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He finished the water, refused Milo’s offer of a second.
“How about some grub, Aaron? I’m sure I can scare up some pastries or a bag of chips.”
“No, thanks, Lieutenant. My stomach’s turning inside out.” Placing a hand in the middle of his abdomen to demonstrate.
“Got it. Anything else you want to tell us?”
“I wish,” said the boy. “I wish I knew something…oh man, Cordi and Caspian. The time I was with both of them was nice. And now I’m the only one still alive.”
—
We walked him downstairs and out to the street. No more curiosity about his surroundings. He looked smaller, younger.
“Need a lift home?” said Milo.
“No, I’ll catch the bus. Obviously, I should keep this meeting secret, right?”
“From your parents?”
“Mostly from Mom. She’ll go nuts and probably want to take my temperature or something.”
“Well,” said Milo, “I can’t order you to go covert but sounds like a good idea.”
“Covert.” Aaron Blanding dredged up a smile. “Like a secret agent. Bye, Dr. Delaware. If I have questions about psychology, could I ask you?”
“Sure.” I gave him my office email.
“Great. Thanks. Excellent.”
We watched him walk north on Butler, a softly built adolescent with an ungainly, waddling walk.
Milo said, “Some kid. Renata was right, he is brilliant.”
“Brilliant with a stainless-steel moral core,” I said. “Also helpful: Charlie Bankster.”
“Better get the troops off Baxter and onto Bankster. Unusual name, gift from the gods.”
We took our usual places in his closet-sized office: Milo sinking into his wheelie chair as I wedged myself into a corner, barely able to flex a limb.
He called Reed and informed him of the name change, extracted a wooden-tipped cigar from his desk, jammed it into his mouth. Strong, white teeth embarked on the destruction of the wood.
He said, “Maybe the kid was helpful on a whole other level.”
“Insights into the family?”
“This is gonna sound out there, Alex, but given what we just heard, maybe I should be looking at an evil-mom deal. When we talked to Renata, it was obvious there was no love lost, but the kid just made it sound a helluva lot worse. Renata trying toeraseCordi because Cordi upset the idea of her perfect little family. What if, on top of that, she found out Cordi and Aaron were meeting, worried Cordi was influencing the kid? Or divulging Renata’s past. Talk about a serious sense of threat.”
I said, “Cold-blooded murder of a daughter to keep up her self-image? That’s pretty strong even for a bad mother. And no way she’d have the strength to take care of Caspian.”
“So she hired someone…I know, way out there. But you know that some of the nastiest stuff gets cooked up on the family stove. This is a lady with a bad past who’s moved on to tennis and mani-pedis. Last thing she’d want to be reminded of is the bad old days. Toss in her chronic pain, maybe some mood swings due to arthritis or meds? She’s in no shape to do the deed herself but maybe her past came in useful.”
“She knew people.”
“Bad guys, like Cordi told Aaron. I mean it’s notimpossible.”
When it comes to people, nothing is. But it didn’t feel right.
I said, “Her phone records could be educational.”
