Madison Johns - Agnes Barton 04 - Trouble in Tawas by Madison Johns

Author:Madison Johns [Johns, Madison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery: Cozy - Senior Sleuths - Michigan
ISBN: 1494968363
Publisher: Outrageous Books
Published: 2013-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven Twelve

Martha rode in the back of her station wagon, allowing me to drive, which I was more than happy to do since in my opinion, she drove like a maniac.

I drove up the beaten path and sure enough the same man was working. His wide frame wobbled to the fence as I honked at the gate. He opened it without further prompting and strode to the driver’s side door and asked, “You again? Did you get yourself arrested again?” He laughed with a snort.

I smiled when I saw Martha’s eyes widen at the man.

“Thanks again, Mother,” she said with a kick through the seat.

We all got out and I introduced him to Martha. This time I got his name—Ralph. “You see the thing is Ralph, that I think I dropped my wallet out here when we picked up the Caddy. I was hoping we could take a look-see. I’d hate to have someone get hold of my personal information. Identity theft is on the rise, I hear.”

He poised to move and said, “I’d be happy to go out with you to look, but I’m sure it’s not out there.”

Martha moved into action. “Aww. I was hoping we could get better acquainted while those old birds went out there.”

Ralph licked his lower lip and with a smile that resembled a clowns face, he agreed. “Why not?”

I linked arms with El before he had a change of heart. We walked out to the middle of the yard where there was a blue Impala parked, and a few feet away, a rusted El Camino. “I’m opting for the El Camino,” El said.

“Why is that?”

“Sorry, but I haven’t seen one of those in years.”

“I know. I thought only Martha drove an ancient rust bucket.”

“Maybe whoever drives it knows Martha.”

I walked to the Impala first and tried the door, but it was locked. I tried to look through the windows, but they were tinted. I next walked to the rear of the car and jotted down the license plate number. I joined El at the El Camino, which was unlocked. “That’s a relief,” I said.

“The mechanism looks broken,” El pointed out.

Soon we were rummaging through the glove box, but it was only filled with maps and coupons from fast food joints. There was a map of Michigan with East Tawas circled in red, but also a map of Arizona and Mexico. “If I didn’t know better I’d have thought this car belongs to Raul.”

“Why is that, Aggie?”

“There’s a map of Mexico and he’s from there originally.”

El wrote down the vehicle identification number and license plate number. It was then that I felt over the ceiling of the car, and found a slit in the material. I pulled out a packet and shoved it into my purse before Ralph came up. The rest of the car was pretty clean. I glanced at the tires and noted how worn the tread was. Where had they found this car, really?

“We better get back to the car before Ralph becomes suspicious,” El recommended.

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