Mercedeses?”
Pine said, “Or they could have told him he would be met by his parents.”
“You think he was met by them?” asked Wallis.
“Genie Duncan seemed sincerely upset. Her husband didn’t strike me as being involved in this. But the guy could have used their names to gain Frankie’s trust.”
“And he could have gotten that information any number of ways,” said Wallis.
“Tall, older guy wearing a cowboy hat,” said Pine darkly.
“I know,” said Laredo. “Could be a lot of people, but it also sounds an awful lot like your friend, Cy Tanner. Didn’t see that one coming.”
“Neither did I,” muttered Pine.
Chapter 56
HOW DO YOU WANT to handle this?” said Wallis.
They were in his car outside of Cy Tanner’s house. His truck was in front and Roscoe was asleep on the porch.
“We need to get his picture and show it to Sarah,” said Pine. “But I don’t want him to know what we’re doing.”
“Okay,” said Wallis. “But Carol said this Tanner fellow was at the Clink when Rebane’s body was found.”
“She couldn’t be certain of the timing. He could have dropped the body off and gone right there to establish an alibi. It would take him all of two minutes to walk from where the body was dumped to the Clink. There’s no way Carol could know to the minute when he got there, no more than we could know the exact minute the body was placed where it was found.”
“Right, good point,” said Wallis.
“I can pretend to be taking pics of the house with my phone and get him in one,” said Laredo.
“Sounds like a plan,” said Pine absently.
“You don’t think he’s good for it?” said Laredo.
“I have no idea. We need to know a lot more than we do now, that’s for sure. But if he is the guy, we don’t want to spook him.”
They all climbed out of the car. A moment later they heard the sounds.
“He’s in his workshop in back,” said Pine. “That’s the sound of a saw.”
“I wonder what he’s cutting up?” said Wallis nervously.
Pine walked over to Roscoe and scratched the dog’s ears. “Hey, Roscoe, how’re you doing?”
“I think old Roscoe might be on his last legs,” said Laredo. “His breathing doesn’t sound too good.”
Pine wandered over to Tanner’s truck.
“Don’t even think about performing an illegal search,” warned Laredo.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to taint any evidence.” She looked in the back of the truck and froze.
Laredo, who had noted this, said, “What is it?”
“Take a look at this.”
The men hustled over and looked inside the truck.
“What are we looking for? There’s nothing there,” said Wallis.
“Look at the bolt heads in the floor liner.”
Laredo and Wallis leaned in closer. Laredo got it first.
“The marks on Hanna Rebane’s back and legs. I looked at the autopsy photos when I got to town. They match the pattern we’re looking at now.”
“Yes, they do.”
Laredo glanced over at the old barrel that Tanner used to burn things. Some smoke was still coming out of it. He hustled over and, using a long stick he picked up from the ground, started poking around in it.
Pine and Wallis joined him.
“You think…?” said Pine.
“I didn’t until about five seconds ago.”
He started pulling things out with the point of the stick and setting them on the ground.
“Don’t you need a search warrant for this?” said Wallis anxiously.
“The bolt pattern in the truck coupled with Sarah’s description establishes enough probable cause,” said Pine. “Plus, he had given me permission to look around before, including in the house. I think we can chance it.”
Wallis didn’t look convinced, but he also didn’t argue the point as soon as the next object Laredo speared emerged from the barrel.
Pine snagged it and dropped it on the ground, tamping out some embers with the sole of her boot. She bent down and picked it up.
“That look like a red Nike pullover to you?”
“What’s left of it,” said Wallis.
“Hey, what are y’all doing here?”
They turned to see Tanner standing at the corner of his house, a pair of safety goggles flipped up on his forehead.
Pine put the remnants of the pullover behind her back. “Hey, Cy, what’s up?”
He walked toward them. “Carol came by before. She said Jenny got squared away with those folks real good. I’m going over there later.”
“That sounds great.”
“You mind if we go inside?” she asked. “I wanted to take some pictures of the place. It might jog my memory.”
“Sure.” Then he glanced at the debris that Laredo had pulled out of the trash barrel. “What’s