Page 59 of Rocky Ride

“She’s going for it?”

“Yep. She says she’ll try me one time and see if I’m a good date or not.”

I laughed at my brother. “Guess you’d better make it good if you expect a second date.”

“No worries, Harlan. I’ll ace it.”

Kings Court. Coyote Creek.

The weather was too fuckin cold for door knocking but luckily there were only six fancy houses on the court. Big houses on huge lots and they were spread out. Lots of space between them. Might have had nice lawns and gardens but we couldn’t see that stuff for the snow.

We asked each neighbor about the green Jag, and nobody had noticed the car in the Ellington’s driveway. But when we got to the guy directly across the road from the Ellingtons who had supplied the video cam, he was helpful.

“I didn’t notice the car across the street, but I only know of one dark green Jaguar in this whole area, and it belongs to Hal Hoover who owns the men’s clothing store in Shelby.”

“Thanks, sir. We’ll definitely check it out.”

Conrad.

Billy put Ted on Graham Van Cedar, just to make sure Van Cedar wasn’t tracking down Sandra’s killer on his own and getting into a lot of trouble.

Ted followed the lawyer to his office building in downtown Shelby and parked across the street. The guy didn’t seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary.

“Jeeze, this is going to be fuckin boring.” Ted left the engine running and the heater on and lit up a cigarette. He turned the radio up and settled in for a long wait.

Hoover’s Men’s Wear. Shelby.

On the way to Shelby, I called into the office to tell Dad we got a lead on the Jaguar, but he wasn’t at the shop. I talked to Billy instead and told him about the guy who owned the clothing store in Shelby having a dark green Jag.

“Good one, Harlan. Hope you come up with something solid.”

“Me and Virge are on our way to Shelby to talk to him. Just clearing it with you first.”

“Sounds like the next step, Harlan. See what you can find out. We can’t say for sure there is only one car like that in Harrison County.”

There was a small parking area behind the men’s store on the main street of Shelby and the Jag was there in a reserved spot.

“There’s the car,” said Virge. “Let’s go in and nail the fucker.”

“He might have been at the Ellington’s for a lot of reasons, Virge. Not just to slit Sandra’s throat.”

“Yeah, I guess that could be true.”

Two customers were trying on suits when we went inside, and the store smelled nice. The guy behind the counter was tall and dark like Cassie Blake described him. Late thirties.

He glanced up at us and gave our uniforms the once over. “Sheriff’s department. What’s the occasion, boys?”

“A couple of questions, sir. Your car was seen at the Ellington’s house in Coyote Creek on several occasions and we’re checking all vehicles seen there last week.”

“Of course you are. Diligent work, boys. Yes, I’ve been to Bob Ellington’s home several times mostly for a quick fitting. He had two new custom suits made in the past weeks. That’s about the only excuse I have for being there.”

“Thank you.” Not believing a fuckin word he said, I slid a card across the counter to Hal Hoover.

Back in our Jeep I looked at Virge and he shook his head. “Nope. He wasn’t there for suits. That fucker ain’t a good liar. I watched his eyes, and they were darting all over the place.”

“Didn’t think he was on the level. We’d better tell Billy.”

Canada/U.S. Border Crossing.

---