“No, they know me. I live around here. I take care of some things around here. Nothing bad happened. There’s been no crime. The M.E. will find she died of choking. Case closed.
“The medical examiner?”
“Yeah, like on TV. Now come on we’ll walk up to your car. You leave and I’ll wait up there for the police.”
“I should take my coat.” He reached back and picked it up off the body. He paused to look down at her. Freddy, you always want things nice and neat. Good lord, he thought, does it end this way?
“She should have something over her,” he said. “I don’t have a blanket in my car. Do you?”
The younger man shook his head.
They reached the top of the sandy knoll and could now hear the occasional hum of vehicles going by on A1A beyond the screen of foliage. The older man stopped abruptly and pointed. “Is that your SUV parked there? Wait a minute, I saw it at that truck stop up in Jacksonville. You’re lying. You’re not from around here. You pulled out right behind us on 95.”
“Not me, buddy. I’ve been here all day. Haven’t been out of town in a month. Now you should get out of here.”
“I was certain it was your white SUV that followed us.”
“You’re saying you gave Miss Universe a ride down here from Jax so she could go to the beach?”
The nervous man didn’t answer.
“Stop talking and go.”
“I can’t leave. I won’t do it.” He wondered just how much he owed her anyway. He could stay and identify himself to the police. That wouldn’t bring her back and might destroy him. Certainly he didn’t owe her that much. “I don’t know. Will she be okay? Nothing’s going to happen to her?”
“Nothing’s going to happen to her. I’ll keep an eye on her. Now leave.”
“Well, I guess it’s all right, since the police are on the way. I truly appreciate your doing this for me. So, you’ll stay up here and wait up here until they come, okay?”
“Sure.”
(End of excerpt from The Price of Candy. -- the next Sandy Reid mystery by Rod Hoisington)
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