Larabee finished my sentence. “—it could be a tip about the landfill John Doe.”
“That was my first thought.”
“How do we find out about Hand?”
“Do you have contact information for Special Agent Williams?”
“Hold on.”
I heard a thunk. After a brief pause, Larabee returned and read off a number.
“You think Williams will know something?” he asked.
“I think he’ll know a lot.” “Keep me looped in.”
Williams answered on the second ring.
I identified myself.
If my call surprised him, he didn’t let on.
“Eli Hand,” I said.
The silence went on for so long, I thought we’d been disconnected.
“What are you asking me?” Williams’s tone was flinty.
“Was Eli Hand John-Doeing it at our morgue?”
“I can’t comment on that.”
“Why not?”
“Why are you asking about Eli Hand?”
“I got an anonymous tip.”
“From what source?”
“See, that’s the anonymous part.”
“How did you receive this tip?” Terse.
“On my mobile.”
“Was the phone able to capture the number?”
I gave it to him.
“Who is Eli Hand?”
“I’m not at liberty—”
“With or without any of that famous FBI cooperation, Dr. Larabee and I
“Back the attitude down a notch.”
“Then give me some answers.”
“I’ll speak to you tomorrow.”
Next I phoned Galimore.
Got no answer.
Between the anonymous threat, Summer’s idiocy and Pete’s gloominess, the call about Eli Hand, Williams’s arrogance, and Galimore’s disappearing act, sleep was elusive when I went to bed.
My mind kept juggling pieces, repositioning and twisting to make them interlock. Instead of answers, I ended up with the same questions.
I knew from Williams’s reaction that the landfill John Doe would turn out to be Eli Hand. Who was he? When had he died? Why did his body show signs of ricin poisoning?
Abrin was found in Wayne Gamble’s coffee. How had it gotten there? Surely Gamble had been murdered. By whom? Why?
Cale Lovette had associated with right-wing extremists. Had they helped him vanish? If so, how had he managed to skim under the radar all these years? Had they killed him?
Descriptions of Cindi Gamble did not jibe. Was she smart, with NASCAR potential, as Ethel Bradford, Lynn Nolan, and J. D. Danner suggested? Or dull, a poor driver, as Craig Bogan said? Was she in love with Cale Lovette? Or terrified of him?
Accounts given by Grady Winge and Eugene Fries disagreed. Was one of them simply in error? Was one of them lying? Why?
Had Owen Poteat actually seen Cale Lovette at the Charlotte airport ten days after he disappeared from the Speedway, or was this deliberate misinformation? If so, why? Had someone paid him? Who?
Ted Raines was still missing. Raines had access to ricin and abrin. Was Raines involved at all?
I kept trying to find a connection. Just one. That connection would lead to another, which would lead to another. Which would lead to answers long overdue.
