“Loretta, are you sure?” I asked.
“I’m sure,” she said earnestly. “If she was going out last night, it would have been with him. She always went out when I was with Daddy or over at a friend’s house.”
“When did she start seeing Hank?”
“About three months ago. I didn’t find out until about a month ago. I came home early from a friend’s house just as he was leavin’. Hank was all freaked about it. Mama just laughed. She told me later that Hank didn’t want Daddy to know and that we’d better keep it quiet, just till everything got sorted out and they could tell Daddy.”
This was just great. Freddy’s ex and his best friend. If Freddy’d been bitter before, he’d swear off matrimony forever now. What this was gonna do to his friendship with Hank, and their business, was beyond me. I’d be really pissed if I were him.
Then I started thinking. Hank didn’t have an alibi for last night. Hank was the last person to see Eaudelein alive. Could he have killed her?
“Loretta, I gotta go see Hank.” I was headed for the door before she could formulate a response.
“Wait,” she yelled as I pushed open the door. “I’m coming, too.”
“No, Loretta. You stay here by the phone. If your daddy calls, don’t tell him where I am.” Oh good, I thought, now I’m a liar, too.
Hank wasn’t at the bait shop. The door had a sign, hastily scrawled, that read: “Closed due to death.”
I headed on down to the lake where Hank had a double-wide. Hank was thirty-five and had never been married. He lived alone on the lake, where he kept his Ranger bass boat lovingly housed in a covered boat dock. The boathouse and bass boat had cost Hank more than his lake property and the double-wide. Hank lived to fish. He was a tall, quiet man who had always seemed a bit awkward around women. I’d seen him many a time, chatting it up with a male customer about fish or what bait to use. As soon as a woman so much as pulled up to the gas pumps outside, he’d clam up. He was only a little less bashful around me.
He was walking up the hill from the dock when I got out of my car. His head was down, and he carried his tackle box with him. I waited till he got closer, then called out, “What’s the matter, fish not bitin’?” Hank was startled and turned a bright red.
“Aw, I just thought fishing might take my mind off things. You know how that goes, I guess.”
“No, Hank, I don’t. I’ve been forced to stay right here dealin’ with Loretta and gettin’ your buddy Freddy a lawyer.”
Hank’s blush crept down his neck, below his bushy black beard. His ears were burning, too. I was angry, but I didn’t want to blow any chance of getting information from him by losing it.
“Loretta told me you’ve been seein’ Eaudelein. She said you saw her last night.” I just laid it there between us and waited.
“Oh, Patsy. Gawd dawg.” Hank sighed and wiped his hand over his face. “Yeah, it’s true. Gawd, I feel like such a heel. I didn’t mean nobody any pain. Eaudelein, she just kept comin’ around and comin’ around, talkin’ and flirtin’ with me.” He paused and fiddled with the latch on his tackle box.
“She told me she liked me. She wanted us to go out. I told her no at first, but she had such a way about her.” When Eaudelein wanted something, she got it all right. Hank, with his lack of experience with women, would have been no match for Eaudelein. I waited for him to go on.
“I never had a woman do that to me before.” He looked like a stupid schoolboy. He’d fallen in love. “I didn’t know what to do about it. It was killin’ me. I felt like dirt every time I was around Freddy. I wanted to tell him, but I never could find the right time.”
“Were you with her last night?”
Hank looked miserable. “No, er, aw hell, yeah. I was with her. But honest to Gawd, I had her back to her place by one. She didn’t want to stay over ’cause Loretta was comin’ home first thing in the morning. We hung around here, then I took her back to her place.”
“Did you see her go inside?” Hank nodded yes. “Then what happened?”
“Well, I came back here and decided to go fishin’. I’d told Freddy I’d meet him out on the lake by daybreak. I figured I’d just hook up with him earlier. I wasn’t really sleepy, and I did need to get some time in before the tournament.”
“Well, good, then,” I said, relieved. “You and Freddy are each other’s alibis for the time of the murder.”
Hank looked down, scuffing at a patch of grass with his boot. “Patsy, I didn’t find Freddy till around five. He wasn’t in any of our usual places. I looked everywhere. I finally caught up to him at the gas docks. I don’t know where he was.”
