Diana Anderson - Entering Southern Country 01 - Famous in a Small Town

by Diana Anderson

  She looked to her right and shook her head.

  “What was he to you?”

  She shrugged. “I did like him, but I saw he was making drugs, so I not like him anymore.”

  “Did you work for the Rayburns?”

  “Sí … yes.”

  “Did you ever take anything from the Rayburns’ house that didn’t belong to you?”

  She lowered her head and looked down at her hands in her lap.

  “No. Mr. Angus would kill me if I took from him. I could not work for him any longer. He is angry all the time.” She looked up at him and then looked down at the table.

  “Do you know Jorge Ramirez?”

  Her head jerked up. He saw her throat muscles work when she swallowed. “No.”

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He stood, went out the door, and closed it behind him.

  “Justin?” he called out.

  Justin walked into the hallway. “Sir?”

  “Call Gaylene, and asked her more about the two men she saw wearing suits and carrying a duffle bag.”

  Justin nodded and left the hallway.

  35

  “I don’t know where those two have gone. Ted knows I’m in pain.” Callie peered out the garage door and noticed Ted’s car was gone. She rolled her eyes. “Some doctor he is, leaving his patient unattended.”

  She turned and let out a shriek. She clasped her hand over her heart. “You scared the daylights out of me.”

  Salvador stood in front of her with a wide grin on his face. He reached for her, but she sidestepped him.

  “Are you upset with me?” he asked. “I did not mean to frighten you.”

  “No. I’ve got a lot on my mind and things to do, and you’re in my way.” She waved him off with her hand.

  “What do you have to do that is more important than me?” He followed her into the den.

  “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Does this have to do with us?”

  After she reached the foyer, she turned toward him and smiled. “Of course not. It’s just something has come up, and I need to take care of it.”

  “What?”

  Her shoulders went slack, and she gazed up at the ceiling in exasperation. “Why are you so inquisitive lately?” She looked back at him. “Don’t you trust me?”

  He eyed her a moment and then said, “Sí … sure.”

  “I’ll be out the rest of the evening. Why don’t you go on home?” She turned, grabbed her car keys, and headed out the front door.

  Salvador watched the door close behind her. He stepped over to the glass dish on the table and eyed the assortment of keys. He reached in and latched onto a set, turned, went into the kitchen, and on out the patio door. Beyond the patio and the pool area was a path that led to a building that housed the lawn and gardening equipment. He entered the building and flipped on the light. Everything was kept neat. Rakes, garden hoses, hedgers, trimmers, and other equipment hung on the pegboard walls. The back wall of the building had a wall to wall workbench with overhead cabinets. Nearby was a large aluminum garbage can. He walked around the riding mower and the push mower and on toward the back of the building. He grabbed a fresh pair of gardening gloves from a box on the workbench and slipped them on his hands. He raised the lid on the garbage can, reached inside, and lifted out a garbage bag. He closed the lid, walked around to the other side of the room, and lifted a shovel from a hook.

  36

  Gaylene stood in front of a two way mirror in the sheriff’s office and eyed the woman on the other side in the interrogation room. Justin and Cal stood near the window and watched.

  “The first time, you told Justin about the two men at the Inn who were dressed in suits. You had said one was fragile looking. Then when he called you a half an hour ago, you said that the smaller of the two could have been a woman that was with Jorge Ramirez. Have you seen this woman before?” Cal asked.

  Gaylene gave her head a small shake. “I’m not sure.” She continued to stare at the woman.

  “Just think back and try to remember,” Justin said.

  Gaylene closed her eyes a moment and then opened them again. “I only saw the smaller of the two at a distance. Can you have her to stand up?”

  Cal nodded at Justin. Justin exited the room, and soon opened the door, and entered the interrogation room. When he spoke to Lupe, she stood up and said something in response. Justin continued to carry on a conversation with her.

  Cal watched Gaylene. She gave her head a quick shake. “I can’t say for sure. I don’t know what it is. She’s the right height and weight, but …” She shook her head again. “Lord knows I don’t want to point a finger at the wrong person.” She turned to Cal. “I’m sorry. I can’t say a hundred percent that this is the person I saw with that Ramirez guy that day. However, I did see him enter his room at another time with a woman, but she’s not the one.” She pointed her thumb toward the mirror.

  Cal tapped on the mirror. Justin left the room.

  “Another woman?”

  “Yeah, but there was definitely some hanky-panky stuff goin’ on that time.”

  “What are you saying?” he asked.

  “They were all huggy and kissy all over each other stuff.” Gaylene shifted her weight to one foot and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Did you get a good look at her?”

  “Not up close.”

  “So you don’t know who she is?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know everybody in this town.”

  “Would you recognize her if you saw her again?”

  “I don’t know.” She looked through the mirror at Lupe. “But—”

  “I need to speak with the sheriff … now,” a voice called out from the lobby.

  Cal held up a finger for Gaylene to hold the thought. He left the room.

  Gaylene turned back toward the window and watched the woman pacing in the interrogation room. A minute later, Cal entered the room again.

  “Sorry about that. What were you saying?”

