“Mr. Vincent, I believe I was clear in our last communication. We will call you when we reached the ground to obtain a report regarding the subject’s whereabouts.”
“Yes, Mr. Gale, I understood your instructions, but I do believe I may have some further information which you may be interested in.”
“What is it?”
“Well, I know my job is to just follow this Hamilton fellow, but I did catch the drift that you were looking for someone.”
“We may be,” Lobec said cautiously. “Why do you ask?”
“Would this someone actually be two someones comprised of a couple in their twenties, the guy about six two with short dark hair and his girlfriend a tan five-eight brunette.”
Lobec didn’t want to let the man know any more than he needed to, but he seemed to be leading somewhere. “As a matter of fact, we would be interest in determining the location of two people who fit that description.”
“I’d say you just determined it. Thirty seconds ago, they walked up to Murray Hamilton’s truck.”
CHAPTER 22
Luckily, Murray Hamilton had still been out in the parking lot when Erica ran out, ready to chase down the road after him if she had to. He was sitting in the driver’s seat, talking on a cellular phone.
The truck was a huge red two-door Chevy double-wide, pervasive in Texas. Erica had seen the pickup, with its distinctive rear fenders covering pairs of wheels on each side, only a few times before coming to the state. Now it seemed like she saw them everywhere.
The cargo bed liner was empty, but the dings and scratches in the paint testified to hard use in the construction business. A large toolbox straddled the bed directly behind the cab, which was extra long and probably had jump seats to carry two extra people on short trips.
When she walked toward the dualie, she could overhear a heated conversation through the open driver’s side window. She began to make out Murray’s gruff voice clearly as she got closer.
“No, goddammit, you tell him that if he doesn’t have the concrete on site by 8:00 tomorrow morning, I’ll have to go with another supplier. This is Dorman’s last chance. I’ve had it up to my ears with that guy.”
Just then he caught Erica in his peripheral vision and waved for her to approach the truck. Papers were strewn across the front seat, and a Palm Pilot was on his lap.
“You got that, Charlie? No excuses. Listen, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Mr. Hamilton?” Erica said.
“Please, call me Murray,” he said, stepping out of the cab.
“Murray,” she said, looking in Kevin’s direction. He was behind her about twenty feet, studying the traffic going by, obviously trying to ignore her and his father. She lowered her voice slightly. “We really need the ride. It’s very important that we get to a place on the North side of Dallas called LuminOptics by 7:00. With the weather looking the way it is”-she looked up at the darkening sky-”I’m not sure we can make it anyway.”
“We can make it,” Murray said confidently, even though Erica hadn’t told him where LuminOptics was.
She stole another glance at Kevin. “I’ve convinced Kevin to let you help us, but he probably isn’t going to be very talkative.”
Murray considered it for a moment, then said, “I guess there’s not much I can do about that. He’s probably not going to listen to me either, so you’d better tell him to get in. I’ll just clean the seat off for y’all.”
As he stowed the cellular phone and portable computer under the seat, Erica walked back to Kevin.
“He said he’ll take us there.
“Happy happy, joy joy,” Kevin said with no trace of humor.
“It’ll take an hour to get there. I think you can handle it.”
“All right, but he can leave as soon as we’re there. We’ll call a cab and find another motel until we can get your car.”
“Don’t you think it might be better if we stay at his…”
“No.”
There didn’t seem to be a point in arguing, so Erica walked around the Chevy and climbed in, knowing that Kevin would want to sit as far away from Murray as possible. She had figured that the truck would reek of smoke, but the cab smelled surprisingly fresh, with just a hint of masculine sweat.
Murray began to pull a map from the door pocket. “So let’s see where we’re going.”
“You don’t need that,” Kevin said. “I know where it is.”
“I see you haven’t lost your sense of direction,” Murray said. Murray was referring to Kevin’s ability to look at a map once and never refer to it again, even on long trips, a gift of photographic memory that Erica envied.
“But,” Murray continued, “do you know the best way to get there in rush hour traffic? You haven’t driven in Dallas for years.”
“Fine,” Kevin said. “It’s just off I-635 at Abrams Rd. Taking I-45 to highway 75 should be the quickest way, but you probably know better.”
“Until we get to downtown it is, but the North Dallas Toll Road will be faster from that point on. I think I can swing a few dollars for such a special occasion.”
As Murray began driving toward the interstate, an awkward silence pervaded the cab. It was a couple of minutes before the silence was broken.
Like Erica, Kevin must have noticed the fresh aroma in the pickup. “What’d you do? Quit smoking?”
“As a matter of fact, it’ll be four years this October.” He lowered his voice slightly, indicating that he was speaking to Erica. “I was a two pack a day smoker since I was a teenager. Except for losing Nick’s mother, it was the hardest thing I ever went through.”
Erica cringed, waiting for Kevin to correct his name, but he was quiet.
“So Nick,” Murray said, “what are your hobbies now? I know you don’t shoot anymore.”
Erica glanced at Kevin, puzzled.
“Not since high school,” Kevin said.
“Shooting?” Erica said. “As in guns.”
“Nick didn’t tell you?”
“Dad! She isn’t interested.”
But Murray went on. “I used to take Nick hunting. He was a good shot, so I got him to compete. He did damn well until he dropped it, even won a few trophies. I still have them at home if you ever want them, Nick, but I do get a kick out of showing them to people.”
“What kind of guns?” Erica asked.
“Pistol mostly. Rifle and shotgun, too, but all his trophies were for pistol. If he’d practiced like I wanted him to, he would’ve been even better. It was about the only thing he was good at when he was a teenager, that and those damn video games. And thank God he was, because he sure as hell wasn’t going to win awards in any other sports.”
Kevin let an exasperated sigh, but said nothing.
Erica kept quiet, not wanting to push it, but Murray didn’t seem to need encouragement.
“I mean, if he’d started lifting weights like I told him to, he’d have made one hell of a linebacker. But he was never interested, didn’t mind staying an overweight wimp. That’s why I was so surprised when I saw him today. First time he’s looked normal in his whole life.”
It seemed like the conversation was taking a turn that would upset Kevin, so Erica tried to change the subject.
“So, Murray, do you live on this side of town?”
Outbound traffic on the other side of the freeway was jammed, but luckily the direction they were headed moved along smoothly.
“No, we live out on the east side actually. Or I should say I do. Nick’s mother died about five years ago.”
“I’m sorry,” Erica said.
“Five years may seem like a long time to you since you’re so young. But to me I remember her like it was almost yesterday.”
At that, Kevin let out a dismissive cluck.