instantly sat up straighter, even if he glared at Atticus. “I’m sorry, Lamb. You know how wound up I can get.”
I rubbed his back with the flat of my palm and dropped a kiss on his cheek. “I do, but I need you to hold it together for just a little bit, please. Now, let’s see what we can figure out, okay? You said you went inside. Was the killer still inside when you went to check on Uncle Monty?”
He swallowed hard and nodded with a violent shiver. “Yes. I heard them fighting and then…the…gunshot. He came running out just after I came into the store, and he had that gun in his hand, and it was so big, Lamb. I’ve never seen one up close, and I was so terrified, but he paid no mind to me. He just ran out of the store. He’d obviously killed that poor child just after I got into the store, but I don’t understand what happened to Monty. I just don’t understand how he managed not to get himself shot.”
“Did the killer see you, Uncle Darling?” That sent a shiver of unadulterated fear along my spine.
“I don’t know if he saw me, but it doesn’t matter if I saw him because he had on a ski mask. A black, knit ski mask. He was dressed in all black. In fact, he was very chic, something I’d envy if he hadn’t slaughtered that poor boy and hurt my Monty.”
What an odd thing to stand out, but Uncle Darling was like my sister, in that fashion was very important in both their lives, unlike me, who really loved a good flannel shirt and a pair of jeans.
“Chic? How do you mean, he was chic?”
“I know this sounds absolutely crackers for me to have noticed something so random and trivial in light of the fact that I was petrified, but I noticed his trousers were clean and pleated down the front to within an inch of their life. Once a fashionista, always a fashionista, I suppose. Even in the killing fields of Feeney’s.”
“Can you remember any other details like that? Did he say anything? Did you hear anything?”
That was when Uncle Darling almost jumped off the chair, his aging eyes wide. “Hold on…just hold on! I did hear him say something.” He put his fingers to his temples and squeezed.
I held my breath and waited as Atticus asked urgently, “What did he say, Andrew?”
Rolling up the sleeves of his heavy red sweater, he winced. “He said…give me that stupid S…” He paused a moment and bunched his fist in front of his mouth as though he were thinking, and then he yelled, “That SD card! Yes! He said give me that—pardon my colorful language—‘effin’ SD card.’”
Everyone grew quiet until Uncle Darling asked, “What in all of a Gucci bag is an SD card?”
I didn’t know a lot about computers and tech, but I knew enough to know what an SD card was used for. But before I could answer…
“It’s usually what stores the memory in a phone or a video surveillance camera.”
Chapter 4
Underneath the Tree
Written by Kelly Clarkson, Greg Kurstin, 2013
Hobbs’s husky voice gave us the answer as Stephen King grunted his way into the kitchen and placed his thick paws on my thighs for some love. “What makes you ask?”
I’d told Hobbs to let himself in when he was done feeding and walking Stephen King. Somehow, his presence made the task of talking to Uncle Darling less daunting. He appeared to comfort him in a way I couldn’t.
I smiled down at Stephen King and stooped to press a kiss on his broad tan and white head. “That’s what the killer said when Uncle Darling first entered the store. Apparently, the killer was fighting with Gable in the men’s room, and if he wanted an SD card, he probably wanted to erase the video of him being there. The question is, why? I mean, sure, it’s a good safeguard to keep from being identified, but he was masked, and I’d bet my life savings he covered his tracks.”
Hobbs pulled off his rawhide jacket and knit cap, hanging them both on a chair in the dining room before he said, “Mind bringing me up to speed?”
I repeated what Uncle Darling had told us as I got him a beer and popped the top off, setting it in front of him on the kitchen counter. “And that’s where we’re at,” I finished on a grim note.
Hobbs cleared