Joan Hess - Maggody And The Moonbeams

Corporal Robarts, Ruby Bee, Bonita, and I went into the PD. Les, who'd found something to amuse himself, crammed the magazine back into the bottom drawer of Chief Panknine's desk and stood up.

"I caught the suspect trying to break into the hardware store down the street," he said.

"Very good," I murmured. "I need you to take Bonita back to the motel and Ruby Bee out to the lodge."

"Mrs. Coldwater's staying at the lodge?" said Corporal Robarts. "That seems kinda strange."

"Stranger than fiction," I agreed.

Bonita sat down. "There's nothing wrong with me."

Ruby Bee clucked under her breath. "You might ought to take a look at yourself in a mirror. If you'd been brawlin' at the bar, I'd have to think you were on the losing side. Why doncha come along to the lodge and have a nice hot piece of pizza? Afterward, you can sit on the porch with Estelle and me and tell us all about yourself. A nice girl like you shouldn't be sporting a black eye and a fat lip. Now Arly here-"

"Enough," I said. "Maybe you should go with her, Bonita. When I get there, I can bring you back to the motel. You may be feeling okay at the moment, but you'll be needing another pain pill before too long."

Reverting to his John Wayne mode, Corporal Robarts slapped his weapon. "I'll stay here to guard the prisoner."

"You'll stay in this room while I talk to him," I said. "Go on, Les. You deserve pizza, too."

"And a bowl of cherry cobbler," said Ruby Bee, the siren of Stump County.

I waited until they left, then turned to Corporal Robarts. "As soon as I've had a few words with Duluth, we'll go have supper at your house."

"Shouldn't I call my mother and tell her we're coming?"

"You can call and tell her you've decided to shave your head and dance by the light of the moon. I'll be back in a few minutes."

I went down the hallway and stopped in front of the cell. Duluth sat on the edge of the bunk, glowering. His complexion was less greenish than it had been earlier, and his eyes were more yellow than red, which I assumed was a sign of recovery in the Buchanon clan.

"So, another alien visitor?" I said.

"I oughta be selling my story to one of those cable shows, but I'd just as soon go home and forget about it. Fer chrissake, Arly, all I did was get drunk. Even Sheriff Dorfer turns me loose after twelve hours."

I realized I hadn't told him what had happened the previous day. "Norella was found dead. It's pretty hard to ignore the fact that you came here looking for her."

"Dead? You sure?"

"Somebody went after her with a bat. Her body was left in a creek behind the softball field."

"What about my boys?"

"They're fine," I said, hoping they were. Judith and Naomi were far from Mary Poppins material, but I could not imagine either of them harming a child. "Why should I believe you never went to Camp Pearly Gates yesterday afternoon?"

"'Cause I didn't, dammit! I already told you that I sat in my truck and got drunk. If you'd known Norella, you'd understand. You ever run across a rabid dog, foaming at the mouth and jerking ever' which way? Norella could get like that, 'specially when she was high on meth. I'd take the boys to her ma's house, then go to the Dew Drop to shoot some pool till I figured it was safe to go home."

I did my best to look sympathetic. "Must have been tough, Duluth. Let's talk about the call Norella made to her mother. A few days ago, you said?"

"That's when I heard about it. Do you think you can take off this damn cuff? I don't fancy pissing in my pants, but I'm gonna have no choice afore too long."

"You'll have to take your best shot at the sink. What exactly did Norella say to her mother?"

He made it clear I wasn't winning him over with my winsome smile. "Aw, hell, I don't know. She said she knew where to get enough money so's she could leave with the boys."

"Get money from where?"

"You wanna talk to Norella's mother, you call her. Any chance of getting a six-pack?"

"You drove over the River Styx on your way here," I said. "Live with it."

He was grousing as I went back into the office. Corporal Robarts looked no more genial than the prisoner, but I presumed he wasn't worried about wetting his pants.

"Is your mother expecting us?" I asked.

"Yeah, she's pleased as punch. You planning to scrape the shit off your shoes before we go?"

He was a boy whom only his mother could love. "What a charming idea," I gushed. "Willetta and I had a most intriguing conversation over fried chicken earlier today. She thinks you need a firm hand."

His face turned pink. "She didn't start on that, did she?"

"On what?" I asked. When he was unable to respond, I said, "Let's go, shall we?"

We took separate vehicles to his house. Willetta was in the foyer, her hands intertwined as if she'd been offering a prayer.

"How lovely of you to join us, Arly," she said. "Don't you agree, Anthony?"

"Yeah, right." He stomped upstairs; moments later, a door slammed.

"Anthony is so sensitive," she said as she took me to the dining room. "He was inconsolable when his puppy died last year."

She did not seem to realize the incongruity of her remark. I smiled and sat midway down the table. Beaming at me, she prattled on as though we were discussing brands of potting soil or the price of begonias. "May I assume you've solved this grisly crime? Dunkicker has always been a quiet little community. We've never had any violence of this sort."

"I wanted to ask you about Ester," I said.

"Ester?" she echoed.

"She cleaned for you, right?"

"Yes, but she was unsatisfactory. It's my understanding that she's gone. Ruth was the name of the woman who was killed yesterday. Why would you ask about Ester?"

"Why was she unsatisfactory?"

Willetta poured a glass of iced tea and put it by me. "Ester was a nice enough girl, reasonably attractive, soft-spoken, and really quite pleasant in her own way, but…"

Anthony came into the dining room and sat down. "Just tell her, Mother. It's not like she's gonna sue you for badmouthin' her."

Willetta winced. "I offered Ester the opportunity to clean and cook, despite her lack of domestic skills. Within a week I began to notice things missing. At first, it was nothing more than change from my handbag or a trinket from my jewelry box. I tried to sit down with her, but she was defiant and angry. Then, well, sadly, the telephone bill came. Ester had made several long-distance calls that were charged to our account."

"Who did she call?" I asked.

"She'd made half a dozen calls to a number in Florida," Anthony said as he chomped down on a drumstick. "When we confronted her, she broke down and admitted it. She wouldn't say why, though, so Mother had no choice but to fire her. I guess I should have saved the bill but I thought the matter was resolved."

"Did you report this to Deborah?" I asked.

Willetta shook her head. "I didn't want to further embarrass the girl. We didn't know anything about her background, so maybe this was an habitual thing, like shoplifting or kleptomania. I even gave her a week's salary as severance pay, although I would have been well within my rights to demand that she make reparations. I still feel bad about it. If I could have helped her, I would have. She was very unhappy."

"But she decided to forsake her commitment to the Daughters of the Moon and abandon her children?"

Anthony stared at me over the remains of the gnawed drumstick. "Three days later she asked me to take her to the bus station in Starley City. She cried all the way and said she'd send for her children when she could afford it. What was I supposed to do-tell her to walk?"

"Did you go into the bus station with her?"

"She told me to drop her off out front. I was wearing my uniform, so I guess she didn't want to be seen with me. She said she had enough money for a ticket. I took her suitcase out of the trunk and set it on the sidewalk, then drove off."