“Shit. He’s really dead? Little Frankie? What the hell?”
“I’m afraid so,” said Wallis. “Your wife said he sometimes came to the dealership with you?”
“A couple of times. They have strict rules about that stuff, for safety reasons. But it was on a weekend and I let him in the work bay with me and explained some of the things I did. I even let him sit in some of the cars. He thought it was really cool. I never told him how much they cost. He’d probably never be able to afford one, same as me.”
“Did you introduce him to anyone here when you brought him in?” asked Laredo.
“Yeah, a couple of the other mechanics. Don, who works in the business office. He and Frankie talked for a bit while I was dealing with something. And one of the sales gals. Why?”
“We’re just trying to figure out how he ended up dead in Andersonville, Georgia, so we have to track down all interactions with other people.”
“Well, I can’t believe anyone here would hurt him. Why would they? They’ve all worked here a long time, same as me.”
“When was the last time you saw Frankie?” asked Pine.
Duncan thought for a moment. “I was out the door to go to work before he left for school that day. We had supper together the night before. He went to bed. Then he went to school the next day.” He added defensively, “Genie is a great mom. She watches those kids like a hawk. But they have to go to school.”
“And your wife got worried when he didn’t come home from school?”
“Hell, yeah. Genie was frantic. The bus stop is only a few blocks over. Lots of kids get off there, so we never worried. She called me at work. Then she called the agency where we got Frankie, but they weren’t too much help, according to Genie. Then she was calling around to everybody she could think of. Nobody had seen him after he left school. So she called the cops. I left work early and went looking for him, too, with some other dads from the neighborhood.”
“Your wife told us about that,” said Wallis.
“How the hell did he end up in this other place? How far is it from here?”
“About an hour and a half by car,” said Wallis.
“This is crazy. Do you think some pervert snatched him? Hey, whoever took him didn’t…you know?”
“He was not sexually abused, if that’s what you mean,” replied Wallis.
“The things you hear about these days,” said Duncan in a disgusted tone. “I mean, how can you call folks human who do that kind of crap?”
“Do you have any theory about what might have happened?” said Pine. “Did you see a strange car passing through the neighborhood? A strange person hanging around?”
“No, nothing like that. Our neighborhood is a tight little community. We watch out for each other. Anything like that, someone would have mentioned it.” He paused and looked down. “I guess we…we need to take care of his…remains.”
“Right. We’ll let you know when we can release the body, Mr. Duncan,” said Wallis. “It probably won’t be too long now.”
“Okay. Damn. I mean, who wants to hurt a kid?”
“The answer to that might surprise you,” said Pine, watching him closely. “Do you only work on Mercedeses here?”
“About ninety percent of the time, yeah.”
“And the other ten percent?”
“What they call exotic cars.”
“Like what exactly?”
“Aston Martin. Rolls-Royce. Even worked on a Lamborghini Veneno once. That was cool.” He grinned sheepishly. “That one car costs way more than I’ll ever make in my whole life.”
“How about a Pagani?” asked Pine.
“A Pagani,” he snorted. “Ain’t no Paganis around here.”
“So you know the brand?” asked Laredo.
“Hell, just seen ’em in magazines. Damn beautiful cars. Love to work on one.”
“Who was the person in the business office you mentioned again?”
“Don, Don Bigelow. He’s worked here forever.”
“Thanks.”
Pine led the two men to the business office, where they found Bigelow, a large-boned man with a big belly, in his early sixties, simultaneously pushing paper on his desk and clicking keys on his computer.
“What can I do for you?” he asked, a pair of rimmed specs tilted up on his forehead. “You folks buy a car or need financing? They usually bring in the paperwork first.”
Pine held out her badge, as did Laredo and Wallis.
“We’re not looking to buy, we’re here for some information,” she said.
Bigelow looked nervously at them. “FBI? Please don’t tell me some folks here have been embezzling or something. Look, you