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t was Amber

“Up for a tour of the processing plant tonight?” she asked

“Absolutely”

We arranged to meet at a mutually convenient spot on Route 50, where Amber would provide a ride to the plant “My advice,” she said, “don’t eat beforehand”

I had a few hours to kill, so I decided to confront the two men who’d been with Billy Ray on the day of our auspiciousFor Jamila to be set up, one of the people who’d been there that day had to be involved Even if they only slammed the door in my face, I had to at least try to question them

I took the laptop to the closest place with Wi-Fi to do a bit of Internet research on thewith The names of the players were Curtis Little and Dwayne Sutterman For kicks, I checked the Maryland Judiciary Case Search, which had docket inforhout the state

Dwayne Sutterman’s record wasn’t spotless I checked the entries Nabbed a couple of tiet off with probation before judgment—a slap on the wrist Luck? Orin the official docket Which didn’t ht

I finished s, and headed out to Curtis Little’s place The address I found for him was in a trailer park outside Berlin—a forlorn cluster of e dirt lot behind a line of trees The frontage was a carpet of weeds with a long, straight gravel driveway striped across it

As my car crunched up the driveway,s I suspected the trailer park ell populated with people who didn’t care for lawyers No doubt, Curtis Little would have little incentive to answer my questions

I located the trailer—a double-ith a suely recalled that Danni hadthat Little was probably Billy Ray’s best friend

The door was pulled open by a chubby dark-co woman who looked up at me with liquid brown eyes The top of her head barely reached my shoulders

“Is Curtis Little here?”

She stared at an to prattle in Spanish

My Spanish was more than a bit rusty, but I tried it out “Por favor Curtis Little aqui?”

She shook her head “No,” she answered in perfect Spanish, followed by an overwhel flood of more of the same I waved my hands to silence her