Family Issue

by Nat Burns

  Maybe Yolanda had grown tired of living on the farm and wanted Patty to move back inland, thinking that scaring her off the farm would be the best way.

  But…would Yolanda hurt Kissy, her own daughter? My mind was whirling with theories. I slowed my pace, trying to think this possibility through. It wouldn’t do to alarm John Clyde unnecessarily.

  What would be a prime motive? I went through my list of the seven deadly sins—pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, sloth, greed—which one fit?

  The tumbling thoughts were making me crazy. I spied John Clyde’s truck parked next to one of the large hay barns just west of the Price farmhouse, so I made a beeline for it.

  I rounded the barn’s north pillar, and there he was, standing by the tack box. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn’t hear my approach.

  “There you are,” I said as I moved close. John Clyde jumped as if I’d shot off a cap gun next to him. His hands trembled, and the glass vial he’d been holding tumbled end over end into the hay below. It landed softly, then cracked with a gentle fracture. A swampy, pungent smell wafted up to me, familiar, but I couldn’t quite identify it.

  “Oh, my gosh,” I exclaimed. “I’m so sorry.”

  John Clyde moved quickly, bending to pile hay, glass and fluid into a tidy pile and tossing it into a nearby bin. “It’s okay. You just scared me, is all.”

  “You need help with that?” I wondered what the broken container had held. Had he used farm chemicals to poison the goats somehow?

  “No, I’m good.” He straightened, wiping his palms against his denim-clad thighs. “Did you need me?”

  “Yeah, I wanted to talk with you about Landa. I saw something troubling today.”

  John Clyde busied himself closing and padlocking the tack box. Rubbing his hands together, he turned and saw my questioning look.

  “What?” he said with a short laugh. “Chemicals for the seed,” he explained. “I don’t want Kissy in them.”

  He placed his palm against my back, effectively turning me and leading me into the sunshine outside the huge barn door. “Don’t turn that discerning eye on me, little miss. You know better than that.”

  I nodded, oddly chagrined. “I’m not so trusting of Landa, though. I saw her in Brethren today, talking to a strange woman. They seemed really close. I was with Solange Otis, and we followed them until they went into a hoodoo shop in an alley.”

  “How is Solange?” John Clyde asked. He wasn’t taking me seriously. I could tell by the way he was poking his fingertip into the timbers next to me, checking them for strength. I was angered by his obvious dismissal and my voice tightened as I continued.

  “I didn’t much like the big city look of her. The woman. Do you think it could have something to do with what’s been happening?”

  “How do you mean?” He moved to tidy loose bales stacked outside against the north wall.

  “Well, suppose Landa is involved with this person and they’re working together to ruin Fortune Farm?”

  He stilled and stared at me. “That’s so ridiculous. Why would you think that?”

  “Believe me, John Clyde. I’ve seen it all. There are certain motives for crime—greed, jealousy, revenge—and they occur most often in those who are close, especially those who claim to be romantically involved.”

  “I don’t know, Denni. It doesn’t jibe. Why would Landa want to hurt us? What would she gain? What’s her motive?”

  “Well,” I sighed. “Suppose she and Patty are having trouble and Landa is getting back at her for something. Or she wants Patty to move away with her?”

  John Clyde started walking toward the truck. He shook his head. “These actions seem pretty extreme for two people just not getting along. Someone’s trying to ruin, to destroy, our business.”

  “Who better than Landa who knows what the business means to Patty?” I persisted as I climbed into the truck next to him. Once parked at the house, I had to hurry to keep up with John Clyde’s long strides. I was panting by the time we reached the side door. Stopping there, I grabbed his arm and forced him to look at me.

  “Why are you giving me such a hard time about this possibility? Why won’t you work with me on this?” I asked angrily.

  John Clyde sighed and rolled his eyes. “All right. What do you want me to do?”

  “Only open yourself to the idea. Is it so crazy to believe that Landa could be involved?” I spread my hands for emphasis.

  “Why suddenly after more than four years?”

  “Like I said, maybe there’s trouble in paradise,” I murmured.

