Tequila Mockingbird (Book 7)

by Liliana Hart

  “Would you mind looking up the information on Robin Byrd?” Hank asked. “This marriage document shows her maiden name as Byrd when she married Jim Brown, but I’m curious as to whether she has any other marriages on record.”

  The woman blinked back disdain for him as she peered over the tortoise shell, bi-focal frames that rested on the tip of a very narrow nose. She walked away, and into a large room filled with file cabinets.

  She returned and slapped the thin folder onto the counter between them.

  “Anything else?” she asked.

  “I don’t know yet,” he said, skimming over the papers.

  “I’ll be over here if you do,” she said and walked off.

  Hank waited until she had sat and settled in her desk chair.

  “Oh, ma’am,” he called out. “I do need another record.” He knew it was petty, but he’d done nothing to deserve her vitriol. “It looks like Robin Byrd Brown was divorced once before. I’m going to need that divorce record too. Or we can just stop playing games and you can bring me the entire file on Robin like I asked in the first place. And then we can be out of your hair.”

  He felt Agatha’s grip on his arm loosen. She was fuming over the disrespect, but Hank knew she wouldn’t intervene in his effort to get what they’d come for.

  The woman’s look was murderous, but she went to the file room and came back with another folder.

  “This is everything we have on Robin Byrd. “I’m sure Sheriff Coil is planning to harass this poor woman, and you’d better believe that I’m going to report it.”

  “Ma’am, let’s not get too big for our britches. This is the clerk of courts office, not the CIA. All the records here are for public consumption. And you’re the one who can be reprimanded for not providing public records to the public.”

  She scowled and said, “You’ve got what you came for. You can look at it somewhere else.”

  “Not quite,” Hank said, his smile pleasant. “You failed to provide me with the homeowner’s record for Jim Brown. Is there a reason you’re trying to conceal that data, or did you just forget how to do your job?”

  Hank emphasized the words your job. He had work to do, and playing games with a clerk wasn’t part of it. He was a patient man, until he wasn’t.

  The woman who’d been eavesdropping earlier hurried from around the corner with a packet in her hand. She handed it to Hank without making eye contact and then scurried back to her desk.

  “It’s been a pleasure,” Hank said. “I’m going to trust that everything I requested is in these papers, and if anything is missing, I’m coming back with a subpoena for the records and an arrest warrant for you.”

  “You don’t scare me,” the woman said. “Your days are limited. Just like Sheriff Coil’s.”

  “You’re counting on Oddie McElroy?” Agatha asked.

  The woman spared a glance toward Agatha at the name of the man who planned to run against Coil for sheriff.

  “The election is a long time from now,” Agatha said. “And your life can be made miserable while you’re waiting for your knight in shining armor. Maybe just focus on doing your job. You look like you’re too old to start a new career.”

  The woman gasped, and Hank grabbed Agatha’s arm and pulled her toward the door before fists started flying. Agatha was a sight to behold when her temper got riled.

  Chapter Seven

  Agatha devoured the files on the way back to Rusty Gun. She’d always been able to work in the passenger seat of a car without getting carsick. They would make it back long before Coil would from delivering the letter supposedly written by Carol Brown to the state crime lab. The challenge was going to be securing comparison samples of Jim and Carol’s handwriting. But they’d figure something out.

  “You hungry?” Hank asked.

  “Sure, you know me,” Agatha said.

  “Yeah, I figured as much,” he said, grinning. “You expended a lot of energy not punching that woman in the face back there.”

  “I’m all about self-control,” Agatha said.

  Hank’s lips twitched. “I’ve always appreciated that about you.”

  “Good, you’re buying lunch.”

  Hank parked in one of the crooked spots at the end of Main Street, and they walked over to the café, expecting it to be empty at this time of the day. They were both surprised when they walked in to see Darleen and Edna sitting at one of the tables.

  “Hi, honey,” Edna said, getting out of her seat to give Agatha a hug.

