Page 30 of Edge of Steele
“Plates on his truck. He got them changed though, so I guess he was planning to stick around. But you know those loggers. They’re a flighty bunch.”
Ryleigh didn’t know any such thing. Most of Tobias’s workers had been with him a long time.
“When was the last time you saw Mr. Gates?” Finn asked.
Bertha craned her neck to see him. “Now, aren’t you a tall one?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He gave her a charming smile.
“Good looking too.” She chuckled. “I saw Uri yesterday morning, which was odd. He left in his truck around nine. Haven’t seen him since.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Finn smiled again, really working Bertha in a manner that was getting the information they needed.
No way would Ryleigh interrupt.
“Have you noticed anyone else at his place today?” Finn asked. “Or anything else out of the ordinary.”
“I’m assuming you know about the deputy who came to check on him this afternoon. He stopped by to ask me the same questions.” Bertha eyed Ryleigh with watery blue eyes. “Maybe you should try talking to each other.”
“We should at that.” Ryleigh smiled.
Bertha turned her focus back to Finn. “Then there was another person. A guy. Some might call him fat, but in my day, he would’ve been called heavy. He had on a baseball cap. A black one. And he kept looking down so I didn’t see his face. But he seemed to know where he was going, like he’d been here before. Still, I took a look out front for his car, but nothing was parked on the street that didn’t belong to a neighbor. So I don’t know how he got here.”
“How long did he stay?” Finn asked.
“About thirty minutes, I guess. I thought about calling the cops, then figured he could be coming by to pick up some clothes or something for Uri.”
Finn nodded. “Was he carrying anything?”
“Not when he arrived, but when he left, he had a plastic grocery bag with something in it.”
Finn glanced around. “Doesn’t look like you have any security cameras that might have caught him.”
She shook her head and shifted her other hand to the cane. “Wouldn’t know what to do with it if I did have one.”
“Anything else suspicious going on?” Ryleigh asked, hoping to bring an end to the questioning.
“Nothing related to Uri, but I could tell you all about who’s sneaking around behind their spouses’ backs.” She shook her head. “May the good Lord call me soon so I don’t have to keep seeing the downward spiral of people’s morals.”
“Thank you for your time, ma’am,” Finn said.
“See how polite you are.” She smiled. “You wouldn’t cheat on a spouse, would you?”
“No, ma’am. I sure wouldn’t.”
But he would bail on the woman he was dating. Namely me.
“Thank you for your time, Ms. Samuels,” Ryleigh said.
“No Ms. for me like you younger girls.” She tried to straighten up but failed. “I was a Mrs. for seventy-eight years and proud of it.”
“And well you should be, ma’am.” Finn smiled. “Again, thanks for your time.”
Ryleigh walked away. The door closed and the lock snicked into place behind them.
Finn caught up. “I know what you’re thinking.”
She glanced up at him. “You do, do you?”
