Page 163 of To Die For

He flashed his badge. “Travis Devine, Homeland Security. We spoke before, remember? And you’re Madeline Trumbull.”

“No, I’m Wendy Roman.”

“No, you’re not. You have quite the criminal record.”

“I told you I did some drugs.”

“I’m not talking about drugs.”

She sputtered, “Look, you scared the shit out of me. And… and you can’t just barge in here like this. I got rights.”

“I was just in the neighborhood and thought we could follow up our chat. And if you don’t want surprise visitors, you should lock your back door.”

“Follow up our chat?”

“The Odoms’ death?”

“I told you all I know ’bout that, mister.”

“You didn’t tell me one thing.”

“What?”

“Howyou killed them.”

She stared across at him, unblinking. For a moment Devine thought she was going to hurl the beer can at him.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talkin’ ’bout.”

“With the super-absorbent additive DMSO, it would be sucked right into their bloodstreams. Then the clock started ticking. Then they drove out of town, and died.”

She shook her head. “You better just get yourself outta here, mister, before I call the cops on your ass.” She pulled out her phone.

Devine took out his phone and pulled up a screen. “I took your picture the first time we met. I sent it to DC. They ran AI facial recognition on it and got a hit. You’re Dr. Madeline Trumbull. Board certified in endocrinology, with a PhD in chemistry from Johns Hopkins. You were on the faculty at Emory University and then Vanderbilt. And then you fell off the grid about five years ago. You resurfaced briefly in an investigation regarding a mass poisoningattempt involving a municipal water treatment plant near Akron, Ohio. Your name has also popped up in connection with two militia groups who have been named as terrorist organizations by both the FBI and DHS. But you vanished after a series of poisonings killed a federal prosecutor, a government witness, and a rabbi from Georgia. So you can stop with the hillbilly routine, Doc.”

She looked at him coolly. “You obviously know what happened to poor Dr. Coburn, since you were there and were very nearly blown into fragments yourself. Pity you weren’t. One less federal jackboot is always a sublime result.”

“Federal jackboot?” he said. “I can see you’ve drunk the Kool-Aid.”

“No, I’ve embraced thetruth.” She paused and took a swallow of beer. “You know what you’re up against?”

“Care to elaborate?”

“You should join us,” she said.

“In what exactly?”

“Taking our country back.”

“I wasn’t aware it had gone anywhere.”

She smiled, but it never reached her eyes. “Then you’re not paying attention.”

“Is this where you run me down a conspiracy rabbit hole filled with bullshit?”

Her features turned to stone. “Judgment Day is swiftly approaching.”

“Foryou, it is.”

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