Looking for Lillian (Hunter Jones Mystery Book 7)

by Charlotte Moore

  In a matter of seconds, the car was in a ditch sideways with a broken windshield and a large deer sprawled across the hood bleeding onto the window. The engine was making an ominous shrieking noise.

  Jack, who hadn’t been wearing his seatbelt, was on top of Tab.

  “Are you okay?” Tab mumbled, shoving at his friend. “Can you get off me?”

  “Yeah,” Jack said, sounding unnaturally calm and sensible. “Roll down the windows and unlock the doors before you turn the motor off. I’ll climb out and then I’ll help you get out. We’d better call for help.”

  Chapter 39

  Hunter had Ty firmly by his mittened hand. Bethie, who was carrying the tin of cookies. tapped lightly on the McFalls’ back door.

  Ellie Bankston came to answer the door.

  “We brought some cookies,” Hunter said, “If this is a bad time, we don’t need to come in.”

  “Oh, please do come in,” Ellie said in a low voice. “Could you please just stay and visit with Pink for a few minutes? I left a roast in the oven at home and Tyler can’t tell whether it’s done or not. Deb ran to the grocery store, but she ought to be back soon. They’re just in a mess without Augusta.”

  Hunter smiled and nodded. She was glad for the excuse to visit for a while.

  “You’ve met Caitlin, haven’t you?” Ellie said when they got to the kitchen.

  Caitlin was standing at the refrigerator with the door open, studying the contents. She glanced over at them.

  “Hi, Caitlin,” Hunter said, putting the cookies on the kitchen table and picking Ty up to keep him from running off to explore the whole house. “I’m Hunter, and this is Bethie…”

  “I’m Ty,” Ty said.

  “We brought you some cookies,” Bethie said, offering Caitlin the tin.

  Caitlin managed a smile, opened the tin and took two cookies. After a few awkward moments, during which Ellie slipped out the door, the two girls went off toward the front of the house.

  Miss Pink, who had been sitting at the table looking tired, said in an apologetic voice, “Lord knows what that room up there looks like, but I told Augusta all week not to worry about it until she’s gone. The child is so private, and it seems to have been a comfort to her to have her own space.”

  “I promise you Bethie makes messes of her own,” Hunter said as she sat at the kitchen table, and persuaded Ty to sit on her lap. It was his nap time, and she hoped he wouldn’t get cranky.

  They chatted for a moment about the calamity with Augusta, and what a difficult week it had been.

  Ty finally settled down for a nap.

  And then Pink surprised Hunter with a change of subject.

  “You know,” she said. “Everybody’s been being so tactful around me, but I’ve wanted to know more about that hysterical woman who was upstairs on Monday night. You must know all about it. What was all that about her looking for Lillian?”

  Hunter smiled.

  “I’ve heard Lucasta Tilling really believes in ghosts. She’s part of a paranormal society. They’ve spent time poking around in the cemeteries, too. I think she had the idea she could communicate with Lillian McFall if she went upstairs.”

  Miss Pink sighed and said, “It’s hard to believe that there are still people around here who have even heard that silly old ghost story.”

  ‘Well since you brought up Lillian and that ghost story, there’s something I’m curious about…” Hunter began.

  “I’m not the one to ask,” Pink said with a smile and a little shrug. All I know is that Lillian McFall was Barnard’s aunt who died before he was born. The story I heard when I was a girl—before I even married into this family—was that her heart was broken when her sweetheart died in the first world war.”

  Seeing that the subject wasn’t sensitive and that Ty was now curled up with his thumb in his mouth, Hunter forged on.

  “I’ve been doing some research in the old papers,” she said, “This may surprise you, but it turns out that Lillian wasn’t the one who was engaged to Wilbur Parks. That was her sister, Martha May. I found his death notice, and it mentioned her name as his fiancee. Lillian was a good four years older that Wilbur Parks.”

  “Oh, my goodness! Is that right?” Pink said, looking genuinely surprised and a little amused. “You mean everybody’s got it wrong? Now, I’ve heard about Martha May. I never met her, but I know she left here when she was young. She married some man who worked for the railroad, and they moved to Alabama. Barnard’s got a passel of cousins in Alabama. I don’t think she and his father were close.”