  John Clyde watched me a long beat. “Maybe you want there to be trouble in paradise.”

  I stiffened. “Ouch! What do you mean by that?”

  “Look.” John Clyde rubbed both hands across his face. “It’s no secret that there’s no love lost between you and Yolanda. She and Patty did you real dirty, and I’m not so sure you’re completely over that.”

  Fury—and the bitter pill of truth—silenced me for a moment.

  “I saw what I saw, John Clyde, and whatever was between Patty and me has no bearing on this issue. I’m merely trying to explore all possibilities so we can get to the bottom of this, which is what I understand my job to be. Am I wrong?”

  “No. I do understand what you’re trying to do and I certainly support you in it. You just need to be careful with this one, though, Denni. A lot is riding on what you discover.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just that. This is important. Be careful.”

  “But…”

  John Clyde walked inside and I followed, curious about his cryptic remarks.

  Voices from the sitting room drew us on through the empty kitchen.

  “Here they are,” Patty said. “We were just talking about you two.” She moved forward and took my hand, pulling me into the room. There, standing next to Yolanda, was the thin, shaggy-haired woman Landa had been with at Alabaster Square.

  “John Clyde, Denni, this is Landa’s friend from college, Bonita Corcaran. She’s on vacation and decided to stop in for a visit.”

  I found myself looking into the most mesmerizing sapphire-blue eyes I’d ever seen. The eyes appeared to smile at me and an equally endearing mouth followed suit.

  “Denni, hello. I’ve heard so much about you.”

  “Bonita,” I croaked, nodding my head, suddenly shy. “My pleasure.”

  Bonita Corcaran was even lovelier up close than she had been from a distance. Her facial features were balanced, finely molded, delicate. I was fascinated by the tiny diamond stud she had in her nose piercing. Light seemed to dance in it every time she moved. The white layer of her hair framed her face with feathered strands while the lower layer spread like a feathered stole across her shoulders in a shining black mantle.

  Bonita reached for my unresponsive hand and shook it, the skin of her palm warm and dry. “Call me Bone, please, everyone does. Nice to meet you finally,” she added.

  I realized I was counting the freckles scattered across Bone’s nose and cheeks and had to force myself to focus and respond. “Good to meet you too. What brings you to town?”

  Patty laughed and slapped my shoulder. “I just told you, fool. She’s on vacation.”

  I blushed, yet tried to maintain my composure. “Right. I mean, what are you vacationing from?”

  Bone grinned and I found myself helplessly caught up in a joke I hadn’t yet heard. I knew my grin made me appear addled but couldn’t seem to help myself.

  “I’m a cop.”

  “Cop?”

  “From Richmond, in Virginia. Municipal PD.”

  “No kidding. I’m a PI—well, insurance fraud mostly. From Virginia too…Charlottesville.”

  “Cool, I’ve been to Charlottesville lots of times. What’s the caseload like there? What are your primary fraud statistics?” She fixed me with a direct, interested stare. I felt her gaze all the way to my feet. A tickling sensation settled right where the toe meets the ba
ll of the foot.

  “It’s busy. Enough said. But right now, she’s the one working on our problem,” Landa broke in before I could even decide which question to answer.

  “And we think the two of you should work together,” Patty added, turning to me. “They always say two heads are better than one.”

  Bone and I studied one another, eyes surprised but evaluating. Work together? Why not? She had a cop’s experience and I had the investigator training.

  “It sounds like a good idea,” I said finally. “What do you think?”

  Bone smiled and ducked her head with a sigh. “Working vacations are the only ones I know,” she said with a rueful laugh. “I wouldn’t know how to do otherwise.”

  Landa shoved Bone, throwing her off balance and causing both of them to laugh out loud. “Poor, poor, pitiful you!” Landa crowed. “I wouldn’t know how to do otherwise,” she added, mimicking Bone. “Oh, please!”

  “I was just playing the sympathy card,” Bone explained, studying me with those glowing, laughing eyes.

  I responded with, I’m sure, a stupid grin. “Hey, I bought it,” I said. “Hook, line and sinker.”

