'Do you know the terms of your father's will?' I said.
'We inherit everything, the three of us,' SueSue said.
'But Penny runs things,' Stonie said. 'Neither one of us knows anything about business.'
'She sharing equally?' I said.
'The estate hasn't been settled yet, but Penny gives us both money.'
'How are you feeling about Penny?'
'I don't know,' SueSue said. 'I mean, she's our sister and she's taking care of us.'
'And she locked us up and broke up our marriages,' Stonie said.
'Our marriages were already broken,' SueSue said. 'Penny's always been bossy.'
Sapp looked at me. I nodded.
'Now I know why the caged bird sings,' I said.
'What the hell does that mean?' SueSue said.
'I don't know,' I said. 'It's too hard for me.'
FIFTY-FIVE
THE CALL WOKE me early in the morning, just after sunrise.
'You want to know who killed Walter Clive,' somebody whispered, 'get on Route 20. Drive twenty miles west from the Lamarr exit. Park on the shoulder. Get out of the car and wait.'
'What time?' I said.
'Be there at midnight tonight. Alone. We'll be able to see you for miles.'
'How nice for you,' I said.
The whisperer hung up. I tried dialing*69, but it didn't work on the motel extension. I looked at my watch. Quarter to six. I got up, showered, and went to my car. When I got onto Route 20 I set the trip clock on my car, and in twenty miles, I stopped. It was open country with gentle hills and some tree cover. The whisperer was right; they could see me coming. I went on to the next exit, turned around, and headed back to town.
Tedy Sapp was out of bed when I got to the Bath House Bar and Grill, drinking coffee in the empty bar with a slender gray-haired man in a light tan summer suit and a blue oxford shirt. There was a box of cinnamon donuts open on the table.
'Once a cop, always a cop,' I said, and took a donut.
'This is Benjamin Crane,' Sapp said. 'My main squeeze.'
We shook hands. He grinned at Tedy.
'Gotta go,' Crane said. 'You have business, and I have to gaze into many eyes.'
He left.
'Been together long?' I said to Sapp.
'Ten years.'
'Love's a good thing,' I said.
'Even the one that dare not speak its name?'
'Even that one.'
Sapp poured me a cup of coffee. I drank it and ate my donut while I told him the deal.
'Called early,' Sapp said, 'so they'd be sure to get you.'
'Yep.'
'It's a setup,' Sapp said. 'And a stupid one. They gave you all day to figure it out.'
'The price they paid for calling early,' I said. 'I figure it's Delroy.'
'Good choice,' Sapp said. 'He's stupid enough. You're going to need help with this.'
'I know,' I said. 'You got a rifle?'
'Yep.'
I had a street map of Columbia County I had bought when I first arrived. Sapp and I studied it on the table.
'Here's about where they want you,' Sapp said.
'I know,' I said. 'I've been out there.'
'Of course you have,' Sapp said. 'It's not a bad spot for them. Used to hunt birds out there, once. But when the highway got built the birds left. Now nobody goes out there, it's just a piece of empty land the Interstate goes through.'
'And I don't want to drive up at midnight and stand outside my car and get shot to pieces.'
