Page 63 of South of Nowhere

“Colter comes close.”

“Reminds me of illuminated manuscripts from medieval monks.” A beat. “Dor, look, I knew your father.”

She sensed a defense coming and preempted him. “You’re a lawyer, Tony. If the evidence is there, you go with it. And the evidence shows he had a daughter. And to have a daughter, he needed a lover.”

“Granted. But I was going to say, he wasn’t a serial philanderer. He would have cared about the girl’s mother. There must have been…extenuating circumstances.”

She gave a cold laugh. “That phrase can be used totry tojustify almost anything, Tony.”

She thought back to the night of the fight she’d had with Ashton, ending with her father and older brother facing off, a sharp blade between them.

“Let me ask you this,” she said firmly. “You steal a hundred dollars from a bank once, you’re still a bank robber, right? You don’t need to do it a dozen times to qualify.”

A sigh. “The court concedes the counselor’s point. Now, I was about to text you and Colter. I found another letter from Margaret’s mother, Sarah. It’s troubling. I’ll quote it. ‘Ash, I’m moving again. It’s exhausting. But I have no choice. They keep sniffing out my trail. They’re EVERYWHERE.’ That’s in all caps. ‘And I keep thinking about one thing: How did they find the last place I stayed, in SanFrancisco?’ ” Tony paused. “ ‘That room we know so well. Someone betrayed me. And I’m going to find out who it was. And then…Well, Ashton, as you know, actions have consequences.’ ”

Silence.

“That’s all?”

“It looks like it’s one of a couple of pages. I’ll keep looking for the others. These are just a jumble. He used to be so organized.”

For a brief moment Dorion nearly choked up. She nearly said, “People change.” But she didn’t, for fear her voice would crack. After a moment she managed, “Colter and I were thinking that maybe Sarah killed herself, and Margaret blames Mary Dove. Or she wants revenge against the whole family. Colter, Russell and me too. It sounds like she’s out for blood. It’s not just defense that she’s about. It’s offense too now.”

“Not totally far-fetched. I’ll keep looking.”

After a second Dorion said, “Ashton’s essays and letters, some of it? It’s pretty crazy.”

“Yes,” Tony said thoughtfully, “but not aliens-from-outer-space crazy. There’s a kernel of truth to what he’s saying. Corrupt politicians, corrupt companies, corrupt pharma…But he saw it everywhere. I’m a lawyer and evenIdon’t think there’s that much evil out there.”

A brief laugh. “We’re out in mining country, Tony. That’s the way it used to work, apparently. You panned through tons of rock and mud and dirt to come up with one nugget of gold.”

“That was your father, true. Though I wouldn’t call the insights he found gold. More like radioactive uranium.”

“I’ll tell you why I called, Tony. If anybody drives to the Compound, they have to go past your place. Any chance you could swing a security camera wide, so you’ll see them?”

“No security cams near the road, but I’ve got a wildlife camera in the back. Motion activated and infrared, so it works at night. And it’s camo, so nobody’d see it. I’ll move it to the front yard.”

“Thanks.”

She disconnected and heard the rattle of her brother’s motorcycle. He arrived at the far end of Route 13 and took the hill down into town. Then he sped through the village and up the hill on this side of the valley.

He climbed off and she joined him, wishing to speak in private about her call with Tony.

She first told him that their mother was safely out of the Compound but had been delayed en route. She would be here in the morning. Dorion then told him about the threatening letter that the lawyer had found. “Sarah was upset and suspicious. Talking about somebody betraying her. Almost like it was Ashton himself.”

“Betraying her how?”

“No answer that Tony found. I asked him to set up a camera on the road to the Compound.”

“Good.” He made a cup of coffee from the Keurig. Dorion declined. He said, “Let’s talk to the others. I’ve found a few things.”

They joined the mayor, Starr, Olsen and TC McGuire. Just then Eduardo Gutiérrez pulled up in his SUV. He would have seen Colter’s cycle, or heard it, and would be curious as to what he’d learned. He joined them too.

Colter said, “We need to confirm something, and if it’s true, we can eliminate Gabris.”

He told them that the developer had reported that Hinowah’s soil was tainted and that he wouldn’t even consider a development here.

Tolifson was frowning. “We did have some issues, I remember. I thought it was limited to Misfortune Row. That was closest to the silver mines.”

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