  Barnard McFall came into the kitchen.

  “What are you hens clucking about?” he asked.

  “Oh, silly!” Pink said affectionately. “We were talking about your Aunt Martha May. Do you remember her?”

  “Oh yes. Martha May!” he said. “Papa called her Mattie May. She’s the one who went and married that white trash railroad man from Birmingham.”

  “Barnard McFall!” Pink said. “Don’t be using language like that. She was your aunt.”

  He seemed to be enjoying himself.

  “Well, at least Mattie May wasn’t crazy like Lillian, “ he said. “Papa said Lillian was crazy as a bat. Thought she was Queen Victoria sometimes, and she’d steal any little thing that wasn’t nailed down. They had to take her up to Milledgeville to stay for a year or two. When she got out, they gave her a certificate of sanity, but she was still crazy. They paid a companion for her—had to have somebody with her all the time or she’d wander all over town.”

  Both women stared at him.

  “You never told me that before,” Pink said.

  “I didn’t? Well, I wasn’t supposed to,” Barnard said. “Papa didn’t ever talk about it but one time when he’d had some whiskey. He told me later not to say anything. Of course, Martha May wasn’t anything to brag about. She went and had eight kids in a three bedroom house with a tin roof and no bathroom. But Lillian was stone crazy. His mother, the one who died of the flu when he was little, she was a fine woman from all he said, and she had a lot to put up with.”

  He looked around and asked, “Where’s Augusta?”

  “Barnard, she’s in the hospital,” Pink said, “I told you that. Remember this morning when the ambulance came? “

  “Nobody tells me anything,” he said, and then he turned to look out the window. “Somebody just pulled up in the back.”

  Ty woke up and struggled to get to the floor.

  “Where’s my Bethie?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

  Hunter was glad when Deb McFall came in.

  “Well, I’d better go,” she said, “Come on, Ty. Let’s get Bethie!”

  She got as far as the dining room and called to Bethie, who came out and gave her one almost imperceptible shake of the head.

  Hunter understood quickly that Bethie didn’t want to have Caitlin over for a visit, but her mind was mostly on what she had just learned about Lillian McFall.

  As soon as they were in the car and she had Ty securely in his car seat, she took her reporter’s notebook out of her purse and began writing down everything she could remember from what Barnard McFall had said.

  Bethie waited quietly, with a slight frown on her face that reminded Hunter of Sam in full sheriff mode.

  When Hunter had closed her notebook, Bethie reached into her shoulder bag and held something out in her hand.

  It was a silver watch with a stretch band and a round face. Bethie turned it over to show Hunter the initials RT engraved on the back.

  “Where did you find that?” Hunter asked.

  “In Caitlin’s room,” Bethie said. “It was in a shoebox with some other stuff. I recognized it and looked at the back to be sure. I told her that we gave it to Miss Rose for Christmas.”

  “And what did she say?”

  She said if I wanted it she�
��d sell it to me for $5 but not to tell anybody where I got it.”

  “You didn’t pay her for it?” Hunter asked, astonished.

  “I did,” Bethie said, looking stubborn. “I just gave her the money and she took it. I didn’t want to have some big fight with her about it. I just wanted to get it for Miss Rose. She told me if I wanted anything else in the box, she’d sell those things, too. She stole it, Mom. She didn’t care anything about it. She just stole it, and I’m going to tell Dad.”

  “Well, she’s been having a real hard time,” Hunter said, trying to make sense of it. “Her father just died, and…”

  “I don’t know why everybody feels so sorry for her,” Bethie said. “It’s not like she even tries to be nice. She probably stole all those other things, too.”

  They were silent for the next block, as Hunter tried to think things though.

  Finally, she said, “I’m glad you didn’t invite her to our house!” and they both laughed.

  “I wouldn’t want her in our house for anything,” Bethie said. “Can we go by Miss Rose’s house before we go home? I’ll just tell her one of the ladies found it. She’ll probably be glad that she was right about where she left it.”

