Page 38 of The Last Grift
“That’s enough of that,” he muttered.
Slowly, Gabriel navigated through the residential park, looking for the Nissan. He hoped people weren’t home and that if someone was, they paid no attention to Elton’s truck. The last thing he needed was to have law enforcement show up because “someone suspicious” was hanging around. But at first glance, Smitty’s seemed like one of those places where most residents chose willful ignorance. What they didn’t know for sure couldn’t hurt them. He saw no sign of the Perkins brothers.
The second time through, he pulled in at Gordon’s addressbut didn’t get out right away. His impression, instinct, whatever, was that no one was home. The home seemed empty of human life. Gabe waited a few minutes to see if someone—preferably Gordon—peeked through one of the filthy windows to see who was there. No one did.
“You said you’d look around. Get your ass out of the truck.”
Gabriel cracked open the door, still hesitating, still hoping for signs of life, but got nothing.
Somewhat reluctantly, he pushed the Ford’s door all the way open and slid out. Fucking cold air blasted him in the face, sending shivers down his spine. Winter’s freezing fingers were determined to cop a feel, and Gabe shrugged his coat higher to keep them out. He pushed the truck’s door closed too forcefully and the resulting bang was loud to his ears. Idiot. If no one had been paying attention before, they would be now.
As he crossed the graveled area heading toward the double-wide, Gabriel glanced around again. Sherlock Holmes he wasn’t, but Gabriel didn’t see anything that screamed a resident had been dragged away in the dark of night. From all appearances, Gordon had left under his own power and hadn’t returned.
No one responded to Gabriel’s knock except an agitated dog several addresses over. Damn dogs again. He was not a fan of dogs at the moment. He raised his fist; maybe he didn’t have the same thundering bang as Ranger Lundin, but people usually answered when he dropped by. After three sharp knocks, he waited on the front step for a few minutes—who knew, the guy could have been in the crapper.
Another minute passed before he tested the door handle. Locked. Gabriel returned to the truck, hesitating there for a moment, just in case. He hoped Gordon was not inside and unable to answer, but he had no reason to break in. Not in broad daylight anyway.
“You looking for Gordon?” A deep voice called out.
Gabriel spun in a slow circle, trying to figure out what direction the voice had come from. Gordon’s address was in the middle of a row of mobile homes and RVs but was set slightly further back from the access road than most of the others were.
“Over here, 195,” the speaker said.
Following the directions, Gabriel abandoned Elton’s truck and crossed Gordon’s property to the one directly to the right of his, where a few more of the well-maintained residences were located. Number 195 was painted a cheerful bright blue with yellow trim and the windows appeared to have recently been replaced. A man, older than Gabriel but younger than Elton, waited at the top of the steps.
“Hi, my name is Gabriel,” Gabe said, omitting his last name. “I’m a friend of Elton Cox’s. And yes, I am looking for Gordon. Have you seen him around lately?”
“Bill Floyd.” he gave Gabriel a nice-to-meet-you nod. “Gordon hasn’t been around for the last couple of days, not that I’ve noticed. The sheriff was out here asking around too, I hope he’s okay.” The man wrinkled his nose as if the idea of the sheriff coming around was distasteful. “Usually, he lets me know if he’s going to be gone so I can keep an eye on things. Our personal neighborhood watch.”
“He didn’t mention anything? A last-minute trip or a sick relative?” Gabriel asked casually.
“No. He’s a good tenant. I debated renting to him because he’s had some problems recently, but Elton vouched for him. That was a while back and I haven’t had reason to regret having him here. Plus, he does some maintenance for me and I take a little off the rent.”
Gabriel recalled the hours of detective shows he’d watched over the years, starting withLaw and Order. What would Lennie Briscoe do in this situation? “Have you noticed anythingusual? Maybe Gordon’s had some sketchy friends over? Has anyone else been looking for him?”
“No one else has asked about him. Gordon’s family, well, I don’t want to talk ill, but they haven’t bothered to come around. I don’t think he’s seen them since he got out of jail.”
“You aren’t bothered by the fact he was supposedly growing marijuana?”
“Pfft, what’s a little dope? I been smoking since the ’60s.” Bill waved a hand. “The worst-kept secret around here is that everyone grows.”
Bill’s answer wasn’t exactly shocking. Gabriel had heard that this part of the peninsula was kind of notorious for people doing whatever the hell they wanted to—including growing pot without a license.
“What kind of maintenance does Gordon do for you?” Gabe asked. The question wasn’t important, Gabriel just wanted to keep the guy talking in hopes he’d learn more.
“A little bit of everything, really. I own the park and I’m getting on in years, can’t do as much on my own.” Bill frowned. “Gordon mows, keeps the weeds down in the summer, fixes broken pipes, that sort of thing. He installed new skirting around his place and mine.”
So, Gordon MacDonald was down on his luck and recently released from jail. But folks like Bill and Elton trusted him to do odd jobs and, in Bill’s case, be a good neighbor. Gabe was curious about Gordon’s other friends, the ones who liked to work on cars. The local auto shop was probably a good place to start for that. He made a mental note to ask Elton where the most likely one was located.
“Thanks. Hey, if you happen to see him, can you ask him to give Elton a call?”
“Sure thing,” Bill said.
Gabe sketched out a wave and crossed Bill’s property backto where he’d left Elton’s truck. Staring at Gordon’s home for another few seconds, he debated whether to try the door again or not. In the end, Gabe decided against since there was obviously no one home.
So where was Gordon MacDonald?
EIGHTEEN
