“She’s working, the feed store in Plackett. She’s the assistant manager.”
Deliah clapped her hands. “Children, everyone sit down, more pancakes coming up. Tanny, please set a place for Agent Savich. He will join us.”
She turned back to spoon more batter into two big flat skillets. Everyone listened to the batter hiss and sputter.
Liggert said, “Why’d you come back so soon? It’s about Brakey’s bracelet; you’re not here for Mama’s pancakes.”
“That’s certainly a side benefit,” Savich said as he sat down next to Deliah Alcott’s place at the other end of the table. Tanny slid a plate with three stacked blueberry pancakes in front of him. Savich breathed them in, smiled up at her. “They smell great. Thank you, Mrs. Alcott.”
Ms. Louisa sidled her wheelchair into the kitchen and pulled up close to the table, a child on either side of her. She nodded to Savich and said in a scratchy drawl, “Well, Marly, did I lie? Isn’t he a looker? As for you, Liggert, don’t go all huffy and stick your knife in his gullet just because Marly appreciates the look of the man. That wouldn’t be polite.” She grabbed a bit of a child’s pancake, and stuffed it into her mouth. She laughed. “At least let him enjoy his breakfast first.”
“That isn’t funny, Mother,” Deliah said as she flipped another pancake.
Marly sent a nervous look at her husband, who was busy forking down a pancake, ignoring her and ignoring his grandmother.
Ms. Louisa said, “The boy’s here for a reason, Morgana. I’m helping him out. So now you’ve met both of Dilly’s older boys, Liggert and Jonah. They’re buff and loud and tough, aren’t they? Their daddy was as tough as they were once, but later on he wasn’t, not at all. Like I told you yesterday, Dilly was weak.”
“That’s not fair, Mother,” Deliah said patiently as she turned another pancake. “He was the strongest man I’ve ever known. After the first Gulf War, he simply couldn’t abide violence.” She said over her shoulder, “He was in Iraq. It . . . changed him.”
“It changed a lot of people,” Savich said.
Ms. Louisa cackled. “But would you look at how Dilly bit the big one. He didn’t croak it like a man should, he got himself run down by a stupid car and a driver who didn’t care enough to stop and see if he was still breathing. It’s a cruel world, Morgana, a cruel, cold world. You should be glad two of your boys can take care of themselves.”
Brakey burst out, “I can take care of myself, Grandma, most of the time. Agent Savich is here because he thought I’d escape, isn’t that right? You know what happened to my ankle bracelet, don’t you?” He suddenly fisted his hand around his fork. “I didn’t kill anyone else, did I?”
No one died, Brakey.” Savich turned to Deliah. “Sorry about breakfast, but please tell Tanny to take all the children into the living room. I don’t think they should be here for this.”
She gave him a long look, then nodded toward Tanny, who started to protest. Deliah overrode her. “Everyone take a last bite. The pancakes will be here when you get back. Now all of you go with Tanny to the family room. Watch TV, all right? I’ll call you when you can come back.”
After the children had filed out of the kitchen, Savich said, “I showed all of you except Liggert the drawing of Stefan Dalco.” He called up the photo on his phone, handed it down the table. Liggert only glanced at it, shook his head, impatient.
Savich looked around the table. “I believe one or more of you know who this man is, you recognize that sketch but aren’t telling me. Why? Because you want to protect this person who calls himself Stefan Dalco? He is one of you, or someone you know? I have seen this man. He is a psychic and he appeared to me in a dream as he did to Brakey and Walter Givens, and now Charles Marker. Dalco wanted Sparky Carroll and Deputy Kane Lewis dead, and he told them what he wanted them to do, forced them to commit murder and then forget all of it.”
Brakey said, “Charlie? What does Charlie have to do with this? Is he all right?”
“Charlie Marker is in the hospital, Brakey. He has a gunshot wound, and he’s in surgery. He tried to shoot Agent Hammersmith and me a little while ago in the pine woods about ten miles west of here. Charlie obviously got the bracelet from you early this morning, though you don’t remember that. He used your ankle bracelet as the lure to get us to follow him into those woods.
“Charlie will probably pull through, but like you, Brakey, and Walter Givens, I’m sure he won’t remember anything. Dalco sees to that; it’s one of his orders.