  “Ms. Edna,” Agatha said. “I’m surprised to see you out and about. How’s your arm?”

  “Oh, fine, fine,” she said, waving away the concern. “I convinced Darleen we needed to get out for a little while today. I get so tired of being cooped up in the house.”

  “Hmm,” Agatha said, thinking there was no telling how many times Edna escaped Darleen’s care on a daily basis. “Do you know Hank Davidson? He lives in the house with all the beautiful roses on our street.”

  “Good to see you again, Ms. Edna,” Hank said, taking her hand and kissing it.

  She blushed like a school girl, and Agatha could’ve kissed him. Edna seemed more than alert and her mind a hundred percent in tact today.

  “Young man,” she said with a girlish giggle. “I’ve got that banana bread I promised you.”

  “I love your banana bread,” Hank said. “I’ll come over and pick it up later this evening. How about you sit with us for a spell,” Hank said.

  Edna looked back to Darleen, and Darleen nodded to us, letting us know we were responsible for Edna for the time being, and then she went back to her crossword puzzle.

  They made their way to the empty booth in the back corner under the clock. Agatha liked it because it not only gave them a view of outside and the entire interior, but people liked to look at the clock, so it gave her a great view of who was in the café.

  “How’ve you been, honey?” Edna asked.

  “I’m doing very well,” Agatha said. “I want to thank you again for letting me borrow your papers. They’ve been a big help.”

  “You’re working a case for a new book?” Edna said, looking excited.

  “Yes, ma’am. Do you happen to know anyone named Robin?”

  Agatha felt Hank step on her foot under the table, but she kept smiling at Edna.

  “Sure, honey,” Edna said. “I knew a couple of Robins.”

  “Robin Byrd is the one I’m looking for specifically,” Agatha said. Hank’s foot pressed down a little harder and she jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.

  Edna would only have clarity for so long, and now was the time to ask her questions.

  “Sure, sure,” Edna said. “I knew the Byrd family. All the girls have bird names. Robin, Sparrow, and Wren. Very unusual.”

  “They’re beautiful names,” Agatha said.

  “Their son’s name is Crow,” Edna said, raising her brows. “I don’t know about that one.”

  “You knew Robin?”

  “Not well. If I recall, she was married once or twice, but mostly kept to herself. Always seemed unhappy when I saw her around town. I think she was a lost soul.”

  “How do you figure?” Agatha asked.

  “She just kinda drifted here and there, always looking for something,” Edna mused. “She was the artsy type, you know?”

  “How about her marriages?” Hank asked.

  “Come to think of it, she was married to Jim Brown for a spell.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Remember, I told you he was a killer.”

  “I remember,” Agatha said. “What happened?”

  “Their marriage didn’t last long,” Edna said. “I think she realized what kind of monster Jim really was, so she went back to her husband once she came to her senses.”

  “Is she still married to him?” Hank asked.

  “Not sure. My memory is better about the past things in life.”

  “Do you remember Jim’s first wife?” Agatha asked.

  “I just to
ld you he killed her, didn’t I?” Edna said, clearly disappointed Agatha wasn’t a better listener.

  “Yes, ma’am. I was just wondering if you’d heard of anyone seeing or hearing from Carol since she disappeared.”

  “There were rumors she ran away with some guy named George, but that’s a bunch of hooey.”

  Hank and Agatha locked looks.

  “Did you know the George people were talking about?” Agatha asked.

  “Nope,” she said. “Only George I know is George Otis, but he was an old man when I was a little girl. Been dead probably forty years or so.”

  “Do you recall Deputy Tom Earls?” Agatha asked.

  “Goodness, my throat is dry as dust,” Edna said. “What’s it take to get a drink around here?”

  Hank waved to the waitress and indicated they’d take three iced teas. She hurried over with the drinks, and the glasses were so full tea splashed onto the table when she set them down. Hank grabbed napkins from the dispenser on the table and wiped it up.

