Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 39, No. 13, Mid-December 1994

Dead in the Water by Nancy Bartholomew

One of the things I hate most about Sunday mornings is opening up the Bait and Tackle Shop for Freddy. On those Sundays when he’s out fishing, hoping to finally get good enough to turn pro, I get stuck with the shop. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’d do most anything for Freddy. I saw him through his divorce, didn’t I?

After I unlock the door, cut off the alarm, and turn on the lights, it’s time to clean out the bait tank. I gotta grab the net and scoop out the floaters who didn’t make it through the night.

There they are, bodies distended, eyes glazed over, swirling around the surface. I pick each slimy minnow up and toss it in the trash. The fish stink. Maybe it’s fish fear. All those minnows, swimming in a tank, waiting to be used as bait, they gotta be scared. I know, you’re saying they can’t think like humans. Maybe not, but fish are mighty smart, else they wouldn’t be so dang hard to catch. Just look at all the lures and plastic worms we sell. Even with the best equipment, you gotta have technique. Fishing’s a skill. So tell me them fish ain’t smart.

On this one particular Sunday morning, I set the coffeepot on to brew and headed for the back where we keep the live bait. I figured the hot coffee would be a reward for cleaning the fish tanks. By the time I finished, the coffee would be ready. There can never be too much coffee at six A.M. on Sunday morning.

I flung open the back room door, reached around for the switch, and started screaming. There, floating in a tank full of reddish water, was Freddy’s ex-wife, Eaudelein. Her hair was fanned out around what had been the back of her head. It was now a bloody mess. I stared and screamed, turned and ran to the tiny bathroom, and heaved into the commode. I was shaking and crying, “Oh my God, oh my God.” There wasn’t a soul to hear me. I hadn’t even switched on the “Open” sign yet.

I ran back out to the front, around behind the counter, and grabbed the phone. For a moment I couldn’t remember how to dial 911.

“Oh Jesus, God,” I screamed into the phone. “Get somebody over here quick. Eaudelein’s dead.”

There’s only two cop cars in all of Barrow, and they both raced into the parking lot with lights flashing and sirens screaming. They don’t get many chances to use their lights around here. I don’t believe Wallace County had ever had a killing, at least not as long as I’d been there and that was all of my forty-five years.

Randall Vaughn was the first one to get to me. He was the duty officer. Raydeen Miller came a close second. She wasn’t on duty but keeps the police band on all night in her bedroom. She don’t like to miss much. This was just the kind of situation she’d been waiting for all of her professional life.

“Patsy,” called Randy, “you all right? What’s this about Eaudelein bein’ dead?” He was a comforting presence as he reached out to touch my shoulder. Randy’d been on the force for years; we all knew him, of course. He and I’d been in school together, and even dated briefly in high school.

I finally got it all out, how I’d found Eaudelein in the bait tanks. As soon as I told him, he and Raydeen headed for the bait room.

“Oh my God,” breathed Raydeen, turning white. Randy, also looking quite pale, said, “Don’t anybody touch anything. I guess I gotta call the crime lab and get them to send out a mobile unit.” Wallace County isn’t big enough to have its own lab.

The next couple of hours became a blur of activity. The state boys arrived and started taking pictures, fingerprinting everything, including me. Then, after the medical examiner arrived, they hauled Eaudelein out of the water.

Randy and one of the investigators from the State Crime Unit, Detective Mertis, made me tell them the whole story, in detail, over and over. They wanted to know who had keys to the store. I said I did and so did Freddy, of course, and Hank, Freddy’s partner. There were a couple of part-timers who had keys, Willie Smith and Jim Roy Learner.

“Did Eaudelein have a key?” asked Randy.

“I really don’t know,” I said. “I doubt it, since she and Freddy are divorced. Maybe she still had a key, but I can’t imagine her coming in here.” She and Freddy hated each other.

“Where was Freddy last night?” asked Randy. Detective Mertis looked curious.

“You know, Randy, he was with me. We saw you at Blockbuster Video last night. We rented a video, went home, and watched it, then we went to bed around ten. Freddy got up around three A.M. so he could go fishing. The large mouth were supposed to be biting, and he’s gettin’ in as much time on the water as he can before the Bass Master Classic. He’s tryin’ to turn pro,” I said in an aside to Mertis.

Randy and Detective Mertis exchanged a long look; then Mertis asked, “Where is Freddy now?” He spoke in a still, flat voice. It was my first indication that Freddy was a suspect. Later, looking back, I could follow his reasoning. But hearing the words come from him, in Freddy’s shop, with Eaudelein lying on a piece of black plastic in the bait room, sent shivers down my spine. They didn’t believe me. I’m about as trustworthy as they come. I don’t look like a liar. Hell, sometimes I wish I did, but I look more like your mama. I’m plump and short, with a fresh-scrubbed complexion and pink cheeks. My hair went grey years ago. Give me a ribbon-racked apron and I could be Betty Crocker. I drive their children to school in one of the four schoolbuses that Wallace County owns. If they couldn’t trust me, who could they trust?

