Family Issue

by Nat Burns

  “It’s possible,” I said thoughtfully. “They could have hired a professional…”

  “Yeah, it would take a professional to clock a little kid that way.” She stared at the sunset.

  “A heartless bastard.”

  We fell silent, enjoying the fading of the day as well as the burgeoning feelings of attraction between us. I glanced sideways at her and felt a stirring inside me. I wondered if she felt it too. Although I knew it was ridiculous for me to feel the way I did toward her, especially this quickly, I couldn’t seem to help myself. She was the first person I’d met in the past handful of years that I had any real desire to get to know intimately. It was puzzling that she should affect me so.

  I realized suddenly that she was watching me. Closely. Could she read my mind?

  “So, let’s make a list,” she said softly.

  I reached into the front pocket of my jeans and pulled forth a bedraggled notebook with a stub of pencil pushed through the wire binding. It had been obviously around a while and I would readily admit that I felt naked unless I kept it with me at all times. I flipped through until I found the notes I’d made about the Price events.

  “After talking with the family and Ammie, I came up with Taylor Morrissey, who owns Mossrock Farm, next door to this one. Also, the developers, as I said before. Then there’s Jimmy Thibideaux…”

  “Jimmy Thibideaux? Who’s that?” she asked, tilting her head to one side.

  “He’s the neighbor on the other side. Ammie caught him snooping around the grounds one day.”

  “Ahh,” she nodded sagely. “Go on.” She lit a new cigarette. Smoke swirled around her like Salome writhing through the dance of the seven veils.

  “Umm, he lives with his stepmother. I thought I—we—might go talk to them and see if they know anything.”

  “Or act guilty,” she added.

  “Yes.” I was having a hard time concentrating on the case, being this close to Bone. I mentally chastised myself.

  “Any other suspects?”

  “There’s Alejandro, a new farmhand, but, as I said, I don’t think he’s the one.” I leaned forward so my voice wouldn’t carry. “He was acting pretty suspicious when I saw him yesterday. He’d found the board that was used to hit Kissy. I think whoever did it drove a truck down in the bayou, hit her with the board, then drove away really quickly, tossing the board out the truck window as he went along that main road that wraps around the home site.”

  She sat up and studied my face. “Seems like we need to question everyone and see if they’ve seen a strange truck.”

  “Yeah, I thought of that. The problem is, John Clyde hires contract labor when they’re planting or harvesting. They drive their own vehicles.” I shook my head. “I don’t think anyone would have noticed.”

  Bone sighed and sat back. “Let’s still question everyone. Maybe a description will come through that we can use when it’s time to prosecute.”

  I nodded. “Speaking of prosecution, I met with Captain Armbruster Seychelles today. He’s with the Brethren PD. I gave him the board. He said they hadn’t found any leads, so he was really glad to receive the board as forensic evidence. He’s gonna renew the investigation and said he will be down collecting boards off of Ruddy Bayou, where the truck tracks are.”

  Bone nodded and crushed out her cigarette. “Good to know that. What about the Morrissey guy?”

  “He’s a puzzle. Big fish in a little pond. Parish chairman with big political aspirations.”

  “Could he be wanting more power, like from owning more land?”

  “I didn’t pick up on that, but that’s my first guess. He was good friends with Dodson, though I don’t remember him from before. Seems like a nice enough guy.”

  Bone sighed. “What say we do that Jimmy Whatsit family first? Morrissey could have more to lose if he was found out, so it seems more likely it could be the other guy, since he was snooping around here and all.”

  I nodded and drained my glass. “I thought that too. Wanna go tomorrow?”

  She nodded and her head tilted again as she studied me. “So, Denni, tell me about you. Where did you grow up?”

  “DC. On the outskirts. How about you?” I said.

  “Florida, but my dad was military so we ended up in Virginia.”

  “Better than Florida?” I lifted her empty glass and moved toward the door to inside.

  “Maybe. I like living there.” She nodded to my unspoken question about another drink.

  I returned moments later and Bone and I ended up talking about ourselves and drinking Southern Comfort and Mountain Dew until almost two in the morning.

