Chilling Effect

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face that satisfi ed her.
    “Okay. Isaac said someone was siphoning off money from the
    casino.”
    “He told you this?”
    “Yeah. A couple weeks ago, I ran into him when I was going to
    pick up my paycheck. He was all excited about it.”
    “Do you know who else he might have told?”
    Th e woman shook her head fi ercely, swinging her high-combed
    hair wildly around her head. “No one. No way he would have told
    anyone else.”
    “But he told you.”
    “Right. And I told him that running around saying things like
    that was a great way to get himself killed. Looks like I was right, too.” Her voice cracked.
    Aroostine stopped herself from pointing out that if Isaac really
    hadn’t told anyone other than Ruby then she was going to fi nd herself 51
    MELISSA F. MILLER
    the principal suspect in a murder investigation. “How can you be so sure, though, that he didn’t confi de in someone else?”
    “I think I really scared him when I said that. He started to get
    paranoid, fearful of everything. I just know he wouldn’t have. Plus, who else would he tell?”
    “I have no idea. Why’d he tell you? Th at seems like an odd thing
    to share with a neighbor.”
    Ruby pursed her lips and grappled with how to respond. She
    let out a small sigh. “Isaac had a crush on me, okay? He was try-
    ing to impress me. I liked him, I liked how he was with Lily, but I didn’t feel that way about him. So I acted like I didn’t know about his feelings, even though they were pretty obvious. But he wouldn’t have told anyone else. I know it.”
    “Okay. Understood. Did he tell you any details—how he found
    out about the embezzlement, who he thought might be behind it,
    anything?”
    Another pause and another breath. Th en Ruby said, “Yeah. I’d
    gotten angry with him about the whole mess and told him not to
    talk to me about it. Th en, about a week ago, Lily was at his house—
    he was teaching her how to play chess. I went over to pick her
    up, and I could tell something was wrong, you know? He had this
    real tight expression on his face. He was a million miles away even though he was laughing at Lily’s jokes or whatever. I was worried
    about him. So after I put her to bed, I walked back over and invited him to my place for a drink.”
    “And?”
    “And he got drunk, sloppy, because he’s not—wasn’t—a big
    drinker. And he started running me this wild story about how he
    thought the stolen money was somehow related to the missing drones.”
    Aroostine tried to make sense of the words Ruby was saying,
    but it was as if the other woman were speaking some language other
    than English.
    52
    CHILLING EFFECT
    “I’m sorry, did you say drones?”
    Ruby stared at her, disbelief and panic fl ooding her face.
    “You mean Washington doesn’t know?”
    “Know what?”
    “I can’t believe they haven’t noticed. Listen, I have to get Lily to bed. Come to my house in the morning and I’ll tell you all about
    the military drones that have disappeared from the testing facility here.” She started back to her car and her sleepy daughter.
    “Wait. Which side of Isaac’s house?”
    “I live to the left as you’re looking at the houses. Lily leaves for school at seven thirty. Come any time after that.” Ruby looked at
    Aroostine over her shoulder and then shook her head. “You really
    didn’t know?”
    “About the missing drones? No.”
    Ruby shook her head again as she slid behind the wheel of her
    late-model Buick and started the ignition.
    Aroostine stood motionless beside the Jeep processing the news
    that Ruby had just dropped on her. Missing military drones?
    53

CHAPTER SEVEN
    Joe parked the Jeep two houses to the right of Isaac’s front door,
    with its bright yellow X of crime scene tape. Aroostine made out
    the silhouette of Ruby’s Buick parked in front of the house to the
    left of Isaac’s. Her house was still and dark. Aroostine imagined her sitting on the edge of Lily’s bed telling her a story as she

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