“I never heard you complain when you were in my bed.”
“Other priorities at the time.”
“How do you want to do this? The GPS says she’s down that road coming up on the left. All I see here are fields. You think she lives on a farm?”
Sean gazed out the window. “Well, that’s a cornfield over there.” He pointed to the right. He glanced to the left. “Not sure what that is. But it’s definitely a farm of some sort. I can’t even see a house.”
As they pulled closer Michelle spotted the mailbox. She hit her high beams. “Nothing on the mailbox, but this must be the place.”
“Kelly Paul and Edgar Roy. What’s the connection?”
“Well, she might be family. Paul might be her married name.”
“Or maybe there’s no family tie,” replied Sean.
“But like you said, there has to be something there. Otherwise how could Bergin rep Edgar Roy just based on this Kelly Paul person saying to do it? Wouldn’t there have to be like a power of attorney or something?”
“Ideally, yes. But apparently Roy lost his mind after he was arrested. So presumably he couldn’t sign off on a POA after he became incompetent.”
“We don’t know exactly when he zonked out. He was arrested. There must have been court proceedings. Bail, competency hearing, his being sent to Maine.”
Sean nodded. “You’re right. He might have hired Bergin before he went silent. But if so, why all the secrecy about the client? Why no billing or correspondence record? And then there’s Murdock’s letter and Bergin writing Kelly Paul’s name in his car warranty book.”
“So do we sit out here all night or go knock on her door?”
“Knocking on someone’s door at this hour in this place might result in buckshot wounds to our person. I say we pull off the road, stretch out, and get some sleep. I definitely could use it.”
“We should take turns being on watch.”
“Watching for what? Cows?”
“Sean, we were both almost killed yesterday. Let’s be prudent.”
“Okay, you’re right.”
She said, “I’ll take the first watch. I’ll wake you in two hours.”
Sean tilted his seat back and closed his eyes, and a few minutes later his soft snore wafted through the truck’s interior. Michelle glanced over at him, reached in the backseat, pulled out a blanket from the floorboard, and placed it over him. She stared back out the front window, alternating this with glances in the side mirrors to check on anyone creeping up on them from the rear. Her hand dropped to the butt of her gun and stayed there.
Sean yawned, stretched, and blinked himself fully awake. Sunlight stared back at him. He jolted up and looked over at Michelle. She was tapping a tune on the steering wheel and sipping on a bottle of G2.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” He checked his watch. It was nearly eight.
“You were sleeping like a baby. I didn’t have the heart.”
He noted the blanket she’d put over him. “Okay, your drastically heightened sensitivity factor is really creeping me out.”
“I got plenty of sleep in jail. I’m fresh and now you are too.”
“Okay, now that makes more sense.”
His stomach grumbled.
“Want me to run over and pick some corn?” she said with a smile.
“No, but do you have a power bar in that pile of crap in the back? I’m afraid to put my hand in there.”
She reached back, snagged one, and tossed it to him. “Chocolate fudge. Twenty grams of protein. Knock yourself out.”