Julie didn’t answer. She gazed out the window.
“What’s the matter?” Robie asked.
“Your questions made me realize I knew shit about my parents.”
“Lots of kids don’t know much about their parents.”
“Don’t lie to try and make me feel better.”
“I’m not,” Robie said evenly. “I didn’t even know my parents.”
She looked over at him. “So you were adopted?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you said—”
“So you don’t know if your dad was in the military or not? I need to find out for certain.”
“Why?”
“If he was in the military and has the same tattoo as Rick Wind it might be that they served together. Lots of grunts from the same unit did similar body art. If we can track that down, things might start making sense.”
Julie said, “Can you find out if my dad was in the military?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. The Pentagon is great at keeping track of who served.”
Robie slid his phone out, hit a speed-dial key, and was soon talking to Blue Man. He relayed his request and clicked off.
“We’ll know soon enough,” he told Julie.
“Why did you ask me when my dad started doing drugs?”
“No reason.”
“That’s crap. You have a reason for everything you do.”
“Okay, he might have started using drugs in the military.”
“Why? Do all soldiers use drugs?”
“Of course not, but some of them do. While they’re in the military, and they keep it up after they leave. And if he served abroad, he might have had
access to them more readily.”
“So this is all about drugs?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You’re not making much sense,” she said irritably.
“Do you know how your parents met?”
“At a party. In San Francisco. And, no, I don’t think it was a drug party,” she added bitterly.
Robie put the car back in gear and continued driving. His phone buzzed again. He glanced at the screen. It was Vance.
Julie saw it too. “Sounds like super agent Vance really wants you to go and see her.”
“Well, super agent Vance will just have to wait,” replied Robie.
“An eyewitness to the bus explosion?”
Robie shot her a questioning glance.
Julie said, “Super agent Vance has a loud voice. Pretty easy for me to overhear.”
“Yeah, that I got.”
“Did the eyewitness see us?”
“Would seem so.”
“I don’t remember seeing anybody around that night.”
“I didn’t either.”
“You think the person is lying?”
“It’s possible.”
“Change of location for you.”
“Why?”
“Never a good idea to stay in one place too long.”
He peered in the rearview mirror just as he had been doing every sixty seconds.
There’s no way anyone could have followed me. And if they have it won’t do them any good.