he a reader?”

She smiled wistfully. “Dad couldn’t sit still long enough to read a food label on the cereal box, much less a book.”

“Did you know your other grandparents?”

“No. My dad’s parents were in a car accident or something before I was born. He had a sister but she died in the car crash, too.”

“That’s really awful.”

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “I think… I think it made my dad feel like… helpless, you know? Like what happens, happens. So he just didn’t worry much about stuff. Just thought if it was supposed towork out, it would, you know? Maybe that’s why he never found something that he… you know for a job and all. But he was always there for me and stuff. We would play and talk all the time. Sometimes, it was like having an older brother, you know?”

Her tone was so poignant and her look so wistful that Devine’s heart went out to her.

“Yeah, I know. Do you know how your parents met?”

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