Night Shift
Page 45

“It might not be your dad?” Fiji was dazzled. The mysterious Olivia was finally unburdening herself.
“My father has a right-hand man, Ellery McGuire. My father would never believe it, but Ellery has been trying for years to position himself to take over the company. My dad is old, and he never has been great at inspiring love and loyalty; I’ll just put it that way. My brother is dead, killed a few years ago in a ski accident.”
“I never knew you had a brother,” Fiji said, spellbound by the sudden spate of revelation. “Your family’s really rich?” She thought that explained a lot about Olivia’s confidence level. And maybe her ruthlessness.
“Yeah. Really, really rich.” Olivia nodded.
“And you don’t hang with them because?”
“Because when I was really young, my stepmother and her boyfriends molested me. And she made me call her ‘Mother’ while she did it.”
“That sucks more than I can imagine. What happened to your real mother?”
“She and Dad got divorced and she remarried. She had some issues with alcohol—surprise, surprise. That’s why my dad got custody of me. My real mom survived a few years, but then alcohol killed her.”
“Did your dad know? What your stepmother had done?”
“He said he didn’t, when I confronted him,” Olivia said, letting her shoulders rise and fall. “Some days, I believe him. Mostly I just hope not.”
Compared to Olivia’s family, Kiki was a walk in the park, Fiji realized. “Is your stepmother still alive?” she asked.
“No.” And Olivia smiled.
Message received, Fiji thought. “So you figure not only your father is looking for you, but also this right-hand-of-darkness guy? Ellery McGuire?”
“Yeah. I figure so.”
“How do you hide from someone that rich?”
“It isn’t easy. And, as you can tell, someone has found out where I am because—to get back to the original conversation—that’s why the Reeds are here.”
“To watch you.”
“To watch me.”
“And why are you here in my house, again? Specifically today? Just because I’m mad at Teacher, too?”
“Here’s the deal. I’m sure Manfred told you Teacher hitched a ride with him to Killeen?”
Fiji nodded.
“And he told you that Teacher pumped him for information on the way?”
“I don’t think he mentioned that, no.”
“Well, he did. Ask him a lot of questions. Anyway, Teacher wanted to be let off at this hardware store, because he said he knew the owner really well and the owner was able to get Teacher some really great tools that Teacher needed. That sounds totally made up to me. Why couldn’t the guy mail them to Teacher? Why couldn’t Teacher order them online?”
“So?”
“So, you and I should go to Killeen and find out what we can about this man and about his business.”
“And that will help us how?”
“That will help us know more. And knowing more is always good.”
Hard to argue with that, Fiji thought. “Okay, do we have the name of the store?”
“It’s on San Jacinto Street,” Olivia said. “And the name of the store is Handyman Hardware. It’s been under the management of this man for three years, about the same length of time that the Reeds have been at Home Cookin.”
“Seems like they could have placed someone closer if this store guy’s goal is to support the Reeds,” Fiji said.
“Yeah, well. This is what we’ve got to work with,” Olivia said. “When can we go?”
Fiji looked at her calendar. “I don’t want to work tomorrow, anyway,” she said recklessly. “Let’s go then. What are you planning on doing to this man?”
“We’ll wing it,” Olivia said, smiling a very unpleasant smile.
They left early on Saturday morning in Olivia’s anonymous gray car. Fiji figured Olivia would experience a backlash after telling her so much about her life, so she was prepared for Olivia to be extra snarly during the ride. To her surprise and pleasure, Olivia seemed more relaxed than she’d ever been in Fiji’s company.
Fiji thought, It’s almost like being with a real friend. The idea startled her; she’d considered Olivia more a companion in a shared experience, as though they’d gone through sorority hazing or a store robbery side by side.
“Have you heard from your sister since she left so abruptly?” Olivia asked.
“My mother called to ask me what I’d done to her,” Fiji said. “She was crying. My mom, that is.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. One of the things Kiki told me was that my dad has Alzheimer’s, and my mom is taking care of him full-time. Kiki wanted to find some excuse not to help her, I think; she separated from her husband before she knew what going back home would mean. Or maybe he threw her out. He’s humping her boss, who fired her for stealing. And he’s gambling. A complicated situation.”
“Some people would be glad to have the chance to take care of their father,” Olivia said, neutrally.
“That wouldn’t be Kiki, and she’s right there and was the favorite daughter,” Fiji said. “If my mom asks me directly, I’ll give her a break for a week.” She felt anything but pleased at the prospect. “My dad isn’t a bad man, but he’s proud, and that’s always made him hard to deal with. Maybe he’s not anymore. I’ve heard the disease makes you the opposite of what you were. It would be really pleasant if Dad was the opposite of the way he was when I was growing up.”
“You could ask this young woman Manfred’s so hot for,” Olivia said. “Estella. She’s a part-time caregiver at the place where our old people are staying.”
“I looked for her when I was there to see Mamie,” Fiji said. “But I didn’t cast eyes on her.”
“If you were there in the afternoon, you wouldn’t. She works at night and goes to classes during the day,” Olivia told her. “She’s a nursing student, I think. I checked up on her.” Olivia said this very casually, as if that were normal procedure.
“I’m glad he’s found someone. Since Creek left the picture.”
“Me, too. Now we need to work on you,” Olivia said.