Wolf Tracks - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,7
well, well,” Martin mused. “Careless.”
“There’s every indication he cleared out in a hurry. Food wrappers all over the place. General grunge in the passenger area. This, however, was the only piece of even remotely identifying data left. He scrubbed the vehicle of anything that might lead us farther down the trail, only he missed this bit, in his haste.” Jim looked smug as he took a big bite of his sandwich.
“What is it?” Helen asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
Martin handed her the little rectangle. It was a library card. She looked closely. A library card from Virginia Beach, with a man’s name on it, that was not Buford Somersby.
“What does this mean?” she asked, puzzled. “Was this left behind by some other person, or does Buford have a friend named Gil Smithsby?”
“Gil Smithsby is likely one of Buford’s aliases,” Martin explained gently. Helen felt like a dolt when he said it. She should have realized.
“We can use that name to trace him. Maybe,” Jim added. “I already texted the info to Ezra Tate in Grizzly Cove. He’s running a computer search now.
“If he doesn’t turn up anything, I might be able to make a few calls,” Martin offered.
Chapter Two
As it turned out, Ezra was able to find out a great deal about Gil Smithsby. By the time they’d finished eating and were working on dessert, Jim had received a full dossier on Gil Smithsby, alias Buford Somersby, alias Gerald Settersby, alias, alias, alias. The man turned out to have a list of aliases longer than Jim cared to read.
Buford was the newest of his long line of false identities. The best part of being able to link Buford with the others was being able to trace any activity by the older identities. In this case, they were able to find out that Gerald Settersby had rented a car just up the road from the diner, paying by credit card. Ezra had used his investigating wiles, calling the rental place and pretending to be a credit card fraud investigator, he’d learned a great deal about what Buford/Gerald had said to the clerk—and, more importantly, what he hadn’t said.
He’d told the clerk the rental would be for one night, that he was not leaving the state, and that he’d return the car tomorrow. Buford/Gerald had claimed to be visiting a friend in the area when the clerk had remarked upon his driver’s license being issued by the State of New Jersey. He’d had a plastic bag full of papers in addition to three large suitcases. When prompted, the clerk had revealed that he’d noticed a few things. Like a map of Virginia among the other man’s collection of papers and a quickly glimpsed luggage tag on one of the cases that had a Virginia Beach address on it.
“Could be a setup,” Martin mused. “Though I can’t think of any reason they’d want to lure people to Virginia Beach. I hadn’t heard anything about that area being a hotbed of sinister activity, but then again, I’m not really in the game anymore these days.”
“I haven’t heard anything negative about Virginia Beach either. Nor had Ezra and his sources,” Jim said as he ate his pie. “Thing is, I know the general area pretty well. I spent some time in Norfolk, which isn’t too far away as the crow flies, when I was in the Navy. I may still have a few friends in the area.”
“Then, it would be a good idea to call on them,” Martin said with finality.
“That’s the plan,” Jim agreed. “But I’m going to head in that direction while I do that. I have a feeling that’s where I need to go.”
“Then, I suppose we’re going to part ways sooner than I expected. We head northeast from here,” Martin said, regret clear in his tone.
“And I’ll be going southeast,” Jim replied, nodding. “It was a pleasure meeting you and working with you,” he said formally, to the older man.
“Likewise,” Martin responded warmly. “You have my number. If I can help in any way, just call, okay?”
“Roger that, and thanks.” Jim nodded again, and the waitress came over with their check. Jim picked it up. “I’m officially on an expense account from SeaLife Enterprises, so this one’s on them,” he told them all with a grin. “Ezra told me to pick up the tab for you all, and I’m happy to do so.”
Martin nodded, making polite conversation as Jim offered up a shiny new company credit card to the