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“Do I have to come up with all the answers?”
He nodded. “You’ve had the most time to dwell on the situation.”
“Fine. How about you didn’t say anything because you were afraid I’d change my mind. It was a spur of the moment choice after all.”
He gave a snort. “Fair enough. I really wouldn’t have told anyone about a wedding if the bride didn’t come home with me. They’d never believe it. You’re clever.”
“You used to like that about me.” He used to like a lot of things about her. If Vegas hadn’t already ruined their friendship, her lie would have done the trick.
“I still like you, but this is going to be a hard cover to sell. I’m not husband material. Ask anyone.”
She disagreed, but arguing would be a waste of time. When he’d been with her, she might not have been thinking about him as a husband, but she thought of him as the best kind of man.
“Around the truck stop I won’t have to ask. Your team is all too happy to volunteer their opinions on everything.”
He laughed. “More often than you’ll want to hear them, I guarantee it. It’s a system that works for us.”
They were quiet as he slowed down and turned onto a narrow dirt lane.
“Aside from me, do you have any idea who else the DEA is looking at here?”
“I don’t think they are looking at you,” she replied.
“Don’t do that,” he barked, startling her. “Just don’t. My house is bugged. If your boss was so opposed to your visit that you felt the need to fabricate a wedding, they have something pretty solid on me or someone in my employ. There isn’t any kind of agent around here who would look at my operation and believe I wasn’t in on something involving my staff.”
“I tried to get more information.” And her boss had almost let something slip.
“And I’m thinking out loud here. It’s the only place Icanthink out loud. You’re here unofficially, because the DEA thinks someone in my store, if not me specifically, has made a deal with the newest bad guy on the block.”
She tugged on the seat belt, keeping the hot webbing away from her neck. “Whoisthe newest bad guy on the block?”
“Not your Gonzales. At least no one is using his name. Until today, I hadn’t seen that cartel skull graffiti anywhere nearby. It’s been status quo around here since the beginning of the year.”
“Right.”
“Seriously, I haven’t seen any new players around the truck stop. The runners I do recognize don’t seem to be any morestressed or cocky than usual. If Tim was into something, he didn’t tell me.”
He rolled to a stop in front of a double wide mobile home that might have been white in its youth, but now was a dull gray. Everything was neatly maintained, from the picnic table under a shady tree to the clean windows and stumpy shrubs planted on either side of the front steps.
“Tim’s house?”
“You said you wanted to look around.”
“I did. Do.” She pulled a pair of latex gloves out of her purse, handing him one.
He hesitated. “My prints are already in there.”
“Your choice,” she said with a shrug. “But it’s better if we don’t make things worse for either of us. What did Wallace find out here?”
“Nothing specific. He only told me hedidn’tfind Tim’s car.” He tugged the glove into place and pushed open his door.
“Which means he was jumped between here and the truck stop last night or early this morning.”
Bart nodded. “Let’s go.”
She liked the calculating grin on his face a little too much, felt a similar grin tilt her lips.
“If I know Wallace, he’ll be methodical and focus on the immediate crime scene. That gives us a narrow window to see if the killer left any clues out here.”
