“No, ma’am. I’m certainly not saying it does.”
He lowered himself slightly to Ellie’s eye level.
“Hello, Ellie. My name is Deputy Reed.”
She remained close against my side.
“Hi.”
“Did Mr. Lawson tell you to leave the bus?”
“No.”
“Did he ask you to accompany anybody anywhere?”
Ellie shook her head.
“He told me to stay on.”
The deputy acknowledged her answer and straightened up.
Then he faced me.
“When the bus arrived at Briar Street, were you by yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Did you happen to notice any vehicles nearby?”
I looked at him in disbelief.
“There are usually vehicles parked along our street.”
“Can you remember seeing a silver pickup truck?”
A faint memory suddenly surfaced.
A pickup truck.
An engine making considerable noise.
Possibly near the driveway belonging to the vacant house across the intersection.
“I honestly don’t remember.”
Deputy Reed recorded something in his notebook.
