Page 16 of Concrete Evidence
Roden rubbed his hand over his face. “Is Ms. Donita doing okay? Really sorry for your loss.”
Marc explained Mom’s concerns about his father’s heart attack and how Marc had been pressured to investigate his father’s death with little to go on but a no-name friend’s phone number who had a full voice mail box.
“You have my sympathy. A little difficult to give your mom closure.”
“Right. Online links have my father connected to other people, and I plan to investigate all of them. I have a few other places to check today, then the drive back to my mother’s should give me time to form a believable explanation.” He tilted his head. “And I learned I have a half sister in Fort Worth.”
“Whoa.”
Marc nodded. “She’s an A student, runs track, and is basically a decent kid.”
Roden had the bloodhound look in his earth-colored eyes. “Tell me more. Did you meet her at the funeral?”
“No. I learned about her from my mother.”
“Getting info from you is like interrogating a mastermind.”
Marc chuckled. “I learned from the best.”
“You’ve run an MO on her, so are you going to see her?”
“I think so.”
“Think? What’s holding you back?”
Marc studied his partner. “She probably found out about me when I found out about her. She’s fifteen, which leads me to question how she feels about a big brother.”
“Or how you feel about her?”
Marc sensed a change in his attitude. Last night the turmoil about his father’s other life had a triple effect of creating hurt, anger, and regret, but now he wanted to search deeper. “My sister had a relationship with our father. Curiosity speaking here, but I’ll wade into those waters to see what I find.”
“Let me know if you step into a current.”
Marc groaned with the pun. “You can throw me a life jacket.”
“Don’t I always? What’s left to get you out of here? I’ll give you a hand.”
Marc glanced at his semiclean desk. No urgency in the remaining files and notes. “Do you have any contacts at the Army Corps of Engineers?”
“Not any more than you do.”
“If my father told the truth about working with some guy on an investigation, the Fort Worth office should have record of it.” Marc grinned. “I needed my partner to shake up my mind.”
Roden crossed his arms over his bulging chest. “You only needed a diving board.”
Marc waved his goodbye to a disappearing Roden and pressed in the number to the Army Corps of Engineers district office in Fort Worth. “This is FBI Special Agent Marc Wilkins. I’d like to speak to Colonel Abbott Wilkins’s office.”
“Sir, Colonel Wilkins is deceased,” a woman said.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m his son.”
“My apologies. I should have picked up on the name when you introduced yourself. I’ll connect you with his secretary.”
Marc waited a full two minutes, then a man answered. “Agent Wilkins, how can I help you?”
“I’m seeking information about my father’s friends, specifically a man whom he worked with closely in corps matters.”
“We are unable to relay professional or personal information.”
