for Cody than turning out like him.
The door on the home next to Hank’s opened, and a woman who had to be in her fifties stepped down the metal stairs. A cigarette dangled from her mouth, and her robe was at least a year past its life span, the edges fraying.
She squinted. “Raleigh, that you? My contacts aren’t in yet.”
“Yes, ma’am, it’s me.”
“Always so polite.” She descended the last step and walked over. “Heard about your dad.”
“Raleigh didn’t do it,” Mia blurted out.
“Lola, this is Mia. My girlfriend.” Raleigh gave her a secret smile. “Lola lived here when I did.”
Lola took her in with what looked like a predatory gleam. “Hmm, pretty and protective. Sweet. Nice to meet you, Mia.”
Mia nodded. “Likewise.”
“Look, even if you did off him, you probably had good reason. He was a scumbag of the highest order.”
Raleigh flicked his gaze to his father’s home, then back to Lola. “Has someone from the sheriff’s office been by to question you?”
“They asked me a few things. Did I hear any fighting going on a year or so ago? Had you been around? There’s a lot of fighting, and if you’re smart you ignore it.” This she said to Mia. “We mind our own business round here. I told ’em I hadn’t seen you in years. Your daddy, he complained that you wouldn’t loan him any money. That was when he was trying to hit me up for some. Wah, wah, wah, like I gave a shit.” She took a puff of her cigarette and blew smoke out the side of her mouth, along with the word “Asshole.”
“Do you remember the last time you saw him?”
Lola crossed one arm over her stomach and planted her other elbow on it. She seemed to be contemplating as she sucked in another lungful of smoke. “You know, it was May something. Or early June. He was asking for money to buy his kid a birthday present. I was disgusted that he was using you as an excuse to slime money off me. I told him to suck a big—well, I demurred.” She gave Mia a wink. “Love that word, ‘demurred.’ “
“Did he say it was for me?” Raleigh asked. “My birthday’s in October.”
“No, he didn’t. So it was probably his other kid. Didn’t see him around as much. He always freaked me out when I did, though. Looks so much like you, I thought I’d gone back in time.”
Raleigh herded her back to the subject at hand. “So it was that day, when he asked for money. Did he leave the park?”
“Yeah, after he tried the usuals round here. Every woman he ever screwed and then screwed. The man either has—had—a shit pile for a memory or he thought we were all stupid. He tore out of here. I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think he came back after that. Ever.” She shrugged, and the robe slid off her bony shoulder. “I didn’t really think much of it.”
“I guess you wouldn’t.”
“The police checked the mobile home. Took his computer, a few boxes of stuff.”
“Maybe they’ll find a threatening email,” Mia said. “Or evidence of drug dealing or something.”
“If they bother to look,” Raleigh said. “Thanks, Lola.”
They tried to talk with a couple of others who Raleigh said lived there when he had. They weren’t quite as forthcoming as Lola, or as friendly.
She and Raleigh said nothing until they got back into the car and headed out of the park.
He draped his hand over the top of the steering wheel. “It appears that he was killed that night or maybe early the next morning. Which, unfortunately, keeps me at the number-one-suspect place.”
“But that’s given what we know that the police don’t.”
“What if they question Cody? He is Hank’s son, after all. And what if he cracks?”
“He won’t. He’s too afraid of losing you.”
“That’s the problem, Mia. His fear will give him away.” Raleigh’s phone rang again, and he glanced at the screen. “It’s Grace.”
“Maybe there’s some good news.”
He didn’t look hopeful when he answered, and his expression only dimmed from there. “All right, we’ll meet you out there.” He gave her directions to his cabin. When he hung up, he said, “The sheriff obtained a search warrant for my place. They’re probably already out there. Grace said they ‘accidentally’ didn’t notify her right away.”
“Yeah, right.”
Raleigh made a turn and headed out of town. He took a long, worn asphalt road into an area that she remembered being completely desolate. But there