  “Earls,” Edna said after taking a long sip. “I remember Deputy Earls. Always talking about his wife.”

  Edna looked off as if she were thinking about something, and when she turned to look back at Hank there was no recognition in her gaze.

  “Hi there,” she said. “What’s your name, handsome?”

  “Hank.”

  “Have you met my daughter, Honey?” Edna asked.

  Agatha’s heart sank. She’d thought Edna had called her honey as a term of endearment, but it was a name. Apparently her daughter’s name. They sat in silence and finished their drinks, and then Darleen came and collected Edna to take her back home. Agatha’s heart was heavy as she watched them go, and she decided maybe she wasn’t hungry after all.

  Coil waited for them outside the sheriff’s office as they left the café and walked down the covered sidewalk to meet him. Agatha clutched the folders tight beneath her arm, and she struggled to clear her thoughts of Edna.

  “Good lunch?” Coil asked.

  “It was a very light lunch,” Hank said.

  “Any luck with the lab?” Agatha asked before they made it to Coil’s office.

  “They’re definitely curious, and things are light at the lab right now, so they’re marking it as a case of interest.

  “So it really is a case?” Agatha asked.

  “What’s with your obsession whether or not it’s an official case?” Hank asked.

  “If it’s book research, then I have to pay you,” she said, smiling. “If it’s a case, then you’re a volunteer for the Bell County Sheriff’s Office. Looks like it’s pro-bono work for you, baby.”

  Coil snickered. “She set you up from the start.”

  “Coil, if I’m on your time, then I need to be on your dime,” Hank said.

  “I agree,” Agatha said.

  Coil rolled his eyes. “You know I can’t afford you.”

  “Then it’s settled,” Agatha announced. “You’re still working for free.”

  “What’d you learn from the clerk of courts office?” Coil asked.

  “Besides the woman behind the counter being a total donkey’s behind,” Agatha said, “we struck gold.”

  “Yes,” Coil said, his smile grim. “I got off the phone not too long ago with the clerk herself wanting to file a complaint against you two for threatening her employee.”

  Agatha’s fists balled up at her sides. “Why, that lying, no good…”

  “Settle down, tiger,” Hank said, grabbing her by the belt and pulling her back down into her chair. “You know it’s an old political game. Let’s focus on what you have.”

  “Fine, but that woman had better hope I never see her again.” Agatha passed over the files to Coil. “In a nutshell, Robin Byrd did indeed marry Jim Brown a little over a year and a half after Carol went missing,” Agatha said. “But they didn’t last long. We already knew all that. What we didn’t know was that Robin went back to her first husband. Deputy Tom Earls.”

  “Ahh,” Coil said, understanding lighting in his eyes.

  “They were married until his death, and she still lives in their home out on Bull Run Road.”

  “So that’s why Earls reopened the case,” Coil said. “Robin Byrd was once Robin Earls. But she had an affair with Jim Brown and eventually left Earls to marry Jim Brown. But for whatever reason, being married to Jim wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, and she went back to Earls.”

  “Robin has to know something about Carol,” Hank said. “Why else would Earls have tried getting back at Jim through an interview?”

  “I think he was trying to right a wrong before he passed away,” Agatha said. “He wasn’t going behind your back, Coil. He was trying to save your reputation for having closed the investigation.”

  Coil nodded. “Loyal to the end.”

  Chapter Eight

  Friday

  Robin’s Bull Run Road home was a simple, single-story, ranch-style dwelling. It was typical of the homes built in the seventies—with a wraparound porch and a portico big enough for two cars that had been built sometime after the house. There was only one car parked there, and the other side was cluttered with crafts, cardboard boxes, and a ridiculous amount of dog food.

  Hank had felt it was better to cold call Robin instead of calling ahead. There was a chance she wouldn’t be home or that she would refuse to speak with them, but when people weren’t given the chance to think through things, they usually gave the most honest answers.

