‘More like rented it out,’ Megan said. Bess kicked her sister, who said, ‘Ouch!’
‘That’s not how it was!’ Mrs Benton said, turning red in the face; Bess thought that might be more from embarrassment at being caught than anger.
‘What the hell you need the money for?’ Tucker demanded. ‘I’ve been sending you half my pay every week since I joined the army!’
Mrs Benton took hold of her son’s hand. ‘And I thank you for that, honey,’ she said. ‘But that and my small salary and dwindling tips, even with Harper working part-time at the clothing store, just hasn’t been enough. They were going to repo the trailer. I needed a big chunk of money, and Les and Cathy offered me enough to pay the trailer off. Now all I have to worry about is the land it’s sitting on. But with Les’s help, I renegotiated the loan and got a lower payment, so it’s all much better now.’
Tucker pulled his hand away from his mother’s grip. ‘So why didn’t you tell me any of this? I’m gone two years and this happens and you don’t even mention it?’
‘What were you going to do? Go AWOL or rob a bank or something? This seemed like the only alternative,’ she said.
‘And Harper? What about her?’ Tucker demanded. ‘She’s seventeen, for God’s sake! And she’s gonna have a kid that isn’t even hers? And she,’ he said, pointing at Bess, ‘says it’s illegal! Is it? Did you make my sister break the law?’
Mrs Benton squared her shoulders and said defensively, ‘Like Coach said, she’ll be eighteen before the baby’s born. And she wanted to do it, truly, Tucker. After everything Coach has done for us …’
‘What has that got to do with anything?’ Tucker demanded, standing up. ‘Jeez, you people! Did she really want to do this? Or did you guilt her into it?’
His mother stood up too. ‘Coach got her a scholarship to UT, Tucker. A scholarship she couldn’t have gotten on her own. And she’ll study! Unlike some people!’
‘Here we go again,’ Megan said under her breath.
‘Shhhh!’ Bess said.
‘This is disgusting!’ Tucker said, making a beeline for the outer door of the ER. But once there he turned and looked at Logan. ‘Sorry for the beat-down, man,’ he said, and walked out.
I called the chief. ‘Anyway we can get a rush on DNA?’ I asked him. ‘Like, by tomorrow?’
‘Hell no,’ he said. ‘If I knew somebody in Austin at the lab, maybe, but I don’t. And why are you in an all-fired rush for the DNA? I thought we were gonna go with the fingerprints?’
‘Fingerprints won’t tell us if there’s a familial match,’ I said.
‘Ya lost me.’
‘What if Edgar Hutchins didn’t die in the Pacific?’ I asked.
‘Who?’
‘The youngest brother! We don’t have a death notification on him – just a missing-in-action notification. So what if he made it back to the States? What if he’s the one who killed Helen Hutchins?’
‘OK, so what if? What’s that got to do with who’s hanging around now?’
‘OK, it probably isn’t Edgar who killed Humphrey and Diamond, but what about his kin? Like a son or a grandson? DNA could tell us if it is!’
‘But we ain’t got any DNA on Edgar, do we?’
‘No,’ I had to admit. ‘But we do have DNA on Norris. And there would be some connection, wouldn’t there?’
‘Hell if I know,’ the chief said. ‘But still and all, no way I can get a rush on it.’
‘Let me call Luna,’ I said. ‘She’s got a buddy in the APD. Maybe we can go that route.’
‘Give it a try.’
‘Any word on the fingerprints?’ I asked.
‘Gave the razor to Mary and she’s down in the lab with it now,’ he said.
‘OK. I’ll call Luna and call you back.’
I hung up and dialed Elena Luna’s office at the Codderville police department. She answered on the second ring. ‘Lieutenant Luna,’ she said.
‘Hey, it’s me,’ I said.
‘You still in Pleasantville?’ she asked.
‘Peaceful,’ I corrected, ‘and yeah, I am. You have a friend at APD, right?’
There was a moment of silence, then she said, ‘Maybe.’
‘Yes, you do! Anyway, can you call her and see if she can get some DNA expedited?’
Luna laughed. ‘Are you out of your mind? The backlog on DNA is like close to a year. And these are for open cases in Austin. And you think they’re gonna drop everything to rush a job for some hick town nobody’s ever heard of? I ask her that, she won’t be a friend for long!’