This was not good. I left Hank’s feeling more confused than before. Where had Freddy been? Was Hank telling the truth? I was inclined to think so. Freddy was gonna be devastated when he found out Hank had been lying to him for months. How could he ever trust anyone again? We’d never get married at this rate.
It was best not to dwell on that right now. I was gonna have enough trouble springing Freddy from jail. Maybe Loretta had remembered some helpful detail from Eaudelein’s life that could help us figure out just who had done her in. But I wasn’t feeling hopeful when I got back home.
Loretta’s boyfriend Eddie had come over. She’d known better than to let him in, so they were sitting on the porch swing together. Loretta was crying, and Eddie had his arm around her shoulders.
She wiped her eyes and jumped up to greet me as I started up the path. “Well,” she said impatiently, “what did he say? Was he with her?”
“He was with her,” I answered, “but he dropped her back at the house around 1:00 A.M.”
“Bullsh …” Loretta broke off abruptly and clammed up.
“Loretta? Do you know something else? Have you remembered something else?”
“No. You didn’t believe him, did you?”
“I don’t know, Loretta. I was kinda hoping he would tell us something that would let your father off the hook, but if anything, he made it more confusing. He said after he dropped your mama off, he went looking for your daddy out on the lake but didn’t find him till five.”
Loretta was scowling. Eddie must have sensed that another storm was brewing because he said he had to get on home. Loretta let him kiss her on the cheek, then watched him climb into his old clunker and drive off.
I went inside, and Loretta followed me. “I’m gonna go off for a little while,” she said.
“You can’t go off now. It’s getting dark.” I didn’t want her wandering across town alone, after dark.
“I wanta go see Tammara.” Tears trembled on her lashes. “She’s my best friend.”
I sighed. Hell, the kid had lost her mama, and her daddy had been arrested, all in one day. If she wanted to talk to her best friend, then why not?
“All right, but I’ll drive you over.” That suited her. “And you can’t stay too long. I’ll run a couple of errands, then come back and pick you up.” Loretta didn’t say anything, just sat quietly for the short ride to Tammara’s.
Tammara was waiting in the front yard. She was a cute, short cheerleader with an attitude. She wore combat boots and little round sunglasses and had her hair pulled back in a ponytail. When Loretta hopped out of the car, Tammara wrapped her in a tight hug and began to cry tears of sympathy.
I leaned out the window. “I’ll be back to get you in an hour,” I called. As I drove away, I saw the two girls sink into a huddle on the front lawn. I decided to go see Minnie, Eaudelein’s sister, and let her know that I’d be keeping Loretta indefinitely. I needed to find out about the funeral arrangements, too.
Minnie’s place wasn’t hard to find. She and the rest of Eaudelein’s family lived in a family compound that surrounded their grandfather’s farm. Minnie was sitting on the front porch of her tiny house with a few other family members. They all stared as I pulled in the driveway and parked. “Hey, Minnie,” I said as I walked up. I didn’t wait for her to respond. “I just came by to let you know we’d
be keeping Loretta.”
“For how long?” she asked. Everyone else just stared.
“We’ll figure out the details when Freddy gets out.”
Minnie snorted. “Freddy Buck Owens murdered my sister. He’ll never see the outside of a prison if I have anything to do with it.” She was daring me to get into it with her.
I ignored the bait. “Did you know she was seeing Hank?” I asked.
“Me and just about everybody else in town but you and Freddy.” The group on the porch snickered. This was going nowhere. I could call the town’s one funeral parlor to find out about the funeral. In the meantime, I needed to get to the Piggly Wiggly and buy Froot Loops for Loretta.
It had been exactly an hour when I returned to Tammara’s house. The girls had disappeared from the front yard, so I went up to the front door and rang the bell. Tammara’s mother came to the door looking politely confused. I explained that I’d come to pick up Loretta.
“Oh, well, they’re not here. Tammara left to drive Loretta home. She said they were supposed to meet you there.”
“Maybe we miscommunicated,” I said. “I’ll meet them there.” I turned to leave, then turned around. “Can I ask you one more question?”
“Sure.” Tammara’s mother waited.
