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“I know, but everyone needs incentive.” He snagged a pen from a cup on the desk.
With a smile that bordered on evil, the investigator shook his head. “Believe me, I’ve got plenty.” He stood and thrust out his hand again. “I’ll keep you posted.”
J.D. had no choice but to take the man’s hand. “I’d feel better if we had some kind of agreement.”
“You’ve got my word. That’s good enough,” Smith insisted. “Trust me, I’m going to find out what happened to Isaac, come hell or high water.”
* * *
“Okay, kiddo, I want the entire story. Beginning to end,” Tiffany insisted as she nosed her car into traffic. Mrs. Ellingsworth was watching Christina, and she and Stephen were alone, on their way to do some errands. He hadn’t wanted to accompany her, not with so many questions hanging in the air, but she had forced the issue and won.
“’Bout what?”
“Let’s start with yesterday,” she said as they drove along the tree-lined street. Joggers and dogs ran on the sidewalks, dodging mothers with strollers near the park. “Do the keys the police found on you belong to Isaac Wells?”
Staring out the passenger window, Stephen lifted a shoulder.
“Do they? And don’t give me any song and dance about you finding them in the park. That’s not what happened, and we both know it.”
“Okay,” he said, rebellion flaring in his eyes. “They were his.”
Her heart plummeted. “Oh, Stephen.”
“You wanted to know.”
“I need to know the truth.” Her hands began to sweat. “Let’s hear it.”
He sighed as if pained. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Wrong. It’s a very big deal. The man is missing. No one knows where he is or even if he’s dead or alive. And you lied to me.”
“It was nothing, okay?” Frowning, he flipped his hair out of his eyes. He rubbed his elbow with the hand of his other arm. “I told you that Miles Dean had dared me to take ’em.”
“Right, but you said that you didn’t. That you saw Mr. Wells on the porch and changed your mind.”
Stephen worried his lower lip with his teeth. “I did see Mr. Wells. On the porch, just like I said. But that was after I’d swiped the keys. He didn’t say nothin’ to me, just stared me down, and I took off.”
Her insides twisted. “You have to tell the police the truth.”
“I know.” He stared out the passenger window, and his shoulders slumped in resignation.
“Why didn’t you before?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed nervously. “Because...because Miles told me if I so much as breathed a word of it, he’d kill us.”
“You gave him the keys?”
“No.” He was emphatic as he shook his head. “I don’t know why, but I didn’t feel right about it, so I hid ’em in a box in my room. Then I thought I’d sneak ’em out to the ranch and put ’em back, but…I never got around to it. There was all that yellow tape around the house, savin’ it was a crime scene and...” He shrugged. “I thought I’d wipe ’em clean of any fingerprints and toss ’em into the creek. I was gonna do it when I ran into Miles at the Mini Mart.”
; Calm down, Tiffany, she told herself as her fingers held on to the steering wheel in a death grip and she felt sweat dampen her spine. Don’t judge, don’t yell, just listen. “Okay. What did Miles want with the keys?”
“Don’t know.” Stephen was as pale as death, but he appeared to be telling the truth.
“Is he planning on stealing one of Mr. Wells’s cars?”
“Who knows? It doesn’t matter. I never gave him the keys.”
