Thread of Truth, стр. 27
She sniffed. “I don't know where he got the money.”
Bill Cousins stood. “I think we're at an end point here.”
I looked at him. “End point?”
He sighed. “Look, I understand that the Lockers are hurting. I really do. But so is my daughter and she has to start figuring out what's next for her. It's terrible what happened to Desmond. No matter how I felt about him, I mean that. It's terrible.” He paused. “But trying to figure out what Desmond was doing or finding the jerk that ran him down isn't going to help Olivia. And she's our first concern right now. Our only concern, really. I understand the Lockers may need that, but we don't.”
I stood. “I understand.” I looked at Olivia. “I'm sorry if this was upsetting. I didn't mean for it to be.”
“I'm fine.” She looked anything but.
Bill walked me to the door. “I know you're just trying to do your job,” he said, lowering his voice. “But we have to focus on our daughter now. And the police have made their call on the case. So I'm going to ask that you leave her out of whatever you're trying to do for Desmond's family.”
“I hear you,” I told him. I stood in the entryway. “Do you really think he was dealing?”
“I have no idea. But it was the first thing that came to my mind.”
“Did you ever see any evidence he was using again?”
He shook his head. “No, but I'm not an expert, either.” He paused. “But you tell me. How else does a kid without a job get his hands on the kind of money he was spending?”
It was a very good question.
TWENTY THREE
“Was your son using again?” I asked.
Tom and Alice Locker were sitting at their kitchen table, across from me. I'd driven there after my talk with Olivia, wanting to poke around a little about what they thought their son might've been into before his death.
“What?” Tom couldn’t hide his surprise.
“Was he using again?” I repeated.
Tom glanced at his wife, then shook his head. “No. Absolutely not.”
I looked at Alice.
“No,” she said, resolute in her agreement with her husband.
I didn't want to offend them, but I also wondered if they were overlooking what was going on with their son because they didn't want to see it. After all, they’d readily admitted they’d been guilty of that once before. “You're saying you don't think there's any possibility he had a relapse of some kind?”
Tom stood abruptly and left the room without a word. I wasn't sure if he was angry with me or what, but I was shocked that he’d simply gotten up and walked out.
Alice looked just as surprised. Her cheeks burned red and she refused to look at me.
He returned a moment later with a piece of paper in his hand. He slid it across the table to me as he sat down. “Take a look.”
The sheet was a series of dates beneath Desmond's name. It looked like a medical report of some sort, but I wasn't entirely sure of what I was looking at.
“It's his urinalysis tests,” Tom said. “He was required to go every week as part of his probation and community service. The last date on there is two days before he disappeared.” His expression was hard. “See how it says negative for every date on there? That means not once did he test dirty. Not once. He was clean.” He shook his head. “He wasn't using.”
I slid the paper back to him. “Thank you. That's good to know.”
It was. And it was hard evidence to refute in any way.
“Why are you asking?” he pressed. “There has to be a reason.”
I explained to them what Stan Zavalla told me, but held off on the emails. Both of Desmond's parents appeared shocked when they realized what I was telling them.
“That can't be right,” Alice said slowly. The blush from her cheeks was gone, as if the color had been physically drained from her face.
“I spoke to Zavalla,” I told them. “He was very clear. Desmond asked for the hours, but he didn't give them to him. Desmond was not working extra hours for him.”
“Then where was he getting the money?” Tom asked, sounding skeptical of what I'd just told him. “How was he coming up with the money to buy things for the baby and for Olivia?”
“It's a good question,” I said. “Which is why I asked about his possible using again. The seemingly fastest way to get his hands on extra cash would've been if he'd been dealing. He knew the world, and he probably could've connected with the right people to sell.”
Tom stiffened in his chair. “That would've been against the terms of his probation. There's no way he would've done that.”
“I believe you,” I said. “But the fact that he was lying about where he was getting money from is...something to consider.”
Alice leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
“He was getting the money from somewhere,” I explained. “I don't know where yet. He clearly wasn't being honest with you about the source. I think you need to look at why he would've chosen to lie to you about that.”
“I'm not sure how that helps us figure out what happened to him,” Tom said.
“I'm not sure it does,” I admitted. “But I talked to Zavalla and found this out before I knew about the accident. I thought you needed to know.”
“Will they do a toxicology screen on him?” Alice asked. “I know they were doing an autopsy but is that automatically included?”
Tom jerked his head in her direction. “What?”
She pressed her fingers to