The Queen of Cool (36 page)

For the first time in all these months, Lo
felt as if Don was with her every day. She dreamed of him every
night. The quiet calm of the house thawed the wall around her
heart. From horror to deep sorrow, she rode a roller coaster of
emotion. Some days she felt as if every part in her body ached for
Don and her old life. In this house, the sense of Don and his love
never wavered. Slowly, some of her raw, jagged feelings were
soothed in the presence of his love.

Last night, she’d found Manny waiting for
her at Chick-fil-A. He’d bought dinner and brought her news. The
Queen of Cool was thriving. Larry was enjoying taking over her role
as CEO. Truman had his last surgery on Monday. The vet thought he
would always walk with a limp but he was otherwise healing.

He brought photos of Amanda’s first adult
apartment. She’d rented the apartment with the money she’d earned
at the Queen of Cool. Of course, Lo noticed Larry’s guitar in a
stand in the living room. She had to badger Manny until he
relinquished the information that Amanda and Larry had moved in
together.

Before he left, Manny had given her a
reusable bag full of treats. He told her to wait until she was home
to look. Assuming it was more financial papers from Lisa or some of
Alisha’s cookies, she’d nodded and walked back to the house. Once
inside, she’d set the bag down in the entry and forgotten all about
it. She was getting ready for bed when she remembered the bag.

Wearing one of Don’s shirts for pajamas, she
went out to the entry and opened the bag. Inside she found a note
and papers from Lisa and Alisha’s chocolate chocolate-chip cookies.
She was about to put the bag down when she noticed a
brown-paper-wrapped package. Taking the package into the kitchen,
she used a knife to cut the clear packing tape holding the brown
paper.

She unwrapped her wedding album, Don’s
appreciation journal, the Ziplock bag with all the items from the
safe at their home, and the report from the FBI lab on everything
they’d processed. The note, written in Mutt’s scrawl, said he’d
finally been able to get into the gun safe. He was sending this to
her because she was the only one who could figure everything out.
She’d sat up in bed almost all night looking through the wedding
album.

Finishing the last of her tea, Lo went to
the cabinet under the kitchen sink and took out Marilyn’s journals.
She set the journals one by one in a row on the coffee table in the
living room. She went to her bedroom for the wedding album. She set
the wedding album underneath the journals on the table. She took
Don’s appreciation journal and set it next to the wedding album.
She set the Ziplock bag next to the appreciation journal and the
FBI report on the end. As an afterthought, she set her copy of the
forensic accountant’s detailed reports about Don’s estate next to
the FBI report. She opened a new journal and made sure there was
ink in Don’s old fountain tip pen before she refilled her tea cup
and her water bottle.

Today, she was going to read everything.

Today, she was going to figure this thing
out.

Mutt was right. Only she could figure out
what was going on here.

It was time to get to work.

She leaned over, picked up the oldest of
Marilyn’s journals, and began to read.

Q

Two days later

Friday night—9:15 p.m.

Lake Worth, Texas

Days: 183

“
I guess I don’t know what
that is,” Lo pointed to the object in Manny’s hand.

They were standing in the living area of the
Lake Worth house. Manny had set his laptop on the coffee table.

“
It gives you Internet
access wherever you are,” Manny plugged it into his laptop. “So we
can talk to everyone without you going there or them coming
here.”

“
Oh,” Lo said. “Why don’t I
just have one of those?”

“
Because you’re in hiding,”
Manny said.

“
Oh,” Lo said. “What did
you tell Mindy Sue about coming here?”

“
The truth,” Manny said.
“Lo needed my help. She knows I’m working on your case.”

“
She’s been really great,”
Lo said. “I wish there was a way I could thank her.”

“
I’ll tell her,” Manny
said.

“
I saw some cute pictures
of you all,” Lo said. “In a photo album on the shelf.”

“
Don liked us to leave a
picture whenever we stayed here,” Manny said. “He felt like it kept
a record of all the joy we got out of coming here. We’ve had a good
time in this house.”

