Her jaw clenched and those amazing blue eyes speared him. “Not to trust you.”
Four little words cut him to the bone. He had trust issues out the wazoo, but he’d never had anyone not trust him.
He was close enough to smell the floral fragrance of her perfume mixed with the light perspiration on her blouse, to see the varying shades of blue around the iris of her eyes glittering with a hurt so raw, it made him step back.
“I see.” The sharp ring of the telephone saved him from having to rebut her censure. When he turned to answer it, she darted through the door. He heard the hard slap of her shoes on the floor as she raced up the stairs.
He grabbed the phone only to be greeted by a cheerful telemarketer advising him of a free trip to somewhere. With a grunt of frustration he slammed the phone back in the cradle.
She doesn’t trust me. The words echoed through his brain, and suddenly, he knew: no matter what, he could not let her maintain such a low opinion of him.
Wednesday, 4 p.m.
Five hours sleep in the last forty-eight made concentration difficult as Coop listened to JD’s report.
“Got nothing off the prints in AFIS,” the deputy said. “And no similar cases, either. Anything from your FBI friend?”
“No. He left a message late yesterday. He’s out all week and will call back on Monday. Spoke to the ME in Dallas a few minutes ago. Said he found some blue thread in one of the gashes on her back, silk, possibly from her blouse.”
“I showed her picture at the gas stations and cafés like you suggested. Ruthie down at the Shell station said she might have seen her Sunday night, but couldn’t be sure. Said a woman in a fancy red car drove up to the pumps. Couldn’t get a good look at her since she was on the opposite side. Most people use the pay-at-the-pump feature now. No need to come inside.”
Coop tossed his pen on the desk and leaned back. “Fancy red car?”
“Her words. Said she’s never seen one like it.”
“Did you get a copy of the credit card receipt?”
“I asked about it, but she didn’t know how to get one. Not very tech savvy. Said she’d have the owner get it to you.”
“What about surveillance tapes?”
He shook his head, voice laced with frustration. “They have some, but the system is down more than up because he’s always messing with it. Seems he’s some kind of techno geek and has all this equipment in his office he plays with. She’ll have him get a copy as soon as he gets back in.”
“Okay. Check the motels and B&B’s next. If she was passing through she might have stopped somewhere in town. I’ll go talk to Ruthie and see if I can get a better description of the car.”
“She got off at two today. Said she was going shopping with her sister in Texarkana. Won’t be home till after supper.”
“What about the owner?”
“He comes and goes a lot.”
Coop rubbed his temples to ease the growing headache. He hated hurry up and wait. “Leave word to have him call me as soon as he gets in.”
“Already did.” Jimmy paused and shuffled his feet. “Sheriff, I know it’s not my place to say so, but you look like hell. Why don’t you go home, get some rest. I’ll call you if anything turns up.”
“Sheriff Delaney?”
Both men turned to see a young man standing outside the door, worn baseball cap in his hands. “The lady out front said I should come on back.”
Coop swallowed a groan. Alice didn’t care who came in or how busy he was, she sent them back without bothering to let him know. He made a mental note to talk with her about it. Again. “What can I do for you?”
“Well, um, I’m Arlis Barton. I work at Teddy’s Place.”
“You’re Frank Barton’s boy, aren’t you? He let you work there?”
“Yes sir, but I don’t work in the bar part. I work in the back doing the dishes and stuff.”
“What can I do for you, Arlis?”
“Well, it’s about the dead woman. I might’ve seen her Sunday. Teddy said I needed to come tell you.”
Coop sat forward in his chair. “When? Was she with anyone?”
“Not when I saw her. I went out back to the dumpster and seen this red Corvette off to the side by the metal building we use for supplies.” He made a tsk-tsk sound. “Man, what a car. A 2005, candy apple red, shined like new money, and not a scratch on it. I bet that sucker runs like a scalded dog.”
Trust the boy to notice the car and not the woman. “You said you saw the woman?” prompted Coop.
“Yes sir. She was leaning on the front fender, talking to someone on her phone. She sounded mad. I couldn’t make out what she said exactly, cause her back was to me, but I did hear her say she’d kick someone’s ass if she got stood up.”
“Anything else?”
“No sir. She hung up and saw me standing there.” He ducked his head as his cheeks flamed. “She told me to stop eavesdropping and get the hell away from her.” He looked up, face stricken. “I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, Sheriff, I promise. I was taking out the trash.”
Adrenalin spiked and chased away the fatigue. He had a lead.
