“What?” I asked.
It was his turn to smile sadly. “Nothing,” he said. “It’s just that your dad used to do that. Three fingers and Scout’s honor. It was funny because he got kicked out of the Scouts when he was twelve for being dishonest.”
I laughed, surprised by the lightness between us again at the mention of my dad. “I never knew that.”
Donny sighed and his gaze dropped to the table again. “I miss him, Maddie.”
And just like that all the humor left me. That happened a lot with the memory of my dad. It could make me laugh and cry at the same time.
“Donny?” I asked after a bit, still worrying about the possibility of being accused of Payton’s death.
“Yeah?”
“Do you think I’ll be okay?”
It was Donny’s turn to push a smile onto his face as he held up three fingers. “Sure, kiddo,” he said. “Scout’s honor.”
I didn’t have it in me to ask Donny if he’d been kicked out of the Scouts, too.
PAYTON WYLY’S BODY WAS DISCOVERED early the next morning. I found out when Donny called me after breakfast and said he was headed our way again. The feds were asking us to come back in for another meet and greet, and I felt a terrible foreboding.
Ma had been at work at the Drug Mart until late the night before, and was still in bed by the time Donny arrived, so we left her to sleep and headed to downtown Grand Haven. The bureau offices were again buzzing with activity, and this time when we came through the doors we found Faraday waiting for us. He walked us back to a room with a two-way mirror on the wall, and an overhead fluorescent bulb that gave our skin a sickly hue.
Donny and I sat down and Faraday asked us if we wanted anything to drink. I’d brought my own bottled water this time, and Donny declined, but Faraday left us anyway, saying that he was going for some coffee.
We waited patiently for him, but after twenty minutes it was clear that he was leaving us to sweat. Donny got up to pace and he even went to the door, but he found it locked, and that seemed to infuriate him. After two hours the door opened, and in walked Faraday. He had a records storage box with him and he set it on the table in front of us. My heart was pounding. I knew that whatever was in that box was bad.
“Have a seat,” he said to Donny and me.
Donny started in on him right away. “Is my niece under arrest?” he barked, pointing to the door. “Because we came down here, Faraday, on our own good faith, and you locked us up in here without charging her, which is illegal.”
Faraday cocked his head, and he wore a mocking sort of smile that I knew only angered Donny more. “Was the door locked? Huh. Sorry about that. Sometimes the door sticks, like at your sister-in-law’s house, and it can be a real pain to open.”
Donny’s fists clenched, and I could tell he wanted to storm right out of there, but Faraday calmly lifted the lid of the box and peered inside like he had a secret treasure he couldn’t wait to show us.
Donny looked at me, raising an eyebrow. I shook my head slightly. I had no idea what was in the box. With a sigh, my uncle took his seat and crossed his arms. He’d put up with this little charade only as long as it took for Faraday to deal his hand, then I knew he’d demand to leave.
Faraday sat down, but kept the contents of the box hidden from us. “As you may have heard,” he began, “we found Payton Wyly’s body early this morning down by the Waliki River about a half mile from where Tevon Tibbolt’s remains were discovered.” My mouth went dry. I knew that much, but it was still hard to hear. He then reached into the box and pulled out an evidence bag. Inside was what looked like a torn-up image of a kitten with its paw raised. It’d been taped back together a bit haphazardly, but I recognized it immediately as the card we’d sent to Payton. Donny scowled. My efforts to save Payton had just come back to haunt me.
“Know what this is?” Faraday asked me.
I didn’t even have to look at Donny to see if I should answer. He’d already told me at the restaurant the day before. “Yes,” I said. “It’s a card that Stubs and I sent to Payton Wyly.”
Faraday’s brow shot up. He seemed surprised by my answer.
I knew I had to tell him why we’d sent it, so I began with the football game, pointing out that I’d seen both him and Wallace there, and while we were in the stands I’d seen Payton’s deathdate. “It was coming so soon that I freaked out when I saw it,” I explained. “I left the stands, and Stubby came after me, so I told him what I’d seen. He wanted to go back then and there and warn her, but with you guys in the bleachers and all the stuff that happened after I read for Mrs. Tibbolt, I didn’t think that was such a good idea.”
Donny leaned forward. “I had also told my niece that she was not to verbalize any deathdate she saw to anyone.”
I nodded. “Right. But Stubs and I both felt really bad for Payton, and we decided that we had to try something to warn her, so we bought that card and wrote out a message to mail to her. I know the message sounds weird, but we didn’t know what to say to get her to listen to us. We’d overheard her tell her friends that she was getting a new car for her birthday, and we kind of assumed she was going to be in a car accident. Neither one of us thought it would end like…”
My voice trailed off. It was still hard for me to fathom that Payton had been murdered.
Faraday was eyeing me with intense scrutiny. I couldn’t tell if he believed me or not. “You didn’t think it would end like what, Maddie? Like this?” And he reached inside his box and pulled out a photograph, slapping it down on the table in front of us.