“
Did you come up here
often?”

“
We bring the kids in the
summer,” Manny said. “Mindy Sue likes to stay here when we go
hunting. We leave the kids with my parents and come up here. She
doesn’t want the kids to see her blood lust.”

Lo laughed.

“
Don was really generous
with us,” Manny said. “We hunted on his dad’s acreage just outside
of town. We’d stayed here at night and went out in the day. It’s a
luxury most people don’t know exists, let alone get to
experience.”

“
The land is a part of the
estate,” Lo said. “It will go to me and the girls. I’m sure you can
use it like you always have.”

“
I’ll tell Mindy Sue. But
it won’t be as much fun without Don,” Manny said. “Okay, sit over
here.”

Lo sat down on the couch and Manny sat next
to her. He bent over and fiddled with his laptop. He clicked a few
buttons and the webcam on his laptop came on. Seeing they were both
in the camera, he clicked through to dial Sy at his office. The
phone rang and then…

There they were!

Lo couldn’t help but smile at Lisa, Larry,
Sy, Mutt, and Mrs. Williams’ faces. They cheered when they saw
her.

“
Lo!” Lisa yelled “Oh my
God, look at your hair!”

Lo laughed.

“
She’s bigger than you
said,” Sy said.

“
Show us the baby,” Mrs.
Williams demanded.

Lo stood up to show her baby belly. They
cheered.

“
I know it’s great to see
each other,” Manny said. “But we don’t have a lot of time. Lo is
still in danger and this is… reckless. We have to assume we’re
being monitored because anything else would just be
stupid.”

“
What did you find,
Lorraine?” Sy asked.

“
A lot,” Lo said. “We were
right. Marilyn is the key to all of this. Like Mrs. Williams, she
knew what was going on at the base. But since her husband was
disabled and not killed, they had time to work through a lot of the
details. Most of what she knew is in her journals.”

“
What are you doing with
the journals?” Lisa’s hand went to her heart. Her eyes echoed her
worry.

“
They’re safe,” Manny
said.

“
I went through the stuff
from the safe,” Lo picked up a browning newspaper clipping. “There
were a bunch of newspaper clippings, mostly for the girls, and me.
Some clippings were about Don. I found this in the middle of the
clippings.”

Lo held up the clipping. The headline read:
“LOCAL BOY MAKES GOOD” with a picture of Will Wallace in a white
cowboy hat.

“
According to this, Will is
a Texas Ranger,” Lo held the clipping up to the webcam so that they
could read it.

“
What?” Larry leaned
forward to read. “No way. There’s just no way.”

“
I have a buddy who’s a
Ranger,” Manny said. “I went to lunch with him today. He says
there’s no record of Will working for the Rangers. He didn’t want
to say much, but I got the feeling he knew more than he was saying.
So I checked with the newspaper.”

Holding the article up to the webcam, Manny
pointed to the Austin Chronicle logo.

“
They have no record of
ever printing this article,” Manny said. “In fact, they wanted me
to send it to them so that they could prosecute whoever was using
their standard.”

“
What the heck is that
about?” Sy asked.

“
Don’t know,” Manny shook
his head.

“
We think Will gave it to
Don as proof that he was legitimate,” Lo said. “But Don never liked
Will.”

“
Because he liked Mandy?”
Larry asked.

“
Amanda
,” Lo corrected.
Larry laughed. “Don was pretty good with people. He knew who was a
genuine, good person and who wasn’t. He always thought Will was bad
news.”

“
What about that Jaden
Sadler?” Mrs. Williams asked.

“
Donny misfired there,” Sy
said.

“
Don always knew Jaden was
a snake,” Lo said. “He used to say that he kept Jaden close enough
so that he knew when he was going to strike.”

“
We have other news,” Manny
looked at Lo. “You should tell them so that we can get off the
line.”

“
Okay,” Lo said. “I read
through everything and made notes.”

