Chat - Archer Mayor [9]
In any case, he’d lucked out, and he knew that his brother felt the same way. It was going to be a huge threshold to cross when they lost this woman.
The cell phone began vibrating at his belt, and he yanked it free to answer.
“Gunther.”
“Joe, it’s Gloria. The Windsor County sheriff’s got your case. A Deputy Rob Barrows is investigating. If you have a pen, I’ve got his cell number.”
Joe pulled out a black notepad and scribbled down the number she gave him, thankful that he was where cell coverage was better than most places. As with many things technological, Vermont tended to lag toward the back of the innovation herd.
“Thanks, Gloria. You’re a peach.”
“You just take care of that family,” she said, hanging up.
Joe dialed the number she’d given him.
“Barrows.” The voice sounded young but confident.
“Deputy, my name is Joe Gunther. We’ve never met, but—”
“I’ve heard about you, Agent Gunther. This is a real pleasure. Sorry about the circumstances, though. How’s your brother and mom?”
Joe was happy not to have to break the ice, go into a whole song and dance about who and what he was, or, worse, ingratiate himself with someone who had a beef against the VBI.
“They’re in good hands,” he answered vaguely, becoming aware of how often he was going to have to respond to that inquiry. “I was wondering if you’d figured out what happened yet.”
Perhaps instinctively, Barrows came back with “What did your brother say?”
Joe was pleased by the reaction. It made him feel he might be talking with someone who truly understood his job.
“Not much, given the shape he’s in, but he said it was the car, not the road, and I’ll give the man his due—he does know cars.”
Barrows didn’t argue. “The road looked good to me. They weren’t on much of a curve, and I didn’t find any signs of ice or snow on the surface—road crew had done a good job. Course, I was there after the fact. What did he say about the car?”
“Just that, nothing more.”
Joe could almost hear the other man thinking. Generally in an accident like this, with no death resulting and no involvement by anyone else, the physical aspects of the vehicle examination were pretty much limited to the condition of the tire treads. It didn’t make sense to go looking beyond driver error, and it cost a lot more money.
“Could you do me a favor?” Joe therefore asked, to help the man reach a less hasty conclusion.
“What’s that?”
“Could you keep the car where no one can mess with it until I get someone to check it out?”
Barrows hesitated before asking in turn, “I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes here, sir, but are you not telling me something?”
“Absolutely not,” Joe reassured him. “I have no reason to think this wasn’t just what it looks like. But given what you and I do for a living, wouldn’t you be curious?”
“I see your point,” Barrows conceded. “I’ll give it a closer look myself—I know cars, too. And I’ll make sure it’s kept under lock and key.”
“Thanks, Deputy. I owe you one. I’ll see you a little later.”
“That would be my pleasure.”
Joe snapped the phone shut and was putting it away when it vibrated in his hand.
“Hello?”
Gail Zigman’s voice was tight with concern. “Joe, I just heard. How are they?”
Joe was startled by his reaction. After something like twenty years, he and Gail were no longer a couple, and hadn’t been for over a year by now. But whether it was his own present vulnerability or simply the preexisting pattern that any couple establishes after so