“No,” Harvey said. “But whoever handled this wanted it to pass for Lucy’s at a glance.”
June stepped closer, studying the bumper and the paint where the light from the overhead fixtures struck it. “And the bumpers look completely wrong for some reason.”
“They’re wrong.” Harvey nodded, clearly pleased it had been spotted quickly. “They don’t belong to this truck. They’re custom pieces, and I know because I’m the one who customized the originals for Lucy’s pickup.”
June’s stomach dropped.
“Are you sure?” Holt stopped moving and looked sharply at Harvey.
“Absolutely.” Harvey walked to the rear of the truck and crouched slightly, tapping the metal with two fingers. “Lacey wanted sturdier utility bumpers after she started hauling more veterinary equipment and feed around, plus Lucy liked the cleaner line. I did the work myself. Whoever did this either swapped them out to imitate hers or started with the wrong base vehicle and tried to make it look close enough in bad light.”
“On the hope that it was never found,” Holt finished. “And it’s been stripped so we can’t recognize who originally owned it.”
“That’s right,” Harvey said quietly.
June moved to the passenger side and looked in through the window.
“It looks like whoever used this pickup got it from a chop shop,” she said quietly.
“That is exactly what I thought,” Harvey replied. “All identification has been removed. If the farmer hadn’t spotted it, this thing might have sat out there a while.”
“Who found it?” Holt’s face had gone very still in the way it always did when he was angry enough to become dangerous.
“Benji Colter,” Harvey said. “He was moving cattle across the road to his other pasture and spotted it off the tree line.”
“Wasn’t he the same farmer who reported Dr. Vernon’s car accident?” Holt’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“Yes,” Harvey answered.
“So whoever took Lucy’s truck either needed a duplicate or needed to disguise another truck as hers.” June folded her arms tightly.
“Or both,” Holt said.
“That would be my guess.” Harvey nodded.
“Holt,” June said quietly, as a myriad of thoughts spiraled through her mind. “If this was meant to resemble Lucy’s truck, then we may have been looking at the wrong question.”
“Meaning?” He turned his head slightly toward her.
“Meaning perhaps the key is not only whether Lacey was mistaken for Lucy.” June swallowed. “It is whether someone wanted us to believe she was.”
Harvey looked between them, his expression darkening as the thought settled.
“Has anyone else seen the vehicle?” Holt stepped closer to the driver’s door and looked inside again.
“Only me, the farmer, and now you two,” Harvey said. “I had it brought here before I called because I didn’t want word getting around before someone competent laid eyes on it.”
“I need this locked down. No one touches it. No one mentions it outside of whoever absolutely has to know.” Holt straightened and turned to Harvey.
“You’ve got it.” He gave a salute.
“And I’ll need to have a word with Benji Colter,” Holt told Harvey.
“I can get him for you,” Harvey offered. “He and my uncle are good friends, so I know him well.”
“Great, then you can take us to his farm, and we’ll talk to him there.” Holt’s eyes went back to the truck.
“Do you want to go now?” Harvey asked.
