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“Excuse me,” Rawlins said. “What key?”
“The key to my car. I loaned it to him.”
The two deputies looked at each other before going back to her. Rawlins said, “You loaned your car to him?”
She explained how that had come about. “He was reluctant to take it, but I insisted. He was going out to the crash site. I told him to keep the car for as long as he needed it.”
“Has he brought it back yet?” Wilson asked.
“No, and he was very apologetic over having to leave it.”
Wilson held up a hand. “Leave it?”
“He called…oh, maybe a half hour ago. I’ve lost track of time.”
“What about the car?” Rawlins said, prodding.
“He said he had to get to Atlanta. A spur-of-the-moment thing. He wouldn’t be coming back through town.”
With a renewed sense of urgency, Wilson asked, “He left your car near the crash site?”
“No.”
She gave them the name of a seedy motor court about five miles outside of town on a two-lane state road that wasn’t heavily traveled.
“I told him that it was no problem at all for me to send someone out there to pick it up. My brother and nephew have already volunteered to go. I suggested Rye leave the key with the desk clerk, but he said he didn’t trust him. He told me where he’d left it hidden.”
2:41 p.m.
When Wilson and Rawlins walked into the cabin rental office, they understood why Mallett might be mistrustful of the attendant. He was stoned. His lazy grin was comprised of crooked and rotting teeth. “Which one of you is her old man?”
“Neither.”
The deputies produced their badges.
“Awww, ssssshit.” The clerk threw a nervous glance over his shoulder toward an open door, through which could be seen a messy office.
>
Rawlins said, “We’ll forget that it reeks of weed in here if you tell us whose old man you thought we might be.”
“I don’t know.”
“Try again.”
“I never saw her. Only the dude came in.”
“What did the dude look like?” Rawlins asked.
“Tall, blond hair, leather jacket. Sunglasses.” He looked out the window at the fog. “Can’t figure why.”
“What time did he check in?”
“What time?” In thought, he scratched his pimply cheek. “Before nine?” He put it in the form of a question, as though it were the guessed-at answer on a pop quiz.
“What name did he register under?” Wilson asked.
“Didn’t. Paid cash and asked we keep it just between us.”
