Page 19 of The Edge

“Yuengling, on draft,” he said.

She nodded, poured, and delivered it. “Five bucks.”

Devine slipped her a ten and told her to keep it.

Dak sipped his beer, staring straight ahead, but Devine knew this game and had glanced twice in the mirror to see Dak’s pupils swivel in his direction. In fact, everyone in the place pretty much had shot looks at the outsider in their midst.

Before Devine had sat down he had seen in the mirror’s reflection that Dak had said something to the old man right before he so readily jumped up, leaving the stool empty. If Devine’s lip-reading was right, it was something like,Beat it, Joe. Somebody wants your seat.

Devine sipped his beer and contemplated his next move. Tactics and strategies rolled through his head like they had during combat on unforgiving terrain with a wily opponent who was doing the same thing.

He finally said, “I’m sure you know who I am. Probably when Patricia Kingman started making the phone rounds about the stranger in town. And then maybe a heads-up from the local constabulary?”

Dak didn’t turn his head, but both men were now eyeing each other in the mirror. Devine watched as the other man’s muscles tensed. Devine’s muscles did nothing. There was no reason to. Yet. And the other man’s respiration had noticeably elevated while Devine’s had actually slowed. Dak Silkwell had obviously forgotten some or all of what the Army had painstakingly taught him. Or maybe he’d never taken it seriously in the first place. Perhaps that was why they had parted company. His phone buzzed. He eased it from his pocket and read the text that Campbell had just sent.

PFC Dak Silkwell, OTH.

That was Army-speak for “Other Than Honorable.” This meant that Dak had done something bad, but not egregious enough for a punitive consequence such as a court-martial and prison confinement under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. That also meant Dak couldn’t rejoin the Army and had forfeited most if not all of his military benefits.

Campbell had not indicated the reason for the OTH, but Devine knew most of them by heart: violence against military personnel or a civilian, adultery, drug or alcohol abuse. And a security violation. Anything more serious and the OTH would not have been possible.

So which one are you, Dak?

The man finally stirred, but only to order another beer. When it came, Dak broke the silence. “Travis Devine. Homeland Security. And I know why you’re here.”

Devine said, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Dak turned to him, perhaps to gauge Devine’s level of sincerity without the mirrored buffer. “Jenny didn’t deserve to go out that way. She was a good person.”

“She have enemies that you know of?”

“You’d know that better than me, considering what she did for a living.”

“That would require a stranger in town. Anyone see anything like that?”

Dak shook his head, clearly thinking this through. “I haven’t. You’d have to ask around.”

“Everyone picked up on me really fast. Just thought it would have worked through the grapevine if another outsider had passed through.”

Dak shrugged. “Don’t know what to tell you.”

Literally, or is something else getting played out here?

“You see your sister or talk to her while she was here?”

Dak took longer than was necessary to answer this simple question. “I didn’t even know she was in town. It was a shock when we found out she was dead.”

“‘We’ as in you and your sister?” asked Devine.

Dak nodded and sipped his beer.

“Did Jenny see or talk to your sister while she was here?”

“Not that she mentioned. You’d have to ask her.”

“I plan to. You know Earl Palmer?”

“Sure, a good man. He found Jenny’s body,” said Dak.

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