Yellow Packard by Ace Collins

Author:Ace Collins [COLLINS, ACE]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-1-62029-054-5
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2012-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 43

On Friday, Meeker made the three-hour drive to Oakwood alone. She didn’t need Reese and felt it might go better if the Halls dealt with just one person. She walked into Carole’s Flowers at three thirty. The owner was helping a teenager pick out a corsage for a weekend date. As the agent listened in on the conversation, she was able to deduce it was some kind of high school dance being held at the Danville Country Club. Oh, to be young and carefree again. On days like this, adult responsibilities weren’t any fun at all.

In the five additional minutes it took for Carole Hall to convince the boy which flower was best and then fix the corsage and box it for him, Meeker thumbed through the latest issue of Good Housekeeping. She noted a recipe for a cream pie that looked tasty. She made a mental note to pick up a copy of the magazine when she went by a newsstand on her way to work on Monday.

As the bell atop the door rang, signaling that the boy had left the shop, Carole made her way to the corner where the agent stood. Meeker looked up and smiled. Though her eyes were sad and her complexion pale, the mother seemed be stronger than she had been during their last visit. Nevertheless, Meeker asked, “How are you doing?”

“As long as I’m working,” Carole explained, her voice steady and strong, “I’m fine. The nights aren’t very good.” She paused, bit her lip, and added, “Thanks for the card you sent on Rose’s birthday. It meant a lot.”

“It wasn’t enough.” The agent sighed. “Not nearly enough.”

Carole walked over to the window and looked out at the now empty street. “When you called I got my hopes up a little. But you’d have said something on the phone if you’d found Rose. That is unless you found her and she’s …” She obviously couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.

“No,” Meeker quickly cut in, “we haven’t found her, so don’t go imagining things. What I called about was that we did find your Packard.”

Carole didn’t speak. Rather she just turned and waited for the explanation she was sure would follow. She didn’t have to wait more than a heartbeat.

“It was in Arkansas. A salesman bought it back in April in the St. Louis area. Best that we can tell, he had no way of knowing it had been a part of a crime. Someone had repainted it dark blue. Right now we are trying to track down the man who had it painted and sold it to this Bill Landers. I was hoping the car might give us some more clues, but that hasn’t happened. At least not yet.”

Casting her eyes to the floor, Carole nodded.

“Carole, I was hoping George would be here, too.”

A pained expression washed over the woman’s face as she looked at Meeker. Her bottom lip trembled as she fought to control her emotions. Finally, her voice quivered out

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