Page 68 of All the Little Raindrops

“No. And I spent a good hour going through the boxes. I did a decent job labeling them, so once I got them spread out, it was easier to see what was what. I made a pile that I plan to donate and put a few things aside I’d like to ship to South Carolina.”

He glanced at her, and she could see in the dip of his brow as his eyes quickly moved across her features that he was looking for what might be emotional upset in her expression. She did feel slightly emotional but not necessarily in a bad way. She’d shed a few tears as she’d looked at specific items in the boxes, and though she’d wanted Evan with her the first time she’d gone there, she was glad she’d spent some time alone among her father’s things the second time around. It had been cathartic, and she felt cleansed in a way she hadn’t before.

She’d also spoken to her father, asking him if he needed to tell her something and, if so, to please lead the way. She wasn’t certain such a thing was possible, but it sure couldn’t hurt to try. At the time of their escape, she hadn’t known her father was dead. But maybe he’d lent a hand then too.Somehow.She liked to think so because it meant he wasthere, leading them out of that fiery hellscape.

Louise Cook lived in a ground floor apartment in a somewhat ratty-looking building in East Reno. Evan lifted the knocker and gave it two swift taps. A dog started howling in another apartment across the way, and they both looked over their shoulders but then back to Louise’s door as they heard shuffling on the other side. The door was pulled open, and a woman in her sixties stood there in a blue velvet housecoat and slippers, wearing a bandanna on her head. There didn’t appear to be any hair beneath the head covering, and Noelle wondered if the woman was going through cancer treatment.

“Louise?” she asked, offering her hand.

The woman shook it as she nodded. “Noelle Meyer. You look like your dad through the eyes,” she said, turning her attention to Evan. He introduced himself, too, and she stood back so they could enter.

“Did you know my father well?” Noelle asked as they followed her to a set of couches a few feet away. She and Evan sat down on one, and Louise took the one across from them, pulling her housecoat down over her knees before reaching forward and shuffling a stack of mail into a pile and turning it over. She wasn’t quick enough, however, thatNoelle didn’t notice the large redPast Duemarks on what looked like medical bills.

“I only met him once or twice. Dow recommended him for a job back when I was married and we’d just bought a house. It ended up having some electrical issues, and your dad fixed them. It’s been a long time, but a flash of his face came back when I looked at you. Funny the things your brain files away without you even knowing. He was a nice man.”

“He was,” she said, her heart giving a small thump. She cleared her throat. “Actually, my dad is part of the reason we’re here.” She glanced at Evan quickly. “I don’t know if you read about what happened to me—”

“I did,” she said, and Noelle was grateful she’d cut in, saving her from describing any portion of what they’d been through. “I was really sorry to hear what happened to you. I can’t begin to imagine. They never caught the guy who done that, huh?”

Guy. More like guys.“No. But, um, we’ve recently found some new leads, and part of what we found involves your brother.”

A slew of wrinkles appeared on Louise’s forehead, and she tugged lightly at her bandanna. “Oh? What is it?”

“I know the police believed the motive in your brother’s murder was a straight robbery, but my father seemed to think differently. There are a few notes in a calendar he kept, and while they don’t give any more information than that, it’s clear he believed it was more than what met the eye.”

Louise’s frown deepened. “Oh ... I see. The police didn’t ever find who it was that robbed him, but yes, they seemed to think it was just a ‘wrong place, wrong time’ situation. Dow’s bad luck.” She let out a sigh and tugged at her bandanna again. “Truth be told, Dow generally made his own bad luck. He was always so damnsmart, growing up. Things just came to him, especially computers. Our dad flipped when he came home one day and my brother had taken his whole damn computer apart, chips here, circuit boards there, and I don’t even knowif I’m using the right terms, but you get the picture. Anyway, Dow says, ‘Don’t worry, Dad. I just wanted to see how it worked. I’m putting it back together now.’ And damn if he didn’t do just that and powered it up like it was brand new.” She shook her head, her eyes unfocused. “Damnedest thing.” She sighed again. “Unfortunately, he preferred to tinker and code than do anything that brought in much money. He had a shop, and he fixed other people’s computers, but he could have done that in his sleep. If he’d have had an ounce of ambition, that man could have gotten a job with NASA or the CIA or ... whatever.” She gave a short laugh. “He futzed around, and he drank a lot. And then he got himself killed in an alley by some meth head who wanted whatever petty cash he mighta had in his wallet.” She shook her head again. “I don’t know why your dad might have thought it was anything other than that. But if it was, I don’t have a clue as to why anyone would want to kill my brother.”

