“Is your wife home?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he said.
“Would she be upset if she knew you were still friends with Dirk McCurdle?”
“What’s this about?”
“I can knock on your door and talk to you in front of your wife, or we can meet somewhere for just a couple minutes. I need to find Dirk.”
“Okay.”
“Just go out in your car or go for a walk, and I’ll follow you.”
“Okay.”
And he hung up.
Five minutes later, a car pulled out of the Wilkeses’ driveway and headed for Olden. The car pulled to the curb after three blocks and Ernie Wilkes got out.
“I don’t know anything about Dirk McCurdle,” Ernie said to Lula and me. “We used to be friends, but I don’t see him anymore.”
“When was the last time you talked to him?” I asked.
Ernie hesitated a beat. “A long time ago.”
“Try again,” I told him.
Ernie blew out a sigh. “A couple days ago. He’s got a new wife. At least, he says she’s a wife.”
“Do you know her name? Do you know where she lives?”
“Her name’s Dolly. I don’t know her last name. He said they met at the Senior Center on Greenwood. And he said she has a house close by there.”
“Does Dirk have his own place?”
Ernie shook his head. “Not that I know about. He’s always lived in his wives’ houses. I tell you, he’s a real character.”
I thanked Ernie, gave him my card, and Lula and I took Olden to Greenwood.
“Hold up here,” Lula said. “There’s a bakery on the right, and I bet they’ve got healthy doughnuts. Like maybe they got a whole wheat and green bean cruller.”
SIX
I PULLED INTO the small lot and waited while Lula ran in. I had my window down, and I was in a zone, staring into the bakery, not thinking. My skin prickled at the nape of my neck and a rush of heat fluttered through my stomach. I caught a hint of Bulgari Green shower gel and knew the reason for the heat. Ranger.
He bent to talk to me through the open window. “There’s a problem in the Atlanta office,” he said. “I’m on my way to the airport. I should be back sometime tomorrow. In the meantime, call Tank if you need help. I’ve asked Chet to report Gritch’s travels directly to you.”
Tank was Ranger’s next in command. He was the guy who watched Ranger’s back. His name said it all.
“Thanks,” I said. “Be careful.”
Ranger smiled at that. Hard to tell if he was smiling because someone cared enough to say be careful, or if he thought the idea was funny.
Minutes after Ranger left, Lula hauled herself up into the Jeep. “The best I could do was blueberry,” Lula said. “They didn’t have no vegetable doughnuts. And I got a strawberry jelly-filled, and a pumpkin spice, and a banana scone. Wait a minute. Is pumpkin a vegetable? Does that count?”
“You must have eight hundred calories in that bag.”
“Yeah, but the diet says I can have one of anything.”