“Sure was. Those days, there were only two of us. Me and a fellow named Bob Zeigler. Road construction, the county hired private companies like us, so we took advantage of the need. We were competitors, but neither of us had enough equipment to cover the whole job. Most of what I carried was tractors, and he was already spread thin because there were so many housing tracts under construction.”

“How’d you get into the business in the first place?”

“I could see the niche and decided to step in. I borrowed from the local-yokel bank and hit up family members for as much as I could. First thing I did was pick up a couple of used farm machines. I didn’t have an office or a yard. I worked out of a truck I kept parked beside a public pay phone, and did the mechanical repairs myself. Heavy equipment’s low margin, high volume, so every cent I got went right back to the John Deere factory to buy more equipment. Gradually things picked up. Around here, what with the old-boy network, you could slip a few bucks to a private contractor and you were set. At least for a while.”

“You have a guess about what the guy used to dig the hole? Calvin Wilcox says a bulldozer.”

“Had to be: 1953 the bulldozer or a track loader would’ve been the only mobile equipment available. The track loader was new technology in those days. I believe Caterpillar brought one out in 1950, but it was too expensive for me, and if Zeigler owned one, I’d have known about it. So a bulldozer for sure.”

“One of yours?”

“Had to be mine or his. We were the only game in town.”

“You wouldn’t by any chance have records going back that far?”

“Can’t help you there. You’re hoping I can tell you who rented that machine, but no dice. I keep records for as long as theIRS requires and after that, files get tossed. Seven years back is the extent of it.”

“Too bad.”

“I’m surprised Detective Nichols lets you nose around like this. He strikes me as the type to run a pretty tight ship.”

“Right now we don’t even know what we’re dealing with.”

“I guess that’s right. Far as I know, there’s no law against burying a car. Same token, sheriff’s office can get pretty testy about people messing in their business.”

“Happily, I’m not ‘messing in their business.’ Detective Nichols knows anything I learn will go straight back to him. I made a promise.”