Connections in Death (In Death 48)

“I just don’t understand.” Rochelle ran a hand over her face, over her thick wedge of hair, down to the back of her neck. “If they tried to make it look like Lyle was using again and overdosed, why did they take anything? We’d have known somebody stole those things.”

“If you’d believed Lyle was using again, what would you think when you found your jewelry missing?”

As she lowered her restless hand, Rochelle sighed. “That he’d taken it to get money for illegals. If I’d believed the first, I’d believe the second. But neither’s true.”

“Exactly, and now we have more lines to tug. The apartment’s clear for you to stay.”

“Actually, I’m going to pack some things. I’m going to stay at Wilson’s for a few days, and spend time with my family. We’re going to see Lyle later today.”

“You can go ahead and pack what you need. Walter, why don’t we talk out in the other room?”

“Are you okay, Ro?”

“Yes. You go ahead, Walt.”

He hugged her first, held on a minute, then walked out to leave her alone to pack.

9

“I’m going to see if Ro has anything cold. You want?”

“Sure.”

He walked into the kitchen—needed composing time himself, Eve thought, though he’d held up well for his sister.

“She’s got that bug juice—health crap. I wouldn’t go there. A few Cokes because that was Lyle’s … That was Lyle’s poison, especially since he gave up drinking.”

“I wouldn’t mind the bug juice,” Peabody told him.

“Okay, that’s on you. I’m going for a hit of one of the Cokes.”

“I’ll go with that.” Eve watched him from the doorway. He knew where everything was, didn’t have to hunt. “You ever bunk here?”

“I lived here before college. Ro got the place after she got the job, and we went in on this two-bedroom. I live on campus now, but sometimes I flop on the couch since Lyle…”

He stopped pouring, braced his hands on the counter. “Rochelle, she needs to cry for a few minutes, then she’ll steady it up. She’s a goddamn rock.”

“You’re doing pretty well yourself.”

“She’s never going to feel okay living here again. That’s okay, she should find a better, safer place. With the new job, she can do that. Shine’s off that, right now, but it’ll come back.”

He finished pouring. “I wasn’t sure about her letting him move in, not at first, even after he got the clear from the halfway house.”

“It takes time to rebuild trust.”

“It was just that Ro would be here alone with him, and if he slipped back?”

He looked over his shoulder at Eve with the eyes he shared with his sister. “I believed he was clean, you could see it, but I thought he should stay in the halfway longer first. Rochelle wouldn’t have it, and she was right. Being here, with her, it helped him with that next transition. He told me that himself. Having Ro be here for him, having her to talk to, knowing she believed he could do it, it helped him.”

He handed Eve a glass, and with a shake of his head, offered Peabody another filled with army-green liquid. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

He went in, sat down. “You want to know the last time I talked to him, so I’ll just start there. He tagged me the night he died. He said he was heading home from work, had the night off and was planning to go see Gram, in case I could make it. I had to study, so I passed.”

“How often did you see or talk to each other?”

“We talked or texted every couple of days. He liked to know how things were going. Sometimes he’d come by if I had free time, and we’d hang or go catch a vid. Now and again, he’d flop in my dorm if we stayed up late talking.”

“You were close.” Peabody gave him a sympathetic smile. “I’ve got sibs. I know how it is.”