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push ‘em harder.”
    Jaz swung her legs around to face Connie.
“I suspect it’s a little of both.”
    “Maybe so. Anyway, we finished supper around six-thirty. I told Little Bob to go get
his costume on so his dad could take him trick-or-treating. He was dressing
up as Batman. Then the phone rang and Bobby answered it.”
    “Did he say who called?”
    “Somebody he knew. The man said to meet
him at a burger place, he had some information
that could make Bobby a lot of money. Well, we could sure use it. We’re
paying on this house, and there’s the new car, plus we’re facing braces on
Little Bob’s teeth . . . .” Her voice seemed to run out of steam.
    “What sort of information was he talking
about?” Jaz asked.
    “Bobby didn’t say.”
    “Did he tell you the man’s name?”
    “No.”
    “How did he know him?”
    Connie’s fragile look seemed ready to
shatter. “I don’t know. Bobby was in such a hurry he didn’t say much.”
    Jaz folded her hands and tapped her
thumbs. It sounded like somebody had lured Bobby Wallace out on a pretext.
“So Bobby agreed to meet him.”
    “He said he’d get back as soon as he
could so he’d have time to take Little Bob trick-or-treating.” She blinked
to hold back the tears. “That’s the last we saw of him.”
    “I have to ask you something, Connie. It
may sound crass, but it’s a question the police will ask if we bring them
in. Have you and Bobby had any marital difficulties?”
    She shrugged. “We argue sometimes about
how to spend our money.”
    “I’m thinking more in terms of problems
like with another woman, or another man.”
    Connie’s mouth dropped open as she
stared. “Heavens, no!” After a moment, she gave a
grudging laugh. “We don’t have time for stuff like that. Bobby had rather
watch sports on TV than go out. And between looking after Little Bob and
working part-time cleaning houses, I stay busy.”
    Jaz dismissed it with a wave of her hand.
“Sorry, but I had to ask.” She had developed a good sense for recognizing
when people were lying, and the look on Connie’s face was as sincere as any
she had seen in a long time. But it didn’t tell her anything about what had
happened to Bobby Wallace.
    He might as well have stepped through a
looking glass.
     
     
      
    6
     
     
     
    Not long after Sid returned to his office, Jaz called. She spoke in a rush.  “I don’t
like the looks of this at all.”
    “What did you find?”
    She told him what Connie Wallace said
about the phone call. She added that nothing had been heard of Bobby since
he left for the fast food place around seven last night.
    “Has she talked to the police?”
    “I got her to call them. You know that
drill. They’re skeptical until he’s been gone a bit longer. Anyway, they’re
all tied up with a big protest around the courthouse in Ashland City. It
involves your new case.”
    “Arnie Bailey’s
chemical spill?”
    “Right. The folks around here are raging mad about the water pollution.”
    “A sergeant in the sheriff’s office told
me yesterday he’d heard something like that was in the works. Did Bobby
Wallace have caller ID?”
    “It didn’t tell us anything. I did a
quick check. The call was made from a prepaid phone. No way to trace the
owner. I looked into the fast food place where they were to meet, but the
manager on duty last night won’t be in until this afternoon. They wouldn’t
give me any information on how I could get in touch with him.”
    “Did you find Bobby’s car parked there?”
    “No. That was a problem for the cops,
too. I think they would have taken more interest if we’d found the car.”
    “But did he ever get to the restaurant?”
    “I have no idea.”
    Sid considered it for a moment. “What if
somebody met him in the parking lot and coaxed him into another car? Then a
confederate drives his car away. Does Connie have any idea what he was
supposed to do after he met the guy