Zero Day (John Puller, #1)(56)

Puller sensed Randy didn’t expect or even want an answer so he said nothing. He looked around at the two sisters. Then at the brother. What was missing was obvious.

Mom and Dad.

Cole had said they had died.

The house was five years old. Randy had never been here.

He wondered if Mom and Dad had died five years ago.

He looked at Cole again. He started to say something, but it was almost as if Cole could read his mind. Her look was pleading. Puller closed his mouth and looked down at his hands.

The meal was served. There were four courses, and all of them were good. The Trents obviously had not simply a cook but a chef. Puller felt self-conscious as the hired help ladled out the soup and meticulously served every course. But he figured if he’d gotten up and started serving himself it might cause the maids more distress than anything else.

Over an hour later they all pushed back from the table, their bellies full. Randy wiped his mouth one last time with his napkin and finished off his glass of what Puller suspected was a very expensive red wine. When he was a kid his father had taken him and his brother to Provence and Tuscany. While the boys had been too young to drink, even by European standards, their father had taught them about wine. The general had been a connoisseur and collector. It also didn’t hurt that he spoke fluent French and Italian.

“Thanks for the vittles,” said Randy. “You still swimming in the cement pond, Jean? Keep that girlish figure of yours for old Roger?”

An embarrassed Cole glanced at Puller. “Randy, I don’t think you need to play the Beverly Hillbillies act for Agent Puller.”

“Oh, it’s not an act, Agent Puller. I’m clearly white trash that’s got rich relations. But I just refuse to put on airs. Let that be a lesson to you. Never forget where you came from.”

“Should I get a room ready for you, Randy?” asked Jean.

“Changed my mind. Got places to go, people to mess with.”

Cole said, “Would that include people like Roger?”

Randy stared over at her, his smile deepening but also hardening, Puller thought. Still, it was an infectious smile. Puller felt his own lips tug upward.

“Man’s out of town, ain’t he? That’s what I heard.”

“You have sources on his movements?” asked Puller.

“No, I saw his jet fly over Drake earlier.”

“Would that include people like Roger?” Cole asked again.

Puller glanced at Cole. She looked about as tense as Puller had seen her. And that included quite a few stressful situations.

“I’m cool, sister cop,” said Randy. “Roger goes his way. I go mine. And you folks go yours.” He spread his hands to indicate the members of his family. “But I guess your way is the same as Roger’s.”

“Don’t talk about things you don’t know anything about,” said Jean. “It’s a bad habit. Gets folks into all sorts of trouble.”

Randy rose, dropping his napkin on the table. “Damn nice visiting with you. Let’s shoot to do it in another ten years or so.”

“Randy?” said Jean. “Wait. I didn’t mean it like that.”

But he walked across the room and was gone, shutting the door quietly behind him.

CHAPTER

39


PULLER AND COLE left about thirty minutes later. Puller sat in the passenger seat of the truck and gazed out the window. He was full of questions about the evening, but he wasn’t going to ask any of them. It was none of his business.

Cole finally said, “Well, that was a lot of fun.”

“Families usually are.”

“I’m sure you have questions.”

“I don’t like people prying into my stuff, and I’m going to show you the same courtesy.”

They drove on in silence for five more minutes.

Cole began, “Our parents were killed when a boulder dislodged by a mine blast from one of Roger’s operations crushed the car they were in.”

Puller turned to look at her. “About five years ago?”

“About, yes.”

“And Randy took it hard?”

“We all took it hard,” she said fiercely. Then her look and tone softened. “But Randy took it the hardest of all. He and our parents were always close. Especially he and Daddy.”

Cole drove for a few more miles in silence. Puller looked around the truck’s interior and noted the new vinyl seats and the rebuilt dashboard with what looked to be original equipment. Even the floorboards looked new, with not a trace of rust.

“Did your dad redo this truck?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Reminds me of the cottage. Did you buy it along with the house?”

“Yes. Paid the money into the estate.”

“Is that what Randy lives off? Jean obviously doesn’t need the cash.”

“Yes. That’s how we set it up. Randy needed it more than me.”

“I can see that.”

“It’s funny. No one thought Roger Trent would amount to anything.”

“So how did he end up where he is today?”

“I have to admit, he worked hard. And had some vision. And some luck. He worked his way up in the coal business. He’s ruthless, arrogant, but he’s got a sixth sense for making money. And my daddy and brother did find a lot of coal for him. Even if it’s destroying the land.”