  “Some investigator you are!” Bone teased.

  “All right you guys, knock it off,” Patty said, laughing. “Ammie’s prepared a nice dinner for us and you know how she gets when we keep her waiting.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Dinner was tough but in a thoroughly pleasant way. I discovered Bone was a vegetarian, that she had a cute way of tucking her head when she laughed and that she caused feelings in me that I hadn’t felt for a very long time. She was also brilliant; I listened in on a discussion she had with John Clyde about the legal vagaries of shipping hay from Louisiana into other states and was amazed at her broad wealth of knowledge.

  “You’re awfully quiet,” Patty whispered to me, carving off another bite of lasagna with her fork.

  I drew my eyes from Bone and stared at my own mostly untouched plate. “Just thinking.”

  Patty smiled. “Yeah, I bet I know about whom.”

  I protested quickly. “No, no, the case, Patty. Really.”

  Patty chewed lasagna thoughtfully as her eyes studied me. “Why do you lie to me, Denni? You know your left eye twitches when you do. I spot it every time.”

  I sighed. “Yeah. She really is gorgeous, isn’t she?”

  “That she is. And sweet-natured too.”

  “And smart, oh my God, is she smart. I feel like an uneducated buffoon,” I said sotte voce.

  “What are you two whispering about?” John Clyde said. He lifted his glass and idly twirled the scotch inside until it was a small, sparkling vortex of gold.

  “None of your beeswax, brother,” Patty replied. She leaned to wipe Kissy’s mouth with a napkin.

  My eyes flew back to Bone, and I found her watching me with a thoughtful smile on her lips. As usual, her eyes remained amused. I smiled, unable to do anything else when she fixed those eyes on me. I idly wondered what she was thinking, then decided I didn’t much care as long as her attention was on me.

  Being across from her also made me forget everything about working on the case. So when she brought it up, I was actually surprised. “So, Denni, what have you discovered? Any leads on who you think might be involved?”

  She leaned forward and sank her cute little teeth into soft garlic bread. I sighed deeply as I watched, unable to help myself. She noticed, unfortunately, and paused in the bite to raise her eyes to mine. I know I blushed a deep scarlet color and fervently prayed no one else had seen. I was blushing so intensely my eyes watered. I quickly lowered my face and cleared my throat. Even so, my voice was shaky. “Well, I met the neighbor, Taylor Morrissey, today and I’m not so sure he should be discounted. He seems harmless, but he could want to expand his holdings. He said that he had been having trouble with his grazing lands.”

  Bone swallowed bread. “Do we have a formal list of suspects?”

  Patty shrugged. “Sorta. Denni’s been writing them down. We’ve been trying to see who had it in for my mom and dad. As far as we know John Clyde and I haven’t done anything to anyone.”

  “That we know about,” John Clyde added with a sharp bark of laughter.

  “It almost seems like someone wants to put them out of business,” I noted.

  “How many workers do you have here, John Clyde?” Bone asked quietly.

  “About a dozen. Sometimes we call in more during planting and harvesting. Why do you ask?”

  “I was just thinking that each one of them probably needs to be checked out,” she answered, dabbing her pink lips with a napkin. I watched mesmerized.

  “Oh no,” Patty interjected quickly. “Most of our hands have been here their entire lives. They’re family. I don’t believe that’s necessary.”

  I turned and studied Patty, my gaze slipping to Landa, seated next to her. “Sometimes family can be involved, Pat. I see it all the time in my business. Family members can do horrible things to one another.”

  “No, leave them alone,” agreed John Clyde. “I don’t want to stir up trouble.”

  “Seems like that’s already been done for you, John Clyde,” Bone replied.

  “Alejandro, maybe,” Patty said. “He’s new.”

  I choked on my iced tea, remembering suddenly that I hadn’t told anyone but Captain Seychelles about the board Alejandro had found. I decided that Bone and I needed to have a private discussion as soon as possible. I had drawn attention by choking. Embarrassed, I quickly apologized and composed myself.

  “I don’t think he’s involved,” I said. “I spoke with him yesterday, and that’s the impression I got.”

