Hour Game by David Baldacci Page B

here.”
    “Just trying to make sure an innocent man isn’t sent to prison.”
    “Again, I think you’re wasting your time,” she shot back.
    King rose. “Well, I certainly won’t waste any more of yours,” he said pleasantly.
    As they left, Michelle and King heard raised voices behind them.
    Michelle looked at her partner. “I bet Battle holiday get-togethers are just a hoot.”
    “I hope I never find out for sure.”
    “So now we call it a day?” asked Michelle.
    “No, I lied. Next up is Lulu Oxley,” replied King.

CHAPTER
    19
    K ING AND M ICHELLE PULLED UP IN FRONT OF A DOUBLE-WIDE trailer set on a permanent cinder-block foundation at the end of a gravel drive. Electrical and phone lines running to the trailer were the only signs of a connection to the outside world. Scraggly pines and stunted wild mountain laurel formed a weary backdrop to the very modest home of Junior Deaver and Lulu Oxley. An ancient, rusted Ford LTD with a cracked vinyl top, an ashtray full of butts and an empty quart of Beefeater on the front seat and sporting dirty West Virginia plates sat in front of the trailer like a cheap sentinel.
    As they climbed out of the Lexus, however, Michelle noted that flower boxes lined the windows of the trailer and more pots covered with brilliant spring blooms sat on the wooden steps leading up to the front door. The trailer itself looked old, but the exterior was clean and in good repair.
    King glanced at the sky.
    “What are you looking for?”
    “Tornadoes. The only time I got caught in one I was in a trailer in Kansas. There wasn’t a single blade of grass disturbed in the whole area, but that twister picked that trailer up and deposited it somewhere in Missouri. Luckily, I got out before the ride started. The guy I had gone to question about a counterfeiting ring chose to stick it out. They found him in a cornfield ten miles away.”
    King didn’t head to the front door; instead, he went aroundto the side of the trailer. Directly behind the double-wide about forty feet back and enclosed on three sides by leafy trees was a large wooden shed. It had no door, and inside they could see walls lined with tools and a large air generator on the floor. As they approached the structure, an unkempt dog, ribs showing, lumbered out of the shed, saw them and commenced barking and baring its yellowed teeth. Luckily, the animal appeared to be chained to a deeply set stake.
    “Okay, enough snooping around,” King declared.
    As he and Michelle mounted the steps to the trailer, a heavyset woman appeared behind the screened front door.
    The woman’s hair was big and black with silver streaks. Her dress resembled a purple sandwich board glued over her immense, square-cut frame, and her face was composed of doughy cheeks, three chins, small lips and closely set eyes. The skin was pale and virtually unwrinkled. Except for the hair color, it would have been difficult to guess her exact age.
    “Ms. Oxley?” said King with his hand out in greeting. She didn’t take it.
    “Who the hell wants to know?”
    “I’m Sean King and this is Michelle Maxwell. We’ve been hired by Harry Carrick to handle an investigation on behalf of your husband.”
    “That’d be quite a feat considering my husband’s been dead for years,” was her surprising reply. “You must be wanting my daughter, Lulu. I’m Priscilla.”
    “I’m sorry, Priscilla,” said King, glancing at Michelle.
    “She’s gone to get him. Get Junior, I mean.” She took a sip of something in a Disney World coffee mug she was holding.
    “I thought he was in jail,” said Michelle.
    The woman’s gaze swiveled to her.
    “He was. That’s what
bail’s
for, shug. I come up from West Virginia to help out with the kids till Junior gets himself outta this mess. If he can.” She shook her large head. “Stealing fromrich people. Ain’t nothing dumber, but dumb is what Junior’s been his whole life.”
    “Do you know when they’ll be back?” asked