Free Redemption by H. M. Mann Page A

did. Maybe I should go visit him.”
    “ Or call someone in Calhoun about the tickets. That’s what I’d do.”
    “ Why?”
    “ You’ll find out where he was parking.”
    “ And what will that tell me?”
    Autumn rolled her eyes. “What hospital Darcy was in.”
    “ How in the ...” It just might be possible. “You think Creed visited her?”
    Autumn shrugged. “Maybe when he was about to be a grandfather, he started playing father, and you know that man was so cheap he wouldn’t pay to park.” She slipped a cell phone from her back pocket. “You can use my phone.”
    Overton took the phone, which fit in the palm of his hand. “Will it reach to Calhoun?”
    “ On most days. Give it a shot.”
    He stared at the phone. “I don’t know the number.”
    Autumn groaned and took the phone, pressing a few buttons. “Yes, I’d like the number for the Calhoun City Police, traffic division. Uh, could you dial that for me? Thank you.” She handed Overton the phone. “It’s ringing.”
    “ Traffic division, Wendy Simpkins speaking.”
    “ Howdy, Wendy. This is Sheriff Miles Overton of Pine County.”
    “ What can I do for you, Sheriff?”
    Overton scratched his head with his free hand. “Well, that’s just it. I’m not exactly sure. You’ve heard what’s going on down here?”
    “ Just bits and pieces.”
    “ I need any information you can give me on Creed Rydell.”
    “ Creed the Weed?”
    He was thin as one. “That what y’all call him?”
    “ Hold on. Let me get his file.”
    “ They call him ‘Creed the Weed,’” he said to Autumn while he waited.
    “ How nice,” Autumn said.
    “ He was kinda skinny,” Overton said
    “ And green.”
    “ Okay, it’s a thick one,” Wendy said. “Where do you want to start?”
    “ Let’s focus on the parking tickets.”
    Wendy laughed. “We’re submitting his name for a world record. He was getting two and three a day at a time, almost six hundred in all.”
    Six hundred parking tickets! “Where?”
    “ On Adams Street near Calhoun City Hospital.”
    Bingo. “When was this?”
    “ Let’s see ... first ticket was in late September of eighty-three.”
    “ And the last?”
    “ Mid-March of eighty-four. Nothing since then, and it took us ten years to find him for these. We even put up a wanted poster. Not at the post office, though. We kept it here. It said: ‘Wanted: Creed the Weed.’”
    Overton did the math. Over a seven-month period. Darcy might have had a baby after all. “What was he driving?”
    “ Let’s see ... a seventy-two Cadillac Fleetwood.”
    Overton caught his breath. “What color?”
    Wendy laughed. “It says pink. I didn’t know they made a pink Cadillac. Creed the Weed in a pink Cadillac!”
    Overton’s mind raced. “Uh, thanks for your help.” He handed the phone to Autumn.
    “ Well?”
    What the hell is happening? “Creed parked near Calhoun City Hospital for about seven months back in eighty-three and eighty-four... in a pink Cadillac.”
    “ Oh shit,” Autumn said.
    “ You cursed.”
    “ Damn right I did, Miles. This is getting spooky.” She rubbed her arms. “It’s damn near a hundred degrees in this house, and I’ve got goose bumps.”
    Me, too. “But who would dig up an old Cadillac out of a junkyard? And why?”
    Autumn stood. “I’m leaving.”
    “ Why?”
    “ Can’t you see what’s happening?”
    “ I’m trying.”
    She grabbed his elbow and shook it. “J’s back.”
    That’s ridiculous! Overton thought. I buried Callie’s boy! “I saw him go into the ground.” I took his lifeless body off that statue!
    “ I think he’s back,” Autumn said, releasing his elbow.
    She can’t be serious. “How do you figure?”
    She rubbed her arms. “I don’t know for sure, but ... Let’s say Darcy, Annie, and Lester knew who killed J. Whoever is doing this knows that they knew. They know Darcy’s on medication, and she dies of an overdose. He or she or they dig up the Cadillac knowing that