Skip Case (David Dean Mysteries)

"Nice guy, no world beater, always friendly...."

His visit to Bascomb Place neighborhood was equally unfruit­ful. A new name was on the mailbox for apartment C. There were no piled up copies of the Parkside Sentinel lying about. No one on the block remembered the motor home, but the backyard was closed from view from the street, so unless someone was in the building it would not have been visible. But in spite of the old man's litany of failures, Dean suspected he was holding back some­thing important. It was after midnight when Fred finally let it rip.

"I found out where Byrne bought the motor home." Dean waited until Fred continued. "I didn't have any luck with any of the dealers and then I got to thinking. Suppose he bought it pri­vate, so I started checking the old classifieds and sure enough- pay dirt-a three-year-old Pace Arrow! A plumber named Otto Gruber out in Archbald listed it. That's north of Scranton. Our guy sees the ad and calls Gruber and comes out and looks the rig over. He pays big bucks-cash on the spot, no quibbling! And get this! The date was April 7-the date Jeffrey Byrne was in Scranton!"

"Gruber told you this?"

"Not exactly. I called the number in the ad and got his wife. She was a talker-told me how she figured the guy was gonna cheat on the sales tax so he pays in cash and gets the title signed over in blank. Her husband doesn't care-he's got the dough so he closes the deal right there and the guy drives off in the Pace Arrow!

The wife said she'd never seen that many 100-dollar bills in her life."

"How much did he pay?"

"The ad didn't say and neither would Gruber's wife. But those rigs can go for a lot of dough."

"Was anyone with him when he made the purchase?" Dean asked.

"Nope."

"So how did he get there?"

Dean could feel the smugness in Fred's voice. "He rode his bicycle!"

Dean let out a long sigh. "Bingo," he said. "It's getting closer."

"Yeah," Fred answered, but with less enthusiasm than Dean expected. "That's what I said too. But I was kinda jumping the gun."

"What do you mean?"

Fred continued. "I got all this info from Gruber's wife-hubby was out on a job when I called. The wife wasn't home when the sale took place-she heard it all second hand from her husband. I asked if I can talk with him and she said sure, it's fine that I come out this evening."

"So?"

"But there ain't no bus. It's way out in the boonies." Fred paused, "So I rented this car."