Switcheroo Read Online Free PDF Page B

empty.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
    Chapter
6
     
     
    I looked at Tammy. After hearing
all this, I tried to give her my most thoughtful gaze. I think what really came
across was a pensive impression as if I had just been spoken to by a homeless
person.
    “The two trucks had switched
places, don’t you see?” She tried to whisper loudly, over the loud country
music coming through the PA system.  She was leaning forward a bit, an
expectant look in her eye.
    I understood what she was trying
to tell me, no problem. I simply did not believe her.  So young, so beautiful,
but tragically mistaken or possibly insane.  The death of her husband must have
driven her to delusions. I could not believe that Tammy found something that
Einstein had overlooked.
    “Don’t you think he could have
taken both trucks somehow and only brought one back, or maybe you were correct
in your first assumption that your truck was stolen after you got home with the
baby? Or maybe he let his girlfriend use it?” I tugged at my beard and gave a
thoughtful look as I said this.
    “No. I ain’t finished yet.  This
happens every night at 3:17 am. Every single night.  Wherever these two trucks
are, they switch places at 3:17.  It doesn’t matter if they are in motion or
sitting still.   We didn’t notice the first couple weeks ‘cause they were just
setting in the driveway and we were usually asleep by then.”
    She sighed, somewhat exasperated.
I’m sure this is when Kim told her she was going nuts and Tammy feared she was
about to hear it again.
    “These people who want my truck
had Travis killed.  But one of these trucks ain’t worth nothing without the
other one.” She looked away, drawing heavily on her Virginia Slim.  There was enough
second hand smoke in the air on a busy Friday night at Orby’s that the
cigarette seemed like a waste of money. Like a fish drinking Dasani.
    “The truck is hidden now,” she
started again. “They don’t know where it is.  Every morning this week I have found
a note in the truck. They put a new one in the cab every day and I get it in
the morning when they switch. ” She pushed a crumpled sheet of paper across the
rough tabletop.
     
    - Leave the truck in the Sears
parking lot at Oakridge Mall.  We will take further action if the truck is not
recovered by 9:00 Sunday morning .-
     
    I looked her in the eye, holding
the note.  If this was a fantasy of hers, it was an elaborate fantasy.  Crooks
that wanted the goods now and enjoyed retail shopping. Meet at the mall?
    “I’m scared, mostly for Hannah. 
If they find out the truck is out at my Grandma’s, they might come after it,
and us.  But, I really want both trucks.  Can you imagine what they would be
worth?  If I could figure out their secret and sell it, oh man. This could be
me and my baby’s meal ticket, see?”
    Her doe eyes were hopeful. I was
stuck thinking this girl must be really desperate for someone to believe her.
She was desperate enough to be talking to me about this, a field investigator
who’d never done any real detective work, searching for his Maltese Falcon. 
Part of me was a little ashamed when I told myself I would humor this girl and
agree to help, just to see her some more.  That little ashamed part of my
psyche was getting its teeth kicked in by my libido. What the hell. I started
my spiel.
    I told her that if we could come
to an understanding, that I would help her. For a fee, of course.  My mother’s
boyfriend is a retired nuclear physicist from Oakridge National Labs. He would
know how to squeeze some dough out of a discovery like this, if it was
legitimate. If it was not legitimate, I would try to make it somehow lead to
sex with Tammy.  I explained this to her, leaving out the sex part.  Then a few
questions.
    “Who knows about these trucks
switching?” I asked.
    “No one but Kim, and now you. I
don’t think Kim told anybody. I’m