  They knocked on the screen door and waited. Robin Earls wasn’t a striking woman, but she did have a sturdy constitution about her. Hank expected as much from the wife of a cop. Police work was a tough business, but being and staying married to them usually took just as much, if not more, effort and sacrifice.

  “Robin?” Hank asked when she opened the patio door.

  “Yes.”

  “Hi, I’m…”

  “I know who y’all are,” Robin said. “It’s a small town, and I ain’t stupid. Word’s been spreading like wildfire that old Edna Merth has been stirring the pot again about Carol’s death.”

  She stepped aside to let the dog out, and to Hank’s surprise, she invited them in. Hank stepped aside as an older, medium-sized German Shepherd trotted past them. He never gave either Hank or Agatha a second glance as he motored toward his water bowl.

  “Good looking dog,” Hank said.

  “Thanks,” she said. “Got him from a litter of pups from Jim’s bitch. That dog has had more puppies than any other dog in Rusty Gun.” Robin lit a cigarette and stared at them resentfully as she blew out smoke. “My friend down at the clerk’s office called to say y’all were snooping around asking about me. I know how it works. I was married to a cop.”

  “You’re right,” Hank said. “You were a cop’s wife. So I won’t beat around the bush. Did Tom reopen the case to intimidate Jim after y’all got back together?”

  “No,” she said. “Tom was very confident in himself, even after I left him for Jim. He never needed to use his badge to bully others. Tom always did the right thing, even when I wasn’t willing to. He was a good man.”

  “I’ve heard wonderful things about him,” Hank said. “I’ve enjoyed reading his old police reports. Makes me feel like I knew him.”

  Robin’s smile was sad, but the hard edge of suspicion seemed to ebb with Hank’s sincerity.

  “Tom knew his time was short after he got diagnosed with cancer,” Robin said. “It spread real quick, and he didn’t go to the doctor when the signs first started. Stupid man.” She shook her head and shut her eyes, pressing her fingers to her eyelids. “I didn’t think twice about coming back home. We had a lot of history between us, and I wasn’t going to leave him to die alone.

  “It’s not like my marriage to Jim wasn’t worth leaving,” she said, lighting another cigarette. “I had started to think something was off even before Jim and I got married, but I went through with it anyway. I confided everything I knew and suspected to Tom, but h
e knew he couldn’t go to Coil with the fact that I was his source of information. He tried instead to independently verify what I told him. His leads ran cold, and then he passed.” She shrugged. “There’s no point in rehashing all this now.”

  “I understand how you feel,” Hank said. “But we believe there’s new information that could help us. Could you tell us what you told Tom?”

  Robin pressed the smoldering tip of one cigarette against the unlit end of another. She then sucked in a huge breath, making the tip of the cigarette burn red, and she eased back into an over-stuffed lounge chair.

  “I met Jim in March the year before everything went down,” she said. “They’d hired me part-time at the hardware store. Jim and I were just friends at first, but eventually became involved. It’s just one of those things that happens.” She shrugged. “Jim seemed exciting and…different. Tom worked long hours, and I was sick of not having anyone pay attention to me. It’s not right, but it’s how I felt. And Jim paid attention to me.

  “I knew Jim was married, but he’d told me Carol had been messing around on him for years, and he deserved some happiness for once in his life. Jim told me he’d filed for divorce and that he was no longer living with Carol, and stupidly, I believed him and left my husband. Jim told me Carol had made plans to leave town with her boyfriend, and she’d told him the guy was rich so he could keep the house and the hardware store.”

  Robin took a break to mash out her cigarette, but not before keeping the chain going with another restart. The pile of butts in an ornate ashtray overflowed and teetered along the edges above a burned and singed shag carpet. Hank tried to take short breaths but the stale smoke and ash covered everything in the house. His eyes burned, and he’d been trying to take shallow breaths for the last fifteen minutes, but he wasn’t having much success, and his asthma was flaring up.

  “You okay?” Robin asked, eying him suspiciously.

  “Allergies,” Hank said just as she exhaled another cloud of smoke.