“When did Loretta leave to go home this morning?”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Tammara’s mother said. “Loretta wasn’t here this morning.”
“She didn’t spend the night?”
“No, absolutely not. Tammara’s been on restriction all week. She hasn’t been allowed to have company. I only made an exception today because of Loretta’s mother.”
Loretta had lied.
I didn’t know what was going on, but I was beginning to get a picture. I couldn’t wait to get to that girl, but when I got to my place, Loretta wasn’t there.
Maybe Tammara had driven Loretta to see Eddie. I knew his parents, so it wasn’t hard to find his phone number in the book. Eddie answered. No, he hadn’t seen or heard from Loretta. Just as well; I’d thought of a few questions I wanted to ask him without Loretta around to coach him. I grabbed my chance. “Eddie, where did you and Loretta go last night?”
“We went to, uh, well, we were just riding around the square. Then …” Eddie caught up with himself and clammed up. Bingo. The next question I wanted to ask in person.
I raced across town and was in luck. Eddie answered the door. He was startled to see me and frightened. “Come out here on the porch,” I hissed. He hesitated, looking back over his shoulder into the living room where his parents sat.
“Who is it, Eddie?” his father called.
“Just a friend, Dad.” Eddie quickly pulled the door shut behind him and stepped outside. “I told you, she’s not here,” he said.
“I know, Eddie. I just had one more question. Where did you two spend the night?”
Eddie was flustered. “What do you mean? We didn’t…”
I didn’t have time to waste on whatever story he was trying to manufacture. I had a feeling that Loretta was in danger. “Cut to the chase, Eddie. I know you and Loretta spent the night together. Now, was it at her house or where?”
Eddie gave up. “Yeah, we were at her place. Her mama was spending the night out with her boyfriend.”
“Did she tell Loretta that?”
“No, but that’s what she always did when Loretta wasn’t home. That’s why we knew it would be cool at her place.”
That was all I needed to hear. I turned and raced for the car. I yelled back over my shoulder, “Eddie, call the sheriff, ask for Randy Vaughn. Tell him Patsy said to get out to Hank Starr’s and bring some deputies with him.” Eddie seemed hesitant. “Do it, Eddie!”
He had turned and was going inside when I drove off. I had to hurry. My car, an older Cavalier, wasn’t used to fast speeds. I drove defensively, prided myself on that; now I hurtled out of town like a maniac.
When I hit the dirt road to Hank’s place, I had to stand on the brakes to keep from plowing into the rear of Tammara’s vw. Tammara was leaning against the side, smoking a cigarette. She looked scared.
“Oh man, I’m really glad you’re here. Loretta told me to wait here and if she wasn’t back in a half hour, call you.” She twisted her watch around on her wrist and stared at it. “It’s been twenty-seven minutes.”
Loretta had been a very foolish girl. “Tammara, here’s what you do, honey. Get yourself up the road to the Quick Stop and use their phone to call 911. Tell them to get ahold of Randy, and give him directions here. Tell him to hurry.” I wanted to cover myself in case Eddie hadn’t called.
Then I took off running for Hank’s place. I didn’t want him to hear me coming and do anything foolish. It was quite dark now; the light in Hank’s boathouse was the only thing to guide me. I crept past the house, headed for the dock.
The sound of voices carried up from the water. Hank’s was a low monotone, Loretta’s an angry tornado. “You can’t get away with this,” she yelled. “They’ll know it was you.” I slipped silently up to the boathouse. Hank was unhitching the bow lines and preparing to cast off. Loretta lay on the floor of the boat, her arms and legs bound with rope.
“Loretta,” Hank said as he moved to untie the stern lines, “this carryin’ on won’t do you no good. Cain’t nobody hear you. I wouldn’t be havin’ to do this if you’d been doin’ what yore mama told you to do last night.” Hank moved to the driver’s seat and inserted the key in the ignition. He was fixin’ to pull out of the boathouse and take Loretta. I couldn’t let that happen.
“My daddy’ll come after you, Hank,” Loretta screamed. “They’ll fry your ass if you kill me. I’m a minor.” Oh nice goin’, Loretta, I thought.
