Too Close to Home

Shit. I hadn’t intended to open that door. Especially now that, with the news that Colin McKindrick couldn’t have killed the Langleys, I was again considering telling Barry about the missing computer with Conrad’s book on it. I didn’t want him thinking I was acting out of malice, that I was trying to get Conrad in trouble to settle an old score.

“Just. . it was a bit rocky,” I said. “I was, I don’t know, kind of distant. A bit depressed, unhappy with where I was in life. Ellen had thrown herself into her job, and maybe I was a bit jealous of that.”

Barry, one hand on the wheel, pointed at a doughnut shop with the other. “Want a coffee or something?”

“Too hot,” I said. “Maybe you could turn around and take me back. Derek’s probably done and waiting for me.”

Barry pulled off at the doughnut shop and got in the drive-through line. “Medium coffee, black, and a chocolate dip doughnut,” he said into the speaker.

When he had the window back up, I said, “So now that you’ve ruled out McKindrick, do you have any other leads?”

“Oh yeah,” he said, inching the car forward to the delivery window.

“Like what?” I asked.

“This and that.”

“What about other clients Albert had? Somebody at the law firm?”

“You bet, we’re looking into all of that.”

I decided the time was right. “I might have something for you.”

He turned, raised his eyebrows. “That so?”

“Yeah. You know when you took Derek through the house Sunday morning?”

“Yeah.”

“Afterwards, he was talking to me, and he realized he’d noticed something. He wasn’t even sure it was a big deal, which is why he didn’t mention it to you, but it was kind of bugging him.”

“Hang on,” Barry said. We were at the window. Barry gave the clerk a five, got some change and his coffee and doughnut. “You’re sure you don’t want anything?” he asked me. “Maybe something cold for Derek? One of these frosty things?”

“We’re good.”

Once he had his coffee in the holder and we were back on the road to my job site, he said, “So, go on.”

“Derek says there was a computer in Adam’s room, one of those bulky tower things, that was there as recently as Thursday, the day before the murders, but he didn’t see it there Sunday when we did the walk-through.”

“A computer?”

“Yeah.”

Barry shrugged. “Derek said this.” There was something, I don’t know, dismissive in his voice.

“That’s right,” I said.

“How’s Derek know about this computer?”

I told him about Agnes Stockwell giving it to him, that it was old, that it had belonged to her son, Brett.

“Jumped off Promise Falls,” Barry said. “I remember that.” He reached into the bag with one hand and worked out his chocolate dip doughnut. “So this was Derek’s computer in Adam’s room, then.”

“Yeah. They both tinkered around with old computers.”

“Well, I’ll keep that in mind, Jim. It might be important and it might not be-”

“There was a book on the computer. A novel. Brett Stockwell was a writer.”

“That’s great, Jim,” he said between bites. “You mind prying that little cap back on the coffee for me? I can’t do it while I’m driving.”

I peeled back the lid and gently put the cup back in the holder. It was filled right to the top and a sharp turn would see it spilling all over the place.

“The book was virtually identical to A Missing Part,” I said.

“A Missing who?”

“You don’t know that book? By Conrad Chase?”

“What the fuck did you call it?”

“A Missing Part. It’s a novel.”

“Guess I missed that one. If it isn’t written by Tom Clancy or Clive Cussler, I don’t know about it,” Barry said.

“What I’m trying to tell you, Barry, is that a book supposedly written by Conrad Chase was on that dead kid’s computer, two years before the book came out.”

Barry was struggling to get the coffee to his lips without spilling it. Once he got it there, he said, “Shit, that’s fucking hot.”

“You don’t find this interesting?” I asked him. “You’re not the least bit curious?”

“I don’t know, Jim. I guess what I find most curious is that Derek’s your source for all this.”

I must have looked puzzled when he said that. “What are you getting at?”

“I’m just saying, he might have some of his information wrong. But thanks for telling me about this, and I’ll keep it in mind.”

I could see my truck and trailer up ahead. Derek had already put the lawn tractor back on the trailer and was sitting in the cab of the truck.

“All right then, fine,” I said. “I was just trying to help. If you don’t want me telling you stuff that might turn out to be important, that’s fine. If you don’t want to solve this, that’s your business.”

“Oh, I want to solve this,” Barry said. “And you want to know something? I’ve got a feeling there’s going to be a break in this case very soon.”

That surprised me. “Seriously?”

He pulled the car over to the curb near my truck, stopped, and looked at me. “I think we might have an arrest any time now.”

You’d have thought, if he was close to solving this, he would have looked happier about it.