They were all silent for a moment as Louise tugged on her bandanna, Evan obviously going over what Louise had said. After a moment, he leaned forward. “Louise, Noelle seems to remember Dow telling a story about hacking into the electric company. It may have been a joke, but do you have any idea if he ever did that sort of thing?”

“Hacking?” She raised her brows, the hair sparse and thin. “If he did, he never told me about it. But my ex-husband was a bailiff. He was real serious about law and order.” She let out a small huff of breath that made Noelle believe that Louise was being sarcastic in some way Noelle didn’t have enough information to understand. “And Dow didn’t like him anyway. He didn’t come around a lot while I was married to him.”

“Did you clean out his shop after his death?” Evan asked.

“Nah. I called another computer repair shop, who came in and made an offer on some different parts and whatnot. The rest I paid to have hauled away to the dump. When all was said and done, I pretty much broke even.”

“My father had a laptop that seems to be missing,” Noelle said. “Do you happen to know if the other computer repair shop might have taken it if my father left it at Dow’s shop?”

“There were three or four computers Dow was working on, but they belonged to customers. I contacted those people, and they came and picked them up. They were all spoken for.”

Noelle ran her hands over her thighs, then rested them on her knees. What Louise had offered hadn’t really advanced their case, but she couldn’t think of anything else to ask her. She glanced over at Evan, who was pulling a card out of his wallet, which meant he’d obviously come to the same conclusion. He set the card on her coffee table. “Here’s my number in case you think of anything else.”

“Oh, wait,” Louise said, standing. “I do have a small box of his things in the extra bedroom.” She tapped her fingers on her chin momentarily. “He’d been living with some woman friend on her couch, apparently, after some roommate situation or another went bust. When she heard about Dow, she brought the stuff he’d left at her place to me. It looked like a bunch of junk, but I wasn’t really in a place to go through it at the time either. I only remember it even exists because I saw it when I moved to this apartment nine months ago. Follow me.”

She turned and led them down a short hall to a room on the left, then pushed the door open and stepped inside. It looked like she was using it solely for storage. There was no bed or any other furniture, just piles of boxes, plastic bins, and household odds and ends. Noelle and Evan remained just outside the room, as there was really no space for them to stand inside.

“Do you remember her name?” Evan asked as Louise rummaged through some things. “The woman who dropped off his things?”

She stood straight, squinting for a moment. “No. No memory at all of her name.”

They waited as she went back to moving this and that aside, murmuring to herself and forming a path to the far wall, where she bent,retrieving a cardboard box, the flaps tucked closed, the nameDowscrawled on the side.

Interesting to think that if they moved forward in the investigation, it might be thanks to the contents of several dusty cardboard boxes belonging to her father and his friend.

Louise handed it to Evan. “Thanks,” he said. “We’ll look through it and return it afterward.”

“Don’t bother returning it,” she said. “Just toss whatever isn’t useful. Lord knows I don’t need something else to store.” She sighed. “I suppose it’s just one less thing my daughter will have to get rid of once I’m gone.”

“Oh wow, that’s good,” Noelle said around a mouthful of Thai noodles. They’d stopped on the way to Evan’s house at a restaurant he said was one of his local favorites and gotten dinner to go. Now they were sitting at his dining table, cartons and bags spread out around them as they ate off paper plates. “I feel like I haven’t eaten adult food in far too long.”

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