Excerpt from WENT FOR A RIDE:

​

  Lindahl waited till Danzig was halfway across the hanger before resuming the conversation.

  “I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch,” he said.

Phillips brought her eyes to his in anticipation of his usual, “I’ve been busy” excuse. She interrupted before he got there and said, “Yeah, well, it’s a quarter moon in a ten-cent town.”

  Lindahl looked puzzled.

  “Look it up. All the words fit but one, Jack. You are a good man.” She turned to walk away, stopped, looked over her shoulder and said, “The songwriter’s version.”

  In south Springfield, Jack Lindahl sat down at his computer and typed, “quarter moon in a ten-cent town”. The first item that popped up was the title of an Emmylou Harris album. The line was from a song Harris had recorded in 1978.

  The songwriter’s version.

He did a search for the lyrics and composer. Carlene Carter and Susanna Clark. With the lyrics on the screen, he listened as Carter sang, “Easy from Now on”. It was in the chorus he found the line Shawn said didn’t fit:

​

           It's gonna be easy to fill

           The heart of a thirsty woman

           Harder to kill the ghost of a no-good man

​

  You are a good man, Jack.

  Right now, he wasn’t so sure she was right.