Chapter 59

“It’s my father’s,” Lyle had said when he’d dropped the credit card on the desk in front of the girl at the rental desk. For some reason, he’d been sure she was going to tell him to go fuck himself, that she might even call the credit card to report ‘suspicious activity’ and that the police would soon follow.

But be it something as simple as the clerk being bored as hell, or an I-couldn’t-care-less-about-you-or-this-card attitude, the girl didn’t question the differences between Lyle’s and Henry’s name at all. She merely scanned his driver’s license, visually checked another piece of I.D., and had him sign the rental contract. Somebody, Lyle told himself, wasn’t cut out for a long-term career in the rental car business, but at the moment he was more than thrilled with her lackadaisical audit practices—enough to want to leap the counter and kiss her, even. He resisted the urge.