Quinn looked up from the table and spotted Luther Varner wandering in the front door and setting his SEMPER FI ball cap next to Quinn’s. The tall, lumbering old man taking a seat at the counter, making some small talk with Mary. He heard laughter as Mary made her way back to their booth and refilled all their coffees. “Won’t be but a minute,” she said.

“Well?” Quinn said. “Did you find her?”

“Yes and no,” Caddy said.

“Hell.”

“Caddy helped me find her last week,” Tashi said. “And I tried to interview her, but she walked out on us. She said she was scared and didn’t want to talk. I’m pretty sure she’s the one who reached out to us in the first place. She told me I should’ve never sought her out, it wasn’t supposed to work that way. She freaked out.”

Quinn nodded and leaned back in the booth. The front door to the Fillin’ Station opened again and he spotted Chucky Crenshaw walking in with Kenny, Kenny on his day off and dressed in head-to-toe camo. They nodded toward Quinn and started talking to Miss Mary. A bell rang up by the kitchen window. Quinn hoped it was their food, so he could get something to eat and get on with his day.

“Now you want me to press her?” Quinn said. “Bring her in as a potential witness?”

Caddy nodded. “Only one thing,” she said. “We can’t seem to find her. Tashi tracked down the apartment where she lived and some potential phone numbers. But she hasn’t lived in the apartment for more than six months and all those numbers have been disconnected. I checked the bar and record store in Cooper-Young where she worked and they haven’t seen her since we have. She hadn’t shown up for a few days. I think she’s hiding, Quinn.”

Miss Mary laid down the Southern Man platter for Quinn—two eggs, two strips of bacon, grits, and a biscuit. Caddy got a scrambled egg with sausage and Tashi just got white toast with butter and jelly. Some people were just strange that way.

“I’ll contact Memphis police.”

“You may want to do more than that,” Caddy said.

Quinn didn’t answer. He’d learned long ago not to open his mouth when his sister wanted to explain something to him. Like it or not, she was going to complete the objective. Quinn cut into his eggs and took a bite. Three homicides in the last few weeks and she wanted him to drop everything for Tashi Coleman.

“I think she’s the one,” Caddy said.

Quinn looked up, chewing, watching the serious look on Caddy’s sunburned face. Her hair had been sun-bleached nearly white over the summer.

“She’s the one who was sending those letters to Maggie.”

“How do you know about the letters?”