  Chapter 40

  Not long after Hunter pulled out of the McFalls’ driveway, Deb McFall heard from Tab.

  “Mom,” he said, “Don’t panic. I’m okay. It looks like I’ve totaled my car, though. I hit a deer and went into the ditch. Can you come and get me?”

  “Where on earth are you?” she asked.

  “I’m in Jeffersonville at the police station, but I’m not under arrest or anything. They just brought us here after we called 9-1-1. Jack’s got a friend here, but he won’t be home until later, and Jack’s going to have to ask him for a ride back to Macon. It’s a long story. Do you know how to get to Jeffersonville?”

  “I don’t have any idea how to get there,” Deb said, moving into the dining room to talk a little more privately. “And I can’t leave, anyway. You don’t know what’s going on here. I’m at your grandparents’ house. Somebody hit Augusta on the head last night, and she’s in the hospital with a concussion.” She lowered her voice, “And your grandmother needs somebody here to help with your grandfather, and Sheriff Bailey’s been asking for you.”

  “Why would anybody hurt Augusta?” Tab asked. “That’s awful. Where was she? Did somebody break in? Why’s Sheriff Bailey asking for me?”

  “She was in the guest house,” Deb said, her voice rising a little. “The sheriff wants to talk to you since you made yourself look suspicious by just taking off without telling anybody and then not answering your phone. You need to call his office and let him know where you are, and then just get a rental car or get Jack’s friend to drive you home. You’re a grown man, Tab. Figure it out, and call Sheriff Bailey right now.”

  “Is that Tab? Don’t hang up. I need to talk to him. Where is he?”

  It was Caitlin

  “Yes, it was Tab,” Deb said, folding her phone shut and heading back to the kitchen. “He went out on a lark with one of his college friends and hit a deer, so now his car’s wrecked and he’s stuck in Jeffersonville.”

  “My goodness,” Pink said. “How’s he going to get home? Do you need to go get him?”

  “He got himself over there, and he can get himself back,” Deb said.

  “You have to go get him!” Caitlin said with her hands on her hips. “I need to talk to him before my mom gets here, and besides, there’s nothing to eat here. I wanted him to pick up a pizza for us.”

  “Excuse me, young lady!” Deb said, her voice turning icy. “That whole refrigerator is full of food, and you don’t speak to me in that tone of voice.”

  “Oh, please, girls!” Pink said. “Don’t fuss.”

  Caitlin stormed off, and Deb turned to Pink.

  “I am not a girl,” she said. “And I taught school too long to let a bratty teenager talk to me that way. I know she’s under a lot of stress, but so are we all. And I’ll tell you something else. I took a peek into that front parlor, and you’re going to need to get Squeaky Cleaners over here when she leaves.”

  “I’m sorry, Deb,” Pink said after a little thought. “She shouldn’t have spoken to you that way. You’re so good to us, and I’m afraid she is a bit of a brat. I’ll be glad when her mother gets here.”

  Deb didn’t argue with that.

  Bethie came back out to the car smiling after returning the watch to Miss Rose.

  “She was so glad to get it back,” she said. “She said she was really worried about her memory after she asked Miss Ellie to get it for her, and it didn’t turn up over there.”

  “What did you tell her about finding it?” Hunter asked.

  “I just told her that one of the ladies found it. I didn’t know which one.”

  Hunter, who had been looking through her purse, handed Bethie a five dollar bill.

  After Tab called him, Sam called the Sheriff of Twiggs County, and together, they worked out a plan to transport Tab McFall from one county line to the next.

  “Let’s say he’s a person of interest,” Sam said. “I’ll appreciate your help, and I really do need to talk with him about a case we’ve got going on. If you can get him to the Houston County line, and let the state patrol get him to the Magnolia County line, I’ll have somebody pick him up there. What shape is he in?”

  “Shook up, but fine, and he passed a breathalyzer test,” the sheriff said, “He’s lucky to be alive, though. I think he was probably speeding, and that’s a bad road for deer coming out of nowhere.”

