“She’d be company for you, too, now that your son and grandson have left.”

Albritten made a wry face. “Bayard called you, asking you to keep an eye on me, didn’t he? Your dog is welcome to stay here for a bit. She’s a sweet girl. She’ll be good company.”

“If anything happens to me, will you call this number in Chicago?” I handed her a note. “Dr. Lotty Herschel will organize someone to come down to collect Peppy, and she’ll also take care of . . . well, anything that needs taking care of.”

“You really are expecting trouble?” she asked.

“It’s all around me. I don’t know why it hasn’t hit me square in the face yet. My guess is the troublemakers haven’t found whatever they were looking for when they went through August’s home and place of work. They keep hoping I’ll find August and lead them to him.”

“Then it’s just as well you haven’t found him. If these villains catch up with you, I or young Bayard Clements will call this doctor of yours, and we’ll look after your dog.”

I gave her a quick embrace, feeling her shoulder bones through her cardigan. “I’d best be on my way if I’m going to get to the yards before they close.”

Albritten grunted again. “I’ll catch heck for this if word gets out, but I don’t share the local view about you. I have a car you can use.”

I didn’t bother asking what the local view was, since I had a pretty good idea.

Albritten reached for a walking stick that was leaning against the TV. “You can fetch me a coat from the closet over there. The navy one.”

She nodded toward her small entryway. I found a navy trench coat in the closet, with a blue silk scarf hanging around the collar, and helped her work her arms into it.

She led me slowly through to the kitchen, where a door opened into a garage. Everything in her home gleamed from polish and cleansers, and that included the garage, where plastic-covered bins stood on brightly painted shelves. In the middle sat a car, a dull-gray Prius. It didn’t have any plates.

Albritten gave a grim smile at my sharp intake of breath.

“Jordan had ten fits when he saw it here. I guess you know where it came from.”

“August Veriden’s Prius was green,” I said.

“Ed’s daddy was a good friend of my husband’s. They didn’t mind doing me a favor. Painted it, changed some number plate, took out the spy eye behind the dashboard.”

Whoever Ed was, he’d changed the VIN and disabled the car’s built-in GPS signal.

I knelt down to look Peppy in the eye. “You’re going to stay here, girl. You stay, you look after Ms. Albritten.”