Рита Браун - Tail Gait

“Did he speak to you personally?”

“He did. He said the storm caused damage and they could use extra hands, get stuff on the market faster. The storm slowed them down. We’d be paid the day rate, minimum wage at the end of the day. In cash.”

“Is that the usual arrangement?”

“Yes, Ma’am. No one would work iff’n it weren’t cash. They can screw you with a check.”

Cooper smiled. “I understand.” She did, too.

Harry butted in. “What about withholding?”

Snoop shook his head. “Don’t know about that. At the end of the day I have eight or ten hours, minimum wage. I don’t file income tax.” He laughed lightly.

Cooper smiled a bit, then kept on. “What did you say to Harley Simpson?”

“I said I had other things to do. I’m not getting back in that truck. Maybe like Frank, I won’t come back.”

“Were you on the mall the day Frank took a job with Huber Landscaping?”

“No. I never saw him take that job. Frank would work hard for a couple of weeks, then stop working. He needed more money, I think. He was ready to work, but I didn’t see him take the job.”

“Do you know where he went when he wasn’t working?”

He bent over to pick up a rag he’d been using, folded it neatly on his leg. “Sometimes. He’d go to the library. He’d take long walks to see what was happening downtown. Once or twice he even walked out to Pantops Mountain. Or he said he did.”

“Ever mention anyone he saw or spoke with?”

Shaking his head, Snoop answered, “No. People don’t come up and talk to us.”

“But Frank was famous or had been a star,” Cooper reminded him.

“A long time ago. When he’d let his hair and beard grow, few recognized him.”

“Did you know Professor McConnell?”

“No.”

“Did you ever think that Frank had gone to see him?”

“No.”

“Did he ever go to charities, places where he might be fed?”

“We’d all go down to the Salvation Army sometimes for a shower.”

“Why not more often?”

“They rub the Bible on you.”

Cooper had grown up with that old Southern phrase, so she nodded in understanding. “Anyone on the mall that visited him sometimes?”

“No.”

“Do you know where he slept?”

“Depended on the weather. If it’s clear and warm, we’d curl up anywhere where we couldn’t be seen. If it’s raining, we’d hang out in the parking garages until they threw us out. Sometimes the stairwells.”

“What about when it was cold?”

“The underpass was good. Late at night we could start a fire in a metal barrel and sleep close to it. Until you all would find us, but you didn’t sweep us too often.”

Cooper smiled a bit. “Most times, Snoop, we have nowhere to put you, especially if the jail is full. You’d be surprised at how often the city jail and the county jail fill up.” She looked down at her notes.

“We used to be able to sleep in the post office at night, but not anymore,” he said. “There’s always a cop who comes in the middle of the night.”

“Because the post office is supposed to be open to the public at all hours, the P.O. Boxes anyway,” Cooper replied.

“I know. People don’t want to step over us. In the old days, some were nice. They’d bring food and leave it if we were asleep.”

“Any other places when it was cold or bad weather?”

“We mostly knew where the construction sites were. The ones in town are close, but they’re patrolled. If we could thumb rides out of the city or walk, the new subdivisions were pretty good, although we couldn’t start fires. That’s why the underpass is so good. Nothing to burn except the wood in the barrel.”

“Who would want to kill Frank?”

“I don’t know. The crew bosses, especially Huber’s people, or the big construction dude, they all knew Frank pretty good. Doesn’t mean they wanted to kill him. Doesn’t mean I wanted to talk to them either.”

“Did you ever see Paul Huber or—” She looked to Harry.

“Marshall Reese,” Harry replied.

“In passing. I never spoke to them until I found the letter opener in the truck. I told the crew boss; he called the sheriff’s office. We waited for you all. Mr. Huber drove in. That’s the closest I’ve ever been to him.”

“Did Frank ever mention them?”

He smoothed over the rag again, thought. “He said once that it was easier to work for Huber than Reese. They were at college before he was, but according to Frank, good players.”

“Did he say why?”

“Kinda funny, I mean, I don’t get it. He said Paul Huber was a halfback like he was. He used the term same wavelength. Said Reese was different, defense. Frank said defense people are spoilers. Me, I ran track and field in high school. So I don’t know but he believed there was a big difference.”

“H-m-m.” Cooper considered this. “I never thought about that either.” She looked at Harry. “Your husband played football at Auburn.”

“Did. Wide receiver. When you’re that tall and have good hands, that’s where you go.”

“Did he ever mention this?” Cooper asked Harry.

“You know, he doesn’t talk about it very much except to say he’d rather play offense than defense, no matter the sport.”

“H-m-m.” She turned her attention back to Snoop. “I will try to find you a safe place. Even if it turns out to be jail, trust me. I don’t know if you’re in danger, but you found valuable evidence, you knew one of the victims, and the two victims knew one another.”

“I think I’m safe here if they’ll keep me.”

Harry opened her mouth, but Cooper immediately said, “For now, Snoop. But Harry has such a wide circle of friends, sooner or later someone will see you or know you’re here. I think we’d better be safe than sorry. Give me and the sheriff a little time to find you another place.”

Sensing the interview was almost over, Harry thought she could ask some questions without irritating Cooper. “Snoop, did Frank have any other hangouts?”

“No.” He paused. “Sometimes he’d walk down to the courthouse or old Lane High School.”

“To get out of the weather? Stay warm?”

“That helped, but he said he was looking for chains.”

“Chains,” both women said at once.

“That’s what he said, but he never brought any back.”

May 9, 2015

Marveling at the size of the homes under construction, Harry drove through Continental Estates. As it was Saturday, no workmen labored on rooftops or installed windows in the almost completed section. The subdivision followed a grid pattern, except the roads were curvy to accentuate the country feel.

She wanted to find the border between Continental Estates and The Barracks. Across Ivy Creek, large homes were built about fifteen years ago on twenty-acre lots. East of that rested Ingleside, which was the old Jones land broken up into expensive houses.

The old Jones land once covered both sides of Garth Road. What she wanted to do was look at this new development, paying particular attention to those homes that were ready to go on the market with landscaping finished. She figured it was from one of these sites that Frank was carried off. Where he was killed was unknown. How he was killed was finally known, as Cooper told her he was stabbed and the murder weapon was Snoop’s letter opener.

Saratoga Road was the center road, and other roads fanned off of that. Parallel to Saratoga Road was Yorktown Road. Given that only part of Saratoga was nearly finished, she could easily see the layout of the land, as most of the trees had been bulldozed down. Marshall, under the guidance of Paul, did keep all the trees along the creek bed as well as a few magnificent trees that were two centuries old. Once all this was finished, sod on the huge lawns, plantings in place, the old trees would be anchors. Marshall even designed a square such as old colonial towns had. Many were still in use throughout the original thirteen colonies. Around this area, he planned to build houses made to look as though they were from the early eighteenth century. These clapboard buildings, a few stone, would house a pharmacy, a pub, a restaurant, and doctors’ offices, and some would be residences.