‘Yeah, well maybe I won’t be a friend for long if you don’t!’ I threatened.
Again, she laughed. The nerve! ‘From your lips to God’s ear,’ she said and hung up on me.
I seriously was never going to speak to her again.
BACK HOME
Mrs Benton and the coach turned and looked at the four kids left – Bess, Megan, Alicia and Logan. ‘I’d be very grateful if you didn’t mention any of this,’ Harper’s mom said.
‘And so would my wife and I,’ the coach said. ‘Logan, you interested in a scholarship?’
It was time for Logan to square his shoulders. ‘Are you trying to bribe me, Coach?’ he said, a frown on his face.
‘No, of course not—’ Then the coach stopped short. ‘Yes,’ he said. He heaved a great sigh. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘I don’t need a scholarship. But Alicia could probably use one,’ Logan said.
‘Oh, no!’ Alicia said, shaking her head vehemently. ‘I’m not taking a bribe either!’
‘Look, after what Harper’s done for us, it’s the least I can do,’ the coach said and smiled at her. ‘I’d rather y’all didn’t tell anyone about our arrangement, as much for Harper’s sake as ours. But that’s up to y’all. The scholarship is yours even if you print the whole story on the front page of the BCR Times. You’re a foster kid, right, Alicia?’
She nodded her head.
‘Might not be UT,’ he said. ‘But I’ve got connections all over the place. I’ll see what I can do.’
Alicia looked at her sisters, both of whom took a hand each. ‘Do it!’ Megan said.
‘It’s a great opportunity,’ Bess said.
‘I wouldn’t tell anyone anyway,’ Alicia said to the coach and Mrs Benton. ‘As long as that’s what Harper wants. I think we should talk to her. If she’s as OK with this arrangement as y’all think she is, then, yes, a scholarship would be very nice.’
The coach sighed. ‘Even if you find out she’s not, the scholarship is still yours,’ he said.
Alicia nodded her head, then looked at Mrs Benton. ‘May we go in and see Harper?’ she asked.
She nodded, said, ‘She’s in room four,’ and walked up to the nurse’s station.
As the girls were buzzed in, Alicia, heading for the door, stopped herself. ‘Oh!’ She turned to Mrs Benton and pulled the woman’s car keys out of her pocket. ‘I parked your car for you. It’s in the lot toward the back.’
Mrs Benton smiled. ‘I did sort of abandon it, didn’t I?’ She took the keys. ‘Thanks,’ she said.
Logan stayed behind as the girls went in to see Harper. They passed Cathy Robbins on her way to the waiting room.
Harper was lying on a high bed in room four, a light blanket over her legs, a hospital gown over her torso, her hands massaging her belly.
‘What the hell do y’all want?’ she demanded on seeing them.
‘Don’t get upset,’ Bess said, touching Harper’s arm. ‘We’re not here to hurt you in any way.’
‘Like you could!’ Harper said.
‘Your mom and the coach told us everything,’ Alicia said.
Harper looked from one to the other. Finally, she said, ‘OK, so?’
‘So we just want to make sure all this is really OK with you,’ Bess said.
‘Yeah, I’m fine with it,’ Harper said, a frown on her face.
‘But you got pregnant with somebody else’s baby!’ Megan said. ‘
That’s like, you know, creepy!’
Harper shrugged her shoulders. ‘Not really. It was just like going to the dentist, but at the other end,’ she said. ‘No big deal.’ Then she smiled. ‘And I sorta like the feeling when the baby moves around!’ Then her eyes got big and she grabbed Megan’s hand. ‘Feel this!’
Megan let her hand be led to Harper’s belly. Then she grinned from ear to ear. ‘Y’all gotta feel this!’ she said to her sisters, and all three girls had their hands on Harper’s belly.
‘Oh my God!’ Bess said, a smile playing across her face. ‘This is incredible!’
Alicia grinned. ‘Not my first kicking fetus,’ she said, ‘and I hope it won’t be my last! It’s so cool!’
Megan removed her hand, frowned at Harper and said, ‘But are you still a virgin?’
Bess quickly removed her hand, too. ‘God, Megan! What a question!’
‘No,’ Harper said, shaking her head. ‘It’s an OK question. I wondered about it, too. But technically I still am. I mean, they had to break my hymen but other than that, I mean, yeah, I guess.’
