“Can’t you pay somebody out of your own pocket?”
“I’d have to use my credit card or checking account, both of which would leave a trail. And all the investigators I know are already working for the firm, so that would get out almost immediately. And then I’d have to explain why I was doing it privately instead of through the firm, and then that gets me back to Andrew finding out.” Leigh anticipated the alternative. “You can’t use Phil’s computer for something like this. It’s not looking up a deed.”
“The cameras at the downtown library have been broken for the last year. I’ll use one of the public computers.” Callie shrugged. “Just me and the other junkies wasting time in the air conditioning.”
Leigh cleared her throat. She hated Callie calling herself a junkie almost as much as she hated the fact that Callie was a junkie. “Make sure the cameras are still broken. I don’t want you to take any risks.”
Callie watched Leigh wipe away her tears.
Leigh said, “We still haven’t found the B.”
“You mean the rock-bottom.” Callie watched her sister’s eyes roll. She repeated the two questions. “What does Andrew know? How does he know?”
“And what’s he going to do with the information?” Leigh added. “He’s not going to stop with Tammy. That’s for damn sure. He’s like a shark that keeps moving forward.”
“You’re giving him too much power,” Callie said. “You’re always telling me that nobody is a criminal mastermind. They get lucky. They don’t get caught with their hand in the cookie jar. They don’t brag about stealing cookies. It’s not like Andrew had a secret army of drones in the sky when he was ten years old. Obviously, he—”
Leigh stood up. Her mouth opened, then closed. She looked out in the street. She turned back to Callie. “Let’s go.”
Callie didn’t ask where. She could tell by the look on her sister’s face that Leigh had thought of something. All Callie could do was try to keep up as she followed her sister out of the park.
Her lungs were not prepared for the brisk pace. Callie was breathless by the time they reached the road that looped back to Phil’s. Except Leigh didn’t take the left. She kept going straight, which would lead them past the Waleskis’ mustard-colored house again. The route added no more than three minutes. Callie knew because she had walked both many times before. There had been no streetlights back then, just the dark silence and the understanding that she had to wash off what had just happened before she could go to bed in her mother’s house.
“Keep up ,” Leigh said.
Callie struggled to match Leigh’s purposeful stride. Her heart started to thump against her ribs. Callie imagined it was like two pieces of flint striking against each other until the spark ignited and her heart was on fire because they weren’t just going to walk past the Waleskis’ house. Leigh turned left, heading up their driveway.
Callie followed her until her feet refused to take another step. She stood at the edge of the faded oil stain where Buddy used to park his rusted-out yellow Corvette.
“Calliope.” Leigh had turned around, hands on her hips, already annoyed. “We’re doing this, so suck it up and stick close to me.”
Her sister’s bossy tone was the exact same as the one she had used the night they had chopped up Buddy Waleski. Get his toolbox out of the car. Go to the shed and find the machete. Bring the gas can. Where’s the bleach? How many rags can we use without Linda noticing they’re gone?
Leigh turned and disappeared into the black hole of the carport.
Callie reluctantly followed, blinking her eyes to help them adjust. She could see shadows, an outline of her sister standing at the door that led into the kitchen.
Leigh reached up, using her bare hands to pry back the slab of plywood nailed over the opening. The wood was so old it splintered. Leigh didn’t stop. She grabbed at the jagged edge and pulled until there was a wide enough space for her to reach the doorknob.
The kitchen door swung open.
Callie was expecting the familiar damp, musty odor but the stench of meth filled the air.
“Christ.” Leigh covered her nose to fight the ammonia smell. “Cats must’ve gotten into the house.”
Callie didn’t correct her. She hugged her arms to her waist. Somewhere in her head, she knew why Leigh wanted to be here, but she imagined that revelation being folded into a triangle, and then into the shape of a kite, and eventually transforming into an origami swan gliding toward the inaccessible currents deep within her memories.