Page 94 of The Chain House

Sam spoke up. “It depends on what happens in the book. I think Minks is that far out there in whatever fictional world he’s living in that he’ll do everything by the book.”

Agent Givens said to Hawthorne, “And once Batise is dead, if your sister really is out there, Gavin, it might then become harder to find her.”

Hawthorne said, “You’re saying we need him?”

“And he knows it,” said Warden Wren.

Agent Givens said, “But at this point we don’t know if the two of them are working together in this, or if they want the other dead.”

A thought struck Sam with sudden clarity, and he found himself moving quickly toward the door that led to Batise.

Givens said, “Where you going?”

“I just thought of something,” Sam said, opening the hallway door, and the other three men followed. The guard outside the warden’s office let them in, and Sam moved directly toward Batise. “You finished that book twenty-three years ago.”

Batise visually took all the men in as they entered the room. “Yes.”

“Emily Hawthorne disappeared twenty-three years ago.”

“Yes.”

“And you thought you knew where she was, because you arranged to have her killed. You told Justice Minks to kill her and bury your one copy of the book with her.” Sam paused a beat. “But I think Minks didn’t kill her at all—and maybe he still has her.”

“My thoughts exactly,” said Batise, without delay.

“Why did you order her killed?” Sam asked. “We already know the reason you ordered the murders at the Hawthorne mansion. You were jealous. You sent Emily Hawthorne your novel and she rejected it, didn’t she?”

Batise grinned. “Clever like your father.”

“How did you send it to her?” Sam asked. “Did you mail it or email it?”

“I emailed it,” he said. “Unsolicited. Unagented. Slush pile. And she read it. And yes, the bitch rejected it.”

Governor Hawthorne made a move, but Agent Givens held him back and told him, “You shouldn’t be in here.”

Batise said, “But I want Governor Gavin Hawthorne in here. He needs to hear this. About how wrong little sister was about the prospects for my series. For Oliver Crown.”

“Fuck you,” said Hawthorne.

“How professional,” said Batise. “Although what would you expect from a tobacco-spitting dugout jock.”

“If you emailed it then it could still be in her emails.” Sam looked at the governor. “What happened to all her stuff? Her laptop?”

“We … we have it all,” Hawthorne said, thinking. “Somewhere, in storage, but we kept it. We were allowed to keep everything from her office.”

Sam said, “Can we get to it?”

“You have ninety minutes,” Batise said. “Tick-tock, tick-tock.”

Hawthorne ignored him, looked up suddenly and faced Agent Givens. “It’s in her old room at the Hawthorne House. All her stuff is still in there. Two of my nephews moved it all about ten years ago. I think her laptop could still be in there.”

Givens said, “I can have agents there in ten minutes.”

“Do it.”

Warden Wren turned toward Batise, sitting so smugly in his chair that even Sam wanted to strangle him. “Or you could save us the time, Sal, and just tell us exactly what’s in the book that we need to know. Unless you want more deaths on your head.”

“What’s a few more, Warden? You can only kill me once.”