'That's what I thought at first, when Suze said it, but no. Turns out her mama,' Josh looked around to see if anyone was passing by and therefore could overhear, 'she liked to drink.'

'Oh.' AnnaLise didn't have anything else appropriate to contribute.

'According to Suze, her mother was always telling her not to drink alcohol and not to drive too fast, but she didn't take her own advice.'

'I guess a lot of us don't practice what we preach.'

'That's just what I told Suze.' Josh's blue eyes turned sadder. 'I also said she was lucky to have had her mama for as long as she did, but that just made Suze, like, more . . . bitter?'

Poor Josh. Despite everything, he showed signs of maturing into a good guy. AnnaLise feared he be no match for Suzanne's biting intellect and, if half of what Ben said about his daughter was true, legendary temper tantrums.

AnnaLise touched his arm. 'Suze is very lucky to have you.'

'Thank you, ma'am, but I'm not sure she's feeling that way right about now.'

'Some people find it less painful to be angry rather than sad. She'll get past it.' AnnaLise checked her watch. Five more minutes late. 'Well, I'd best go. I'm due at Hotel Lux in ten minutes.'

'Don't think you're going to make it, less'n you fly.'

'I crawl, more like it. Which reminds me,' AnnaLise couldn't believe she'd forgotten, 'I'd like to pay for any damage to your dad's truck from yesterday afternoon. That way you won't have to report it to your insurance company, especially since my mother already told the police officers at the scene that we hit the rock wall, not another vehicle.'

'That's good, because that's exactly what you did. Don't you remember?'

'No, actually, I don't.' Great, now the town would be talking about AnnaLise's memory quirks as well as Daisy's. 'I think I must have closed my eyes.'

A grin twisted the corners of Josh's mouth, despite what seemed his best effort to control it. 'That's not a real good thing to do when one's behind the wheel.'

'I may have been behind the wheel, but I wasn't driving,' AnnaLise said. 'My car stalled in the middle of the road.'

'Well, that might be so, but when I came up on you, that little car of yours jumped right across the road, bounced into the rock wall and back again to the edge.'

'Huh,' AnnaLise said, thinking. 'Now that you mention it, I remember putting the car into park and finally getting it started. I must have hit the accelerator in panic.'

'Sure looked that way to me, ma'am.'

AnnaLise kicked herself for thinking at the time that Josh had fled the scene, when he'd simply been a Good Samaritan, stopping to help and call 911.

'Well, I'm very glad I didn't damage your father's truck. How do you like working for him?' She was already going to be late, so might as well add another couple of minutes assuaging her guilty conscience.

'My dad can be difficult, I won't lie, but I do like the work.'

'From what I've heard, you're also very good at it.'

She was rewarded with a pleased smile and AnnaLise had a hunch she'd have seen a blush if Josh wasn't so tanned from his outdoor job. 'I thank you, though Suze and me've been talking about my maybe going back to school.'

'College?' AnnaLise asked, wondering if this was Josh's idea or Suzanne's. Either way, the journalist thought it would be a good thing. Fred Eames might love his son, but he couldn't be doing much for the young man's self-esteem.

Josh tilted his head. 'Well, I really do like the work and it pays the bills, but it sure would be nice to have a little something left for my back pocket.'

AnnaLise loved the syntax and rhythm of High Country English. 'And you think that won't happen if you stay in your dad's business?'

'Hasn't happened, even for him. Besides, eventually, the mountains will be built out, at least as far as the county will let them be. Then the only work will be renovations like this one and, no offense, that's not where the big money is.'

'I hear you,' AnnaLise said, impressed by the amount of thought Josh had given the subject. 'And believe me, I'd be the first one to advise you to get your degree. Have you considered where?'

'I can't afford U-Mo, where Suze is, but I was thinking maybe Lees-McRae right down the road in Banner Elk. That way it wouldn't be too much of a financial burden and Suze and I would still be close by each other. Maybe even get an apartment together.'

Wow, AnnaLise thought as she gave Josh a wave before turning the key again in the ignition. A one-eighty turnaround for the troubled kid who'd barely made it through high school. Maybe Joshua Eames and Suzanne Rosewood would turn out to be good for each other after all.

Fifteen.

Not wanting to follow Daisy's example of Monday afternoon, AnnaLise called the spa to warn Joy she was running late, only to find that her friend had a training client for the next hour anyway.

Given the extra time, AnnaLise decided to take the state highway to the upper entrance of the mountain. She'd have to cross Sutherton Bridge to reach Hotel Lux whichever way she went, but the highway route would take her past the garage where her poor Spyder had been towed, so she could claim any property from the little car before it went to the parking lot in the sky.

AnnaLise turned off at a sign trumpeting 'Sutherton Auto Sales, Service and Scrap.' Talk about your cradle-to-grave operation, she thought, following the bend of the gravel drive past the main sales building to the service garage.

She parked the Chrysler in the shadow of the building. Earl Lawling was inside one of the bays busy with a tire, but it wasn't him AnnaLise had come to see.

The scrap yard was wisely hidden behind a slight rise and it was on that hill the limbo between repair and salvage that she found her Spyder. Poor thing looked like it had been scalped and left for dead, canvas pate on the ground next to it.

As AnnaLise observed a moment of silence, Lawling emerged from the repair bay. 'Come to say your goodbyes?'

'And pick up anything I might have left inside,' she looked at the fully-detached roof, 'if it's still there.'

'If I were you, miss, I'd just be counting my blessings I got out, unlike the poor lady in that one.'

He pointed and AnnaLise turned to see the Rosewood's Porsche, three tires blown and one wheel completely missing.

'By the by,' Lawling continued. 'I have a nice selection of new and used cars if you're in the market.'

