Page 164 of Nash Falls
She shot him a pleading look. “Do you… do you have the other stuff?”
“You can’t combine it with Ativan, Judith. It could really screw you up.”
“But you will get me some more?”
“Yes, yes I will.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Outside in the hall, Nash, who had heard most of this, felt his hands turn to fists.
Do not kill him. Do not. Not yet.
Rhett said, “Judith, I also came by because I had some questions to ask you.”
“What questions?”
“If you really think Walter is innocent, the best thing we can do is find him. I can get him a great lawyer.”
“But I don’t know where he is,” she said.
“But you could have some information that might help us locate him. You said he left here with a bag?”
“Yes.”
“You know him better than anyone. Do you have any idea where he might have gone? A favorite vacation spot? A place where you two were thinking of buying a second home?”
She shook her head, looking exhausted. “No, nothing like that. You know he didn’t take many vacations, and we never saw a need for a second home.”
“Okay, how about friends or other people who might have helped him?”
“He really didn’t have any friends. But his father was living with a woman named Rosie Parker. She lives in their old house where Walter grew up. He was going to meet with her in connection with his father’s will. She might know something.”
Rhett rose and went over and quietly shut the door. When Nash heard him do this, he quickly retreated down the stairs.
Rhett returned to Judith and sat next to her. “Good, good, see, youdohave information that’s useful,” he praised. “What else? Anything, even if it seems unimportant.”
She took another drink of coffee and sat back. “The guard at the gate told me that a big Black man on a Harley had come to visit Walter here shortly after his father’s funeral. Walter didn’t seem pleased, the guard said. But then Walter never mentioned it to me. What happened between them, I mean.”
“What was the Black guy’s name? Do you know?”
“I’m not sure. I seem to remember… something.” She brightened. “Shock, that’s it. Shock. Walter told me about him. His stupid nickname and all. And he said some terrible things about Walter.”
“Wait, this was the same guy you told me about before? Who insulted Walter at his father’s funeral service?”
“Yes. It has to be the same person.”
“And how did Walter know thisShockperson?”
“He and Walter’s father served together in Vietnam. Walter probably doesn’t know this, but I saw a picture he had in his study. I’m not sure where it came from, but I know he picked up some things from his father’s house after the funeral. His father was in the photo, and a big Black man. They were obviously in Vietnam at the time. The man must’ve been this Shock person. I mean, it was taken a long time ago, but I’m sure it was the same man who was at the church.”
“Do you know his real name?”
“No.”
“Do you have the picture?”
