Page 171 of To Die For
“Dwayne Odom.”
A surprised Devine sat back. “You’re going to need to explain that.”
Glass glanced out the window. “Alice wastechnicallymy sister, but I was so much older and we weren’t related by blood.” He turned to Devine. “So it was just different.”
“Different how?” asked Devine sharply.
“I never did anything like what you’re probably thinking, Devine. I never, ever molested Alice. Never thought about it. But when I came back on leave years later, she wasn’t ten anymore. She was a woman. A beautiful one. That was one reason my mother and some friends got her out of the house. My father… Well, let’s just say he had no problem thinking of Alice as… not his daughter.”
“And?”
“And she married Dwayne while I was in the Army. They wanted to have a baby but…”
“… but Dwayne couldn’t. So why not adopt?”
“It wasn’t so easy at the time, I guess. And Alice… Alice wanted to carry the child. It was important to her.”
“You could have been a sperm donor,” suggested Devine.
“That was very expensive. And I didn’t have any money to help them with that.” He slowly shook his head. “Anyway, Alice wroteand asked me if I would… help… with her getting pregnant. She said it would mean a lot to her.”
“Okay,” Devine said awkwardly.
Glass glared at him and barked, “I know it all sounds weird as shit. But I would have done anything for her.”
“So…?”
“So I got leave and flew home. Dwayne was out of town looking for work. We… It was… well… not what I thought it would be. We were both… uncomfortable. But the important thing was she got pregnant.”
“And Perry Rollins got evidence of this? How?”
“I don’t know, Devine. I’d never heard of the guy until you mentioned him. Maybe he took pictures of us like he did to the lady in the bathroom. But I don’t know if he even knew who we were. Pics of two adults in bed? Not sure how valuable that would be. But you’re wrong about one thing—he never came around trying to blackmail me.”
“Hedidfind out about you two at some point, and when you became who you are, he figured the pictures could be valuable.”
“How do you know for sure he found out about us?”
“Because he said some seemingly crazy words to me right before he died that now make sense.”
“What words?”
“Cuckoo andgas.”
Glass shook his head. “Not following?”
“TrycuckoldedandGlass.”
The man sat back, realization spreading over his features.
“Rollins clearly knew that Alice and Dwayne were married and living together. He didn’t know who you were but caught you in bed with Mrs. Odom. Before he could do anything with it, I think he was arrested for taking photos of the woman and went to prison for a while. When he got out the Odoms had long since moved.”
“Whatever,” Glass said dismissively, clearly losing interest in this subject.
“You said Dwayne knew about what had happened with you and Alice? How?”
“Alice told him. He knew he wasn’t the father, obviously, but I don’t think he ever imagined that I would be the one. And he wasn’t happy about it when he found out. Probably the reason why he hated my guts. But… the dumbass made a big mistake.”
Devine sat forward again, something dawning on him. “The people who bought them the car and trailer home. He sold your secret tothem?”
