Trace Connor was enormous. He was tall enough to dunk a basketball flat-footed, and broad enough to have to maneuver his way through a normal-sized doorway. Sitting in the small interrogation room with him, Dani felt claustrophobic. She stared at his thick brow ridge and watched it flex and relax as the Goliath observed her uncle’s every move.
The potbellied sheriff shifted through sheets of paper. Every once in a while he’d let out an exasperated “huh” and “phhht” in an effort to unsettle the disgruntled truck driver.
“This is bullshit.” Connor’s voice was as deep as he was big. It was as if the good Lord packed every bit of imposing into one enormous package.
Otis sat back in his metal chair and rhythmically tapped the tabletop as he spoke. “Indeed it is, Mr. Connor. I ain’t never seen this many violations of our state’s long haul regulations.”
“I ain’t violated nothing.”
Otis licked his fingers and laid out every citation on the table. “These here say different.”
Connor shifted his eyes down and scanned the row of tickets. “You pull a man in for hauling violations?”
“No, not normally, but yours was so plentiful that I just had to have a talk with the fella that holds such low regard for the laws of his trade.”
“I ain’t saying these are justified, but if they are, it ain’t nothing but oversights. I got respect for the law.”
“You do?” Otis asked with a chuckle. “Were you paying your respects when you killed that fella?”
Connor twisted his big frame in his nearly overmatched chair. “Law had nothing to do with that. One error followed another on that day. ’Sides, I done my time for that.”
“Eighteen months.”
“I was let go according to the court workings.”
“I know, I went through your file.”
“You got a curious interest in my doings.”
“You’ve got curious doings to be curious about.”
Connor leaned forward and placed his massive forearms on the table. “I got a call coming my way?”
“Who you gonna call?”
“Ain’t none of your business. My call’s my call.”
Otis nodded. “It is that. You can call who you want, but Ima tell you right off that these violations are gonna go away.”
Connor lifted an eyebrow. “How’s that?”
“Because you’re gonna answer my question.”
“What question?”
“I’ll get to that in a minute, but you need to know how important this question is. You answer it straight up without any hemming and hawing, you walk out the door, and I’ll even give you some money out of petty cash for missing your haul today.
“On the other hand, you give me trouble and make me work for an answer, Ima have to arrest you.”
“Arrest me? For traffic tickets?”
“No, sir, not for traffic tickets.” Otis turned and motioned to Dani that she was up. She reached in her pocket, pulled out a baggy full of pills, and tossed it on the table.
“Illegal contraband is a serious offense, Mr. Connor. You’ll serve good time for it and lose your long haul license.”
Connor snarled. “That ain’t mine—”
Otis held up a hand to cut him off. “Save it for your phone call if it should come to that.”
“I answer this question”—he shifted his gaze from Otis to Dani and then back to Otis—“you’ll shit can those tickets and pills and let me walk, right?”
“Right.”
Connor snickered. “Must be some question. I don’t know shit about shit, but go ahead, ask your question.”
Otis leaned forward and clasped his hands together on top of the table. With a slight grin, he said, “Where is your daughter, Mr. Connor?”
“My daughter?” The giant truck driver stared at the sheriff, wondering if he’d heard him right. “Is that what you want to know? Where’s my daughter?”
“Is English your second language, son? Did I not phrase the question in such a way to penetrate that thick skull of yours?”
Connor snarled. “It’s just that there’s a sensitive question. I’m of the understanding that I’m not supposed to talk on that matter.”
Otis and Dani shared a glance.
“I’m giving you clearance,” the sheriff said. “Talk on it all you want.”
Connor anxiously pondered thought after thought as they tumbled through his mind. “Boss is the only one I know who can give me such clearance.”
Otis studied the giant’s expression. “He’s a scary individual, Boss? Scary enough to tame a big man like you?”
“Let’s just say he’s got resources I can’t do nothing about.”
“Resources? Like what?”
Connor tugged on his earlobe with a shaky hand and then crossed his arms over his barrel chest. “Like he ain’t got no off switch.”
“Off switch?”
The big truck driver let out a deep groan. “You’ve gone way beyond your one question.”
“Because you ain’t answered it. You’re doing an awful lot of that hemming and hawing I warned you about. I’ve allowed you to go off track because I find what you’re saying interesting. If you want to stop being interesting, I’ll let you make your one phone call, and put you in lockup.”
Connor hesitated and then said, “There ain’t no bad that Boss won’t do, not if he can make money off it.”
Dani chimed in. “I don’t understand. Ain’t you an independent driver?”
“I am. What of it?”
“How come you got a boss?”
Connor let a grin spread across his face. “Y’all really don’t know who Boss is?”
“Enlighten us,” Otis said.
The mammoth man let out a loud guttural laugh. “He ain’t my boss. Boss is his name, and if you knew him, I most likely wouldn’t be here. You damn sure wouldn’t have asked me the question you just asked me.”
Otis laughed back. “I just might have to have this Boss in here, and I’ll be sure to bring up your name. Let him know that you was the one that turned us onto him. You said he might know where your daughter is.”
Connor shook his head. “I didn’t say nothing like that.”
“Well, you said as much.”
“You tell him that, and they’ll be kicking dirt over both of us by week’s end.”
Dani slammed her hand down on the table. “What the hell is the matter with you?” The volume of her voice startled both men. “Your daughter is missing! Your little girl! Don’t you care nothing for her?”
Otis grabbed her forearm and squeezed.
Dani ripped her arm free from her uncle’s grasp. “I ain’t got the stomach to listen to this coward no more.”
“Coward?” Connor asked, standing. “I ain’t no coward.”
“I ain’t come across a bigger coward in my life,” Dani said, staring him down.
“Now hold on,” Otis said. “Sit down, the both of you.”
“Sometimes things just lead down a road,” Connor said, ignoring Otis. “A man finds himself in a bad way, and he makes deals to try to make things better. Only thing is, things get worse and that deal goes sour. You weigh things out and choose the least of the bad.”
Dani absorbed his statement. “What are you saying?”
Connor didn’t reply.
“You traded out your daughter on a bad deal?”
“I can’t talk on this.” He backed away from the table and stared down at the ground. “I just can’t. Call me up on whatever charges you want, I don’t care.”
“That’s big talk,” Otis said. “Your previous conviction will play a factor in the time ahead of you. I can write this up so you’ll do three to five in maximum security.”
“Like I said: I don’t care.”
“That’s about the only thing you’ve said that makes sense,” Dani said, heading for the door. “You don’t care, not for your daughter anyway.”
“It’s a sad thing,” Connor called after her. “You ain’t got no idea what it’s like for a man when he loses a daughter.”
She stood in the open doorway and said, “No I don’t, but I know what it’s like to be the daughter of a worthless ass like you.”
The door closed. She turned and stood staring through the cold gray surface, seeing countless daughters no one beyond their mothers cared about.