  “And Landa? How do you two know one another?” I asked at one point.

  “College. She was up at Mary Baldwin. Not sure why ’cause it’s a godawful ways from here. She said her parents wanted her at an all-girls school to keep her outta trouble.” She chuckled and shifted in her chair. “If they’d only known.”

  I studied her closely, wondering if she were pulling my leg. “What? Yolanda?”

  Bone’s eyes grew large. “Lord!” she exclaimed. “That girl was the talk of the campus. She went through women the way I go through chocolate candy. She tried men at first and decided early on that she’d have none of that. Then it was Katy, bar the door.”

  “So…” I had to know. “Did she put the moves on you?”

  Bone scoffed. “Tried! I saw through her games right away and called her on them. That’s what cemented us and we’ve been good friends ever since.”

  I shook my head and lifted my mostly empty glass. I was feeling the SoCo, but my thoughts were still clear. “I can’t see her that way. I admit I was angry when Pat went for her and maybe I didn’t want to see it. But later…” I sighed. “Later, we just didn’t click.”

  “One thing I discovered about her, something no one knows, is that she’s really shy.” Bone leaned forward and captured my gaze with hers. “I mean, painfully so. If she’s not trying to get into your pants or doesn’t know you real well, she just isn’t going to talk to you. It’s like she can’t.”

  “But she talks to Patty just fine,” I argued petulantly.

  Bone studied me a long beat. “I feel bad, how she did you. That was wrong. But they do seem happy, don’t you think?”

  I nodded quickly, to make up for my earlier whine. “Yes, and don’t get me wrong. I am happy for them. I still consider Patty a dear friend and we’re putting all that behind us.” I added, just a touch of bravado to my voice.

  Bone leaned back, her eyes mesmerizing as they watched me. Pulling my gaze away, I looked at my watch. We needed to get some sleep.

  “Yeah, we need to turn in,” Bone agreed, as she saw me check my watch. She sighed and I could tell that she was as reluctant as I was to break this wonderful connection we had forged. There was a slight chill in the air now, but the warmth of the evening still hovered inside our screened-in cocoon. Crickets still called in the underbrush, so it couldn’t have been too cool outside.

  “Look, you can see the lights from the Sabine from here,” she said, pointing.

  “Boats. Cargo barges, most likely,” I said.

  “They’re still pretty.” She stood and stretched.

  “That they are. Where’s your room?” I asked.

  “Down the hall from Landa and Patty. You?”

  “Off the kitchen. I’ll walk you up, though.” I stood and opened the door to the sitting room. I escorted her through, turning off lights as we progressed through the house. When we reached the stairway, Bone turned to me. “You go on to bed, hon. I’ll be okay from here.”

  I grinned, feeling devilment swell in me. “What? Nervous?”

  “That you might want to come in with me?” She returned my grin. “Maybe I’m afraid that I would let you.”

  She leaned and pressed her plump, dry lips to my cheek. The touch burned like a brand. My hands clasped spasmodically, wanting to pull her closer. It was too late; she had mounted the steps and disappe
ared into dimness, leaving me with a sweet, tobacco-laced scent filling my nose and a cheek that tingled where she had touched it.

  Grinning like a fool, I stepped into the kitchen and paused for a drink of water from the fountain next to the sink. I peered into the darkness outside as I drank, one hand pressed to my cheek as if I could keep her kiss preserved there.

  “I wonder what time John Clyde will get in,” I muttered. His truck was conspicuously absent, his usual parking space, easily seen from the window over the sink, empty. I poured the last dregs of water down the drain and moved into the guest room.

  DAY FOUR

  Chapter Twenty

  Beau Chapel was smaller than I had expected. Located due north of Fortune Farm and surrounded by sweeping cane fields, the house itself was not too much larger than a white frame Virginia farmhouse. The name had led me to believe it to be of plantation size and grandeur. The grounds were neat, however, yet appeared tired. I noted some shabbiness and wondered how much of that was due to the death of Jimmy’s father and the resultant reduced income and how much was due to the fact that Jimmy just wasn’t interested.

