“I’ll tell you everything I know.”
“When’s the last time you saw White?”
“Few weeks back. After I walked out, that was it. But those men he had with him, the younger ones, they scared me. Something was off about them.”
“Any idea where White might go if he needed to disappear?”
Whitman shook his head. “No. But there was one man who was always nervous. Jumpy, like he was waiting for something to go wrong.”
Hud and Creed looked at each other.
“First time I saw him he was wearing a suit,” Whitman added.
“Fitch,” they said together.
Luke crouched down. “Were you paid for changing the tires?”
Whitman’s expression darkened. “No. White owned the place but acted like he was broke every time I turned around. Those aren’t easy to change either. I was furious about it.”
“What did you do with the tires you pulled off?”
“Rolled them to the warehouse. They’d take them from there and burn them.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere in the woods behind the warehouse. That’s all I know.”
“We need to go back there,” Luke said.
“Once Saunders picks him up.” Hud nodded at Creed, who pulled Whitman to his feet, read him his rights and walked him to the truck. He rejoined Hud and Luke at the front.
“Saunders is on his way,” Hud said. “Said he’d bring a warrant for the house.”
“That’ll take time,” Luke said.
“We could ask Whitman for permission to search now.” Hud looked at Creed. “You want to try him?”
Creed walked back to the truck and leaned inthrough the window. A moment later he straightened and came back. “He said go ahead.”
“Good.” Hud turned toward the house. “Luke, stay with him.”
Hud and Creed moved through the house with their flashlights, sweeping each room. The place was a disaster, trash and clutter covering most surfaces, drawers left open, clothes on the floor. They worked through it carefully anyway.
“There’s nothing here,” Creed said, nudging a pile of papers with the toe of his boot.
“Hard to tell in this mess.” Hud looked around the kitchen. “Saunders needs to get a team in here. We don’t have time to go through all of this properly.”
He stepped outside and called Saunders. Kept it brief. When he came back Creed looked at him.
“He’ll get a team on it.”
“Good.” Creed looked toward the truck. “So where does that leave us?”
“Fitch.” Hud removed his hat and raked a hand through his hair before settling it back. “Nobody’s turned up a home address for him yet. Just the office. A man like that doesn’t sleep at his office.”
“I’ll call Dave. He can run a search.” Creed pulled out his phone.
“Tell him I want to talk to the woman White was seeing too. Mrs. Whittingham said she lives in Autumn Falls. Since we’re already here it makes sense to find her while we can.”
