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“It wasn’t in the ad?”
“No,” said Armpit. “Look, why— I mean, what’s the big deal? Ginny and I ended up getting to sit on the stage. You know—no harm, no foul?”
“Well, our mayor seems to think there was quite a bit of harm. She saw what happened to Ginny, and to you, and she wants to get the guy.”
“What will happen to him?” Armpit asked, trying to sound only mildly curious. “Will he have to go to jail?”
“Oh, I doubt it. We’re just talking six hundred dollars.”
He tried not to let his relief show on his face.
“Unless he has a prior criminal record,” said Detective Newberg.
Armpit sat up straight.
“So your initial contact with him was by phone?”
It took Armpit a moment to decipher the question. “Um, yes.”
“I don’t suppose you remember his phone number?”
“No.”
She smiled. Her cheeks turned pink. “I wouldn’t expect you to. So then, where did you meet him?”
“At H-E-B. In the parking lot.”
“And how did you recognize each other?”
“I didn’t. I never saw him before in my life.”
Detective Newberg raised her eyebrows. “What I’m asking is, how did you find each other in the parking lot? How did you know he was the one selling the tickets?”
“Oh.” Armpit noticed his Raincreek cap hanging on the back of the door. “I said I’d be wearing a red cap.”
He got up and got the cap. It felt good to get up and move around.
He showed her the cap, but she didn’t seem all that interested. He put the cap on his head. “So then he drove up beside me, and we bargained a little, like I said, and then I gave him the money, and he gave me the tickets.” He sat back down on the arm of the couch. He removed the cap and set it on the cushion beside him.
“What kind of car was he driving?”
“A white Suburban.”
“And where were you standing?”
“On the curb.”
“In front of the H-E-B?”
“No, a few stores over. I think it was in front of Copy King.”
Why did he say that? Sometimes it felt like the words just jumped out of his mouth.
“Was he the only one in the car?”
“Yeah.”
“So he was driving on the wrong side of the road.”