  “Oh, good mornin’, my darlins’. Do come in,” exclaimed Baby Wood as she ushered us into the front parlor. She was a small woman and a heavy smoker, evidenced by the smell of the house and her nicotine-stained fingers. She also had bright red hair and heavy, impeccably applied cosmetics. She was nervous, with beringed chubby hands that flitted about like doves in a windstorm.

  “I sure do appreciate you seeing us, Miss Wood,” Patty said as the three of us took seats on overstuffed sofas.

  “Oh, call me Baby, please. It’s an unfortunate name, I know,” she said, holding up one palm. “But it was a gift from my father so I carry it proudly.”

  Thick, but tired, satin draperies behind large pieces of heavy antique furniture hid windows, so the lighting in the room was dim. Even so, I could see that the blush of youth had abandoned Baby. Her keen, questioning eyes watched us closely.

  “These are friends of ours from the North. Denni Hope here is an investigator for an insurance firm and this other lovely lady is Bonita Corcaran, a police officer for the city of Richmond.”

  “Richmond, Virginia? Lord, my mother went to nursing school there, something called the Virginia Career Institute, years and years ago. Is that place still there?” Baby leaned toward Bone, awaiting her response.

  “Yes, ma’am, I think I know which one you mean. It’s changed hands now and goes by a new name. They still teach nursing, though, both practical and RN.”

  Baby looked down at her clasped hands. “I always thought of doing something like that, but the sight of blood…well, it just sends me reeling.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Bone agreed sympathetically.

  “Miss Wood…Baby. I was wondering if we might talk to Jimmy for a few minutes.”

  Baby leaned back, a hand over her mouth. “Oh my, what has he done now? I can assure you he meant no harm and we’ll certainly take care of any damages…”

  “No, no, Baby,” Patty hastened to reassure her. “We just need to ask him some questions. Some strange things have been happening over at Fortune, and we were thinking he may have seen something.”

  Baby sighed deeply and closed her eyes with relief. “Oh well, I’m so glad that’s all you need. I’m sure he’ll be glad to help you. Let me go fetch him for you.”

  She stood and straightened her frilly pink blouse over the waist of her cropped blue jeans. “I’ll be right back and I’ll bring you ladies some iced tea. It’s a scorcher out there already today.”

  After she left the room, Patty, Bone and I looked at one another. “Oh yeah,” Patty whispered. “I can see what old man Thibideaux saw in her.”

  Bone shrugged. “She’s cute, in a fifties’ sort of way.”

  I grinned. “All she needs is a poodle skirt. She already has the Keds.”

  “Stop it, you two,” Patty scolded, but she was laughing with us.

  A figure loomed in the arched doorway to the foyer. He was pressed against the doorjamb, watching us, but I spied him right away. His tawny hair was long and pulled back into a careless ponytail. His unshaven face was very long and lean like a coyote’s. He was wearing jeans ripped at the right knee and a pale blue Led Zeppelin T-shirt. He wore old, unevenly laced work boots, and one leg of his jeans was tucked in, one out. I lifted my eyes to his and found him studying me as hard as I was studying him. His eyes were dark, probably brown, and deep-set. They seemed haunted somehow, and I suddenly remembered what Ammie had said about his war experiences. I turned my head and caught Patty’s eye. I indicated the man with a sideways nod.

  “Jimmy? Is that you?” Patty stood and moved past me. Jimmy came forward and shook the hand she extended. He nodded shyly as Baby bustled in behind him carrying five glasses of iced tea on an ornately decorated silver tray. “Lordy, I bet I haven’t seen you since high school. How are you?”

  “Here we go, ladies. Something to pick you right up.” She placed the tray on the coffee table and stood back. “Jimmy. Come on over here and let these gals ask you some questions.”

  She turned to us and spoke as if Jimmy wasn’t there. “He’s been fishing all morning, a quiet pastime as well you can imagine, and sometimes he plumb forgets to use his words.”

  “I can talk. I just don’t know anything,” Jimmy said, but he took a seat in a rust-colored easy chair next to the sofa and accepted the glass Baby handed him.