“
What’s that?” Lisa looked
up at the ceiling. Larry and Mrs. Williams eyes went to the
ceiling.

“
Sounds like footsteps,”
Mrs. Williams said. “Did you lock the door?”

“
Of course I locked the
door,” Sy said. “You saw me when…”

The fire alarm went off upstairs.

“
Shit,” Sy said. “The fire
alarm is sensitive. Goes off all the time. I’ll check.”

He hopped out of his seat and moved in front
of the webcam.

“
You better tell us fast,”
Larry said.

“
I’m calling the police,”
Lisa said.

“
Okay,” Lo said. “It turns
out that…”

“
Hey,” Sy yelled. “Get the
hell out of my shop.”

Lisa’s hand went to the laptop cover and the
screen went dark. Manny leaned forward to check the computer
connection. Shaking his head, he looked at Lo.

“
Don’t go anywhere,” Manny
said.

In one fluid motion, Manny got up, took his
handgun from its holster, chambered a round, and went to check the
house. Terrified, Lo sat like a rock on the couch. Her ears caught
every creak and rustle in the house. Manny’s phone rang.

“
Yeah?” Manny’s voice came
from the back bedroom. “Good. Everything’s clear here. Yep.
Thanks.”

Holstering his weapon, Manny came out of the
back bedroom.

“
False alarm,” Manny said.
“At least that’s what Sy said. He was probably covering, but I
won’t know until I get there.”

Lo nodded.

“
Listen Lorraine,” Manny
said. “You have to stay here for a while. No walks. No coming to
see me. Nothing. I’m going to leave a disposable phone so you can
text me.”

“
But I know all this
stuff!” Lo said.

“
You’re going to have to
keep it to yourself,” Manny said.

“
No,” Lo said. “Too many
people knew too much and kept it to themselves. What happens if
someone kills me? What then? You start over? No.”

Lo shook her head.

“
We have to let everyone
know,” Lo said.

“
You wrote it all down in
that journal?” Manny held his hand out. “I can take it into
town.”

Lo shook her head.

“
I know that look Lorraine
Downs,” Manny said. “You’re fixing to do something
crazy.”

“
There’s a piece of the
puzzle that I haven’t been able to figure out,” Lo said. “You can
either come with me or I’m going by myself.”

“
Not tonight,” Manny shook
his head.

“
Why not tonight?” Lo
asked.

“
Because Mindy Sue is
waiting for me,” Manny said. “Because there’s already been one
threat against us, against you. You act out tonight and you’re just
like a mouse hiding under the couch. Come out now and the cat will
pounce.”

“
Tomorrow?” Lo
asked.

“
Monday night,” Manny said.
“I’ll be back and we can do whatever it is that you need done so
badly.”

“
I need to figure this
out,” Lo said.

“
Fine,” Manny
said.

“
Can I keep the Internet
thingy?” Lo asked.

“
No,” Manny reached down,
pulled it out of his computer and jammed it into his pocket. “I
brought the books you asked for. Do you want me to take the
journal?”

Lo shook her head.

“
What if you die?” Manny
asked.

“
I left a record with
Marilyn’s journals,” Lo said.

“
I’m sure Don thought he
left a record too,” Manny said.

“
That’s what I mean,” Lo
said. “I have to tell… everyone! Everyone should know about
this!”

Manny grabbed her by the arms and gave her a
little shake.

“
No.”

He shook her again.

“
No you won’t.”

“
But…”

“
Don loved you, every
little bit of you,” Manny said. “Don’t throw yourself away for this
crap. There’s always a mystery. There’s always a bad guy doing
something horrible to someone who doesn’t deserve it. There’s
always a conspiracy to uncover. But love like what you had with
Don? It’s rare. Don’t throw it away on this crap.”

Confused by his reaction, Lo bit her lip and
nodded. They stared at each other for a moment.

“
What’s going on with you?”
Lo asked.

Manny shook his head and let her go. He
turned away.