Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t think she ever was divorced,” she said. “There was a divorce action filed somewhere, but she walked out on it. Her husband ran away with his mistress. I guess he was entitled to, from what Amelia told me. She certainly wasn’t overlooking anything. It was a hick town, but it didn’t cramp her style — much.”
“Did she ever say anything about where her husband was located or what he was doing?”
“No. I don’t think she knew, I think her husband went away.”
I said, “Okay. Thanks a lot,” and released my hold on the twenty-dollar bill.
She said, “Listen. This is under your hat. I’ve been married twelve years, and my husband thinks I was just out of kindergarten when he married me.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s okay by me.”
“Thanks,” she said. “Listen, you’re a regular guy, and this just between you and me. If a spotter saw me going south with this twenty, he’d think I was embezzling company funds. Stand up close to the ticket window, will you? Put your arms up on the shelf there.”
I did. My shoulders pretty much blocked the window. She raised up her skirts and put the twenty-dollar bill down her stocking. “Thanks,” she said.
I said, “I know what Ranigan meant now.”
“What?”