Page 72 of The Fix
“As far as researching your father’s cases, that would narrow things down a little, right? We’re looking for a man who your father determined could be let off, rather than convicted for his crime. Once we collect those, we look into what happened after that, and if he committed a similar crime against a different family.”
We.There was thatweagain that she wanted to cup in her palms like a treasure, afraid that it’d be taken from her if she didn’t protect it. Knowing it wouldn’t be hers for long, no matter what.
“What if it happened the way you described, but the man my father let off wasn’t caught for the crime he committed against that unknown family?”
He folded the label again, and now it was a tiny little square that couldn’t possibly be folded again. “He’d have to have been for the person—his victim—to know his name and why he was out on thestreet when he perhaps shouldn’t have been. For them to assign blame to your father.”
She took a minute to unravel that. God, her mind was beginning to twist like a pretzel with all this supposing. “My dad didn’t let criminals go lightly, though. He wasn’t that type of judge.”
“There could have been a technicality that tied his hands. But also, everyone makes mistakes, Cami. The best judges on the planet make what turn out later to be bad judgments sometimes. Hindsight and all that. No one can predict the future or see into someone else’s mind.”
She conceded his point with a nod. “It’ll also narrow down our pool of possibilities. Many of the people in those files who showed up in my father’s courtroom will have been in prison when the crime against my family was committed.”
“Yes, true. Also, I think we can narrow the time frame down as well.”
“Okay, why?”
“Five years seems too long for that type of hate to fester.” He dropped the piece of folded label on the table. “The wound was fresher, I think. I’d say two years. We’ll go back three because it had to have taken some amount of time to plan the revenge, gather the money if any was paid, et cetera. Revenge for hire isn’t something you just order up on Amazon.”
She let out a small chuff.Three years. Okay.She pressed her lips together. “Rex, I ... I would love it if you stayed and helped me look through some of the cases, but I also don’t want you to feel obligated. I’ve asked so much of you.”
He looked at her as though he was trying to read her mind, and she felt bad about that because she wanted him to feel like he could know what she was thinking by her words, and he obviously did not. “I’m in it with you if you want me to be, Cami. I’m here to help.”
She let out a quiet exhale as relief flowed through her. “Great.” She stood and picked up her plate and his. “Let me put this away and then get Cyrus ready to sleep, and then we’ll start digging?”
He smiled and it looked completely genuine, like he was feeling some of that same relief as her. “I’ll clean this up,” he said. “You take care of your son.”
The words hit her, almost stalling her breath. She felt teary again and grateful. She never imagined, even in her wildest dreams, that she’d have this opportunity. “Okay,” she said, meeting his eyes, feeling her face move into a disbelieving smile. “I’ll go take care of my son.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Posey’s father remained well through the summer—not as physically vigorous as he’d once been, but just as mentally dynamic. The two of them took to discussing cases on the veranda, where the afternoon sun filtered in and warmed their skin. They drank sweetened tea with lemon and watched the groundskeepers as they worked, the scents of cut grass and her mother’s nearby rose garden—in full, vibrant bloom—tickling their noses.
It was a beautiful summer for Posey, as it turned out, the last beautiful summer she’d ever know.
That winter of 1995, it became obvious to Posey Kiss, the so-called human computer, that she was no machine, but a girl after all. She discovered this undeniable truth in the eyes of Tatum Devore. Tatum was the son of one of the Kiss family’s most reliable employees, a man both steady and stalwart when it came to extracting information from subjects. They used him regularly in their business dealings, and so his presence on their property was a somewhat regular occurrence. His son, apparently, had begun expressing interest in his father’s line of work, and therefore came along when the elder Devore had reason to be at the Kiss home.
A few months from then, Anton would graduate from Georgetown University, where he’d been commuting for four years and was already busy planning an elaborate party at their estate. Posey reveled in her brother’s distraction, for it meant that he had less time to bully andbother her. She found herself, for once, able to walk the halls of their home without fear that Anton would step from a dark corner with intent to harass and humiliate.
The first time she spoke to Tatum was in the vast library in the south wing just outside her father’s office. She entered the room, surprised to see a man standing atop the library ladder and leaning precariously toward the farthest corner in order to reach the uppermost book.
She watched him curiously, wondering why he wouldn’t simply push the ladder under the book he desired instead of performing a death-defying act, or at least a bone-breaking one.
She waited to ask him until he’d climbed down the ladder and was safely on the ground. At her question, he whirled around, the book falling from his hands. She glanced down at it, splayed open on the floor.How to Dance with Confidence and Ease.
She looked up at him to find him watching her. Their eyes met, and neither spoke for a moment. Finally, he cleared his throat. “I just wondered, of all these topics and titles, which one was on the highest shelf in the farthest corner.” He leaned casually on the ladder. “I thought it was probably the first one your father collected, and I was curious to know what it was.”
She found herself unusually at a loss for comment. And even more confused by such a title in her father’s library. Why did he own it?Hadit been one of his first books? Maybe dating back to before he’d met her mother? She couldn’t picture her father caring for such a thing as how to dance with confidence. Her father did everything with confidence, and she couldn’t imagine a time when that hadn’t been the case. The question itself brought up more curiosities than answers.
“I meant, why not simply roll the ladder under the book you desired?”
He turned his head to look down at the wheels at the base of the ladder, his gaze hanging on them for a moment. “Well I’ll be damned.” He looked up and smiled at her. “I didn’t realize it moved.”
She had this peculiar urge to laugh, and she wasn’t sure why. He seemed to be rather ridiculous, and yet for some odd reason, her feet didn’t want to move. Instead, she walked farther into the room, picked up the book, and set it on a nearby table. When she turned, she found that he was watching her again. He held out his hand. “I’m Tatum. You must be Posey. Your father’s spoken of you. He didn’t mention how beautiful you are.”
“Why would he mention his daughter’s looks to a stranger?”
Tatum looked confused and then grinned. “Good point. He wouldn’t. That would be weird.”
