The Gardens of Digby Green: Lead Foot When Green left the restaurant lot, he turned in the direction that would bring him to the Interstate 80 on-ramp. Ray ignored the last swallow of coffee in his paper cup, and pressed the Chrysler’s accelerator. He let two other drivers exit ahead of him, but he
The Gardens of Digby Green: B.O.L. The pesky phone would ring as he was in the middle of typing a report. Marquez checked the screen. Jessup, in Alabama. Marquez chose to answer, rather than needing to listen to voice mail later. “The other day, you asked about a set of Alabama plates,”Jessup said, “and
The Gardens of Digby Green: Burger Joint If staying behind that truck by a vehicle or two worked as well as it did on television shows, he’d be safe enough. Traffic wasn’t too heavy, and Ray kept an eye on the green pickup. Maybe he should have driven his less conspicuous car. No, he
The Gardens of Digby Green: In Sight In his current cabin at the out-of-date motel where he paid its weekly rate in cash, Digby Green stuffed his clothes into a sports bag and one backpack. The fistfight with Tim had been a mistake. It didn’t matter at all that any word spreading about it
The Gardens of Digby Green: Jessup’s Number When Detective Marquez’s phone emitted the obnoxious noise he’d chosen as a voice mail alert, he thumbed the screen. Sheriff Jessup in Alabama. Marquez put the phone on speaker, and made a right turn, merging into traffic. “We found a body. Female, aged somewhere between forty and seventy.
The Gardens of Digby Green: Alabama Plates Most nights, the funeral replayed itself nightmarishly in Ray’s dreams. He’d accessed his deputy’s autopsy report on Rose, and shuddered in disgust at what had been done to his beloved. Ray couldn’t decide whether the extended leave they’d made him accept was compassionate, or not. When the
The Gardens of Digby Green: Voicemail Late that afternoon, Sheriff Erwin Jessup re-entered the Madison County Sheriff’s Building. He closed his office door behind him and dropped into his chair. It’d been an ugly crime site. The corpse exposed, a woman past middle age, wore a dress with crocheted lace, a stained apron, and
The Gardens of Digby Green: Store Closing When he arrived at the Roseland Garden Center, Digby drove behind the building and parked in the shaded area beside the storage lean-to. Tim moaned. Digby shut down the truck engine, and stepped out of the cab. If Tim was starting to come around, fine. It wasn’t
The Gardens of Digby Green: Tall Coke “I’ve had it with you.” Digby threw a punch to Tim’s jaw that shut him up and knocked him out. That solved one problem. Again, he was tempted to follow through and do the man in, but that would give him another problem. It was broad daylight,
The Gardens of Digby Green: Helicopter Pad Digby eased the delivery truck through the yard gate, backing it toward the area marked by stakes and string. He stopped within a foot of the target. The shorter the distance he had to distribute the massive load of pavers, the better. He stepped down, and shook