‘Wow,’ Alicia said. ‘Another virgin birth! Maybe you’ll become a saint!’
Harper laughed. ‘I doubt it.’
It was getting late in the afternoon and I was afraid we weren’t going to hear back from the chief in regards to the fingerprint results. So I said to Willis, ‘Let’s go to the station.’
‘Why?’ he asked.
‘Because I want to!’ I said.
‘Why do you want to?’ he asked.
‘OK, fine, I’ll go by myself!’
He sighed and stood up. ‘I’ll go with you because obviously you’re up to no good, or you’d tell me! I need to be there as a buffer.’
‘Some buffer,’ I grumbled and headed to the door. Once in the car, I said, ‘It’s no big deal. I just want to make sure we get those fingerprint results. That the chief isn’t clue-blocking me.’
Willis laughed. ‘Good use of the word blocking,’ he said.
‘Thank you,’ I said.
It took us five minutes in my Audi to get to the station. It was after five, but the front door to the station was unlocked, even though the gray-haired lady was no longer behind the counter. I went up to the counter and leaned down to the small opening. ‘Hello?’ I called out.
Willis went to the locked door and knocked. After about a minute, I saw the chief come out of his office. Seeing me with my nose pressed against the glass of the reception window, he got a slightly unpleasant look on his face. Then he sighed and walked to the reception desk and buzzed us in.
‘You get anywhere with your friend Luna?’ he asked me.
‘No,’ I admitted. ‘What about the fingerprints?’ I asked.
He shrugged. ‘Far as I know Mary’s still workin’ on ’em,’ he said.
I looked at my watch. ‘For three hours?’ I asked.
He frowned. ‘Doesn’t usually take that long,’ he admitted. ‘Come on, let’s go see.’
So we followed him to the back of the station, through a door marked ‘employees only,’ that led to a staircase going down. We followed him down the stairs to a warren of offices and labs. ‘We only got the one in use anymore,’ he said, pointing at all the doors. ‘Cut-backs, ya know.’
We agreed that we did. He opened the door marked ‘Lab’ and we followed him inside. There was no one there. ‘Mary?’ he called out, but received no response.
He walked up to the desk and looked at the top of it, moving papers here and there. ‘Hum,’ he said. ‘Don’t see anything.’
He turned and headed out of the lab and back up the stairs. The gray-haired lady was coming out of the bathroom. ‘Where’s Mary?’ the chief asked her.
She shrugged. ‘I dunno. Saw her go out the back about an hour ago,’ she said.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ the chief demanded.
‘Why would I?’ she asked.
Well, she had him there, obviously, because he gave no response. We followed the chief back into his office.
I took the one visitor’s chair while my husband leaned against the wall. ‘Where do you think she is?’ I asked the chief.
‘She probably went home a little early, that’s all,’ he said.
‘Without telling you?’ I asked.
He shrugged. ‘Usually would, yeah,’ he said, frowning.
‘Is that straight-razor down in the lab?’ I asked.
‘Didn’t see it,’ he admitted.
‘Would she store it somewhere?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, in the evidence locker,’ he said and stood up. We followed him back downstairs.
The evidence locker was small and with good reason. There was hardly anything in there. A few handguns labeled and tagged, a baggie of weed, and some white powder that could have been anything from cocaine to speed. In small-town Texas I was pretty sure it was the latter. But no sheathed straight-razor.
‘Why would she take it with her?’ I demanded.
Again the chief shrugged.
‘That’s not normal procedure, right?’ I asked.
‘No,’ he said.
‘So what do you know about Mary Mays?’ I asked him.
He whirled on me. ‘That she’s a fine officer! That’s what I know!’ he said. ‘I’ve been knowing that girl since she was a child! Her parents and me and the Mrs go to the same church! I know her history! Hells bells, I know her!’
‘Then why did she take the evidence?’ I asked, my voice soft.
He shook his head. ‘Hell if I know,’ he finally said.
‘Maybe we should just call her,’ Willis suggested.
The chief looked at me and I looked back at him. ‘Maybe we should drive over there,’ he said.
‘That might be best,’ I agreed.
