Maybe I was being naïve, but I didn’t have a lot of time to second-guess myself.
“I’m going to bring Bart Drummond down,” I said, “and I might need more information from you to help me make that happen.”
“Why are you goin’ after Drummond?” he asked, all pretense gone.
Obviously I wasn’t going to tell Bingham the real reason—the last thing I needed was yet another dangerous man knowing who I was—so I hoped my explanation would convince him. “Because he reminds me of a bigger asshole I know, and I’m considering takin’ Bart Drummond down for practice before I take on the other.”
True enough.
He grinned. “That, Ms. Moore, is an agenda we can both agree upon.” He extended his hand. “Four thousand for your car, and we have a deal.”
I shook his hand, knowing full well what I was getting into.
Hank was right. It was better to deal with the devil you know.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“I’ll have an associate drop by with the check on Monday,” Bingham said. “Just let Wyatt Drummond know that my men will be pickin’ it up.”
“Will do, but don’t you want to know about the title?”
He grinned. “I don’t need the title.”
“Okay…”
He started to get up, then settled back on his seat. “You got paper and a pen?”
“You giving me a bill of sale?” I asked as I pulled my order pad and pen out of my pocket and pushed them across the table.
“No.” He wrote down a phone number. “This is my direct number. It’s a satellite phone. I get reception just about everywhere.”
A satellite phone? Why hadn’t I thought about that? Bart had brought a cell carrier to town, but Bingham probably wouldn’t want to use it on principle alone, not to mention it didn’t reach far outside of Drum city limits. “How much do those cost?”
He laughed as he slid the ticket over to me. “More than you can afford. Don’t call this number just to shoot the shit. You better have something important to discuss. And don’t share it with another damn person. It’s for you only. Got it?”
I picked up the paper and folded it in half. “Got it.”
Then he stood and walked out the door.
I got up and started making the rounds. When I made it to the counter, Ruth gave me a look of disbelief. “Well? What did he want?”
“I was right,” I said. “He was here to make a deal about my car. Four thousand.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Todd Bingham came here all alone to make a deal about your car?”
“Yeah.”
“And it took y’all that much time to reach a deal?”
I shrugged. “What can I say? It was a tough negotiation.”
“What were you showing him on your phone?” she asked suspiciously.
I hadn’t seen Shane in the tavern the night before, but it occurred to me that she might have. I slid my phone out of my pocket and pulled up his photo. “Did you see this guy in here last night?”
She took the phone and squinted at it. “Your phone takes crap pictures.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I know, but did you see him?”
She pushed out a breath and held the phone closer to her face. “Maybe?” She looked up at me. “Where the hell did you take this photo?”
“Greener Pastures nursing home in Ewing.”
“Are you lookin’ for a replacement for Wyatt?”
“At the nursing home?” I asked in disbelief. “No, but I think this guy kidnapped Greta.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Greta from Watson’s Café?”
“Yeah.” Which wouldn’t mean much to her unless she knew everything else. I’d thought it best to keep my worry about Lula from her, but maybe that was a mistake. Ruth knew a lot about Drum and the people here. She might be able to help. Besides which, she was my friend, and it felt wrong to keep this from her. It concerned her too. I took a deep breath, then added, “And it’s somehow connected to Lula.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What are you talkin’ about?”
“Lula didn’t just run off this time. Someone took her. Even Marco thinks so. We’ve been trying to figure out what happened to her, and after we questioned Greta, she disappeared too. She came here last night to talk to me, not Max. She answered some questions about Lula, but then she saw something that scared her, and I had Max walk her out to her car. But she never went home, and her sister and her coworkers say she’s not dating anyone, so they have no idea where she is.”
Worry filled Ruth’s eyes.