Chapter 171

I rode the bike on Friday for two hours. As I had begun to do lately, I went to the Cafe on the Square for breakfast. There was usually a deputy or two there, and since Mary Ellen was a local business women, she was a topic of conversation around there. Even if there were no cops, there was always some news that someone had gotten from a cop.

The latest thing was the cops thought they might have a good lead. I thought, if the lead is the camera men, it was about fucking time. I said nothing. I wasn't trying to lay a false trail at the time. I had a thought though, if the SBI thought that they had a good lead, I might be hearing from Agent Morris. In that case it would be a good thing. I knew I would get her into bed before I discussed Mary Ellen. I had to laugh because that was kind of arrogant of me. She obviously had second thoughts, since she hadn't called. Newbys usually call while they were still in a fever, I thought. If she doesn't call today, but does call later it will be a trap for sure.

I showered and dressed. Then I sat at the computer researching things that caught my fancy until noon. At noon I got in the Cruiser Van and drove to the S&K trucking warehouse. It was located a few miles on the farr side of Dobson. It didn't matter since I had driven farther to buy storage lockers, I thought,

It took me a while to find where the auction was going to take place, but it always did. Even in the places I had been at least once, they were always changing things around. Trying to keep it interesting I expected.

I didn't like the damaged freight auction. They actioned it off a box at a time. I would be there all day for the two hundred piece auction. I stayed about an hour and bought nothing.

I had a very late lunch in Dobson but found nothing interesting to do there, so I drove home. When I got home I found a note on my door, the SBI agents had been around. I'm sure they only had one or two agents assigned to a homicide in a small town. Mary Ellen had no known ties to anything important, like the mob or politics, so it would be just a small investigation.

If they tied me and The Brit to the case, then things might get interesting. I didn't really have that in mind, when I threw them Jeff and Phil. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have them focus somewhere else.

I called the number on the card for Agent Morris. "Agent Morris," was the way she answered her phone.

"Very business like," I said.

"Who is calling?" she asked a little cautiously, like she knew it could be overheard.

"This is Sylvia Porter. I thing you came to see me today," I said in a business like voice of my own.

"Yes I did Miss Porter. I am interviewing some of the residents of County Seat who might have some insight into the Mary Ellen Poole case," she stated still using that business like voice.

"And you think I could help you?" I asked carefully.

"I would rather meet face to face for this interview. We are using the Sheriff's office for interviews," she added less definite than she should have been.

"Well to be honest I don't like going to the Sheriff's office. We could do it at my place, or I can meet you on neutral ground, if you like." I said.

"Well, since I know where you live, your place would be fine." she said.

We agreed on an hour later. So I gave the box a quick cleaning, which included a careful vacuuming. Since Mary Ellen had never been in the place, I didn't mind a visit from the crime lab, let alone a detective.

I checked out the refurbished computer I had bought to replace my old one. I wanted a refurb so that it didn't look new sitting on my desk, if I had the place searched. It was a small IBM laptop. I was in the midst of checking it out. I didn't know if I would keep it after the investigation ended.

I did some things to it to made it more to my liking should I get it taken as evidence ... For one I added a second operating system. It still had the windows system and would open to it, unless the memory stick was inserted before it started. If it was in place, the computer would open to a Lenox system called Puppy. That system ran completely in the ram memory. It also wrote any new information onto that memory stick. Without the stick the computer opened to a windows system which was absolutely unused. A person would have to look carefully to find any trace of the Puppy System. They would need the memory stick to trace my movements on the web. It was all I could do without appearing guilty of something.

I was on the computer when Morris arrived. I pulled the memory stick and turned the computer off. "I answered the timid knock with a "Hello come on in" in a strong voice. I was trying to control the interview.

"Well Sylvia we meet again," Morris commented. Outside the dark bar she looked a little older. She was probably forty, a full ten plus years older than me. She also was a bigger woman than I remembered but she was a bit softer as well. I figured even with one good hand I could take her, if push came to shove. "I would like to record this meeting," she said placing a digital recorder on the storage box in front of her.

"So we do Miss Morris, meet again that is," I said it still giving her a once over. She had large soft mama boobs. I liked that about her. She had a soft wide ass as well. I didn't think all that much of it. All in all she had looked a hell of a lot better in the Cop Out. "So what brings you here?"