CHAPTER 7

The next morning, Lonnie filled the chief and Virgil in on what they had found out from Mr. Jenkins at Serenity Glen, which hadn't been much. Getting anything out of Jenkins and his wife was like pulling teeth out of an alligator's mouth. Extremely hard to do and if you weren't careful, you might just lose a hand. Jenkins didn't like cops on his property.

"Yeah, Tudor rented. Far back corner. Nope, never saw anybody else with him. Yeah, he had a car. Don't know make or plate number. Couple days ago was the last time we seen him."

Mrs. Jenkins, whose first name was Hazel, was standing on the rotting front porch in her blond bouffant wig, orange lipstick and blue eye shadow, smacking her gum. When Lonnie asked her if she remembered seeing Tudor with anybody she had said "Yep."

She spit the gum towards Lonnie's boot and lit a cigarette. He waited for her to elaborate but when she didn't, he got aggravated.

"Well, who was it!" Lonnie didn't normally raise his voice too often when he was questioning folks, but these people were trying his patience. It startled Hazel and she dropped her cigarette. Her husband stepped on it to put it out before the whole place went up in flames.

"Short, ugly little blond gal driving a blue Maverick," she said.

"Thank you!" Lonnie said. "Now was that so hard?"

Hazel stuck her tongue out at him and went back inside.

Lonnie and Sweet had checked the trailer out before leaving the park. They didn't find much there either; a few dirty dishes and an ashtray full of butts …some with pink lipstick on them. Nothing of any personal nature at all. The small work shop out back was also empty, although Lonnie did find some scraps of leather and lots of metal shavings. There were some things on the purchases that Gable had made at the hardware store that would explain these finds, but that didn't prove any wrong doing or whether Gable was responsible for them being there.

They bagged them up anyway even though they didn't have a warrant to search the property. He told Sweet if it came down to brass tacks that he would take any heat that might come from removing those things from the work shop without one.

"Don't worry about it, Lonnie," Sweet said. "I got your 6."

The chief sent Dee and Luanne to rotate watching Serenity Glen to try to catch Tudor when he came back and also to talk to the neighbors. He sent Sweet to the Bottoms to rustle up Jimmy Dawes and tell him what they were looking at. Hopefully he could come up with some intel for a small fee, of course. Jimmy did nothing for free.

Since Lonnie and Virgil didn't have much on their case load, they spent the day tracking down leads and talking to people, but it seemed that Gable had vanished.

"Maybe he left town, already," Virgil said.

"Naw! My gut's telling me he's around here somewhere, slitherin' through the grass like the snake he is," Lonnie replied.

"Do you think he's trying to get his enterprise back up and running here?" Virgil asked, as he fastened his seat belt.

"Could be," Lonnie said. "Maybe he plans on using Tudor as a runner or a mule."

They headed back to the station and then Lonnie headed home for the day. He had to pick up Elle so they could have supper at the Magnolia and then head to the Palomino.

Ms. Joann was behind the counter, slicing a fresh baked pecan pie when they entered the cafe.

"Hey Ms. Joann," Lonnie said, as Elle greeted her with, "Hi Jojo."

Elle had her own little nicknames for some of her friends. Ms. Joann was Jojo, Bubba was Bub, Sweet was Wil, and Luanne was LuLu. She called Althea, Twiggy because she was tall and thin. Virgil was Cujo because of his tenacity with his and Lonnie's cases. Randy was Strings because he played guitar and fiddle and sometimes filled in for The Southern Bullets, and the chief was Bwana because...well just because.

One day while she had been wedding planning, Elle had walked into the station and slipped through the gate. Lonnie had stood up to go over to her but she waved him back down and said, "I want to see the chief. I'm on a mission."

"Well, ok then. He's in the office." Lonnie was stumped. He had no clue what she was thinking that day.

She could go pretty much where ever she wanted to in the station except around the holding cells and the men's locker rooms. So she came and went as she pleased. She had tried to talk Lonnie into having a quickie in the basement records room, one day when she went down to see him, but he just shook his head and laughed.

Elle had crossed the floor and went in the office. She stood silently and waited for the chief to notice her. Virgil was out at the moment and she was glad. He finally looked up from the file he was reading.

"Well, hello there, Sugar! What a nice surprise. What can I do you for today?"

Thus began her quest to get him to agree to walk her down the aisle and give her away to Lonnie. She explained the whole situation with her blood father.

"I haven't seen him in years and wouldn't know where to look," she said, and then asked If he would be willing to play her daddy at the wedding.

He told her it would "be an honor and a privilege."

He thought the world of Elle. She had hugged him and bounced out of the office like she was on cloud nine.

"Thank you, Bwana!"

And just like that, the nickname had stuck.

He wiped his eyes with a kerchief after she left. He was flattered that she considered him a father figure.

Ms. Joanne told Elle that she looked as cute as ever, then took their order. Salad and a water for her. The meatloaf plate and sweet tea for him along with a slice of that pie. They ate and chatted some more, then left for the club.