They reached the exit for Margrave. Somehow the livestock-toting grandpa was ahead of them again, still traveling below the speed limit, still weaving all over the road, still mostly in the right lane and on the shoulder. Gaspar had to slow down and get behind the smelly pigs. Then, Gramps exited at the cloverleaf, too.
The truck leaned too far all the way around the curve, and Gramps overcorrected, sending the squealing pigs slamming into the panel on the truck’s opposite side, and causing more weaving. Then the truck stopped askew at the bottom of the ramp. Stalled out. Gramps sat there without restarting for much too long.
Another old truck was abandoned on the right shoulder, blocking Gaspar's escape route. "Doesn't anybody tow these heaps outta here?" Gaspar griped. He began tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel. “Come on, Gramps. Time to turn. Only two choices. Right or left. Pick one. This is not brain surgery.”
Eventually Grandpa leaned over and opened the passenger door. His big blue dog leapt out and ran around the back of the truck, right in front of the Crown Vic. When they saw the dog, the squealing pigs ratcheted up the volume to ear-splitting levels.
“Oh, man, Gramps, what are you doing?” Gaspar said.
Kim said, “Have a little patience, Speedy Gonzales. The dog had to take care of business. He’ll be right back. Gramps will move along. That truck has carted a lot of pork in its day.”
She leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
“I’ll be right back,” Gaspar said.
Kim felt the transmission shift into park and heard him unlatch his seat belt and open his door. He left the keys in the ignition, which caused the alarm bell to chime, chime, chime.
After the fourth annoying reminder, she opened her eyes.
Chime.
“What are you doing?”
Chime.
She saw that Gramps had exited the truck on the driver’s side. Chime. He stood on the exit ramp’s narrow shoulder, truck door standing open, and called to the dog.
Chime.
“Where are you going?”
Chime.
“To help the old guy find the dog so we can get on the road. If somebody comes down that ramp in a hurry, we could be slammed.” Chime. “You might want to get out.”
She watched him walk toward Gramps until the truck blocked her view. Then from the corner of her eye she saw a car, maybe fifty yards away, up above ground level. An old green Chevy, parked off the shoulder on the median weeds between the highway’s fast lanes, pointing north. In the no-man’s land between the southbound exit ramp and the northbound entrance ramp at the other side of the cloverleaf. The hood was up. It looked like it had been there a while. She didn’t remember seeing it before. Not surprising. Old cars off the road were so commonplace they were practically invisible. She'd noticed at least ten on the drive from Atlanta. Probably more she hadn't seen.
The old man’s dog had found the Chevy. The crazy hound was bouncing around like he wanted to play. With what? A car? Kim didn’t know much about dogs. She knew some liked to chase cars. But what did they do when they caught one?
She called out, “Gaspar? The dog is over by that green car. I can see him from here.”
If Gaspar answered, the squealing pigs drowned him out. Where was he? She got out of the Crown Vic and walked down to the truck, holding her nose because of the pigs. She saw Gramps standing with one foot on the rusted runner, the other on the ground, leaning on the open door, looking across the truck’s hood toward the Chevy.
She followed his gaze and saw Gaspar up there, bent over, looking into the disabled Chevy’s dim interior. The dog jumped up and down, ran around in circles, acting crazy. He barked a few times for good measure.
Kim hurried a few feet upwind from the pigs, released the grip on her nose, pulled her phone out and dialed Gaspar’s number. He picked up on the first ring.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Is this Roscoe’s turf?”
Kim glanced around, didn’t see any city limit signs on either side of the ramp. What was it? Maybe fifteen miles into town?
“We’re a long way from the Margrave station. Why?”
Gaspar stood up and faced her across the distance. Vehicles passed between them on the southbound lanes, fast noisy blurs of color.
Gaspar said, “There’s a dead man in this car.”