  Chapter 41

  That night Bethie told her father about Caitlin’s having Miss Rose’s watch.

  “That’s really strange,” he said. “I’m glad you got it back for Miss Rose.”

  “It’s not just strange, Dad,” Bethie argued. “She stole it. Miss Rose isn’t losing her memory. She left it on the kitchen window sill, and Caitlin just picked it up and took it to her room. I’ll bet when Miss Ellie was hunting for them the next day, she didn’t even think to look in that messed up room where Caitlin’s staying. Why would she?”

  “She shouldn’t have done that,” Sam said gently. “It’s pretty bad, but I think things have been pretty bad for her for a while.”

  “Why does everybody make excuses for her?” Bethie asked. “If I did something like that you’d ground me until I was thirty.”

  Hunter intervened with a suggestion that they build a fire and agree not to mention any of the McFalls for the evening.

  Later, when Ty was in bed, and Sam and Bethie settled down on the sofa with Flannery to watch The Princess Bride one more time, Hunter headed for her computer to chat with Nikki and break her own ban on mentioning the McFalls.

  Latest installment in Looking for Lillian, she wrote, The old man of the family, who would be Lillian’s nephew, says his father said that Lillian thought she was Queen Victoria part of the time, and that she was “stone crazy”—that she had to go to Milledgeville (That’s where there’s a big psychiatric hospital, but they called it the Lunatic Asylum back then), and then she had to have a full-time companion, because she tended to wander around and steal things. The really weird coincidence is that Bethie spent some time with Buzz McFall’s teenaged daughter today and found that she had stolen Miss Rose’s watch. Bethie bought it back from her for $5.

  It was a half hour before Nikki responded.

  What a story. It sounds like kleptomania runs in the family. Creepy. Was that the watch you gave Miss Rose for Christmas?

  Hunter answered.

  Yes, it was the Christmas gift, and she had taken it off to wash some dishes over there, and it just disappeared.

  Nikki wrote back:

  I hope Bethie’s getting her $5 back. Sounds like that kid is all messed up. Is it snowing down there? It’s snowing here.

  N
o, Hunter wrote. Looks like we just got nasty cold weather with none of the benefits. Lots of people have colds or flu.

  She started to tell Nikki about Augusta Wren’s being attacked, but decided she had been depressing enough, and changed the subject.

  How did your date with that writer turn out?

  Which date? Nikki wrote back. “The fifth date or the sixth date? Anyway, wonderful. He reads books, and we agree on politics. If the weather settles down, we’re driving up to the North Georgia mountains next weekend!”

  Getting serious? Hunter wrote, and Nikki answered with a smiley face.

  Well, if the weather’s too bad in the north, you two could always head south and see us, Hunter wrote.

  Chapter 42

  After church on Sunday, Sam Bailey drove his family home and came in with them, planning to have lunch and get right back to work.

  He wolfed down two ham sandwiches between phone calls.

  He made his fourth call to Declan Reeves, whose father had provided his new number. Declan wasn’t answering messages, and Sam was getting impatient.

  After that, Sam left a message for Deputy Skeet Borders and made a third call to Taneesha, who answered and said she and Jeremy were at her grandmother’s house for Sunday dinner.

  She promised to go to the hospital and see about Augusta Wren.

  “And something else I wish you’d do,” Sam said, looking around to make sure Bethie wasn’t within hearing distance. “Get in touch with Sabrina McFall and ask her if Caitlin has any history of behavior problems, particularly stealing. I’ll tell you more later.”

  Then he called the McFall home.

  Tab McFall answered.

  “I want to come by and talk with you and to Caitlin,” Sam said. He could hear high-pitched voices in the background.

  “Hold on,” Tab said in a low voice, “Let me go in another room.”

  In half a minute, he was back on the phone.

  “Sheriff Bailey, this isn’t the best time. I’m about to take my grandparents out to ride around a while and maybe go over to our house because they’re getting upset. Caitlin’s mom got here about an hour ago, and they’re having a big fight,”