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Conner had driven twopretty damn pleased with his own cleverness when he realized he didn&039;t knohere he was going

He pulled over

He went back to the file and found a home address Hopefully, the divorce had been particularly bitter, and Conner could get Jenny Folger to fink on her ex-husband Maybe Jenny would get a kick out of taking away hubby&039;s big toy boat Conner pulled back onto the road and drove

The address from the file was a nice, three-bedroohborhood But a yellow real estate sign sprouted froer Conner looked in the s The place was e to offer, but inforer listed in Mobile Conner scribbled the nuer file

Conner called, and she answered He told her who he was and that he was looking for her husband She said her husband could burn in the fiery pits of hell, and wherever he ht be it sure wasn&039;t at her apartment Conner said he wanted to find her husband&039;s boat and take it away froested she ht be able to help She didn&039;t see how but said if Conner held Teddy&039;s arut Conner offered to coer&039;s ex-wife lived way the hell on the west side of Mobile, so Conner had to pass Hank Aaron Stadiuet there The stadiuood Bay Bear, Conner thought

When he&039;d blown his baseball scholarship at the University of West Florida, he&039;d tried a few es, to see if he could get on with another teae, and he&039;d struck out all around Conner sat on his thu his fist at the world

Then he&039;d gotten the bright idea to try out for the triple-A club in Mobile It was still a long way from the show, but it was professional sports and a steady paycheck He swung the bat, ran the bases The coach said he had a good arm, a decent eye in the batter&039;s box, butwind He was told there were a dozen guys in top for as well as or better than Conner

What if I got into shape, worked really hard?

Sorry, kid Maybe next season

He spent the next fewthree ain, his heart wasn&039;t in it His heart wasn&039;t inHe earned a buck here and there with repos and the occasional ga score

But it was more than a si worse and deeper Fear He was scared It was that si he had, and yet he still failed? Could he handle that? Would he be able to stand the knowledge that he was exactly as useless as he suspected he ive it his best only to crash and burn

Conner had failed at college, failed in his atte, and now life was calling in all itsup was unpleasant and uncomfortable

He put baseball and Tyranny out of hisfor a boat, and that was all

Jenny Folger&039;s apartment coinative landscaping He cliht of steps and knocked She let him in and directed him to a sofa that was a little too nice for the apartment

"It&039;s early, but would you like a beer?" she asked

"There&039;s no such thing as too early"

She came back with a Labatt&039;s Blue, and Conner stopped her before she poured it into a glass "Straight from the bottle is fine"

She took hers fro chair across from him They drank beer and took each other in for a second

Jenny Folger looked like she&039;d once been a sunny, stunning blonde Hourglass shape, long hair pulled tight into a butter-silk topknot Athletically thick, broad back, built for action She was just into e Bouncy, sun-kissed youth had left her behind but reluctantly, and she was just divorced Jenny sent out a vibe of broken-winged desperation that stirred the predator inthe room between them, thick like perfume that was a little too sweet He could see it in her eyes as she searched his face

"I told you I was looking for the boat," Conner said

"Yes Teddy&039;s little plaything"

"Do you have any idea where he ht have stashed it?"

"Not the faintest," she said "Believe me, if I did, I&039;d have , fat settlement I haven&039;t seen a dime or I wouldn&039;t be here" She waved her bottle at the aparted "It&039;s not so bad"

"It&039;s not so good either"

"Can I ask what happened?"

"The divorce?"

"Yeah"

She frowned, took a hit off the beer "The saer Teddy found somebody he liked better"

Oh, yeah Conner had heard this one before

"I suppose I&039;m some kind of idiot," Jenny said "When he left his wife for ht I was hot stuff It never occurred toand sprout crow&039;s-feet"

"You look okay"

"Gee, you&039;re sweeping me off my feet Anyway, he found this woman in Pensacola, tends bar at one of the beach places Half Teddy&039;s age It&039;s ridiculous"

"How old is Teddy?"

She nibbled the inside of her lip "Let&039;s see Next month he&039;ll be fifty-six He&039;s aaccount, and took off He hadn&039;t e payet the most hideous job as a receptionist don"

"You didn&039;t get anything?"

"There was nothing left to get" She finished the beer and lit a thin cigarette, exhaled gray sot a lawyer, of course, tried to grab back what I could, but it was no good"

Conner opened the file on Folger "It says here he had some properties You couldn&039;t claim any of that?"

"It was just one property"

He rechecked the file "It says a tanning salon, a comic-book shop, a Bliarette "It was all one property A strip plaza in Pensacola It burned down"

"The whole plaza?"

"The insurance investigators were all over his ass," Jenny said "Nobody could prove anything"

"Did he do it?"

"Of course he did The newhim He didn&039;t confess it to me, but you bet he torched the plaza"