214 Wills novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: His Daughter

Beth found the dead man's daughter in one afternoon.

She did it from a nurses' lounge phone with a county clerk who owed her a favor.

"The family is listed on the old sentencing docket," she said. "The daughter still lives in the same house. She works days at a nursing home."

"Will she come?" Callie asked.

"I told her it was about the crash. She hung up."

"Call again."

"I did. She called back." Beth rubbed her eyes. "She's in the cafeteria."

Callie was in a wheelchair by four.

I pushed her down the long corridor with her cast stuck straight out in front.

She had washed her face. She had asked Beth for lipstick and then wiped it off.

"What if she spits at me?" she said.

"Then I'll stand in front of you."

"You'd get spit on."

"I'll live."

She almost smiled.

The woman was sitting alone at a corner table with her coat still on.

She was about forty, with gray roots and work-worn hands, and a plain cardigan with a nursing home's name stitched on the pocket.

She watched us come across the room.

Her eyes stayed on Callie's face the whole time.

"You're Callie Troyer," she said.

"Yes."

"I never thought I'd see you."

"I've thought about you every day for ten years," Callie said. "I wrote to you from prison. I never got an answer."

"I got one letter," the woman said. "I burned it."

Callie flinched.

I put my hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Callie said. "I need to ask you something, and I need you to tell me the truth. Did you get money from me?"

The woman's mouth tightened.

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