Page 54 of Outsider

The words seem to snap Gina from her fugue of anger. Glancing at the children, she strides to the sofa and drops onto it. She leans forward, places her elbows on her knees, and stares down at the floor.

Lizzie nods, her eyes flicking past me toward Gina. More interesting things going on here, but she’s too well behaved to linger.

“I thought we might make my famous green beans and ham hock tonight,” I say. “Go on now.”

Taking a final look at Gina, the girls retreat to the kitchen. As they clamber down the steps to the cellar, I go back to the living room. No one has spoken. Tomasetti stands next to the front window, looking out at the snow. Gina is still sitting on the sofa, elbows on her knees, her eyes on the floor.

Tomasetti addresses me. “I didn’t make my meeting with Denny,” he tells me, referring to his superior at BCI. “Even with tire chains, I couldn’t reach the interstate. We chatted on the phone, but he wouldn’t give me much. All I can tell you is that BCI is looking at this. If the FBI isn’t involved already, they will be soon.”

Gina raises her gaze to Tomasetti. “You know what’s going to happen next, right? The fine men and women of the vice unit are going to ‘find’ the person responsible for gunning down Jack Tyson. That suspect will not survive the arrest. The evidence against him will be overwhelming. The ensuing investigation will be short and the case will be closed and forgotten.”

Thinly veiled fury boils in the depths of her eyes. It’s tightly controlled at the moment. But I know Gina; I’ve seen that iron fist of control unravel. She’s not the kind of person to forgive and forget. She holds on to those volatile emotions. When she unleashes them, look out.

Tomasetti returns her stare, silent, giving her nothing in terms of response.

“Where does this leave us?” I ask.

He shrugs. “We let BCI and the FBI do their jobs,” he tells me. “I’ll talk to Denny when I can make it to Columbus. Keep digging around on my end.”

I turn my attention to Gina. “You mentioned you and Tyson were trying to come up with evidence of wrongdoing that you could take to someone you trust. You have the audio recording—”

“We knew it wasn’t enough.”

“Is it possible he had something else in his possession that might help us?”

“I don’t know,” she says. “We just didn’t get that far.”

“Cell phone?” I press. “Computer? Is there someone he may have entrusted it with?”

“I’m the only one he trusted,” she says. “Last time I talked to him we were still trying to put all of this together. Kate, if someone from the vice unit was at the scene when Jack was killed, they probably already have his cell phone. Probably whatever was in his locker, too.”

Tomasetti steps in. “BCI will have someone at scene.”

Gina turns a hollow-eyed look on him. “There’s no way they got there fast enough. Even if Bertrand or Mercer hired some thug to do the murder, you know someone from the vice unit got there first and took what they wanted.”

Silence ensues, everything that’s been said settling uncomfortably.

After a few minutes, Tomasetti turns to me. “I see you got the Explorer out.”

I tell him about Adam using the draft horses to pull our vehicles from the snow. “We parked Gina’s F-150 in the barn. Out of sight.”

He nods. “Electricity is still out at the farm. Utility company says they should have things up and running inside of twenty-four hours. Linemen are having a tough time getting out,” he says. “You want the bad news?”

I groan.

“There’s another round of snow and wind in the forecast for tonight.”

Gina makes a sound of disgust. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

He lifts his lip in a poor imitation of a smile. “You guys all set here as far as supplies?”

I smile. “Adam’s only got a few hundred jars of canned vegetables and meats,” I say dryly. “I think he’s going to try to get out and cut some wood tomorrow.”

“Sounds like the Amish are faring a lot better than the rest of us,” he says.

I don’t mention that this kind of extreme weather makes caring for livestock exponentially more difficult. That the Amish have to deal with frozen drinking water and frozen pipes just like everyone else, only without the added benefit of electricity.

“You have time for a cup of coffee?” I ask.