The Camp by Nancy Bush

Author:Nancy Bush [Bush, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zebra Books
Published: 2023-04-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

September found a parking spot on the street, though it took a few turns around the Portland blocks before she discovered the empty space. She walked back to The Daily Bread and tried the door. It opened into a vestibule, which in turn faced a large meeting room with rows of tables. She could smell canned corn and onions as she stepped inside.

Yesterday she’d asked George to dig deeper into the Glory to God school, seeking information specifically on when R.J. was there. She’d then looked up what she could on The Daily Bread after failing to connect with Brody Daniels. The man seemed to have disappeared. Had he just taken off? That was suspicious in itself. Or had something happened to him?

She’d also asked George to search out more information on Deena Royner, the name she’d found on a scrap of paper among R.J.’s belongings. So far he hadn’t gotten back to her with anything.

“May I help you?” a middle-aged Black woman with steel-gray cornrows and a ball-like shape asked pleasantly. She wore what looked like surgical scrubs over a pair of blue jeans.

September smiled and said, “I hope so. I’m looking for the director, Annie Manderly?”

“You found her.”

“I’m Detective September Rafferty with Laurelton P.D. I heard you’ve been associated with The Daily Bread even before the name was changed.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you want, Detective?”

September suspected she was already bristly because she didn’t want to share information with the cops about the men and women who came and went through The Daily Bread’s doors. “Is there somewhere we could talk?”

She gestured to a door at the back of the room and September followed after her to a small cubicle with an oversized desk and wooden chair. A cup of coffee was growing cold on the wooden desktop. There were dozens of rings where others had been placed in approximately the same spot.

There was no second chair and Annie kicked her own back under the desk, choosing to stand for this meeting along with September.

September pulled out the newspaper clipping, handed it to her, and explained that she was looking for any kind of information she could find on R. J. Everly. She pointed him out among the others in the picture and related that R.J. had been a victim of homicide and that she was looking for his killer.

Annie Manderly gazed at the picture a long, long time before she handed the clipping back to September. Once again she crossed her arms.

“Were you around at that time?” September prompted when she didn’t seem inclined to offer anything further. “Do you recognize him?”

“Oh, I remember R.J.”

“He was memorable, then.”

“Only because he was a sweet kid. Most of ’em weren’t, especially in that group.” She inclined her head to the photo.

“So, you know them all?”

“I recognize one of them. There was a third one, but his name escapes me.”

“Which one do you recognize?”

“This one.” She pointed to one of the boys whose back was to the camera, his face half turned.

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