So we got in the chief’s squad car and headed out of town to a white-frame farmhouse with acres of plowed fields around it. A man was on a tractor doing something farm-like when we pulled up. The man was close enough to the driveway to cut off the tractor’s engine and call to us.
‘Hey, Rigsby!’ he said. ‘What can I do you for?’
‘Hey, Clifford. Looking for Mary!’ the chief called out from the open window of the car.
‘Why you looking here?’ Clifford Mays asked. ‘Mary don’t live here anymore! Didn’t she give you her change of address? Like maybe six months ago?’
‘Hum,’ the chief said. ‘I just figured she still lived with y’all. Didn’t think to check with Mildred.’ He turned and looked at me. ‘My clerk,’ he said in an aside.
‘I don’t rightly know her new address,’ Mary’s father said. ‘But she lives in that new apartment complex over by the high school.’ He leaned forward and laid on the horn of his tractor. A woman came to the porch of the white-framed farm house, drying her hands on a dishtowel, an old-fashioned apron covering her from neck to groin.
‘What in the hell—’ she started then spied the chief’s car. ‘Well, hey there, Rigsby! To what do we owe the pleasure?’ she said, smiling wide. She was a pretty woman, and it was obvious who Mary Mays favored.
‘He needs Mary,’ Clifford said. ‘What’s her apartment number?’
‘If you ever went over there to see her, you might know!’ his wife chided him. Looking at the chief, she said, ‘It’s that apartment complex near the high school. Apartment 2304. Second floor, near the rear.’
‘Thanks, y’all,’ the chief said, smiled, honked his horn briefly, and headed out of the driveway.
He didn’t speak again until we were parked in the back parking lot of the aforementioned apartment complex. ‘So now what?’ he asked, not looking at either Willis or myself.
‘I guess we go knock on the door,’ my husband said. I was glad he said it and I didn’t have to, because the look the chief gave him wasn’t friendly.
‘Y’all stay in the car,’ he said, opening his door.
‘You know that’s not going to happen,’ I said, opening the shotgun side and letting Willis out of the back
.
Chief Cotton sighed. ‘I’m beginning not to like you, ma’am,’ he said.
I grinned. ‘That must mean at some point you did!’
‘Shut up,’ he said, and led the way up the stairs.
Apartment 2304 was the second in from the stairs. The chief knocked rapidly on the front door. It took a minute but the front door opened and Mary Mays stood there, out of uniform, wearing cut-offs and a tank top, her hair down and flowing. She was much prettier and much thinner than the uniform would have you believe.
‘Chief!’ she said, and the look on her face was one of fear. She tried slamming the door, but Chief Cotton’s foot kept that from happening.
‘You wanna tell me what’s goin’ on, Mary?’ he said, his words clipped.
‘Nothing!’ She looked back over her shoulder and tried again to shut the door. That’s when a bullet whizzed through the wooden door of the apartment, hitting the chief.
2004–2014
Eddy got caught when he was sixteen stealing a car. He ended up in juvie until his eighteenth birthday. Upon release, his sister Darlene picked him up and took him back to her apartment in Biloxi. His parents had gotten a divorce while he was inside and Mom was shacked up with a guy only slightly older than Eddy, and dear old Dad had turned into a serious drunk, living in and out of halfway houses. So it was Darlene who gave him solace, who nurtured him and took care of him, feeding him and housing him while he sat around and did nothing but play video games, the more violent the better.
No one but Darlene knows if she ever really reacted to her little brother’s penchant for violence. Maybe because he never used it against her, she really didn’t care. Who knew?
In 2008, Darlene, with Eddy in tow, moved to Houston, Texas, following on the heels of the only man who’d ever paid much attention to her. Eddy knew this guy had no romantic interest in his sister, not even a purely sexual interest, but he didn’t let it bother him. In fact, nothing that didn’t affect Eddy directly ever bothered him. He was like his grandfather in that respect. And, as it turned out, in other respects as well.
Being in the state of Texas brought to Eddy’s mind his father’s story of the town of Peaceful and the old Victorian on Post Oak Street. He wondered sometimes, when trying to fall asleep, what the treasure might be, and if it truly existed. But Dad had said his father was adamant, that he knew for a fact there was a treasure in the old house, and that’s why Grandpa’s older brother had married that Bishop girl in the first place, to get his hands on the treasure and keep Grandpa Edgar from it.
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