I stood by the door. Seconds later an engine started up and a car jumped out of the darkness. It was the abandoned pickup that Charlie left in the yard behind her shop. The truck tore through the grass until it reached the sidewalk. It slowed to navigate over the curb, and then it took off into the night. I waited by the back door until Charlie returned. She cursed. “I should have expected this,” she said. “You can’t go through life expecting the worst of people. Ned did a very good thing for you when you lived with him, and there might be a valid explanation.” “I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about trusting the daughter of a mechanic with a rusted-out, broken-down car. To anybody else, that truck was a piece of junk. To a mechanic, it’s a getaway car hiding in plain sight.” “Where do you think she’d go?” “Who knows? The pageant rules say she’s supposed to reside with her relative.
