Joan Hess - Maggody And The Moonbeams

"Well, she didn't exactly blend in, even with a scarf around her head," I said. "I'll have the sheriff send a deputy there tomorrow to see if anyone remembers which bus she took. We ought to be able to trace her all the way to Florida, if that's where she went."

"Why bother?" he asked, grabbing another piece of chicken. "She's probably found a job and is saving up to arrange for her children to join her. She was convinced that she could do it in a few weeks."

"I'd like to know if she has any idea who might have been stalking Ruth."

"Stalking Ruth?" said Willetta. "Don't you have her ex-husband in custody? Shouldn't you be starting with him?"

"He's the most likely," I admitted, "but he keeps swearing he never went out to Camp Pearly Gates. Ruth said that she was going to look for her son just as the storm hit, but I don't see how her ex-husband would have known this. It seems more likely that she had arranged to…"

"Meet somebody?" suggested Willetta.

"Yes," I said, "and I can almost put a name to it. This has been lovely, but I need to go now."

She put down her glass. "Now, Arly, I realize you're used to having free run in Maggody, but we do things differently in Dunkicker."

"Why don't you drop by the lodge and share your grievances with Mrs. Jim Bob? She seems to think I need to consult her every time I issue a speeding ticket. Corporal Robarts, stop by the café and drive Sarah back to the Beamers' site with you. You're under orders to spend the night there. I'll ask Les to stay at the PD and read a bedtime story to the prisoner. I have a feeling they'll enjoy the illustrations."

I left before either of them could sputter.

Everything seemed peaceful at the lodge. Les had removed the visible vestiges of his profession and was flinging a Frisbee with Parwell, Big Mac, Billy Dick, and Larry Joe. The girls had flopped over to maximize tanning. Bonita had taken off her shoes and socks and was wading along the edge of the lake; I could see from her expression that she shared Darla Jean's theory about perfidious minnows.

On one end of the porch, Mrs. Jim Bob appeared to be dozing, although it may have been a ruse. Brother Verber sat on the opposite end, an open Bible in his lap and a notebook nearby in case he stumbled across inspiration.

I gestured at Larry Joe to join me. "Where's Jarvis?" I asked him.

"He went ballistic when Big Mac splashed him. I sent him to the cabin to put on dry clothes and cool off. Yeah, I know you said to keep 'em together, but Jarvis can take care of himself. Wish I could say the same about Big Mac. One of these days that boy's gonna smart off to a gorilla on a Harley and end up walking bow-legged the rest of his life."

"I'm going to talk to Jarvis," I said. "Don't let anyone else go to the cabin."

I walked down the path and along the shore of the lake until I found the cabin. Jarvis was perched on a picnic table out front, throwing bits of gravel into the water.

I sat down beside him. "There's something I have to ask you."

"About Norella?"

"How'd you find out?"

"Mrs. Jim Bob started bawling out Brother Verber, then he got all pathetic about how he was forced to go to the morgue in Little Rock to identify her body. A couple of the girls had gone into the lodge and were scared to go back out to the porch, so they heard it all."

"Norella taught your Sunday school class, didn't she?"

"For a couple of months. She thought she could impress us by talking about Sodom and Gomorrah, Jezebel, Job, biblical stories like that. Kind of pathetic, if you ask me, but more entertaining than Elsie McMay. She thought we should be able to detect secret recipes in the New Testament if we'd put our minds to it."

"This isn't time for jokes. Did you see Norella outside of church?"

Jarvis gave me a smirky smile. "You mean, did I drop by her house when Duluth was gone and the boys were napping? Yeah, Chief Hanks, I did. Four or five times, I mowed her yard. Once she'd cleaned out closets and wanted me to take some boxes of old clothes over to the church for the next rummage sale. Billy Dick came along on account of having his pa's pickup. Another time I pruned her apple trees and hauled off the branches. Norella was okay, kinda crude at times."

"Then you and she weren't…?"

"Hell, no. I've been dating my second cousin's best friend over in Emmett for more than a year. The only reason I did those things for Norella was that she paid me good money. Sometimes she wanted to talk, so we'd sit on the porch steps and drink lemonade while she told me what a jerk her husband was. I wasn't sure I believed half of it. Duluth always seemed like a good ol' boy. He came over last fall and helped me put a new roof on the house. He didn't charge anything, and I suspected the shingles he brought were from another job. I didn't ask. Things have been tight lately. My pa wasn't laid off. He's earning fifteen cents an hour in the laundry at the prison and my ma needs treatment at the hospital every few days. Folks like us don't have health insurance."

"So why did Norella call you a few days ago?" I asked.

"Who said she called me?"

"For starters, I did," I pointed out flatly. "I don't know why else you would have gone to the softball field to meet with her yesterday afternoon."

"I already told you I went to look for my wallet."

"And maybe I should have told you that I didn't just get off the turnip truck. Mr. Lambertino didn't buy your story, and neither did I. You could be in serious trouble, Jarvis. Norella's body was found an hour after you came back here."

"Yeah, Darla Jean told us. You sure it wasn't a Klingon?"

I wanted to shake him, but managed to control myself-for the moment, anyway. "Just tell me the truth. I know it's hard to believe, but I'm on your side."

"Even if I killed her?"

I resisted the urge to scoot down to the far end of the table. He was several inches taller and a good twenty pounds heavier. Then again, I'd had five sessions of self-defense at the academy and could fend off a chipmunk and perhaps a squirrel. "Did you?"

"No, 'course I didn't. Why would I? She was just some broad that was bored with her life and liked to cry on my shoulder from time to time. Long as she paid me twenty bucks to mow her yard or clean out the gutters, it was fine with me."

"Was that why she called you-to cry on your shoulder once again?"

Jarvis stared out at the lake. "She needed money. She'd heard that the teenagers from Maggody were coming, and guessed I'd be in the group. I told her I could loan her fifty dollars. She wasn't real happy, but said she'd take it so she could get out of here, and once she did, she'd be able to pay me back and cover my ma's cancer treatments. I knew that was hogwash and I'd never see one penny, but I told her we were scheduled to work at the softball field. She was supposed to wait in the woods."

"But you couldn't slip away."

"Mr. Lambertino kept a real sharp eye on us till we packed up for the day. I went back, but I couldn't find her."

"Then you didn't go behind the field?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

His head sank. "No, I just sat in the dugout, thinking she could see I was on my own. I finally decided she'd gone back to wherever she was staying. When you said a woman had been killed, I figured it was her. Maybe I could have prevented it if I'd gone looking for her, but I didn't. Reckon I should have felt more sympathy for her all along."

I considered his story. "Okay, Jarvis, I'm going to believe you for now. Tell me about her call."

"Tell you what? She called and told me what to do. I wasn't happy about it, but I said I would."

"Where did she call you from?"

"How would I know?" he said, getting jittery. He threw another piece of gravel at a chipmunk. "She just called. It was damn lucky my ma didn't answer the phone. She didn't care for Norella or any of her kinfolk." He made a noise under his breath. "Like we should have been settin' a place at the table for the governor."