“Who are these folks?” the officer asked, indicating Ashbury and his daughter with a jerk of his head.

“They picked me up down the road a piece and asked me if I wanted a ride.”

One of the officers wore the uniform of the state highway patrol, and the other, I gathered, was a local officer.

“What do you want?”

“Didn’t you leave rather suddenly?”

“I’m working.”

“On what?”

“I’d prefer not to make any statements.”

“Did you know a man named Ringold?”

“I read in the paper about his murder.”