Hank stayed cool. “No they won’t, Loretta. When you don’t show up, they’ll figure you lured your mama down to your daddy’s shop and killed her. They’ll think you wanted to frame your daddy so’s you could get the insurance money. Just like them brothers out in California done. Kids are runnin’ wild these days.”
Loretta’s response was lost as Hank cranked the engine. It was now or never. I made my move. I took a flying leap from the dock and hit the bow of the boat just as it moved out of the slip into the open channel.
Loretta’s eyes widened, and Hank looked as if he couldn’t believe it was me. When he came for me, I tried to be ready. All those classes at Mr. Chu’s Tae Kwan Do studio were going to come in handy, I thought. Where were the police?
“Hank Starr, you take this boat back to shore!” I screamed. “I’m placing you under a citizen’s arrest!” His beefy hands wrapped around my throat like a vise. This was not like any practice I’d ever done at Mr. Chu’s. Spots danced before my eyes and as it grew impossible to breathe, I saw Freddy’s face. He was lookin’ real sad, and I started feelin’ sad. We were never gonna get married. Then I started getting mad. Hell fire, it was always something.
Mr. Chu’s face floated up then. What was he saying? Oh, yeah, I could hear his voice. “Find your rage,” he said. “Break his hold. Hit him where it hurts. Predators look for the weak.”
I had found my rage. No Hank Starr was gonna keep me from the altar. I summoned up one last burst of energy and threw my arms up through Hank’s. I brought my knee up and rammed it into his groin. I had lost control and was going to kill him. I shattered his kneecap with a swift kick and would have crushed his windpipe had Randy not arrived.
Apparently he’d been screaming at me from the shore, but I hadn’t heard. As the boat had drifted back toward the dock, Randy had leapt on board.
He grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “Patsy, stop. It’s Randy. Stop, you’re okay now.” I was shaking with the adrenaline and fear. “It’s okay now, honey,” he said, pulling me closer to him.
The dock was overrun with deputies. Raydeen was bustling around, issuing orders. Randy told me later that both Eddie and Tammara had called 911, leaving desperate messages. Randy had arrived with all the backup available in Wallace Cou
nty.
Hank told everything once he was faced with the reality of his arrest. He and Eaudelein had been at the bait shop around 3:00 A.M. Hank was preparing to go fishing and needed to pick up some bait. He and Eaudelein had been out drinking all night, celebrating because Eaudelein had agreed to marry Hank. While Hank was scooping out minnows, Eaudelein started going on about how, when they were married, she’d have control over the Bait Shop. She was crowing about how she’d make Freddy’s life miserable. Hank realized that Eaudelein never really loved him; she’d merely wanted to use him to torture her ex-husband.
Hank, about to lose the one love of his life, lost control. He grabbed the baseball bat and beat Eaudelein to death. He was getting ready to take her out to the middle of the lake and dump her when some fishermen pulled up to the shop.
They saw Hank’s pickup, figured someone was there, and began knocking on the door. Hank panicked and dumped Eaudelein in the tank. Then he gave the men bait and sent them on their way. Even though the men weren’t locals, Randy figured they’d be easy enough to track down, if need be.
“The way things look now,” Randy said, “Hank’s gonna plead guilty. Says he was temporarily insane.”
“Hell,” said Freddy as Randy returned his personal belongings and signed the release papers, “I guess that explains my whole marriage to Eaudelein. Too bad I couldn’t plead that during the divorce.”
Freddy stuck close by me the whole ride home. “Babe, you sure he didn’t hurt you?”
“Freddy, I’m fine,” I insisted. If the truth be known, I was enjoying myself.
“Babe, I just don’t know how I can ever repay you,” he said for the umpteenth time.
“Aw, Freddy,” I said, patting his knee, “we’ll think of something.” I was thinking a June weddin’ would be nice. We’d hitch a knot in the tail of matrimony yet.
NANCY BARTHOLOMEW, a transplanted Yankee, maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Greensboro, but that doesn’t stop her from satisfying her inner writer. Her funny, spicy work features exotic dancers, country singers, bikers, and cops. She is author of eight books in three series and counting, including Drag Strip and Stand By Your Man.
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