Every thing is big in Texas!

   Reed Conners tossed his leather bag in the Corvette and hit the road.  Mirrored aviator sunglasses sat low on the bridge of his nose. It was a sunny 6AM but the sky soon became overcast. Rain tinged with snow began to slide over the windshield as he turned from the gravel road onto the interstate. He had sat at his desk late into the night and studied the files again from the insurance company.  Everything fit together, everything except Lindy's whereabouts. Goddamn, he had to find her!
   The freeway was quiet this early, although with the drizzle and dropping temps a layer of ice would soon cover it. Country music soothed his frayed nerves as he drove lost in his thoughts, intent on his plans. He figured it would take him three days to make the trip, to get to Dallas and to a suburb called Flower Mound.
Lindy had lived there years ago and had a friend, a nurse by the name of Mitzi Grover in the city. She had come along with Lindy one time and spent some time at Birch Lake and he had also done some legal work for her.
   But would Mitzi still be there after these years?  And would she have seen Lindy?
   Now the rain had turned to snow and the landscape began to take on a fairyland look. Traffic picked up as he got closer to Minneapolis, and after a quick stop for breakfast he was again heading south. The sun was out as he drove through Iowa where the farmers were busily harvesting their corn. After a night at a motel and a good sleep, he slipped a CD in the player and settled into some good music, and the miles flew by as he drove the low slung car.  In Kansas he stopped for coffee and here the scenery was dry and bare on the prairies. Another night at a motel  and he soon crossed into Oklahoma where the sky was jet black with a million stars and the temperature was a balmy eighty degress. Oil wells dotted the landscape as far as his eyes could see.  And the next morning he was finally on the last stretch of his journey and by late afternoon he was in Texas where the temp was now in the nineties. Herds of longhorn cattle grazed lazily in the green pastures and a sign ahead said Flower Mound, five miles.
   "I don't know how long, maybe a week," he said as he registered for a room at a place called the Wagon Wheel Inn.  And after unpacking he dialed the one number he had for Mitzi Grover. And just as he feared her number had been disconnected and Dallas had no listing for her.
   "Bernard," he said as he made another call, this time to his buddy, the computer guy. "Plug in that machine of yours, I need you to find someone for me!"
   "Conners, what the hell are you up to? Where are you?"
   "I'm in the south, looking for a woman by the name of Mitzi Grover. She's a nurse and licensed in Texas. 
   "How long ago?"  Bernard asked.
   "Back about fifteen years maybe."
   "Jesus Conners, she could be dead by now. Oh hell, I'll get back to you,  It'll cost you, you know!"
   "Yeah, yeah, I'll call you back at ten."
   Reed left his room and headed across the street to a coffee shop called Shonneys where a whiff of greasy cooking teased his hunger pangs. The place had a cozy feeling and reminded him of home.  And as he came in and settled into a booth a good-looking brunette drawled, "hello handsome, what'll you have?"