back last night, so I just assumed he stayed over with Daddy or Seth.”
Phone calls to Daddy, Haywood, Andrew and Robert were equally unproductive. So far as I could tell, Dwight and Allen were the last ones to see him.
I drove back through the lane, this time by way of Mr. Jap’s place. I saw no sign of a rental car. Allen’s truck was parked next to Mr. Jap’s out near the shop, but the shop itself was locked and dark and nobody came to the door when I blew long and loud on my horn over at the house.
When I got back to the highway, they were just loading Dick Sutterly’s body onto the ambulance and Dwight was about ready to pack it in.
His eyes narrowed when I told him I couldn’t find Adam nor Allen either.
“Adam’s running around with a gun? What caliber?”
“I don’t know. A .22 probably. Why?”
“We think Sutterly was shot with a small-bore gun,” Dwight said grimly.
29
« ^ » …
As word spread through the family that Adam seemed to be missing, everyone turned out to look for him. We scoured the land until darkness forced us to call off the search. Not just our land and along Possum Creek, but both the Stancil and Pleasant farms in case he’d forgotten the old boundaries and strayed across them. Zach thought Adam might have remembered that he was renting a farm on the west side of Cotton Grove and he took some of the kids to search over there as well.
I called Merrilee and Pete, and someone even stopped past Cherry Lou’s. So far though, Dwight was the last person to see either man since the afternoon before.
The last person to admit it anyhow.
Minnie phoned Karen out in California to see if he’d called home by any chance. “And didn’t I sound like an idiot?” she said afterwards. “Saying I forgot to ask him before he went off hunting if he was still going to be here for our get-together tomorrow. But I really don’t think she noticed.”
We couldn’t agree on the details of the car Adam was driving except that it was a blue Taurus. Luckily, Zach found the rental papers in Adam’s carry-on bag. Because it’d been twenty-four hours since any of us had seen Adam, Dwight stretched a point and put it on the wire. After that, there was nothing to do except wait.
And speculate, of course.
A hunting accident?
Murder?
Had Adam seen Allen shoot Dick Sutterly?
Had both of them seen someone else shoot Sutterly?
“What if it’s just something dumb, like pulling a drunk?” asked Seth. “Maybe Adam went juking last night and he’s holed up somewhere drinking or hung over.”
“Never knew Adam to do much catting around,” said Will. “He always walked the straight and narrow.”
All this was over sandwiches at Minnie and Seth’s.
“Well, being back here, off his chain, maybe he’s finally broke loose,” said Isabel as she rummaged in Minnie’s refrigerator. “Anybody want pickles while I have them out?”
Haywood was back to worrying over Adam’s state of mind. “You don’t reckon he’s got money troubles, do you?”
“Don’t know if it’s money or his marriage, but something’s eating at him,” Zach said, taking a huge bite of his cold meatloaf sandwich.
Daddy kept his own counsel and I kept my mouth shut except to nibble at some tangerines a cousin had shipped from Florida for the holidays.
By nine o’clock, we were ready to call it a night.
“If y’all hear anything—”
“—don’t matter how late—”
“Call us.”
“Let us know.”
“We’ll call.”
I drove back through the lane one more time, half expecting to see Adam’s car parked in front of Mr. Jap’s shop, but except for that single dim light bulb that burned day and night on the back porch of the house, all was dark and silent.
As I looked at the shop in frustration, it occurred to me that no one had actually searched inside since it was locked from the outside.
I stopped, turned on my overhead light so I could find Merrilee’s number in my address book, then reached for my cell phone.
