Grant County 05: Faithless by Karin Slaughter

Author:Karin Slaughter
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780099553090
Publisher: Random House
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

***

Jeffrey pulled his car into the parking lot of Dipsy’s Diner, thinking he hadn’t been to the joint since Joe Smith, Catoogah’s previous sheriff, had been in office. When Jeffrey first started working in Grant County, the two men had met every couple of months for stale coffee and rubber pancakes. As time passed and meth started to be more of a problem for their small towns, their meetings became more serious and more regular. When Ed Pelham had taken over, Jeffrey hadn’t even suggested a courtesy call, let alone a meal with the man. As far as he was concerned, Two-Bit couldn’t fill a three-year-old girl’s shoes, let alone the boots of a man like Joe Smith.

Jeffrey scanned the vacant parking lot, wondering how Esther Bennett knew about this place. He couldn’t imagine the woman eating anything that didn’t come from her own oven, picked from her own garden. If Dipsy’s was her idea of a restaurant, she’d be better off eating cardboard at home.

May-Lynn Bledsoe was behind the counter when he walked into the diner, and she shot him a caustic look. “I’s beginning to think you didn’t love me no more.”

“Couldn’t be possible,” he said, wondering why she was making an attempt at banter. He’d been in this diner maybe fifty times and she had never given him the time of day. He glanced around the room, noting it was empty.

“You beat the rush,” she said, though he doubted people would be banging down the door anytime soon. Between May-Lynn’s sour attitude and the tepid coffee, there wasn’t much to recommend the place. Joe Smith had been a fan of their cheese and onion home fries and always asked for a triple order with his coffee. Jeffrey imagined Joe’s sudden heart attack at the age of fifty-six had put some people off.

He saw a late-model Toyota pull into the parking lot and waited for the driver to get out. The early-morning wind was whipping up dirt and sand in the gravel parking lot, and when Esther Bennett got out of the car, the door caught back on her. Jeffrey went to help her, but May-Lynn was in front of the door like she was afraid he’d change his mind and leave. She was picking something out of her back teeth that caused her to put her pinky finger into her mouth up to the third knuckle as she asked, “You want the usual?”

“Just coffee, please,” he said, watching Esther quickly take the steps to the entrance, clutching her coat closed with both hands. The bell over the door clanged as she walked in, and he stood to greet her.

“Chief Tolliver,” Esther said, breathless. “I’m sorry I’m late.”

“You’re fine,” he told her, indicating she should sit down. He tried to take her coat, but she wouldn’t let him.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated, sliding into the booth, her sense of urgency as palpable as the smell of grilled onions in the air.

He sat across from her. “Tell me what’s going on.

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