“It’s like she cleaned it one last time for dad,” whispered the girl, wiping her eyes.
“Oh, honey, I don’t know,” said Griff. “Did your mom clean like this all the time?”
“All the time,” she said with a sad smile. “Mom was a bit OCD. We used to laugh at her because she liked things in their place.”
“I’m going to open the dresser drawers and just feel for a letter or note or something, okay?” She nodded, watching him as he carefully, gently touched her parents things. When he found nothing, he did the same thing to the clothes in the closet.
Noticing two books at her bedside, he fanned the pages and didn’t see anything other than a ticket from a slot machine at the local casino.
“She won,” smiled Griff. “Not much but it was thirty-nine dollars.”
“Mom didn’t go to the casino,” frowned Claire. “She said gambling was for fools and dreamers. I think she didn’t like them because her father was a gambler and lost their home when she was little.”
“I see,” nodded Griff. “Well, maybe this was from a friend or something she saved.”
“Maybe,” said the girl softly.
Griff snapped a photo of the ticket, noticing that the date on it was just five days before Clementine’s death. He looked under the bed and didn’t find so much as a dust bunny. There was nothing hidden behind photographs or paintings, and nothing inside of the shoe boxes in the closet.
“Do you-do you think we did something wrong?” whispered the girl.
“Oh, no sweetie,” he said touching her shoulder. “No. I don’t think any of you did anything wrong. I think your mother was in a lot of pain and didn’t know how to fix whatever was wrong.”
“It just hurts, you know,” she said wiping her eyes.
“I know, honey. Come on, let’s go back out there with your dad and brother. If you ever need to talk, Claire, you call me or a teacher or a police officer, someone. Don’t let it overwhelm you.”
“Like mom did,” she said sadly.
“Yeah, honey. Like your mom did.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Hex, Torro, and Chase pulled up to the rundown shack where Casimir’s body was found. They were all surprised that the entire thing hadn’t tumbled over just with the reverberation of the shotgun.
“You the boys from that security company?” asked a man walking toward them.
“Yes, sir. I’m Hex, this is Torro and Chase.”
“Nice to meet you boys. I was sad about Casimir. He was a good man, just down on his luck. He’d lost his job about a year ago, worked some odd jobs here and there but couldn’t seem to find anything permanent.”
“The sheriff said his wife left with the kids,” said Chase.
“Yeah, she was a real piece of work,” frowned the old man. “Casimir worked his ass off. The minute they hit a bump, she was gone with the kids. He swore he’d find something again and they’d be back together but that woman had no intention of coming back.”
“Was he a drinker?” asked Torro.
“Very little. I never saw the man have more than one or two beers. When he got kicked out of his apartment, I told him I had this place for him. It’s not much as you can see but I told him if he fixed it up, I’d give it to him.”
“Give it to him? That’s generous of you,” said Hex.
“I’ve been in his shoes before,” said the old man. “Someone gave me a shot and I was able to get back on my feet. Casimir couldn’t find a job without an address. At least this gave him that. He was trying to fortify the foundation, fix the porch and so forth but the weather hasn’t exactly been cooperating.”
“Were there any personal effects of his inside?” asked Chase.
“Two shirts, an extra pair of pants, a few socks and a few other things. That was it. Had I known, had I any clue it was so bad I would have let him stay with me and my wife. It’s not much but we had a spare room he could have stayed in.”
“When did you last see him?” asked Torro.
