Page 97 of Nash Falls

Nash put the SUV in park, got out, and walked around to that side. He felt his gut tighten when he saw the large dent and jagged strip where the paint had been ripped away.

“Did you hit something?” asked Ramos in a tone that Nash did not like at all.

“No, I certainly would have noticed.”

Ramos bent down and examined the smears of paint. “Your Rover is burgundy, but there’s some blue in here.”

“Blue?”

“From whatever you hit. Maybe another car?” Ramos looked at where Adams’s car had gone off the road. “The deceased drove a blue Ford.”

“What?” snapped Nash.

Ramos stood. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to impound your car, Mr. Nash. I’ll call in a squad car to take you back home.”

“Impound my car? Why?”

“To see what you hit, sir. I’m sure you can understand the possible significance.”

“I… Look, I didn’t hit anything. I would have known. It would have been evident.”

“Yes sir, I’m sure you would have.” He gave another significant look at the torn-up earth where Adams’s car had flipped and then slammed into an oak.

“Wait, you’re not implying… I didn’t hit Billy’s car. I didn’t cause… this.” He waved his hand at all the destruction.

“Then you won’t mind us checking your car. Paint doesn’t match, you are good to go.”

“Look, if it does match, someone obviously took my car and did this.”

Ramos said incredulously, “Took your car? From your garage? And you wouldn’t know about it?”

“If Billy was killed shortly after he got off work, I was dead asleep at the time. But they could have taken it, done this, and then driven it back to my garage. My security strip would have gotten them back in the gate if the guard wasn’t there. And the garage remote is on the visor.”

“And you didn’t notice the damage?”

“Obviously not. It’s on thepassengerside.”

“And no one else noticed it, while you were out driving?”

“Apparently not.”

“Nevertheless, the car is staying here. Your keys, please.” Ramos held out his hand.

Nash stared at the man’s open palm. “Don’t you need a search warrant or something?”

“There is more than enough probable cause for me to impound this vehicle. But if you want to engage a lawyer, feel free to do so. However, I am not going to let you take the vehicle, because you could then attempt to remove vital evidence.”

A weary and out-of-his-depth Nash rubbed his eyes and said,“Take it, if it’ll help you find out what happened.” He handed the keys to Ramos.

“Oh, I’m sure it will, sir.”

He looked at the detective and, in addition to everything else he was confronted with, Nash was now certain that he had just become the number one suspect both in his daughter’s disappearanceandin Billy Adams’s death.

CHAPTER

49

BEFORE THE TWO OFFICERS DROVENash home they had conferred with Ramos. And the grim expressions the cops gave him told Nash that Ramos had conveyed his suspicions about Nash to the pair.