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We reached the door at the same moment the businessman did. He held the door and I walked out, but Bo
"Go on back to work, you old fool," she said. "You got a wife and young'uns, don't you?"
The man's face reddened and he walked right on past her, into the office. Bo
"Hussy," she said. "Rodney would've loved this place. Would've saved him taking his pickup out to High Rock Lake and fooling around in the broad daylight!"
I wasn't listening. I was thinking. Vernell had been coming to the Twilight Motel for the past few months with a woman. Vernell, single again, had no need of a motel. He had a mansion. For some reason, this woman wouldn't come to Vernell's stone palace. Why?
I slid into the car and cranked the engine. Bo
"Bo
Bo
"Guess that's why they pay you the big bucks," she said. "Of course." Bo
"Why?"
Bo
We headed north on Battleground, homing in on the Satellite Kingdom. Bo
"Bo
Bo
She was looking at me now, I could feel it. I focused on the traffic, which in a town where everyone feels entitled to having it their way, is a good idea. Vernell's kingdom was straight ahead, just outside of the main business drag, across from Wal-Mart and next to a lot where a guy sat in a truck and sold rocks to wealthy gardeners.
"Naw, a man's gotta mouth the bait a little," she said. "I take it we're discussing your detective fella." I nodded ever so slightly. "Honey, he's a big 'un. Them kind slip up, try and take the bait off your hook, then run if you ain't watchin'. You gotta wait 'em out. Don't go yanking on the line and trying to reel him in. He's got a lot of fight in him. You can tell that, just by the way he walks."
I couldn't let that one go. "How can you tell what a man's go
"Your boy walks slow like he's prowling," she said. "Remember, I've met him. He came into the shop when Jimmy got hisself murdered. Thought he could get to you by going through me. Huh!" she snorted. "Yeah, right, like I'd talk about you to the police." Bo
I had no idea what Bo
I pulled into the gravel lot of the Satellite Kingdom and stopped in front of the doublewide Vernell used for a sales office.
"Now here's where the rubber meets the road," Bo
By the time I reached the door, Bo
I had no idea what she was talking about and Bo
I pulled open the glass door and stepped inside. The receptionist looked up and smiled, her gray hair piled neatly on top of her head.
"Can I help you?"
"You're new," I said.
The woman adjusted her thin framed glasses, pushing them back up her nose and squinting through them to see me better. Her face was a maze of wrinkles and laugh lines. She was the double for Vernell's grandmother.
"Oh dear," she sighed, "now just tell me you're someone important and I'm supposed to know you." She shook her head. "I told Bess I didn't need a job, but she had to have it her way."
"Bess who?" I asked.
The woman stood up from behind the desk and walked around to stand in front of me.
"Bess King, my daughter. She's the one told me I needed something to do now that Guthrie's gone. She said Mr. Spivey needed help, and here I am." She smiled and I couldn't help smiling back, but inside my heart had skipped a beat. Bess King. Nosmo King.
"Don't mind me," she said, "I wander on." She stuck out her hand. "I'm Eugenia Price. Welcome to the Satellite Kingdom. I'd be glad to help you with all your satellite needs but as you can see, I don't know a thing about newfangled technology. Our salesmen are, um"-she looked around-"out in the field today."
Out in the field, indeed. With Vernell gone, and paychecks missing, it meant the sales team hadn't shown for work.
"How about Andy Little?" I asked. Eugenia Price looked puzzled. "The manager."
"Oh yeah, him." She shook her head. "I think he's in the field, too." Eugenia was looking around, her gaze flitting back and forth from one vacant office to another. "I just started Thursday. To tell you the truth, I'm just not the one to help."
"Don't worry about it, Mrs. Price. I reckon you don't know, but I'm Mr. Spivey's ex-wife and I'm worried about him." There was suspicion in Eugenia Price's eyes now. Concern and ex don't always run together.
"He's missing," I said. "He hasn't been seen since Friday. He and I are co-owners of his other business, the Mobile Home Kingdom. I'm just plain scared something's happened."
Eugenia's eyes widened. She folded her arms, her fingers ru
"Missing?" she repeated.
I nodded. "You know, if your daughter is a friend of Vernell's, she might know where he is."
Eugenia shook her head slightly. "Oh, I don't think so. Vernell Spivey is the last thing on her mind. Bess's husband died this week." Eugenia's face seemed to crumple a little as pain slowly filled her eyes. "I was only here this morning to tell the boss man I can't stay." She looked around the empty trailer. "I guess there's no point in waiting around anymore. I was supposed to start at twelve, but I can't stay. Bess has got so much on her."