Thoughtful, Goodfellow nodded. “It was obvious that his source for the lots was someone working at the Ridge, but he wouldn’t say who. I put that together later when you had the trouble at your house and Chief Bailey asked me to send Day to respond.”
“That’s why you’re in charge.”
He chuckled. “Now, if you had said that all snotty-like, I would take offense, but you made that sound sincere.”
“It’s a happy talent.”
“I see that.” He shifted in his seat, stretched his legs under the table. “Tell me about Paul Shippensmith.”
She sighed. “It would be better if you were specific. He’s been my manager for a few years. You probably want broad strokes not boring details.”
“You’re right. Broad strokes.”
“He’s ambitious. He’s interested in climbing the corporate ladder. Except when he’s enforcing obscure rules to make someone’s life miserable, he’s largely fair in his dealing with employees. He blows hot and cold. Either he’s micromanaging or taking long lunches with his phone turned off. Is that broad enough for you?”
“Pretty good. How did you get along with him?”
“Okay, I suppose. He made me crazy when he was up in my business, second-guessing my decisions. Like when he took me to task for letting a couple of girls go when they were trying to make off with fifty or so bucks in merchandise and then he won’t let me report a woman who was trying to steal ten times that amount because of who she is. Looking back, I suspect that kind of thing has happened before.” Ramsey always wondered what had happened to the recording of Kay Dobbs swinging that frozen turkey at her head. Knowing now that Kay was a person of no small consequence in the community, it seemed likely that Paul had sabotaged the video. What she didn’t know, and didn’t want to know, was if he’d ever indicated as much to Kay. The thought that he might have held that over Kay’s head in return for some sort of favored status nauseated her.
“What is it?” asked Goodfellow. “What aren’t you saying?”
“It’s nothing. An odd thought.”
The trooper gave her a pass. “Did you mention the raid to him?”
“How could I? I already told you I didn’t know about it.”
“What if you had known? Would you have wanted to tell him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I guess because I thought he might be involved.”
“Involved.”
“Yes. With the drugs. Look, I don’t have any evidence of that. I probably shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“He took delivery of the paint pallets.”
“Yes, but that’s his job. Sure, he could have sent them back, but it’s not unreasonable to think he was trying to impress corporate. Turn a mistake into a profit for the store.”
“In spite of your personal feelings, you gave him the benefit of the doubt.”
“Yes. I suppose I did.”
“So, when you saw him hustling his ass out of the store today, you didn’t think much about it.”
“How did you…? Oh, you spoke to Wendy. The cashier who checked me out.”
“I did.”
“Then you know I called out to Paul. I was curious about why he was leaving. That struck me as odd.”
“And you followed him to the parking lot.”
“I didn’t really follow him. He went out and I went out. That’s all. I was parked in the customer lot because I wasn’t working and he had his car out in the lower forty. That’s what we call the employee lot. I unloaded my cart, got in the SUV, and I’m pretty sure that’s when I noticed him limping toward his car.”
