Sonny shook his head, looking through the broad display window at his little empire of secondhand cars. Just beyond his lot lay Highway 84, thick with midday traffic. A few miles down the road, on the other side of the asphalt, Glenn Morehouse was probably spilling his guts to a reporter. And not just any reporter, either—

“A little short on weight this trip?” Bucky asked.

“I’m having trouble opening the chassis safe.”

“Those tamale-heads prob’ly used an air driver to seal it.”

“Yep,” Sonny agreed. “You been to see Morehouse in a while, Buck?”

“Uh … about two Sundays back, I think. Something wrong?”

“How did he seem? Solid?”

Jarrett took a few moments to answer. “Well … he cried a bit.”

Sonny looked back at his manager. “Cried?”

“When he talked about when we was kids and stuff, you know. Shit, he’s dying, man.”

“Do you trust him, Bucky?”

Jarrett looked perplexed. “With what?”

“To go quietly, like a man.”

Jarrett’s eyes bugged. “Shit, Sonny. Don’t say that. We got problems with Glenn?”

Sonny clicked his tongue. “We might.”

Bucky looked like a tax cheater who’d just opened an audit notice from the IRS. He got up and started rubbing the back of his neck. Getting out from under the Camaro had calmed Sonny a little, and he realized he ought to go back and get the rest of the ephedrine. He didn’t need that sitting around the shop while things were popping like this. Bucky could lock up for half an hour and run the stuff out to the warehouse.

“Sonny?” Jarrett asked nervously.

“Yeah?”

“Just before you came in, I heard that old nurse of Dr. Cage’s died this morning. Viola something-or-other. Del Richards over at the sheriff’s department told me about it.”

“Yeah?” Sonny looked back toward the highway. “I hadn’t heard that.”

“Hell, I didn’t even know she was in town. Did you?”

“Can’t say I did.”

“Del also said he heard Sheriff Byrd say Dr. Cage killed her. Put her out of her misery, like. Don’t that beat all?”

Sonny clicked his tongue thoughtfully. “Well … Dr. Cage always went his own way. I always liked that about him.”

CHAPTER 12