  Bone nodded. “Okay, I can accept that. Hunches are good. Maybe after dinner, you and I can put our heads together and look at a master list to see who we should be concerned with and who we can disregard.”

  I smiled—goofily, I’m sure. Time alone with Bone. It couldn’t get much better than that. “Good idea.”

  Talk turned to Kissy’s upcoming preschool enrollment and I managed to choke down my meal, my eyes falling often on Bone’s sweet, delicate face.

  After clearing the table and taking all the dishes in to Ammie, John Clyde left in the truck, off to Bay Sally’s, he said, and Patty and Yolanda took Kissy upstairs for her bath and bedtime story. Bone and I stood in the sitting room, staring awkwardly at one another.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “I smoke,” Bone said apologetically.

  I frowned, not sure I’d understood what she said. “Sorry?”

  “Cigarettes. I smoke them. I know I should quit…I know. I just…well, I haven’t yet.” She was clearly embarrassed, even contrite.

  “Oh, hey, not a problem,” I said, trying to put her at ease. “Let’s go out on the porch so you can have one.”

  She breathed an audible sigh of relief, and I led the way through the front sitting room and onto the large screened-in veranda on the west side of the house.

  “Here we go,” I said, dusting off the two chairs on either side of an ashtray-bearing end table. “I used to smoke, but Patty made me quit when we were together.”

  “Ahh, Yolanda said that you and Patty had been a couple. How long did you live here?”

  “Well, we didn’t live here. This was her parents’ house, Dodson and Megs. We lived in town, rented a little cottage next to the Sabine. The lake,” I amended. “About five years, I guess.”

  “Were you here when Patty’s father died?” she asked.

  I nodded. “I was. That was a tough time.” I paused in thought. “I don’t do grief well,” I admitted.

  Bone wrinkled her nose as she lit a cigarette. “I don’t either. I even have trouble with weddings.”

  I smiled at her. “Yeah. I get that. I’m the same way.”

  We smiled at one another, and I felt an almost audible click. Surprising and pleasant.

  “Hey, want a drink to go with that smoke?” I asked.

  Bone smiled. “Sure. Reckon
they have Southern Comfort?”

  I laughed. “Let me guess. Mountain Dew, right?”

  Her eyes widened, and she whispered the one word in an amazed tone. “Yes!”

  I shook my head as I stepped inside to mix our drinks. I brought them out a few moments later and found Bone still seated but with her head back against the chair cushions, eyes closed. I paused in the doorway and studied the intriguing slope of her neck. It was slender and finely figured and I wondered suddenly how she could ever apprehend a bad guy. She seemed too frail, too fragile. My eyes traveled lower, across the gentle swell of her small breasts, which barely raised the fabric of her muscle shirt as she breathed.

  “A person could die of thirst with you around,” she said finally, not even bothering to open those merry blue eyes.

  I chuckled and placed the glasses on the table.

  She shifted forward and her eyes found mine. “Shall we toast?”

  “Sure. To what?”

  She lifted her glass. “To new friendships.”

  I grinned and stared into those laughing eyes. “To new friendships,” I agreed. We clinked the rims of the glasses and each took a deep draught.

  “Mmm, that’s good,” Bone said.

  “Refreshing,” I added. I looked at her again and we both started laughing. Like buffoons.

  Sobering, I sighed. “Wow, look at that sunset,” I said, my nod indicating the ruddy, glowing sky.

  “I know, I was admiring it while you were inside. So, Denni, let me ask you this.” She moved in her seat so she was partially facing me. I did the same.

  “Who would do this to the Prices?”

  I rambled through my own brain, trying to make sense of the information I had already gathered. “I’ve been pondering the motives. Seems like, one, someone has an ax to grind, or two, they want to force the Price family off the land.”

  “To what end, though?” Bone queried. “It’s farmland and farming seems to be a dying business.”

  “True. Ammie, the housekeeper, told me that developers might be trying to put in a theme park of some kind here.”

  She shook her head in the negative. “They can’t really, from a PR standpoint, afford to work that way. Threaten the landholders? I don’t think so.”