Zeb had called Rydel, or warned him somehow, when he’d overheard Jem and Tean at the campground.But Zeb had also, according to Van Cleave, given up his brother when the SBI started investigating.That seemed like a contradiction, but it wasn’t, not really.People were complicated.It wasn’t hard to imagine Zeb panicking when he first heard someone was looking for his brother and then, after he’d learned what his brother had been doing, cooperating with the police.
On the other hand, contradiction or not, something about it felt off to Jem.He just didn’t know what.
And the last, most important fact: Daniel was gone.The boy had gone looking for a killer, and he had found one.
The question now was: what did they do about it?
Jem placed a call to Tinajas.
“I don’t want to hear about it,” she said.“I’m tired.My feet hurt.I got two calls from the school today—two.”
“But you answered the phone,” Jem pointed out.“So, maybe you do want to hear about it?”
Tinajas disconnected.
Jem placed the call again.
“What do you want?”she snapped when she answered again.
“Are you still at work?”
“Oh no.This better not bethatkind of call.”
“It’ll be so fast.It’ll be so easy and quick and, uh, not a problem that you won’t even remember it happened.”
“Is that what you tell Tean?”
“Ouch,” Jem said, but he couldn’t put any heart into it.
Tinajas must have noticed something, because her voice changed.“Is everything okay?”
“Not really.I don’t know.This is kind of a long shot anyway.”
“What do you got?”
Tinajas worked for the DMV, which was convenient if you needed to find where someone lived, or what kind of cars they had registered in their name, or a few other interesting tidbits.She was also the closest thing Jem had to a sister; they’d been in some of the same foster homes together, and now that Benny was dead, she was really the only one Jem still stayed in touch with from that part of his life.
He gave her Rydel Welker and Zeb Welker.
“Nothing for Rydel Welker,” she said.“Let me see about the other.”
“Nothing?”
But she didn’t answer.When she spoke again, she said, “He’s got a black Dodge Ram.Address is a place in Roosevelt.”
“Is it a campground?”
“Why would it be a campground?”But she was silent again as she did the search, and then she said, “Strange Lights.Does that sound familiar?”
“That’s the one.”
“Well, fuck.Who are these guys?What did they do?”
“Can I tell you later?”
“Sure.When you buy me something nice to make this worth my time.”
“You’re the best.”
