Chapter 121

“Approximately nine-thirty last night.”

“Okay. I was on my way home from a showing.”

“You can verify that?”

Opening the appointment book, Ridley showed him the entry for Tuesday evening, which said he was meeting a home owner and an interested buyer at seven. “I can give you their names and phone numbers. They’ll verify I was with them until just after nine.”

“If you would, please. Then I’d like to take a look at your car.”

Ridley wrote down the information then took Mike to the lot next door to the realty company. His medium blue car was spotlessly clean, as if he’d washed it earlier in the day.

When Mike asked, he said that he had. “We have to make a proper impression on the people we deal with. A dirty car doesn’t cut it.”