Page 94 of Things We Hide from the Light

“So what happened?”

“Well, lemme tell you, ain’t nothin’ sexy about a man who’s sad Daddy didn’t love him enough. I told him it was time to move on. To make a name for himself. So I convinced him we needed to go into hiding. He made some calls, and we moved into that warehouse in Lawlerville and started to make a plan. We needed money and fast. Dunc figured the best way to do that was to resell a copy of the list. Lotta people between here and DC would be interested in a list of hard-ass cops and their snitches.”

“So that’s when you abducted your daughter and your sister.”

Tina Witt’s bad decisions made my own look like tiny lapses in judgment by comparison. I’d been there to see the immediate fallout. A trail of bleeding bad guys. Knox on the floor with Naomi and Way. Nash, heroically leaning against the wall, gun in hand, shoulder bleeding, looking exhausted and pissed off. My heart gave a pathetic little pitter-patter.

“That was another clusterfuck that dipwad got me into. It was never supposed to be a kidnapping thing, you know? He wasjust supposed to scare them a little. Get ’em to cough up the list. Then we’d send ’em on their way. But noooo, he had to do thingshisway. Dunc was an idiot, but he wasn’t stupid. He could be sneaky smart when he wanted to be, but he was impulsive. One second, he’d be planning some heist, and the next, he’d be zoned out playing video games until 4:00 a.m.”

“So once you two struck out on your own, who worked with him? There were men at the warehouse the night you were arrested. Were they Anthony’s? Other family members? Friends?”

That’s what friends are for.Naomi’s words from earlier that morning resurfaced in my head. No one was truly alone in this world. There was always someone a person would turn to when they needed help.

“Oh. Like his known associates, right? I’m picking up all the cop speak by watchingNCISand shit in case Chief Morgan ever comes to pay me a visit,” she said proudly.

I wondered how Nash would feel knowing that Tina Witt had a raging crush on him. I also wondered if that meant he’d never come to see her in jail.

“Yes. Known associates,” I agreed.

“Heard most of ’em were picked up by the cops,” Tina said.

“Most, but not all. Someone had to help him get away.”

“There were a couple of goons he had working for him in his chop shop. Then there was Face Tattoo Guy and Chubby Goatee Guy. That dude could eat a twelve-inch cheesesteak in under ten minutes. They were Dunc’s buddies from high school before he dropped out. They all started working for the old man around the same time, but they were Dunc’s friends first.”

Dutifully, I made notes and hoped the descriptions would be enough to lead me in a direction.

“Is there anyone else you can think of?”

She pursed her lips and stubbed out her cigarette. “He had a guy I never met. Burner Phone Guy. I don’t think they were buddies. Least, they didn’t talk like they were. But he was the one Dunc called when we needed to get the hell outta Dodge after his dumb ass shot Chief Morgan.”

“How did Burner Phone Guy help?” I asked.

Tina shrugged. “Dunno. I was too busy yelling at Dunc for bein’ a dumbass to pay attention.”

I closed my notebook and stowed it in the pocket of my jacket. “One more question. What made Duncan start with Chief Morgan?”

Tina shrugged. “Maybe it was that I mentioned how fine the chief’s ass looked one day or that I told him that the chief hadn’t done me wrong like every other fucking resident of Knockemout. He never looked at me like I was a nobody.”

She twirled a piece of straw-textured hair around her fingers. She’d cut and dyed her hair to look more like her sister for the abduction. Now, gray roots were visible at her part and she was in desperate need of a deep condition.

“Course, it coulda been the double asterisks next to his name that caught Dunc’s eye.”

I fought the urge to drum my fingers on the tabletop. “He say what the asterisks were for?”

Tina shrugged. “Dunno. You’d have to ask Dunc.”

“Well, thanks for your time, Tina,” I said, getting to my feet.

“I got nothin’ but time thanks to that asshat. You find him, tell him I sent you.”

I stepped outsideinto the bright autumn sun feeling like I always did after leaving the prison. Like I needed a shower.

But at least this time, Ifinallyhad a few leads to tug on.

I held my breath as I checked my phone. There were no messages or missed calls from Nash. I blew out a sigh and dialed the office as I crossed the parking lot, leaving barbed wire and high fences behind me.

My favorite researcher, Zelda, answered on the second ring. “Yello?”