PART FIVE THE GUN
Caleb told Wyatt what Devin had said. The city. The state. The name of the woman in the photos, which Wyatt already had.
Wyatt found Maren Delgado’s home address in an afternoon.
He cross-referenced the Facebook, the county property records, a people-search aggregator, a voter file.
He found the address. He found her workplace, a children’s boutique near a mall.
He wrote it all down. He slid the paper across the table.
He said: she is a real person. She is married. She has two babies. She does not know you. She did not talk to you. I need you to hear that.
Caleb took the paper. He said: she lied to me.
Wyatt said: no. She didn’t. She doesn’t know you exist. The person who lied to you is a man in Denton.
Caleb said: you don’t know that.
Wyatt said: I do.
Caleb put the paper in his pocket. He left.
He had one more stop. A kid named Trey sold guns out of his garage in a town outside Tulsa.
Caleb had met him once at a party. He texted him.
Trey texted back a price. Caleb did not have the money.
He used his parents’ card again. The road-trip lie.
The graphic novel. He rented a car with the same card.
He told his mother he was driving to the desert for inspiration. She said be safe.
He bought a 9mm from Trey for cash he did not have, on the card he had already killed. Trey did not ask questions. Caleb put the gun in the glove box. He pointed the car south and west.
He drove to Albuquerque.