Page 21 of Rocky Ride

Ardal and Casey stopped at every truck stop along the interstate and had not a bit of luck. They trooped in and out of dozens of them until they finally hit on the right one.

One of the servers at Gears and Gas remembered a super cute guy who was hurt pretty bad, and the other guy with him was dark-haired and kinda quiet.

“He was hurt bad enough that he could barely sit up straight in the booth. Know what I’m talking? Kind of tippy over to the one side.”

Casey nodded his head. “He was gut shot. Stomach wound not healed.”

“Yeah, like that.” She made a face and wrinkled up her freckled nose. “I waited their table and heard the dark-haired guy talking about writing songs.”

“Huh,” said Casey. “A songwriter is driving the truck, Ardal. Think they might be heading for Nashville?”

“Worth a shot, I guess. We’re on the road to Nashville, and we’ve got nothing else.”

They ordered coffee and pie from the girl and left her a big tip. Back in the truck, they phoned the Agency and asked Lily for credit card activity on any of Bobby Prescott’s cards.

None.

“He’s paying cash, Ardal.”

“Where’s he getting the money?”

“Good question.”

Bare Bones Deals. Nashville. Tennessee.

Bobby and Ray drove into Nashville to sell the Freightliner and remove the last link the cops had to Bobby Prescott.

It took a couple of hours of intense negotiations. Give and take on both sides until the buyer, Jacky Jones of Bare Bones Deals, got close to the price Bobby had in mind.

Bobby Prescott knew exactly how much his baby was worth and sentimentally, it was worth a lot more to him than its monetary value on the current market.

Ray sat silently, watching and listening, until Bobby and Jacky boy came to terms. The paperwork had to be done after that and the final step placed the cash in Bobby’s hand.

Bobby shook hands with Jacky and they both seemed happy with the price they’d agreed on for the Freightliner.

Freddie’s New and Used. Nashville.

As they waited out front for a cab, Ray said, “That’s more money than I ever seen in my life, Bobby.”

“You know how many months I paid double payments on her, Ray? A helluva lot of them. Now we got money to live on for at least a couple of years.” He laughed. “I guess it was like putting money in the bank.”

“Not sure what that feels like,” said Ray. “Never had me a bank account.”

The taxi took them to a used car lot about a mile down the road from the big rig lot. They walked around a bit looking at what was available and after narrowing it down, Bobby selected a Ford pickup, dark green in color.

“We’ll take this one. You agree, Ray?”

“Yep. Best on the lot. You got a good eye.”

In the office, the deal was written up and Bobby put the truck in Ray’s name.

Ray was proud Bobby trusted him enough to do that, but Bobby had no reservations about Ray. Ray was the most honest person he’d ever met.

That’s exactly the way Ray’s songs sounded too. Honest. Real honest stories of life and hard times.

J.T. Paint and Body. Nashville.

Next stop was the place Ray had found out about from one of the guys at the trailer park. J.T. was reported to be the best ID guy in Tennessee, and he was right there close to them in Nashville.

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