FORTY-EIGHT
Jack steered around the corner a little too fast.
Terra reached for the handgrip above the passenger window. “If you were worried about missing this guy, maybe you should have just called me to meet you there.”
“The truth is that I didn’t decide to invite you along until after what happened tonight. I thought you could use the distraction.”
“You didn’t think I’d want to be part of it?”
“I figured you were with your friends, and I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“But you ended up interrupting anyway.”
“Did I? Looked like they were gone to me. Oh, you mean the dinner. I thought you would want to know about the memorial. Terra, I hated tracking you down. I just didn’t know how to tell you. I—”
Terra touched his arm, sending a warm current through him. “You handled it the right way, Jack. And thank you for inviting me along tonight as well. But can I ask you, from now on, to please not make decisions for me? If a lead turns up that is important to my investigation as well, then please inform me. Let me make the decision whether I will be part of the stakeout, okay?”
“I’m duly lectured.”
Downtown Big Rapids was still hopping thanks to the local casinos, pizza joints, and ice cream parlors. But farther into the shadows, the section that included the bars, otherwise called dives, began. Bar Wars was at a halfway point—not quite in the limelight, not quite in the darkness.
He parked a block down and across the street from the bar, grateful that he drove an unmarked vehicle. Now that he was here with Terra, he thought maybe he’d made a mistake. She was a huge distraction. As he stared out the window, taking in the area, a strand of hair fell from the clip and curled across her cheek. Jack gently lifted it and tucked it behind her ear.
A small gasp escaped from her as she turned to look at him, her eyes shining.
And her lips...
The stakeout, Jack. Remember why you’re here.
“So, I’m told this guy comes in every night. Sits in the booth and drinks a few beers.”
“Oh, that’s a new one,” Terra said.
“The thing is, someone took the regular guy’s place a few nights ago. Nobody sits in that booth, right? Because they know the regular guy, Blevins, likes to drink his beer alone. And he’s a bully. Nobody gets in his way. And every Monday night at ten-thirty, someone comes in to sit across from Blevins. Like a meeting.”
“The same person every time? Or someone different?”
“I haven’t confirmed anything yet, except I was told that Neva Bolz had been in to meet with Blevins. Since a new guy took Blevins’s place and the bar employees think that’s unusual, I’ve put a deputy on finding Blevins. We still don’t know where he is, and it looks like he might have skipped town.”
“You mean he disappeared?”
“I mean ... we’re looking for him.”
“You don’t think he’s the killer, do you?”
“I hope he’s not our next victim. I hope there won’t be one. Now, if we can question this new guy who took Blevins’s place, whether he’s the pilot or not, we could find out more.”
Terra sighed.
“What’s the matter?”
“Everything. Investigations just take too long.”
“I’m getting impatient too, Terra.” The evening had started to cool down, so Jack turned his vehicle back on and cranked the heat. “Were you able to talk to the museum curator?”
“They were closed.”
“When I left the bar today, I went out the back into the alley and I saw the back of the museum.”