A Roux of Revenge by Connie Archer Page B

because he was never attacked. Maybe . . . and this is just speculation . . . maybe the young guy realized that the other guard had to be in on it. Maybe he said something, maybe he indicated suspicion, who knows? And the inside guy decided to get rid of him. Why leave a witness alive? So, to answer your question, we never found outwho the man that drove away with the armored truck was, although I had some ideas.”
    “The guard you believed was guilty, did he ever give up the name of his partner?”
    “He never did. Initially, with all the commotion, no one checked the remaining guard thoroughly enough. When they finally got suspicious and started to question him, he took off. Disappeared. They later discovered his identitywas false. The company wasn’t large, and they were a little sloppy with their due diligence, and this guy was slick. The police later matched his photo to a guy who was wanted in another state for armed robbery.”
    “So, if either one of them is found or picked up for some reason, they could still be prosecuted, right?”
    “Not unless that happens within the next month.”
    “What do you mean?”Jack asked.
    “Statute of limitations. There’s a seven-year statute of limitations for robbery in our state. And in another month, it’ll be seven years.”
    “But surely not for murder?” Lucky asked.
    “That’s right. Not for murder.” Joe nodded.
    “Quite a story,” Jack said.
    “My company had to pay off on the loss. I know it’s not my job anymore, but I sure would love to see those guysapprehended. You see . . . the young guard who died . . . he was the son of one of my neighbors. So I guess you could say I have a personal interest.”
    “That’s why Joe stopped in to see me,” Nate said. “He suspects the man we found on the road might be one of the two responsible for that armored truck heist.”
    Jack whistled. “What makes you think that?”
    “Long story, but as I mentioned,the guard who disappeared had a record. Getting that job under a false identity was a lot easier to do even just a few years back. So the police started looking at his known associates, looking hard, but nothing led back to any of his partners in crime. They picked up the people who had been involved with him in the past and grilled them, but they never got a thing. It led the police to think thatnone of them knew anything about this robbery. They never even got a clue where to start looking. Nothing.
    “However,” Joe smiled, remembering his glory days, “there was a carnival in town at the time, and I have always suspected we might have found our guy there. Oh, I almost forgot. The armored truck was eventually found in the woods a few months later, and the lab found sawdust and animalhairs. That just confirmed my suspicion. These people move around a lot—travelers I guess you’d call them. Impossible to trace. By the time the police were ready to start questioning some of those men, they had moved on.” Joe shrugged. “I have a lot of time on my hands these days, and I like to drive around. So I always try to stop at some of these festivals and carnivals around the state in thesummer months. I heard about this festival, that’s what brought me to Snowflake. I thought maybe there’d be a chance some of the same people might be working out there at the kiddie rides or the farmers’ market. I’ve always suspected our guy was someone who just wasn’t on the radar in any real way.”
    Nate listened silently as Joe talked.
    “Nate can’t get a bead on who that guy was they discoveredon the road, and Nate thinks . . .” Joe hesitated, looking to Nate for permission to speak further.
    “Go right ahead. We’re among friends here,” Nate replied.
    “Nate thinks there’s something hinky about that driver’s license. This guy could very well be a traveler—a gypsy.”
    “Even if he is, why would you think he was the same man involved in that robbery years ago?” Lucky