No, they thought Freddy had somehow gotten Eaudelein to meet him at the shop and murdered her. My Freddy may have hated Eaudelein, but he would never have killed the mother of his daughter, no matter how evil she’d treated him.

Raydeen put the word out on the police radio she carried that we were looking for Freddy. Detective Mertis held a low-toned conference with Randy. Randy shot a few worried looks in my direction, then wrote a few more things in his notebook.

Around nine, Freddy and Hank came tearing up to the store in Hank’s old pickup. Freddy rushed through the door. “Patsy, I just heard. Are you all right?” Surely, I thought, Detective Mertis could tell, just from meeting my Freddy, that he was no killer. But that wasn’t the case.

“Fred, I’m afraid we’re going to need to ask you to come down to the station with us,” said Randy. He didn’t say he was sorry, or talk to Freddy like they’d known each other for years. He was Randall Vaughn, Wallace County sheriff. And Freddy was a prime suspect in a murder investigation.

They didn’t tell me or Hank to come to the station. They just took Hank’s prints and asked him where he’d been last night. When he said fishin’, they didn’t say anything about him coming down there. Of course, he hadn’t been married to Eaudelein, but it was the principle of the thing.

As Randy was leading Freddy to the patrol car, Freddy stopped dead in his tracks and whirled around. “Oh my Lord,” he cried. “What about Loretta? Does she know?” No one had thought to go to Freddy’s daughter. “Babe, I hate to ask you, but would you find her? Someone’s gonna have to tell her about her mama.” I quickly figured out that the someone was me.

What else could I say but “Sure, hon, don’t worry. I’ll go get her and bring her back to our place.”

Freddy and I weren’t married. Yet. Freddy’d gotten taken in the divorce. Things were so tight financially that he just couldn’t see getting married. He said he didn’t want to marry me with so much debt hanging over his head. If you ask me, I think Eaudelein burned him so bad he was afraid of its happening again. So, against the town’s better judgment, ’cause you know they judged everybody, I let Freddy move in.

He’d been such a pitiful wreck when we met. Although we both grew up in Barrow, he’d been a few years ahead of me in school and left to join the army as soon as he graduated. Freddy was a Baptist and I belonged to the Methodist church, so our paths never crossed until I stopped in the store to buy bait. Fishin’ was gonna be my new hobby, and Freddy was only too happy to help me find a tackle box.

His divorce had only been final a few months, and he was bitter. He couldn’t cook, didn’t care to, and lived like a prisoner in his tiny apartment. When we began dating, all that changed.

We’d been living together for almost ten months, and in that time Freddy’d come around pretty well. He liked my fried chicken and creamed potatoes, and he’d put on about fifteen pounds. He’d made himself a little workshop in my shed out back and had even joined the softball league. But we didn’t talk about marrying any more. I felt that was best left to time.

Loretta, his fifteen-year-old daughter, had been the one thorn in the side of our relationship. She was a dark-haired, sullen child who took after her mother in looks and attitude. Loretta saw me as the Other Woman, standing between her parents and reconciliation. No amount of talking on Freddy’s part could persuade her otherwise. She tolerated me and rarely spent the night at our house. Of course, Eaudelein had a lot to do with that. She poisoned the child’s mind. She told Loretta that Freddy had started seeing me long before he and Eaudelein separated. That was flat not true. Freddy was living on his own when I met him.

I was going to have trouble with Loretta, I just knew it.

When I pulled up in front of Eaudelein’s house, there were cars parked in the driveway. Folks would have known that Loretta was alone, with no one to break the news to her. It wasn’t their place, however, to come tromping over and interfere. It was just going to make my job harder.

As I walked up the path, I could hear Loretta wailing. She’d been close to her mother, but this was the wail of someone milking it for all it was worth.

Loretta’s aunt, Minnie, Eaudelein’s oldest sister, was sitting on the sofa, patting Loretta’s hand. Tears streamed down both their faces, and a little group of busybodies stood around looking helpless.

They were not glad to see me, but Minnie was at least civil. She only asked, “What are you doin’ here?” instead of “What are you doin’ here, bitch?”

“Freddy was worried about Loretta. He asked me to come over and make sure she was all right. He’s down at the station, helping the police with the investigation.” I was putting the best light on the situation for Loretta’s sake.

“Loretta,” I said, “your daddy wants me to bring you back to our place till he gets home. Then we can sort things out from there.”

Loretta lifted her tear-swollen face and favored me with a malevolent glare. “You did this,” she shrieked. “You killed my mama!”