  “There’s been some goings-on over at Fortune Farm, and we were wondering if you might have seen something. Ammie Mose says sometimes you like to walk across Fortune in the mornings,” I said, watching him closely for some sign of discomfort or concern. There was nothing. He appeared numb, his expression blank.

  “He does like to walk,” Baby offered, sipping her tea. “What kinds of things have been happening?”

  Patty turned to Baby. “We’ve had some vandalism, someone sugared our tractors, that sort of thing. Cost us a bundle.”

  Baby drew back in horror, mouth hanging open. “Oh my Lord! That’s just a disgrace to all that’s holy, that is. Have you seen anything strange over there, Jimmy?”

  Jimmy shook his head no, but he shifted in his seat, listing to one side like he was uncomfortable. His face mirrored that discomfort.

  “Jimmy?” I asked. “Do you have anything to tell us?” I glanced at Bone. She was idly rocking her tea glass, her eyes fixed on Jimmy.

  “Have you seen any new faces on our land, Jimmy?” Patty asked quietly. “Do you know of anyone who might want to harm us?”

  He leaned forward and fixed Patty with his dark, spooky eyes. He studied her with squinted eyes for an eon of seconds. “I think you all need to leave,” he said in a low, gravelly voice.

  Patty drew back, surprised. “What?”

  “Look here, Patty. I respect the hell outta you but I don’t want no part of this.”

  “Of what, Jimmy? What is it you’re not telling us?” I asked, feeling a sudden wash of excitement that he might really know something or be involved himself.

  “Jimmy…” Patty began.

  His voice rose in sudden, unwarranted anger. “I don’t know who is doing this business to your farm, but you need to look to your own house. Don’t come asking around here like we was to blame for your problems. You got a poison over there at your place and you’d best tend to that. Carve it out like the cancer it is.”

  “Jimmy!” Baby admonished in surprise. “I’m so sorry, girls. He’s just…”

  Jimmy stood and we all recoiled just a bit. He was like a loaded gun with the safety off. He strode through the foyer to the front doorway. He turned back and studied us. “Look to your own damn house,” he said as he opened the door and left the house.

  Silence fell as we recovered from his outburst.

  “Well,” Baby said, her cheeks flaming pink. “I am so very sorry for his rudeness. You know, he was a doctor, and he went to help in that Grenada war and he just never was the sa
me after he came home. There was some kind of blast and they sent him home with his head all bandaged. I guess…”

  “It’s all right, Baby,” Patty said. “I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by what he said.”

  “It was odd, though, wasn’t it?” Bone said in a musing tone. “‘Look to your own house,’ he said. I wonder what that could mean.” She was studying Patty.

  We stayed a few more moments and then said strained goodbyes. Baby promised that she would tell us if Jimmy shared any information.

  “So what do you think?” I muttered to Bone as we followed Patty to the car.

  “I think there’s a lot more going on here than we know, more than just vandalism,” she replied.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Since it was still early, Bone and I decided we would drive her rental car around the farm and talk to some of the farmhands. We saw Alejandro first and I introduced Bone to him. He was very polite and beamed with gratitude when I thanked him for finding the bloody board and turning it over to me.

  “I gave it to Officer Seychelles and he sent some men out to examine the site. You did a good thing there, Alejandro. When all this is over with, I’m going to tell the Price family how you helped me,” I said, wanting to impress upon him the importance of being included and sharing with the family.

  “That’s kind of you, miss. I won’t forget,” he told me, bowing his head in respect.

  “He’s new here,” I said in explanation to Bone as we drove on.

  “Sweet enough guy,” she said. “And very handsome.”

  I laughed. “Hmmm, don’t get any ideas.”

  “Would you be jealous?” she asked.

  I looked at her sideways and smiled like a Cheshire cat with a bowl of cream. “Maybe.”

  Most of the workers we passed were busy running the huge machines that spread this final blast of fertilizer on the hayfields. The hay would be harvested in another month, so no further chemicals would be added past this point. The cane workers were moving the huge irrigation rigs and were too far away to talk to.