Page 36 of Girl, Empty (Ella Dark #27)

‘No, thank you. Where did Calvin go?’

‘Far away. He was too sharp for this town.’ Susan turned and hobbled away, seemingly unconcerned that there was a strange woman in her house. Ella needed to pull her into reality, if such a feat was possible.

‘Susan, I need to find your son. Lives are in danger, and I believe it’s Calvin’s fault.’

The mother stopped in the hallway, did a 360, and slowly came back. This time, she crossed the threshold into Calvin's room.

‘My boy is… he wouldn’t do anything like that.’

‘Like what?’

Susan was suddenly short of breath. ‘Misbehave.’

‘Have you seen the news?’

‘No.’

Even dementia sufferers had tells when they lied, Ella told herself, and Susan was exhibiting more than a few. ‘Really? You haven’t heard about the murders in the city? Three people. Maybe more.’

Susan held her body like she wasn't entirely sure where it ended and the world began. ‘Calvin is a good boy.’

Frustration settled in Ella’s stomach. This avenue wasn’t going to get her anywhere. If Susan was somehow aware of her son’s reign of terror, she’d built a wall around that truth so high she’d never be able to look over it.

She had to try a different angle.

‘Dennis Roth. Your husband. Tell me what happened to him.’

Genuine surprise broke through Susan’s blank mask. ‘How did you know… about Dennis?’

‘I read it in a newspaper.’

‘Dennis died.’

‘And Calvin didn’t take it well, did he?’

Tears welled up in Susan’s eyes. Cognitive decline or not, she still held that particular memory close. ‘No he didn’t. Poor boy. I don’t know why. Dennis was a… piece of work.’

‘You didn’t love him?’

‘Oh I loved him. Had to. But he was a bad man. Very violent. Calvin didn’t know.’

‘Do you think Dennis was murdered?’

Susan glanced out of the window and then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘I know he was.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Because… you know he used to eat the same thing every day? I used to make his lunch. Cheese sandwich and berries. Too much of one thing. It’s bad for you.’

Susan’s tone had shifted. She was talking like she’d rehearsed the lines. Ella tried to put herself in this woman’s head for a moment, to infer a new meaning through a mundane comment about lunch, because she was convinced there had to be one.

‘Is that right?’

‘Oh yes. Too many… berries.’

The air went out of Ella’s lungs. Just like that, a fifteen-year-old case had a simple explanation, but the past was a luxury and the present was a ticking clock. For all she knew, Calvin could have his next victim in his sights already.

‘I understand, Susan, but Calvin hasn’t gotten over his dad’s death. Three people are now dead in Indianapolis, all in similar locations that your husband died in, in locked rooms. Do you see?’

‘No, no, no. Calvin is a good kid. He always blamed the other one. Kevin. Do you know Kevin?’

‘I don’t know any Kevin. Who is he?’

‘Kevin Wolfe. That’s Wolfe with an ‘e’.

A new name. A new vector. ‘Who’s Kevin Wolfe?’

‘The boss. At Elan, Dennis’s old company. Me and Kevin were lovers, then I fell for Dennis. When Dennis died…’

It was uncharacteristically coherent for a dementia sufferer, which meant she’d been replaying this story in her head for many years. ‘And Calvin blamed his dad’s death on this Kevin Wolfe fellow?’ Ella asked.

‘Yes. They didn’t like each other. Never did. Kevin got the blame, but he didn’t…’

‘And you never thought to tell Calvin the truth?’

Susan just shook her head. Ella committed the name to memory. Kevin Wolfe. Owner of a company called Elan. If this was all borne from that one incident years ago, then this was a revenge spree, and revenge killers always ended up targeting the source of their rage.

‘Susan, I need you to think. Where would Calvin be? I can see you know… something.’

‘He loved science, my boy. Before he got into all that computer business. He liked that one scientist. The one in the wheelchair. What’s his name?’

‘Stephen Hawking?’

‘Yes. Hawking. Calvin’s got something he said on his wall over there.’ Susan gestured with a shaky hand. ‘Look up at the stars, not down at your feet. He always loved that line. You understand?’

Ella stared at her. Susan swiped her eyes again. She made the noises of a person crying, but it seemed that her well of tears had dried up. ‘Up at the stars,’ Ella said.

‘Yes. Up. Where the stars are. Calvin used to go to that building all the time. He used to say there were passages, ways in and out, things like that. He’d spend a long time there. Hidden away. Do you see?’

This wasn’t the dementia talking. It wasn't a quote. It wasn't the ramblings of a sick old woman.

It was a key; a final, desperate clue from a mother protecting her son, unable to say the words that would send him to prison for the rest of his life or worse. Code was the only way she could betray him.

And in that cold room, surrounded by the relics of a past life, Ella understood.

‘I need to go,’ she said. ‘Do you need me to take you anywhere? You shouldn’t be here alone.’

‘If they don’t find me soon,‘ Susan hobbled over to her son’s bed and lay down. ‘They won’t find me at all. Please, go.’

Ella didn’t want to leave the poor woman in this state. Once out of here, she could call her nursing home and have them pick Susan up. ‘Yes, Susan. Thank you.’

‘Take care of him, will you?’

She stopped at the doorway, turned and gave Susan the nod. ‘I will.’

Look up at the stars.

That was all Ella needed to know.