“We can’t go on like this, Stan.”

“Why not?”

“We are friends, aren’t we?”

“No,” I said. “We are not. We are former lovers, one of which dumped the other for the last time. Now go away, and leave me alone.”

She sat and fiddled with a napkin, folding it and unfolding it as if the small task gave her a reason to stay.

“I didn’t keep the date,” she said.

“What date?”

“With Barry.”

“Poor Barry, how did he take it?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t talked to him.”

“You stood him up?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe Barry and I can form a club. Bunny Rejects Anonymous. BRA. Has a ring to it.”

“Oh, stop it.”

“We can have monthly meetings here. Can’t wait for the T-shirts. When one of us has an overwhelming urge to call you, he calls his BRA sponsor, who rushes over no matter the time of day or night, and the two of them get drunk together.”

“Very funny,” she said. “You don’t have to be mean.” She got up and stomped away. According to Willa, she’d be back. I was counting on that.

I finished lunch and counted the money out. Rodney came in.

“Uncle Stanley, I hoped you’d be here. Can you stay while I have lunch?”

“Sure.”

Rodney ran up to the counter and gave Bunny his order. He came back and sat across from me.

“No candy bar and Coke?” I said.

“No. The dental hygienist at my dentist’s said I needed to take better care of my teeth.”

“You go to the dentist?” That was new.

“I do now.”

Apparently Rodney was serious about a professional career.

“What are you going to do with all those low-crotch shorts you used to wear?”

“Mom had a yard sale.”

“Heaven help the neighbors.”

“Okay, Uncle Stanley, I did some of the research you asked for.”

I sat forward. Anything he could get would be better than nothing.

“Did we get anything?”

“Did we ever? You aren’t going to believe it.”

He sat and looked smug. Bunny brought his lunch, a burger just like I had, and plopped it down without speaking.

“Well,” I asked Rodney, “how long do I have to wait to hear it?”

“Brace yourself.” He took a bite of the burger and talked through his food. “I found only one person in this area in witness protection.”

“Who?”

“Grab your jock strap. It’s William Sproles.”

“Holy shit! That is something.”

Rodney was excited and proud about his find. “That’s why I couldn’t find anything about them before they moved here. I wasn’t looking in the right place.”

“Was Vitole blackmailing him?”

“I didn’t find any record of it.”

“Sproles has a crappy job and house and car payments. He couldn’t pay Vitole squat.”

“I checked OnlinePay. There’s no record of Sproles sending any money to Vitole.”

“Well, they were neighbors. Maybe he paid in person.”

Rodney shook his head. “I got into their financials pretty deep, Uncle Stanley. I found no record of Sproles paying anyone anything out of the ordinary.”

If Sproles wasn’t paying money to keep Vitole’s mouth shut, how was he doing it? I had a hunch. But it wasn’t much more that that.

 “Well, that’s good to know. Good work, Rodney. See what a haircut and a bath can do for a guy?”

“Now can I go on the next interrogation?”

“No. But you get a bonus.”

“I do?”

“Yeah. I’ll buy your lunch.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“Who did Sproles testify against before he went underground?”

“He was an accountant. Used to do the books for a syndicate of drug dealers in Baltimore. He rolled on them when the IRS found shaky bookkeeping in his own personal finances.”

I put money on the table for Rodney’s burger. Rodney gulped down his meal, chug-a-lugged his coffee, and we left.

Bunny watched us go but didn’t say anything.

Chapter 26  

Rodney and I returned to the office. The stairs were getting easier. He added the new information about Sproles to the whiteboard. I sat back, and chewed on it a while. All I had was speculation. Nothing concrete.

Given that William Sproles was in witness protection, and that the late Mario Vitole was a retired handler, I wanted to go back and interrogate Sproles, Marsha Sproles, and Stella Vitole. But I didn’t have anything to go on.

This would be one of those occasions where I could have used Bill Penrod’s skills in the room. I was hoping for a confession. One of them, two of them, or all of them had something to do with Vitole’s killing, of that I was certain. But first I needed more evidence, something to back up my suspicions, something they couldn’t deny. I called Buford.

“Are Ramon and Sanford available?”

“I can make them available. When do you want to see them?”

“Right away.”

“Come on out.”

I drove to the Heights. By now Bob knew me on sight and waved me through the gate. Same with Buford’s guards at his gate and his door. The guy at the door told me to go into the study.

Buford, Ramon, and Sanford were in the study. Buford had a drink and sat in one of the easy chairs. The other two stood alongside him.

Buford wasn’t wearing his bracelet. I didn’t ask.

“You need me to leave?” Buford asked.

“No. There’s nothing you can’t hear. With luck, what we learn here will get you off the hook. Let’s all sit down.”

The two employees sat on the leather couch, and I sat in the other chair. I got straight to the point.

“Your alibis don’t wash. You weren’t here shooting pool all day. Now I know you guys take turns chauffeuring the ladies around when they go shopping or wherever. What I need to know is this. From the time of the murder until when Mr. Overbee was formally charged the next day, is there any time that the Rolls was left in a public place unattended?”

They looked at each other as if one could tell the other what to say.

“We usually stay with the car,” Ramon said.

“Except when we don’t,” Sanford said.

Ramon seemed to want to cover his ass. Sanford didn’t seem to care.

“That’s what I want to know. When and where was the car out of your sight?”

Buford signaled to Ramon to go get him another drink. “What’s the point of all this?” Buford asked me.

“You said it yourself,” I said. “Somebody planted that gun. It had to be when none of your people was with the car. Unless, of course, one of your people planted the gun. We are assuming that neither of them did.” Ramon returned with Buford’s drink. I turned to him and Sanford. “So think, guys, where and when?”

Ramon looked at Buford who said, “Don’t worry. You won’t get in trouble. Tell the man what he needs to know.”

Ramon said, “I went to Starbucks when the ladies were shopping.”

“When?”

“One o’clock.”

“For how long?”

“Most of the afternoon. I read a book and drank coffee. The ladies called me on my cell phone when they were ready to leave. I guess this is my fault. I am sorry.”

“Did you do that any other time?”

“That morning too, Señor. I walked around the mall.”

I turned to Sanford. “How about you?” I asked.

“No. I usually take a nap.”

“Could anyone have gotten into the trunk while you were sleeping?”

He shot me a look that said I had asked a stupid question. Buford laughed. First time I ever saw him laugh.

I went back to the office and called Bill Penrod.

“Bill, I need a favor.”

“Name it.”

When Bill said that, he was saying only that you should name it. No promises.

“Can you see if there are surveillance cameras anywhere around Belksdales?”