“We think the killer might be local,” Grimaldi said. “Someone who travels up and down I-65. Someone with access to a truck or a motor home.”
She avoided rather ostentatiously looking at it, but Mullinax got the point.
“Oh, no.” He took a step back and lifted his hands. “No, no. You’re not pinning that on me. Kent, that’s one thing. I get why you have to look at me for that. Noah was my nephew, and what Kent did to him was terrible. Ruined the boy’s life. But not this other thing. And not the FBI lady. I had nothing to do with that. You ask my wife. She was with me in Florida, and on the way home. She’ll tell you we didn’t go by Nashville, and that we didn’t pick up any hitchhikers.”
None of us pointed out that the dead woman hadn’t been hitchhiking.
“Where can we find your wife?” Grimaldi wanted to know, and Mullinax turned to her.
“She went to do her volunteer work at the homeless shelter. Every Monday and Thursday when we’re here, she and Bonnie go to the homeless shelter and cook and read to the kids.”
“Bonnie?” Grimaldi said.
“Drimmel. Jacob’s wife.”
Of course. She hadn’t mentioned her first name when we’d been there on… must have been Friday.
“So that was Jacob Drimmel,” Grimaldi said, “who was here, working on your RV?”
Mullinax nodded. “He left about an hour ago. Needed a part before he can finish the job, and it won’t be in for a couple of days.”
“His wife told us he’s a diesel mechanic. That’s a diesel engine, I assume?”
Mullinax nodded. “Much better mileage with diesel.”
“That’s what I hear.” She smiled at him. “You two go back a ways, don’t you? Was it Jacob who helped you carry Kent Jurgensson’s body into the woods back then?”
Mullinax took a step back, and she added, “You were golf buddies, right? You and Jacob, Kent Jurgensson and Sid. I don’t think Sid helped you dispose of the body—”
I shook my head.
“—and I don’t imagine your wife would have been able to, even then—”
Rafe shook his head.
“—but you must have had help. You were younger then, but he wasn’t a small man. And dead weight—pardon the expression—is heavy.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mullinax said, but his voice was hoarse, like he had a hard time getting the words out.
“No?” Grimaldi tilted her head. “Maybe Jacob Drimmel can help us.”
Mullinax cleared his throat. “He isn’t here. I told you, he left. Needed a part.”
“Where would he have gone, do you think? Home?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Mullinax demanded. “Probably. He would have stopped somewhere to order the part, and then yes, he’d probably have gone home. He’s got this old car he’s working on fixing up…”
“Thank you, Mr. Mullinax.” Grimaldi turned to me. “Let’s go.”
She strode off toward the SUV, leaving me, Mullinax, and Rafe behind. Mullinax didn’t seem to mind—he stood there and stared after her, but didn’t make any move to follow. I scrambled to keep up, and behind me, Rafe didn’t bother to scramble, but managed to keep up anyway.
“What?” he asked Grimaldi when we were far enough from Mullinax that the latter wouldn’t be able to overhear. “There ain’t no hurry. Jurgensson died decades ago.”
Grimaldi shook her head. “Jacob Drimmel left here about an hour ago. He might have driven down the road where the car was parked while we were in the woods.”
Might have. But— “Why would Jacob Drimmel kidnap Agent Yung?”
And then the picture realigned in my head, and I added, “Oh, my God. But no… he couldn’t have raped and killed his own daughter. And besides, he’s not a truck driver. He’s a mechanic. He wouldn’t be driving up and down the interstate.”
“He would be if he worked for a trucking company,” Rafe said. “Some of’em keep mechanics on staff to work on the trucks between trips. And sometimes, if a truck breaks down on the road, the mechanic’ll drive out and try to get it started again.”
“Trucks have diesel engines?”
“Same as RVs.”
“But Laura Lee was his daughter. He wouldn’t…”
“Some men do,” Grimaldi said, her voice even. “But he needn’t have raped her. He might have been there, at the truck stop, for some reason, to talk to her or just because he was passing through. And he could have seen that she was turning tricks. If it made him angry, he could have killed her. She’d refused financial help, it was Frankie’s fault and he