  “I was gonna say, that even with a baseball cap, I couldn’t tell you if she was the one wearing a suit with Jorge that day.”

  Justin poked his head in the room. “Sheriff, Mrs. Wallace is a very impatient woman.”

  “I told her I’d be with her in a minute.”

  “I know, but … .”

  “Okay, I think we are done here. Turn Lupe loose. If she needs a lift to where ever she’s staying, give her a ride.”

  Justin headed for the interrogation room.

  Cal turned back to Gaylene. “Justin?” Cal called out.

  A few seconds later, he poked his head inside the door. “Sir?”

  “On second thought, give her a ride so we’ll have an address on her.”

  “Sure thing.” Justin disappeared.

  Cal turned to Gaylene. “Thanks for your time. If you remember or think of anything that might help with this case, don’t hesitate to call.”

  “Will do, Sheriff.”

  He stepped aside to allow her to leave the room and then followed. They walked out into the lobby. Callie stood up from where she’d been seated in a chair against the opposite wall.

  “It’s about time. I don’t have all night,” Callie said and then eyed Gaylene.

  Justin and Lupe emerged from the interrogation room and entered the lobby. Callie and Gaylene watched them walk past. Lupe eyed the two women all the way to the front door.

  Callie turned her gaze back to Cal. She hurried across the room toward him. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed her mouth and eyed Gaylene again.

  Gaylene kept her eyes on her for a moment, and then walked across the room, and out the door.

  Cal watched her leave and then looked at Callie. “What is it you need, Mrs. Wallace?”

  Callie batted her eyelashes at him and smiled. “Here we go with Mrs. Wallace again. I told you to call me Callie.”

  “I have business to tend to, so if you don’t mind, I’d ap
preciate it if you’d speed it up a bit with whatever it is that you want to see me about.”

  She heaved a sigh and then looked around the room. Deputy Porter walked down the hallway with a mug of coffee in her hand and then entered the room.

  “Can we speak in private?” she asked.

  “What’s this about?”

  “I’ll tell you in private, Cal, but not in here.” She cut her eyes and tilted her head toward the deputy.

  Cal motioned her toward his office.

  “Wow!” Callie said as she entered and looked around the room. “So is this where you question all the bad people?” She walked over to his desk. “It’s just like Law and Order SVU.” She placed a finger on her bottom lip. “Or is it Law and Order SUV?”

  He left the door wide open, turned toward her, and folded his arms across his chest. “No, this is my office. What did you need to speak with me about?”

  She turned toward him. “I’m trying to mend fences with Agnes, and I thought you might be able to help.”

  A knock fell on the door facing. Cal turned toward Deputy Porter.

  “Sir, sorry to interrupt, but can I speak with you a moment?” she asked.

  Cal walked out the door.

  “Cal?” Callie whined.

  Without looking back, he said, “I’ll be right back.”

  A few minutes later, he stepped back into his office. Callie stood in the middle of the room with her back turned toward him.

  “Okay, let’s get this over with.” Cal said.

  Callie jerked around and dropped a set of keys on the floor. She knelt down, snatched them up, and dropped them into her purse. She stood back up and clutched her purse to her middle. Her knuckles turned white.

  While Cal watched her approach him, he noticed her slight pigeon toe as she walked. When she was in front of him, he said, “You’ll have to work out your own problems with Ag … Raven. You caused the problem, you fix the problem. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work to do.”

  “Oh, Cal?” She batted her eyelashes at him. “Why must you be so mean?”

  He stepped aside, placed his hand on the edge of the door, and made a sweeping motion toward the hallway with his other hand.

  Her shoulders slumped. “I can’t believe you can be so cold. I thought you once cared about Agnes … and me. I know she’s still in a lot of pain with the way things happened back then. Why, I’d do all I could if you needed a favor.”

  “I’ll never need a favor from you, Mrs. Wallace.”

  She narrowed her gaze at him for a moment, then turned on her heel, and huffed out of the room.

  Cal crossed the room, stepped around his desk, and sat down in his chair. He leaned in, placed his elbows on the desktop, and ran his fingers through his hair.

  “Sir?” Deputy Porter stood in the doorway.

  Cal looked up at her.

  “You know that lady that just left here? Well, sir, she kicked me on the shin on her way out.”

  “What brought that on?”

  She shrugged. “All I said was, ‘I hope you have a pleasant evening’.”

  37

  The sky overhead began to change from a vivid blue to coral as the evening sun slid behind a thunderhead in the west. The tall billowy clouds were rimmed with a bright silver lining.

  Ted held tight to the leash as he and Raven walked behind the dog down the black topped narrow path in the city park. The smell of fresh mowed grass was in the air.

  “You know, all the years I had lived here, this is the first time I’ve ever been in the park?”

  “Really?” Ted glanced at her.

  “I remember the few occasions riding with my mother into town and seeing families walking on the path or kids playing.”

  “She never took you to the park?”

  Raven chuckled.

  “What?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing.”

  Ted kept glancing at her as they continued to walk. “Tell me, what was it like growing up? I mean, living with your mom and Virgil?”

  She stopped. He gripped the leash tighter and turned. Her eyes had a far away look for a moment. She blinked several times and looked toward the west at the thunderhead.

