Chapter 29

Joan came into my room and immediately got on the phone calling Hometown Landscapers. That was the name of the business not just a description of who Joan called.

She made an important appointment for an hour later. She talked him into it even though he was not really enthusiastic about talking to us. She did it by offering to meet him anywhere and even buy his lunch. I could tell she was going to have a feel for this kind of work.

“So whats his name?” I asked.

“Ezra something or other,” she said.

“How will we recognize him in a busy restaurant?” I also asked.

“I don’t know, and no I don’t know how he will recognize us either. I fucked up and I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t make the same mistake again,” I said.

“Believe me I won’t,” she said.

“Good,” I agreed.

“Let’s go to the halfway house where Jaybird was staying. We have time to interview the manager,” I suggested.

The manager was a grouchy old man who didn’t alike attractive young women. He totally ignored Joan Dark. Her replied to me for every question she asked him.

“So what was Jaybird like,” she asked.

“He was an ex-con with an attitude,” the old man said to me. “But he kept his head down around the other cons. He had obviously been beaten inside.”

“You ever been inside,”I asked.

“This place is like a jail for me. You be around cons long enough, you get to know them,” he said with a smile.

“Did you kill Jaybird,” I asked.

“Hell no, I hated what he did eight years ago, but I didn’t hate the man he had become. He was just another con to me,” he replied looking at me and ignoring Joan.

“Did he have a problem with anyone here?” Joan asked.

He began to answer and she said, “I’m the one talking to you.”

He grudgingly said, “No, he didn’t some woman came here and got in his face, but he backed away. She said she was the child’s mother.”

When we were in the car and driving away I asked, “Do we mark the manager off our list.”

“I don’t know what do you think?” she asked.

“We put him at the bottom until we know more,” I replied. “You know what we didn’t ask anyone yet. Where did they find the body? We need to know that to start ruling people out.”

“So who do we ask?” Joan wanted to know.

“After lunch we go find the reporter who covered the murder so far,” I informed her.

“I’ll get her name,” she said.

“How do you know it wasn’t a man name Rocky Newton?” I asked.

“Was it?” she asked me.

“I have no idea,” I said with a laugh.

“So okay, I’m gender biased,” she said with a smile. “But not as bad as the manager of the half way house.

“You do have a point, but we can’t afford to let our biases show,” I said. Shit I was teaching her even though I did not mean to do that. Damn I might prove to be more accepting than I intended.

I walked into the diner where we were buying Ezra’s lunch. I walked immediately to his table. “Ezra I’m Ed Rogers of Rogers Research. Let me start of by assuring you we are not cops, nor reporters. We are writing a fictional TV show. Nothing you say to us will wind up in the hands of the cops, unless they find a judge who wipes his ass with the constitution.

So tell me, where did the scraper that killed Jaybird come from?” I asked.

“It was mine. I kept it on the riding mower. I used it to run off dogs and the like. It kept them pretty far away from the equipment,” he informed me.

“So, if the cops find your prints on it, that wouldn’t be unexpected?” I asked.

“I handled it, but so did Jaybird. Anyone else might require some explaining,” He said. “I don’t think they will find any prints period that handle is old and pretty rough.”

“They can do all kinds of shit these days. Where did they find his body,” I asked.

“I hear it was behind the Food Lion grocery store,” he said.

“So how did the dog sticker get back there?” I asked Joan when we were in the car.

“The murder brought it with him,” she guessed.

“Or Jaybird carried it in order to protect himself and lost it in a fight, I guessed.

“Either way someone carried it there. Someone who knew about it,” Joan suggested.

“Yes but since it might have been Jaybird, it isn’t a breakthrough. The next question that comes to mind is who would Jay meet in the dark presumably after hours behind a grocery store. Someone he feared enough to carry a giant shiv,” I suggested.

“So who do we ask?” Joan asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I said. “Let’s you and I go to lunch. You chose the place.”

“How did you recognize him, Ezra?” she asked.

“He was a man sitting alone at a table for four. He was sight of the door even though he didn’t know what we looked like he looked up when we walked in. It was just a guess.”

No surprise that Joan chose one of those chrome and glass monstrosities on the highway ramp. I ordered regular cheese burger and fries. It was my standard order at those places.

She had something in a bowl that looked a little like a salad, with all the shit in the kitchen piled on top. It looked fit for the trash can when it came from the kitchen. I guess I wasn’t in a good mood, but I said nothing.

“What? no comments about my salad,” she must have noticed my look of disdain.

“Nope, if you think it is good for you, then it is fine with me,” I replied.

“What is our next move?” she asked.

“First we see the reporter. The you make an appointment with the detectives handling the case for tomorrow. Let’s see if they want to be TV stars,” I suggested. “So do we know who the reporter was?”

Joan answered while we were standing at the register. “I looked it up on the net. The paper is owned on operated by a woman named Lois. It’s really an online paper. It’s just one step above a blog.” Joan enjoyed informing me of our next move.