Pine looked at Laredo. “Tell him your theory about the nuclear family.”
Laredo did so, and Tanner looked like he might vomit.
“What the hell kind of world do we got where sick bastards like that are walking around?” he raged.
“I know, Cy. But if it is in some way connected to my family we need to know if you’ve seen anyone around here. Maybe a car or truck parked nearby, watching the place. Anyone you’ve seen showing an interest in this house or the property at all?”
Tanner leaned against the doorjamb and thought this over. He finally shook his head. “Only people come by here are you and Agnes. Wait a minute, that Graham lady came by a couple times.”
“Lauren Graham? Why?”
He chuckled. “She brought me a blueberry pie and then some biscuits.” He grinned. “Now I could be wrong, but she seemed a little sweet on me. But I’m way too old for her.” He looked around at his dilapidated property. “Maybe she’s after my money.” He laughed.
“Anyone else?” asked Laredo. “Anyone at all. Even somebody stopping to ask for directions?”
“Well, come to think, there was a car parked nearby, oh, this was maybe three weeks ago. Got up real early and was looking out the window and saw it.”
“What kind of car?” asked Laredo.
“Fancy. So red it hurt your eyes to look at it. Looked like the damn Batmobile. Never seen a ride like that before.”
“No name or emblem or anything on the car that you could see?”
“Well, I did sneak through the woods to get a better look at the thing. I mean, this is rural Georgia. Seeing a car like that here was like seeing a damn Rolls-Royce on the moon.”
“So what did you see when you got closer?” asked Pine.
“Thing had four exhaust pipes coming out what looked like the trunk.”
“Did you see a name on the car?”
Tanner knitted his brows. “Yeah, never heard of it before. Pag something.”
“Pag?” said Pine, glancing at Laredo.
“Wait a minute, a Pagani Huayra?” exclaimed Laredo.
“Don’t know ’bout that last name, but yeah, Pa-ganny, that was it.”
“You know it?” said Pine to Laredo.
He nodded, still looking disbelieving.
“Is it expensive?” asked Pine.
“Depending on the model, about three million bucks.”
“The hell you say,” barked a stunned-looking Tanner. “For something you go from here to there in?”
“What can I tell you,” said Laredo. “It comes from the having-too-much-money syndrome. You have to spend it on something. Not that I’m ever going to have that dilemma.”
Pine slowly drew her gaze from Laredo. “Was there anyone in the car, Cy?”
“Not that I could tell. The windows were dark and I was afraid to let the person see me.”
“Why?”
Tanner looked sheepish. “Look, I’m just staying here because I don’t have no other place. I was maybe thinking this person had a claim on this house and all. I mean, why else would they be here, right? I didn’t want to get into no discussion about that.”
“Do you remember the license plate by chance?”
“That’s the thing. It didn’t have no plate, least on the rear.”
“Okay, if the car comes back or you remember anything else, let us know, okay?”
“You got it.”
They walked back to the front of the house, where Pine glanced at the trash barrel that still had some flames in it.
“Having a fire in that barrel is not a good idea with a little kid running around.”
“Damn thing keeps lighting back up. Must be some embers down there. I’ll throw some water on it.”
“Good idea.”
They found Blum in the house feeding both Jenny and Roscoe.
Blum finished up and pulled Pine aside. “That child cannot stay here. She’ll be dead in a week from either malnourishment, the stairs falling down on her, or an army of germs.”
“Working on it,” said Pine as she pulled out her phone and made a call.
After a couple of minutes of conversation she put it away and looked at Blum.
“She’s going to call me back.”
“Who?”
“Lauren Graham. She thinks she might have a solution.”
As it turned out, the woman did. Later, they collected Jenny and her small bag with her few possessions after explaining things to Tanner.
Jenny was going to stay with a family who had two girls around Jenny’s age and who lived one block off the main street. The father was a minister at the local church; his wife stayed at home and had the reputation of being a very caring person.
Tanner had at first resisted but then relented after Pine and Blum spoke with him.