He grinned. “Yeah, Phil could cuss a blue streak, too, under the right circumstances.”
“And I’m a chip off the old block.”
“I can see that.”
“So you’re telling me that I shouldn’t take Sky’s opinion of people as the objective truth.”
“That’s right,” he said. “Sky’s been known to give employees second, third, and fourth chances when she shouldn’t have even given them one. The head of Quality Management went to federal prison for insider trading last year. She wants to hire him right back as soon as he’s served his term.”
“She also thinks there’s no way that Rhonda could have hurt Dylan,” I said.
“And I couldn’t disagree with her more on that.”
“Really?”
“I don’t mean any offense against Rhonda Lewis, and I feel awful for what she’s been through and I’m sure she’s a good person,” he said. “But tragedies like hers do things to your soul. They make you capable of rage and violence you never thought possible. It’s like my youngest says: ‘Hurt people hurt people.’ ”
I gave him a look. “I hope she doesn’t say it often.”
“She’s only eighteen,” he said. “She’ll grow out of it.”
I smiled. He smiled back.
“So I’m going to try and find Rhonda and talk to her,” I said. “But let’s say she doesn’t pan out. Is there anybody else you might know of who could make Dylan disappear, or make him want to?”
He rolled his eyes. “You ever meet Dylan Welch?”
“Yes.”
“So you probably could imagine him making an enemy or two. Or ten.”
“Hell, for a hot minute there, I was one of them.”
“I’m not at all surprised,” he said.
“Nobody specific, though? Nobody he spoke to security about around the time he went missing?”
Maurice shook his head. “Only Rhonda.”
“What did he say?”
“After that one incident—the one you saw on video—he wanted my team and me to help him scare her away.”
“He actually used those words? He said he wanted you guys to ‘scare her’?”
“No. What he said was he wanted us to track her down so he could send her a message. He never came out and said it, but I think he wanted her roughed up.”
“Jesus,” I said. “She’s a grieving mother.”
“And he’s Dylan Welch.”
“Good point.”
Maurice crossed his hands over his chest. “For Sky’s sake, I hope he’s okay and that you’re able to find him,” he said. “But I can’t say I’ve missed him all that much.”
Eleven
After I left Gonzo’s offices, I pulled Dylan Welch’s phone out of my pocket. I’d never told Maurice or Sky that I was taking it. But the way I saw it, I didn’t owe that information to them. It wasn’t their phone any more than it was mine.
