walked over to the nearest vehicle, which happened to be a new Escape Hybrid in a color Ford called Space Silver, and stood beside it with his hands in his jacket pockets.
Up close the jacket was even worse. The cuffs were shiny. The elbows had mismatched patches, one tan and one darker, both of them stitched on by hand in big careful stitches like the ones on a baseball. One pocket sagged like it was carrying a brick.
Kade had seen a hundred of him. Not this man, but men like him: retired, alone, killing a Saturday, who came in to get warm and look at the new models and tell you about the Fairlane they had in 1968 and then get back in their trucks and leave. They were nice. Some of them were very nice. They would take forty minutes of your time and you would never see them again, and on the last day of the month forty minutes was a car.
Still. The man from Nashville. Kade put on his smile and walked over.
"Morning, chief," he said. "Cold one out there."
"It is." The old man turned his head toward Kade's voice. He had a long, lined face and eyes so pale they were almost colorless, and there was something odd about the way he looked at Kade, as if he were looking at a point just past Kade's left ear. "Good morning."
"What can I do for you today?"
"I'm looking for a car for my wife."
"Love it. What's she driving now?"
"Nothing," the old man said. "She's never had one."
Kade waited for the rest of it. There was no rest of it. The old man just stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking past Kade's ear.
"Okay," Kade said. "So what kind of budget are we talking?"
"I'd like to know about this one first."
"This one." Kade glanced at the Escape. It was a top-trim hybrid, loaded, with the technology package and the panoramic roof. He knew the sticker without looking: forty-one thousand and change. "This is our Escape Hybrid. Platinum trim. Real nice vehicle. It's going to be in the low forties, though, out the door, before we even talk about tax and title." He let that sit for a second and then said, as gently as he could, "If you're looking for something for her to get around in, honestly, sir, we've got a whole pre-owned value lot around back past the service drive. Lot of good stuff under ten. Under eight, even. Little Focuses, a couple Fusions. Somebody's going to get a real deal on a Fusion today."