“You’re correct on that point. So a span of five years. That shouldn’t be too hard. Have a seat and I’ll pull what I have. There’s a tin of chocolate chip cookies on my desk if you want to help yourself. My wife made them. Caroleena. She’s a fabulous cook.”

The cookies were incredible, so I treated myself to another while I waited for him. Five minutes later he emerged from the room with an armload of files, saying, “I keep these cross-referenced. Customer’s name with the type of vehicle he’s bought from me before. I don’t go so far as to color code, but I can lay hands on the contract for every vehicle I’ve sold. What I have here is the Advance Design Series, 1949 through 1953.”

He handed me a scratch pad, pen, and two of the files while he took the other three. We sat and went through them contract by contract, checking the color of the pickup, noting down the names of anyone who’d bought a black one. Twenty-five minutes later, we each had a list, though mine wasn’t at all enlightening. He got up and made copies of both lists and gave them to me.

I ran my eye down the names on his list. “No one I recognize.”

He shrugged. “The truck might have been repainted.”

“In that case, we’d have no way to find the owner.”

“Another possibility, the fella might have borrowed the truck. In those days, nobody locked their doors, and half the time people left their keys in the ignition.”

“I’ve heard that before and it actually makes sense. You go out to dig a grave, you don’t want use your own truck complete with California plates. Well. I’m sorry I wasted your time.”

“I guess every lead you get isn’t going to pay off.”

“That’s for sure. Mind if I pick your brain about something else?”

“I’ll help if I can. It’s not like I have total recall of anything much beyond this dealership.”

“Understood. I’ve been digging and I’ve come up with something quirky.”

“That being?”

“Hairl Tanner’s will.” I went on to tell him what I’d discovered about the terms.

“I hadn’t heard about that. Sounds like the old man had a mad-on about something. Wonder what it was?”

“I think Jake and Violet had a fling and he found out.”

Some of the complacency faded from his eyes. “I don’t believe it.”

“What, that they had a fling or that Tanner found out?”

“Violet and Jake. I can’t imagine such a thing.”