Edge drove past the house, turned at the corner, and continued down the alley. It was overgrown with weeds, the fences along the lane falling down in places. He circled back to East Yampa, stopped at the end of the block and turned off the engine.
Skye reached for the door handle, but Edge caught her arm. “Let’s watch for a while, see who comes and goes.”
But half an hour later, only the mailman had approached the shabby white house. An older, heavyset woman in baggy jeans and a printed blouse had opened the door and taken the mail. She nodded her thanks, and the mailman walked away.
“You think Rollie stays in touch with his mother?” Skye asked.
“According to Zoe, he’s an only child. From his mug shot, he looks more like a transient than a mama’s boy, but you never know. At the moment, she’s all we’ve got.” He flicked her a glance. “Be better if she doesn’t know who we are.”
Skye nodded. They waited another half hour. When no one else appeared, they got out of the truck and walked down the block to the front door. Edge knocked, then stepped back out of the way to let Skye do the talking.
The door swung open, but the screen stayed in place. “May I help you?”
“Mrs. Beekman?” Skye asked.
“Yes . . . ?”
Skye smiled. “I’m Carol, and this is Mark. We’re friends of Rollie’s. He asked us to stop by and say hello while we were in town, make sure you’re okay.”
The woman’s plump lips spread into a wide, bright smile. “Well, that’s very nice of you. Rollie is always so thoughtful. Tell him I’m fine. I got the money he sent. It wasn’t expected, but it’s always appreciated.”
“I’ll be sure to tell him,” Skye said.
Edge moved out of the shadows. “Rollie asked us to find out if there’s anything you need, but the two of you probably stay in touch.”
“Not as much as I’d like.” Mrs. Beekman pushed open the screen door. “The house is a mess, but you’re welcome to come in. How about a nice glass of iced tea?”
“That would be great,” Skye said, following the woman into the house. Edge walked in behind them.
Mrs. Beekman rushed around, plucking supermarket newspaper advertisements off the sofa, which was covered by a brown fringed throw. She straightened a pair of small pale blue pillows and indicated they should sit down.
“I’ll get you that tea, and you can tell me how the two of you know Rollie.” She started for the kitchen.
“Why don’t I help you?” Skye suggested, giving Edge a chance to prowl the living room.
“That would be nice, dear.”
As soon as the women disappeared into the kitchen, Edge went to work. An old TV sat on a wooden table. Beside it, there was a photo of baby Rollie in a silver-plated frame tarnished with age. In a knickknack cabinet, he noticed a couple of plastic high school basketball trophies above a more recent photo of Rollie with his mom. Same shaggy brown hair that looked like it needed to be washed and a tattoo crawling up the side of his neck. Edge used his phone to snap a shot.
A stack of bills on the lamp table next to the sofa caught his attention. Hearing the clink of glasses and the women still conversing, he quickly sifted through the stack, but found nothing that had anything to do with Rollie.
He was moving toward a set of bookshelves against the wall when he spotted Mrs. Beekman’s cell phone on the coffee table peeking out from under one of the supermarket advertisements.
His adrenaline took a leap. Grabbing the phone, he went to Contacts and found Rollie’s name. He memorized the number, then went to recent text messages and quickly scrolled through them.
And there it was, a text from Rollie’s phone.
STILL INKANSAS. HEADING OUT IN A COUPLE OF DAYS. WILL CALL WHEN WE GET THERE.
Below it was Mrs. Beekman’s reply.
DRIVE SAFELY. LUV U. MAMA.
Damn!It was almost too easy.Scratch that.Nothing they’d done so far had been easy. He quickly checked the date, slid the phone back under the newspaper ads, and sat down on the sofa just as Mrs. Beekman and Skye walked back into the living room.
He accepted the glass of iced tea with a smile. “Thanks.”
Anxious to get back to the office, he drank half of it in one swallow. Skye picked up on his urgency and drank hers rapidly as well.
