“It isn’t against the law to give a man his own money,” Tony said.

Dix looked at each of them, wondering if there were words that would convince them. He didn’t think so. They were finally together on something, not set against one another. He gave it a try anyway. “I know Gordon wouldn’t have had the knowledge or the wherewithal to plan something like this.”

Chappy chuckled. “Evidently old Twister’s got unplumbed depths. Who would have thought it possible?”

Tony asked, “Who cares if someone helped arrange transportation, money, ID, whatever, for him, Dix? It’s not against the law.”

Chappy grinned. “Hey, maybe I did it for old Twister.”

Dix shook his head. “Chappy, you’re the only one I wouldn’t suspect of that. You can’t be in the same room with Gordon without your tearing into each other. I wouldn’t have thought you’d do anything for Gordon except visit him in jail, joking about a file in a cake.”

Chappy rose slowly to his feet. He shook a finger at Dix. “Are you nuts, Dix? Gordon and I are brothers. All we’ve ever done is have some fun with each other.”

Ruth said, “You know where he is, don’t you, Chappy?”

Chappy smiled down at her. “He was going on about killing himself, the little pissant. I wasn’t going to let my own brother do that, not after we lost Christie, Dix. And he’s not going to spend the last years of his life rotting in prison, either. Not unless you can prove what he did and, of course, find him. Naturally, I have no clue where he is, Agent Ruth.”

Dix said, “So I gather Gordon won’t be coming for a visit anytime soon. If he does, I think we’ll have to notify the Justice Department about a fake passport, won’t we?”

Dix rose together with Ruth. “Chappy, you never cease to surprise me. I’d like to bring the boys over sometime soon. This has been a difficult time for them. Would that suit you?”

“That would be nice, Dix,” Chappy said. “Real nice.”

CHAPTER 39

GREYHAVEN INN

GREAT BEAR ROAD

MAESTRO, VIRGINIA

MONDAY LUNCHTIME

“SORRY WE’RE LATE, guys, but we had a little business with Chappy, Tony, and Cynthia.”

Sherlock grinned up at them and Savich rose to hug Ruth and shake Dix’s hand.

“You two look like you could use a little more sleep,” Dix said. “You had a wild time last night.”

“True enough,” Savich said. “We slept in this morning.”

“At least until Sean jumped on the bed and began a war dance,” Sherlock said.

Once they were all seated and had ordered, Dix looked around the large room with a huge quarried gray stone fireplace at one end and beams overhead.

“This is one of the best-kept secrets for lunch in Maestro. Wait till you taste the vegetarian minestrone, Dillon.” He raised his coffee cup. “To a conclusion, of sorts, to the trouble in Maestro.”

Ruth grinned. “We solved it, Dix, so don’t sound so down in the mouth.”

Savich sat back and looked from one to the other of them. “All right. So tell us about this business at Tara.”

Dix nodded. “Well, when we spoke earlier, I told you how surprised we were at how well Gordon stood up to us. We really hoped we could break him down but it didn’t happen.”

Ruth sighed. “We hoped to get a confession, and I swear we hit him with everything we had for maximum impact.”

Dix said, “You could see it in his eyes when we told him Helen was responsible for Erin’s and Walt’s deaths. He knew, Helen had told him all right.”

Ruth said, “Dix, I’m thinking now it was Chappy who told him how to handle us. Gordon never seemed that strong to me.” She shrugged. “It’s Chappy’s doing. And it’s possible Chappy did more than get Gordon out of town.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if Chappy has somehow covered up any evidence there was, too,” Dix said.

“You’re certainly giving Chappy a lot of credit, Ruth,” Savich said.

Ruth said, “I’m just saying Chappy’s helped him more than once. Chappy helped him escape.”

“It’s not just Chappy,” Dix said. “When Ruth and I went to see the family this morning, it turned out to be all of them.”

When Dix finished explaining, he waved a carrot stick at Ruth. “And that’s why,” he said, “our FBI agent here is convinced Chappy is behind Gordon’s great escape. We’ll be patient,” he added, “but you know, as far as I’m concerned, unless we find proof, Gordon can stay gone.”