Sacrificial Ground by Thomas H. Cook Page A

one streetlight down on Glenwood.”
    â€œBut you’re sure about the color?”
    â€œYeah, I could see it good enough for that.”
    â€œCould you see any people in the car?”
    â€œOne guy. He was behind the wheel.”
    â€œCould you describe him?”
    â€œYou mean his face?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œNaw, he was too far away for something like that,” Beatrice said. “He waited a while before he got out, just set there behind the wheel. Then he got out and sort of looked up and down the street.” She smiled. “White guy, though. I could tell that much.”
    â€œCould you tell what he was wearing?”
    â€œWork suit, something like that,” Beatrice said. “You know, one of those one-piece things that sort of go on like my daddy’s overalls used to.”
    â€œDid he just stand by the car?”
    â€œUh huh.”
    â€œFor how long?”
    â€œOh, maybe a minute, maybe two. I wasn’t timing him.”
    â€œThen what happened?”
    â€œHe went around to the dark side of the car and opened the door.”
    â€œThe door on the passenger’s side?” Frank asked. “Not the trunk?”
    Beatrice nodded. “Then he pulled something out. It looked like an old carpet. I figured he was dumpin’ it in the lot. Nobody supposed to do that, but that old rusty car, God didn’t put that there, you know? I figured that’s why he’s looking all around, ’cause he ain’t suppose to be dumpin’ no trash in that lot.”
    â€œDid you see anything in the carpet?”
    â€œNah, I didn’t,” Beatrice said. “But it was rolled up real loose like, and from the way he was walkin’ it seemed a lot heavier to him than it ought to have been.” She looked at Caleb. “It must have been real heavy. ‘Cause one time, he dropped it.”
    â€œWhere did he drop it?” Frank asked immediately.
    â€œOh, maybe a few yards into the lot, just about in front of that old car.”
    That was about where Angelica’s shoe had been found, and Frank made a note of it in his book.
    â€œHe didn’t put the carpet up on his shoulder no more after that,” Beatrice added. “He just sort of drug it along, pulling it as he walked backwards.” She glanced toward the children. They were now beyond the hill.
    â€œStay close now, Raymond,” she called loudly. “And you watch out for Leila.”
    â€œWhere did he take the carpet?” Frank asked.
    â€œInto that lot, like I said.”
    â€œWhere in the lot?”
    â€œâ€™Bout the middle of it.”
    Which was about where the body had been found, Frank realized, and which meant that she probably had seen the things she described.
    â€œWhat did he do in the lot?” Frank asked.
    â€œI seen him lay the carpet down in the weeds,” Beatrice said. “That’s the last I seen. One of them kids started some shit, and I had to go tend to them.”
    â€œSo you stopped watching him?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œYou didn’t see him leave?”
    Beatrice shook her head. “Next time I seen that street, it was maybe an hour later. Car was gone by then.”
    Frank wrote this last statement down in his notebook and ended it with a large black period.
    â€œThank you,” he said.
    Beatrice smiled faintly. “Don’t guess it adds up to much, does it?”
    â€œIt’s very helpful,” Frank told her truthfully. He pocketed his notebook. “How long do you expect to be in Atlanta?”
    â€œMaybe another week.”
    â€œLet us know before you leave.”
    â€œI’ll tell old Caleb here.” She smiled. “We’re old buddies, ain’t we?”
    â€œYeah, we are,” Caleb said.
    Moments later, when the two of them were back in the car, Caleb glanced wistfully toward the playground, his eyes lingering for a moment on the woman in the bright