  “Lonely,” she said with no emotion.

  “I’m sorry.”

  She looked back at him. “No need for you to be sorry. I wasn’t a planned baby. I was an accident.”

  “No! Don’t say that.” He searched the depths of her eyes. “God doesn’t make mistakes, Raven. You were a surprise maybe, but never a mistake.”

  She studied him a moment and then asked, “Are you a Christian?”

  He smiled. “Not a very good one, but I try.”

  “Don’t we all?” She chuckled.

  “You’ve never told me what you do in New York.”

  She hesitated and then said, “I’m a writer.”

  He tilted his head. “Oh, really?”

  She nodded.

  “What kind of writing do you do?”

  “Actually, I’ve authored several books and have written numerous articles for various magazines.”

  “Caldonia never told me that you were an author.” He shook his head.

  “Oh, she doesn’t know.”

  His brows rose. “She doesn’t know? Why not?”

  “It’s not something I share, and only a few people know.”

  “Now, you’ve lost me.”

  She looked away. “When I left here, my name was Agnes Neal. I had my name changed right before I released my first novel. There isn’t a picture of me on any of my novels or any of the articles I’ve written. My fans don’t know what I look like. As a matter-of-fact, they know very little about me.”

  “But why don’t you want anyone to know who you are?”

  She looked back at him. “I don’t want anyone to know where I came from or anything about my past.” She folded her arms across her chest and leaned on one leg. “I wrote women’s contemporary fiction novels.”

  He eyed her a moment. “Okay, but I still don’t get it.” He raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you said, you wrote. You don’t anymore?”

  She shook her head. “I write mystery and suspense now. Although my first novel had mystery in it, it was still considered contemporary.”

  His expression never changed. “I’m assuming that’s a step up and not a step down.”

  “A step up for me. Right now, there’s a large market for that genre. I was working on my next one when I got the call about Virgil.”

  He stepped closer and continued to listen with interest.

  “Readers want to know about the author. My picture might be in the next one. I thought I had decided, but I’m really not so sure about that now.”

  “Well, Raven, I don’t see how you have anything to be ashamed of about your past.”

  She looked down and moved the toe of her sandal like she was squashing a bug. “If I want to forget, I can’t if everyone around me knows or remembers.”

  She lifted her hand and wiped a tear from her cheek.

  “Raven?”

  She looked up at him. Her eyes brimmed with tears.

  He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I made you cry.”

  She gave him a weak smile. “No, you didn’t. I never could talk about this without …” She sniffed and then wrinkled her nose. “Let’s just change the subject, okay?”

  He nodded and looked beyond her. She turned her head and looked in that direction.

  “Who’s that?” she asked.

  “That’s Mrs. Rayburn. She takes care of the rose garden here.” He looked down at Raven. “Have you met her?”

  Raven shook her head.

  He tugged on the leash. “Well, come on, and you’ll get to see the roses. They are beautiful this time of year.”

  They followed the path around to the entrance of the rose garden and walked under the arbor that was laced with red climbing roses. Suzanne was knelt down beside a rosebush. A wide white br
immed hat shaded her fair skin. She wore a long sleeved white shirt and a pair of jeans. She had a pair of garden nippers in her gloved hand. When she saw them, she stood up and watched them approach.

  She smiled and said, “Dr. Wallace?”

  Ted smiled at her and stopped several feet away to see what Gabriel’s reaction would be. The dog eyed the woman. His tongue slid out the side of his mouth, his tail wagged, and his feet did a happy dance.

  Suzanne’s gazed rested on Raven, and she lost her smile.

  “This is Raven Sawyer, my … step-daughter. Raven this is Suzanne Rayburn.”

  Raven stepped over and extended her hand. Suzanne removed her gloves and held her hand out to her.

  Suzanne’s smile returned. “It’s a pleasure, Raven. You look familiar. Have we met before?”

  “No. But it’s nice to meet you too.”

  The dog tugged on the leash, his tail still wagged. Ted stepped closer.

  “This is Gabriel,” Ted said.

  “Well, now, Gabriel,” she said as she let him smell her hand, “it’s nice to meet you too.” He sniffed and gave her hand a swipe with his tongue. She patted his head. “He’s a beautiful dog.” She looked at Ted. “Is he yours?”

  Ted shook his head. “No, he’s Raven’s. She’s trying to find him a good home.”

  “Oh?” Her eyebrows raised, and she eyed the animal. “He’s a good sized dog. Is he full grown?”

  “The vet said that he was,” Raven said. “Rayburn? Are you related to the sheriff?”

  Suzanne looked at her. “By marriage. He’s my step-son.”

  A rumbling in the west caught their attention. All heads turned in that direction.

  “Seems we have a storm approaching,” Suzanne said. “I need to gather my things.”

  “Do you need any help?” Ted asked.

  “If you don’t mind.”

  Ted handed the leash off to Raven. Gabriel took a few steps over to a rosebush and sniffed at a bloom. Raven smiled at him and then lost her smile when he hiked his leg and peed on the bush.

  “Oh no!” she said.

  Ted and Suzanne turned and looked.