The Nobody Girls (Kendra Dillon Cold Case Thriller Book 3), Rebecca Rane [best book club books of all time txt] 📗

At the third table, she saw a man in khakis and a chambray denim shirt with Vista Foods embroidered on it, making it easy to spot her interview.

“Mrs. Dillon, hello, I’m Kevin.”

“Hi, yeah, call me Kendra.”

Kevin Bunce stood up and offered her a seat opposite him. The seat was cement, like the table. They weren’t the most comfortable accommodations you could find, but she figured zero maintenance was the ticket for these tables and benches.

“I really appreciate you being able to meet me. This story has kind of been forgotten, and it’s tough to find people to interview.”

“Gosh, well, yes, it was a terrible time, terrible thing that happened.”

Kendra put the mic on Bunce. He had to be in his sixties, but he looked younger, fit, and well-groomed.

“So, we just talk. I have a few questions, mainly background stuff, if you can remember.”

“Sure, sure, happy to help, happy to help then too. Just, well, I’m afraid I wasn’t that much of a help.”

“You’ve always worked for Vista Foods?”

Kendra had looked up the company. It was called Vista Snacks and Sweets back then. In recent years, it had been taken over by a larger company. But the core business, providing specialty foods for gas stations, travel plazas, and truck stops, remained intact.

“Yeah, right out of bible school, ha, thought I’d get a job as a minister until I realized this job came with a company car.” He laughed at his own joke. Kendra smiled. “Worked this route back in my early days, then they transferred me out to Phoenix in the ‘80s, and well, happy to be back here again. I’ll probably head back to Phoenix after I do retire though, some of the weather here, you know, you forget how cold it gets! Though not today.”

Kevin Bunce was a talker.

“How did you hear about the murders?”

“Well, I didn’t know there were murders. I just knew about the gal they found out by Easy On. I’d never formally met her, of course, but well, she was one I did recognize when they showed me a picture.”

“Recognized how?”

“Oh, gosh, I hate to speak ill, but well, that one girl, she’d come up to me a couple of times.”

“Come up to you?”

“She was a lady of the evening. I mean, it was day, but, well, I just politely had to let her know that I wasn’t into the at sort of thing.”

“Ah, this happened a couple of times?”

“Oh, it happens now and again, actually, nature of the job. When the authorities checked in with me—they called everyone who supplied Easy On, I believe—anyway, I let them know that she had approached me. I don’t hold it against her, of course. I just hoped something I said was useful, for timing or something?”

“Sure. Anything else you can remember about that time?”

“Well, I can tell you about the best sellers of 1978! People couldn’t get enough of Yummy Gums. It was all I could do to keep them stocked. They were featured in a movie—anyway, I was hopping. And then and now, everyone loves a bag of Caliente Chips when they’re on a road trip. I’ll be stocking those until I retire.” Kevin Bunce continued on about the ins and outs of snack treats like they were Billboard hits.

Kendra listened and tried to find something, anything, that could help her tell the story of Sincere, or Linda, or Susan Hodges. But Bunce added little, if anything new, to the trail. He was nice, and he was there, but that was about it.

“Thanks so much for your time.”

“Oh, sure, for sure. Here, I have a few free samples for you.” He handed her a bag of various snack foods from the classic Caliente Chips to the Yummy Gums to stuff that looked in the neighborhood of healthy.

“You don’t have to do that!”

“Nonsense, I always have extra. Like boxes and boxes. If they expire, I have to pull ‘em. Them’s the rules. Just put it in your car, keep it there, and you have it if ever you’re out on the road and get hungry.”

“Thank you.”

Kendra took the nice gift and turned off her digital recorder. She wasn’t even sure if this interview would make the podcast.

But, on the upside, it had been a pleasant half-hour, outside, in the open air. And Kevin Bunce was a pleasant man, who’d she’d keep on a phone a friend list in case she ever had to answer a trivia question about travel snacks.

She put the box of odd snacks in the back of her Jeep.

Then it was onward to the next interview, with hopes that it would help her better tell the story.

The next interview was half a day’s drive away. Kentucky bordered Ohio to the south. Kendra had driven over five hours and arrived across the state line, marked by the Ohio River. Kendra drove over the bridge, leaving Cincinnati, and continued past Covington, Kentucky.

She continued on, and just outside of Crittenden, her GPS let her know she was in the right place, the home of Chuck Fairly. Fairly had worked at a weigh station for fifteen years before getting his certification as a truck dispatcher.

He’d found a body that was identified as Jane Doe Two in 1981. There was still no positive identification for this victim.

Fairly had agreed to talk. Kendra could have probably done the interview by phone, but they only had two interviews from crime scene witnesses. She needed to see Fairly in person and make her own judgments about what he told her. She’d go wherever she could to try to fill in more details.

Fairly lived in a ranch house on a couple of acres. It was out in the country, but it didn’t look like he farmed the land. It just looked isolated to Kendra.

These days Chuck was a part-time dispatcher for several trucking companies, and he did the work outside of his home. Kendra parked the Jeep, walked