Tom kept his eyes fixed on the fence as they walked through the Red Zone. “She only had the breath to say one thing.” He paused for so long, the boys thought he wasn’t going to finish, but then he said, “‘Save my little girl. Save Nix.’”
“I can’t believe this is happening.” Chong wiped tears from his eyes. “My dad said that the Mekong brothers sometimes work with Charlie Matthias.”
“I know,” said Tom.
“Dad told Captain Strunk to have Leroy Williams look at the footprints you found. I think he was going to.”
Tom nodded.
“What can he do?” Benny asked. He knew Williams as a farmer who had lost an arm in a car wreck while driving an SUV filled with refugees through the Ruin.
“Before First Night,” Tom said, “Leroy was a robbery detective in San Diego. He’d have been captain of the guard here if it hadn’t been for the arm.”
They reached the blockhouse that was used as a guard station. A pair of horses were tied up outside, and Leroy Williams and Captain Strunk stood near them. A knot of fence guards and deputies from the town watch were clustered behind them.
Leroy, dressed in denim coveralls and a white cotton T-shirt, came to meet them. He offered Tom his left hand, and they shook.
“Sorry about Jessie, Tom,” said Williams. He was a black man in his late sixties or early seventies. His dark skin was crisscrossed with terrible scars, but he had kind eyes. “This is a bad, bad business. Whole world gets wiped out, and people are still preying on one another. People just don’t learn.”
“No, they don’t,” agreed Tom bitterly.
Leroy glanced at Benny, sizing him up. “Maybe some of you kids will have better sense.”
“We will,” Benny said, although he wasn’t as sure as he sounded.
“Leroy,” Tom said, “Lou Chong here told me that you’re going to look at the crime scene at Jessie’s place.”
“We just got back,” said Strunk as he joined them.
“And … ?”
“Well,” said Leroy, “the town watch pretty much walked over most of the footprints you found.” He shot a disapproving look at Strunk, who stared at the dirt between his booted toes. “But I found some useful footprints in Nix’s room … and Jessie’s. I took five or six sets of boot prints and took them with me over to that piece of crap shack where Joey Duk lives. I found shoe prints in his laundry room that matched. He was there, Tom. Vin Tran too. No doubt about it.”
“Don’t try to sell me on that bull, Leroy,” snapped Tom, but the big farmer held up a hand.
“Hush, son.” Leroy stepped closer, dropping his voice, so that Benny and Chong had to bend forward to hear him. Strunk did, too. “The Mekong brothers weren’t home, so I went over to the Matthias place. I asked Big Zak if I could look in Charlie’s room, but Zak told me to … Well, I won’t say what he suggested I do with myself. He said that Charlie was innocent of anything connected with what went on tonight, but I wasn’t buying that because Big Zak don’t open his mouth unless he wants to lie. He was also sweating and looking shifty. He tried to throw me off his porch. Me, an old cripple-man.”
“What happened?” Benny asked.
“What you think happened, young ’un? I put my foot up his fool ass and threw him off his damn porch, then I went through the house and kicked Charlie’s door off its hinges. Thought I was going to have some trouble with Big Zak’s boy, but once he saw his dad lying in the rose bushes, Young Zak decided that he liked hiding in his closet better than messing in matters beyond his years.”
“You find anything?” Tom asked. “Did you match the prints to Charlie’s shoes?”