directly through his body into the boy’s own.
Bobby tried to look at his friend, but Ash turned his head away, hiding his face.
The door opened abruptly and Dee stood there, her eyes bright and shining.
“There he is!” she cried. “There’s my darling boy!”
George stood in the motel driveway chatting with the state trooper as if he were a long-lost friend. Reggie watched from the office window until her curiosity got the best of her and she stepped onto the porch. George turned his back slightly, subtly keeping her from the conversation. As if it were some kind of clubby man’s thing, she thought. Both George and the trooper had a foot propped up on the squad car’s front bumper. The trooper had both hands tucked into his broad gun belt and George had stuck his in his hip pockets. They looked to Reggie as if they were trying to emulate a scene from a western movie, two old pardners in the saloon with their boots resting on the brass rail.
George looked annoyed when she approached them but Reggie was certain she detected relief in the trooper’s face. I’ll bet George has talked the man’s ear half off by now, she thought. Posing like some macho jerk, as if he had anything in common with a cop. Pathetic, she thought. Little boys to the end, all of them.
The trooper dropped his foot as she neared them and came to a rough approximation of attention. He dipped his head in greeting.
“Ma’am.”
“Ah. Reggie,” George exuded. As if he hadn’t seen her all the time. “Officer here’s asking for our help.”
“He’s certainly come to the right man,” Reggie said, scarcely able to keep the sarcasm from her voice.
“I told him I’d do all I could,” George said.
Poor trooper then, Reggie thought. He’s no help around here. I’d like to see how he could help anyone else.
“We’re looking for a man,” the trooper said. “I was just telling your husband, he’s a big man, unusually strong, probably well developed as if he’d been pumping iron.”
George was already shaking his head negatively as if each descriptive phrase merely served to put the suspect farther away from the motel.
“He’d be alone,” the trooper said. His attention had drifted from Reggie, back to George.
“Nawp,” said George, studying the ground now as if he could see the man’s face in the gravel.
“Or might have a boy with him.”
“Nawp,” said George.
“How old a boy?” Reggie asked. The trooper looked at her reluctantly.
“Doesn’t matter,” George said. “No boys here.”
“Nine years old.” said the trooper. “Have you had any boys here in the last two weeks?”
“Nawp,” said George, shaking his head.
“I couldn’t say for sure,” Reggie said.
“We haven’t had any,” George said. “I’d know it.”
“Not necessarily, dear,” Reggie said sweetly. She paused until she had the trooper’s full attention. He removed his dark glasses for the first time. His eyes were a pale brown. Reggie decided he was cute in a traditional sort of way, but not impressive.
“How’s that?” the trooper asked.
“I’d know it,” George said. “We haven’t had any.” But he had lost the trooper to Reggie.
“Sometimes they come in late at night, no reservations, just pull in. If that one’s asleep”-she indicated George with a move of her head that said he was often sleeping-“I don’t always go out to the cabin with them. I just give them a key. If they’re early risers they just drop the key in the slot when they get up and off they go. They could have kids with them.”
“Nawp.”
“How would you know? They could have a whole orphanage with them. The only way to know is when you clean up the next day.”
“You’d know then?”
“Kids are messy, they leave their own traces. You might know. They leave things behind, candy wrappers, comic books…”
George scoffed. “Lots of people eat candy.” He looked directly at the trooper, trying to grab his focus, grinning dismissively about his wife’s maunderings.
“So you’re saying you might have had a single man with a young boy here in the past two weeks?”
“I’m saying we could have and not known it.”
“You wouldn’t want to take that to court.” George chuckled. “It’s not proof.”
“I’m sorry,” Reggie said, smiling. “Did you want proof, officer?”
“No ma’am, that’s not necessary. We just need some information.”
“If I’m not being helpful. I’ll just let you keep dealing with my husband. He can handle it, can’t you, George?”
“You bet.”
“I just run the place, is all. I check them in, I check them out. I oversee the rooms, the cleaning…”
“You’re being very helpful,” the trooper said. “Do you have any single males staying here now?”
“We always have single men,” George said. ‘That’s most of our business. Travelers, salesmen, we get them all the time.”
“We have three at the moment, to be precise,” Reggie said. “Cabin two checked in yesterday afternoon and is leaving tomorrow.”
“Did you see him check in?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Was he alone?”
“He was. He was also short and rather heavy. I don’t think he’s ever lifted a weight in his life.”
“We think the man we’re looking for would have been here for at least a week already.”
“Cabin one is a single man…”
“He’s too old,” George said impatiently.
“Too old for what?”
“For whatever the trooper wants him for. He’s close to seventy if he’s a day.”
Reggie looked to the trooper, her eyebrows raised. “That’s probably older than we’re looking for,” the trooper admitted. There was a trace of apology in his voice, but Reggie was not going to accept it immediately.
“Maybe if we knew what he did we could be more help,” she said.
“He can’t tell you that,” George said.
“Right now we just want him for questioning.” the trooper said.
“What did I say?” George gloated. “They never tell you. They’re not allowed.”
“You said that you had another single man here?” the trooper asked.
“Cabin four,” George said quickly, trying to regain the initiative. “He’s an ugly duck. Mean looking. Sullen, you know? Doesn’t like to talk. I’d say he might be your man, but he doesn’t have a kid with him.”
“I have no trouble talking to cabin four.” Reggie said. “I find him rather pleasant. I don’t think he’s what you want at all, officer.”
The trooper tried to hide his impatience. He had half a dozen more motels to hit before the day was over, including a Ramada and a Howard Johnson’s, both of which seemed more likely to be productive than this tiny operation.
“How long has this gentleman been staying here?” the trooper asked.
“A couple days,” said George. “He slinks in and out at strange hours. I’ve got no idea what he’s doing, but I don’t like the looks of it.”
“He’s been here three days precisely.” Reggie said. “He’s leaving Thursday and he’s visiting his daughter, who just had a baby girl and doesn’t have a spare room to put him up. The daughter’s name is Gweneth.”
“He doesn’t care,” George said. “He doesn’t care what the baby’s name is, either. Try to stay relevant.”
“The baby’s name is Kendra. I don’t know where they got that one. People just seem to make names up
