“Hush up, Herky,” said the waitress. “Can’t you tell this young lady’s distressed?”

“Sorry, ma’am,” said Herky, his gaze downcast as he stuffed a whole sausage patty in his mouth.

“So you gonna nail the little weasel good?” said the waitress eagerly.

“Something like that. Just give me a call if you see him and meantime I’ll check out Skip’s too. Thanks for the tip.”

Annabelle finished eating and ordered some takeout for Caleb.

She walked out of the diner, looking cautiously around for Knox. She made it back to the van and told Caleb what had happened.

“Apparently he’s staying at this Skip’s Motel. We can ease down there and see if we pick up his trail. If not, I’ve got friends in high places here now.”

Caleb looked at the platter of food. “It’s all fried,” he said in dismay.

“I’m sorry, Caleb, that’s all they had.”

“Not even any yogurt? Or fruit? Do you have any idea what my LDL cholesterol count is? And my triglycerides are off the charts. I could literally drop dead at any moment, Annabelle.”

“It’s a diner, Caleb. There’re enormous men in there eating entire sides of beef without a fruit cup in sight, okay? Besides, what happened to the new, old Caleb? The dangerous come-at-me-with-both-guns-blazing Caleb?”

Caleb stared darkly at her. “Oh, what the hell. We’re probably going to end up dead anyway.” He made a face and then crunched down on a thick slice of sugar-cured bacon.

Chapter 45

CHAPTER 45

THERE WAS NO ONE in the front office of the courthouse when Stone walked in. He waited a moment and then eyed the stacks of boxes against one wall. He slipped over to them, pulled one off the top, and looked inside it. It was filled with legal documents. This must be one of the shipments of mining recertification documents Judge Mosley had told him about. He picked up what looked to be a shipping manifest. Eighty large boxes. Stone looked at the cardboard towers and wondered how Mosley had any sanity left after going through that mind-numbing mountain of legalese.

He heard someone coming, dropped the manifest on top of one of the boxes and hurried back to the front of the large desk in the middle of the room. A moment later Shirley Coombs walked through an interior door, her gaze on a mess of papers in her hand. She looked up and gave a little cry when she saw Stone standing there.

“You work here?” he said.

She nodded, one hand on her chest. “You startled me.”

Stone glanced around the space. “Are you the court secretary?”

“The court clerk. Have been for years. Why? Don’t I look like a court clerk?” she said icily. “Or do I just look like a secretary?”

“I went to see Willie. He’s doing okay.”