David Baldacci - The Last Mile

“So you discovered you had no cash when you went to pay the motel guy?”

“I think so, yeah.”

“Did you remember having any cash on you before you went to Ellen Tanner’s?”

“Well, since I didn’t have any cash after I left her place and I hadn’t spent any while I was there, I guess the answer to that would be no.”

“No, that really doesn’t answer my question. Did you look in your wallet before you went to Tanner’s? And if you did, did you have cash in your wallet?”

Mars looked at Bogart. “Do you have any idea what he’s getting at?”

When Bogart said nothing, Mars glanced back at Decker. “I don’t remember, okay? I just don’t.”

“Where did you get the credit card?”

“It wasn’t from any alumni booster or anything. It was all on the up-and-up.”

“I don’t care about that. I just want to know where you got it.”

“My parents got it for me. I’d graduated from college. Made the dean’s list the last two semesters. It was a reward. It had a low limit on it, but it was cool to have. Never had a credit card before.” He added dryly, “Haven’t had one since.”

“And you used that to pay the motel room bill?”

“Yeah. Lucky too, since I had no cash.”

“Did he run the card with a manual machine?”

“Yeah. One you use your hand to push back and forth.”

“The motel clerk testified he phoned in the charge to confirm it was okay. Did you see him do that?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t surprised. I was a young black dude showing up at night. Probably thought I’d stolen the card. Guess he wasn’t no college football fan.”

“So he made the call while you were standing there?”

“Yeah.”

“What did he say on the phone?”

“I don’t remember, okay? Whatever you say when you’re trying to make sure a charge is okay, I guess. I really wasn’t paying attention.”

Decker nodded slowly. “And he said that occurred at around one-fifteen in the morning.”

“Well, that’s bullshit, because it was around eleven. It’s only an hour from where Ellen lived to the motel. I know that for a fact. Been that way many times.”

“And that would be the logical way for you to go home?”

“Dude, it’s the only way.”

“And then your car died?”

“Right as I was passing the motel. Lucky for me.”

“Maybe not so lucky. Did you decide then to stay the night there?”

“No, my first thought was to see if I could get the car started. I couldn’t. Sat in the parking lot for like five minutes trying to get it going, but it was dead. Then I went into the motel office. Dude came out from a little room in back. Told him I had car trouble. That I wanted to call a tow service.”

“What did he say to that?” Decker asked quickly.

“He told me the only one around was like two hours away. And they were closed.”

“And you accepted that?” asked Decker.

“Well, yeah, I’d never broken down before. My dad was good with cars. Fixed anything wrong with ’em, so I never had to think about going to a repair place. So while I knew the area okay, I didn’t know where the closest tow place was. You said you’d been to my house?”

“Yes.”

“Well, this is middle-of-nowhere Texas. Back then that motel was the only one for I don’t know how many miles.”

“So when you knew you couldn’t get a tow you decided to check into the motel?”

“Yeah. Then I planned to call the tow place in the morning. Or maybe my dad. Only then the police came, and that’s when I found out what had happened.”

“And they knew where you were because of the activity on your credit card?”

“Guess so,” said Mars.

Bogart interjected, “Why didn’t you phone your parents that night? They could have come and gotten you.”

Decker looked at him approvingly and then turned back to Mars.

Mars said, “I didn’t have a phone. I could’ve used the motel phone, I guess, but it was late and I didn’t want to wake them up.”

“But if they woke up next morning and found you weren’t there wouldn’t they be worried?” asked Bogart.

“Look, I was a grown man. I stayed out all night before. When I left I told them I might be late, or I might go straight to my practice session if I stayed over at Ellen’s. I had my stuff in the car. So they wouldn’t necessarily be expecting me home.”

“So why didn’t you stay at Ellen’s?” asked Decker.

Mars looked down at his manacled hand. “Look, we had sex. She was really hot. Last woman I’ve slept with for twenty years. But—”

“But what?” asked Bogart.

“I was gonna be rich after the draft. And she... I think she wanted to be part of that.”

“What, marriage? How long had you been seeing her?”

“See, that’s the thing. Not that long. Like a few weeks. I wasn’t thinking of marriage. Hell, I didn’t even know where I’d be living. Depended on what team was going to draft me.”

“So did you two argue?”

“I wouldn’t say argue. We discussed stuff.”

“And what was the result of that ‘discussion’?” asked Decker.

“She politely asked me to get the hell out of her house, and so I did.”

Decker took a long breath. “When I first asked you about that, you said you left to get home and hit the sack because you had your workout session with your trainer the next morning.”

“Again, what the hell does that matter about anything!” Mars barked. “Now this dude in Alabama said he killed my parents. Why don’t you go question his ass and leave me the hell alone?”

“We are going to question him,” said Bogart. “But we have questions for you too.”

Mars pointed his finger at Decker. “This dude thinks I’m lying. He thinks I’m good for it. Got a beef against me ’cause I ran over his ass up in Columbus. Buckeye gets gored by the Longhorn. He sure as hell can’t be objective. Like the dude who prosecuted me. Did you know he was a Tennessee man? President of the boosters club and everything. Now that’s bullshit, ain’t it?”

Decker said, “This might come as a surprise to you, but most people’s lives do not revolve around football. I haven’t watched a Buckeyes game since I graduated. I couldn’t care less if you played for the Longhorns or ran over my ass twenty-some years ago. I just care about what happened to your parents.”

“Well, good for you. I’ve told you all I know about it. If that’s not enough then that’s too bad.”

Mars rolled over in the bed and stared at the wall.

Bogart glanced at Decker, whose gaze was still on Mars.

“Your mother’s blood was found in your car. Do you have an explanation other than it came from you?”

“No.”

“Could she have been in the car before? Maybe cut herself or had a nosebleed?”

“No. None of that happened. She never used my car.”

Decker said, “Did you get along with your parents?”

“Why?” said Mars over his shoulder.

“Well, the motive the prosecution painted during your trial was that—”

“I know what that man said,” interrupted Mars. He rolled back over. His features were calmer, or perhaps just resigned. “My parents never made any demands on me when they knew I was going pro. I was going to take care of them. Buy them a house, a new car, set them up. I had it all planned out.”

Decker cocked his head. “You’re a good planner, right?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing. But the prosecution brought in witnesses who said otherwise about your parents. That they wanted more money than you were willing to give them.”

Mars said slowly, “Not both of them.”

Bogart said sharply, “So one of them did say things like that? The testimony was correct? Because you just told us they had made no demands on you. So were you lying to us?”