If she was in the market? AnnaLise couldn't drive her mother's car forever and, besides, she'd certainly need something to drive back to Wisconsin the end of the month. Still, it seemed too early to replace the Mitsubishi when the car hadn't even been given a proper burial.

'I haven't decided whether I'll buy a car here or wait until I get back to Wisconsin.'

'I think you'll find the prices here more to your liking and I'll make you the same deal I offered the Porsche's owner.'

Ben already was looking to replace his wife's car? 'What deal is that?'

'Once we come up with a fair price, I'll subtract the salvage value of your old vehicle.'

AnnaLise glanced over at the remains of the Mitsubishi.

'I admit it's not as much of an incentive for you,' Lawling continued hastily, 'as it would be for Mr Rosewood. Your whole car wasn't worth what I'm likely to get for the Porsche's parts.'

'Well, that's not surprising, is it? I mean, considering my car is totaled and therefore worthless.'

'No, ma'am. I don't mean your Mitsubishi as it stands now. I'm talking about as it stood at the dealer's lot in Wisconsin, brand-spanking new.'

Well, that seemed a little cruel.

'Though it's true that comparison will have to wait a bit,' Lawling continued, 'seeing as the police are sending a wrecker over to the Porsche.'

'They are?' AnnaLise asked, but she was thinking, Now what's Ben up to?

'Well, I don't like to brag, but it appears I discovered something they missed. I probably shouldn't say more than that.'

Eagle-eyed Earl had spotted something. The question was, what? AnnaLise glanced toward the repair bay. The wheel the man had been working on when she'd arrived was balanced on a couple of saw-horses. 'Do you think one of the tires was to blame?'

She was remembering a case they'd studied in one of her marketing classes: millions of tires recalled and millions more in dollars awarded in damages for 'deaths and catastrophic injuries' caused by faulty tires.

Ben would have a field day with this one, if it were true. But better he take on a conglomerate with teams of lawyers on retainer rather than Joy.

But the loquacious Earl seemed to have buttoned his lip. 'I surely would hesitate to speculate on the matter, ma'am.'

'Wise of you, I must say. Especially if a lawsuit should arise from all this,' AnnaLise said, unintentionally falling into his pattern of speech. By the time she got back to Wisconsin, she'd have a full-fledged High Country accent and would be walking out of restaurants without paying, like she was used to doing at Mama's.

'We do live in a highly litigious society,' Lawling was saying. 'Well, here now. Just like I said.'

He was looking toward a cloud of dust being kicked up by two vehicles on the gravel driveway. The first was a Sutherton squad car and behind it, a police wrecker. When the first got close enough, AnnaLise saw Chuck in the passenger seat.

The chief of police out for a product-liability case? Seemed like overkill, though Ben was certainly willing and able to throw his weight around, even as an out-of-state D.A.

Lawling pulled a grubby white envelope out of his pocket and went to meet them.

Curious, but not wanting to be shooed away at the outset, AnnaLise went about her business. She retrieved the contents of the sprung glove compartment in her Spyder, along with a parking pass from the dashboard, all the while keeping an eye on Chuck and Earl who were now in the repair bay. Leaving the cassette tapes in the hope that her next vehicle would have a CD player, she moved on to the trunk, where she found a stuffed Bucky Badger wearing a University of Wisconsin sweatshirt.

'Say goodbye to our Spyder,' AnnaLise said, turning the stuffed mascot to face the car.

Bucky didn't answer. Badgers aren't much for sentiment.

Dropping everything in the trunk of her mom's car and closing it, AnnaLise hurried over to where Chuck now stood alone by the sawhorses. 'So, what's going on?'

'Who's asking?'

AnnaLise looked around. 'Who's asking? Me, of course.'

'But are you asking for your friend?'

Friend. Careful now, girl. 'You mean Joy?'

'I mean Ben Rosewood.'

'No, I'm not asking for Ben, though I'd hardly call him a friend.' Which was true, so far as it went. The district attorney had been much more than that. 'I'm on Joy's side, assuming that's what this is all about. Though if a tire company is involved, I don't have a side.'

Chuck shook his head. 'Whatever are you talking about?'

'Joy,' she reminded him. 'You said Ben Rosewood was suggesting the accident was her fault?'

'Oh, right,' Chuck seemed to honestly have forgotten. 'Looks like the glass of wine Mrs Rosewood had up at the spa is no longer a major issue.'

'Because she was already drunk?'

'Apparently.' If Earl Lawling's lips were buttoned, Chuck's were zipped up tight.

'But what about the tires?'

'The tire?'

'Tire, singular?' This was like Twenty Questions. Animal, vegetable or mineral.

Chuck looked skyward. 'I don't know why I play these games with you.'

'Me, neither. You might as well just tell me. You know Earl's not going to be able to keep his mouth shut for long.'

Since AnnaLise had known Lawling all of two days, it was a guess, but apparently a good one. 'Point taken.'

'So, give.'

'While Tanja Rosewood's blood-alcohol level was likely a contributing factor, it may not have been the initial cause of the accident.'

'But something in the tire was? What's the manufacturer?'

'Hard to tell. Remington, Hornady, maybe? Likely not UltraMax.'

'Hornady? UltraMax?' Sounded more like condoms than tires. There was probably a 'Where the rubber meets the road' joke in there somewhere, but AnnaLise had no intention of trotting it out just now. 'I'm sorry, Chuck, but I don't understand. Are those tire manufacturers?'

'Tire? No.'

'Barely a minute ago, you said one of them was at fault. I was asking what type of tire.'

'That's a little like blaming the victim, Lise.' He pointed toward the repair bay. 'Tires don't kill people, at least in this case. But bullets do.'

Sixteen.