Minnie broke in, “Now, Loretta, honey, Patsy wouldn’t have killed your mama. And if she had,” she continued, with a warning glance in my direction, “the cops would have her in jail.” Minnie wasn’t defending me. She just didn’t want to end up with Loretta in her custody. Everybody knew that Loretta was trouble. Her mama’d been having a devil of a time trying to ride herd on her rebellious child.

Every time Freddy turned around, Eaudelein was on the phone whining about how Loretta had skipped school, missed curfew, or talked back. What was he going to do about it? Then, when Freddy tried to do something, Eaudelein and Loretta double-teamed him. Watching the two of them work Freddy over was like watching Roller Derby, only my Freddy was stuck in the middle.

“Loretta, honey,” I said, trying again, “I know you feel awful. I can’t imagine how terrible this is for you. Let’s get a few of your things and go on back to my place. Your daddy needs you.”

That did it; Freddy’s baby girl was on her way to comfort her daddy. She tolerated me on the ride back across town. She sat hunched against the passenger-side car door, snuffling into a crumpled Kleenex. She was actually a very sad little girl, vulnerable in her grief, and not the hard case she led the rest of us to believe.

I didn’t say much until we were inside. I offered her a Coke or something to eat, but she said no. “Where’s my dad?” she asked after an hour had passed.

“I don’t know, sugar.” I was beginning to feel a little anxious myself. “Loretta, did your mama go out anyplace last night?” I figured Loretta might know something that would help Freddy out. The police would want to talk to her at some point, too.

“I don’t know. I was over at Tammara’s, spending the night. Mama said she might be going out later but that she wouldn’t be gone long.” Loretta was tugging at her long black hair and chewing her lip. I could tell that my asking her questions was only going to make her more nervous, so I quit.

The sound of a car door slamming had both of us up out of our seats and over to the front door. It was Randy, and he was alone. Where was Freddy?

He didn’t look me in the eye the whole way up the path. When he got to the bottom porch step, he looked up at the two of us. “Patsy. Loretta, I’m sorry about your mama.” His eyes were sad.

“Where’s my daddy?” Loretta asked, ignoring Randy’s solicitude.

“Let’s go inside,” I interjected. I didn’t figure we should be talking about all this under the neighbors’ watchful eyes. Randy seemed to jump at the idea, so we trooped into my tiny living room.

“Loretta, Patsy, I wanted to be the one to tell you this. Freddy has been arrested for the murder of Eaudelein.”

“Randy, how could you?” I yelled over Loretta’s howl of rage and grief. “You know better than that! You’ve fished with him. You know Freddy would never hurt anybody. It was all that Mertis’s doing, wasn’t it?”

Randy looked apologetically at Loretta. “Honey, I need to talk to Patsy alone. Would you excuse us?” Loretta favored him with one of her most evil glares, then flounced from the room. I figured she’d go just far enough to be out of sight yet still overhear our conversation.

Randy caught on and lowered his voice. “Patsy, his prints were all over the baseball bat used to bash in Eaudelein’s head.”

“Well, that don’t mean nothing. Freddy kept that bat behind the counter, by the register. It stands to reason that his prints would be all over it.”

“Freddy was out alone, without an alibi, at four A.M., the time of the murder. Everybody knows he and Eaudelein were at each other’s throats. Somebody overheard the two of them fighting last week, and Freddy threatened to kill her then.”

I knew the fight Randy meant. It had been all over town. Freddy had stopped to pick up Loretta at the house, and Eaudelein had come out to pick a fight. She threatened to keep Loretta away from Freddy. He’d freaked out and told her he’d see her dead before he let her take Loretta away from him.

He didn’t actually mean he would kill Eaudelein. It was a remark made in anger. I had to admit I wasn’t sure what would have happened if Eaudelein had somehow taken Loretta away from Freddy.

“Daddy wouldn’t kill Mama.” We hadn’t heard Loretta creep down the hallway, hadn’t seen her walk into the room.

“I’m sorry, Loretta.” Randy nodded to me and walked out the front screen door. “Patsy?”

“What, Randall?” We were adversaries now.

“Get Freddy a lawyer. He ain’t thinkin’ too clear.”

I started to ask him what that meant, but he was already opening his car door.

Loretta was pacing the floor when I returned. “Well, what are you going to do?” she asked.

“Loretta, I know this has been a horrible day for you,” I began.

“Cut the sympathy crap. I got one parent left. I ain’t gonna lose him, too.”

“All right then,” I said evenly, “I’m dealin’ you in. You and I are going to have to work together on this.”

For the next hour that’s what we did. I called Sam Barfield and retained him as Freddy’s attorney. I had Loretta write down everything she could remember about her mother’s last twenty-four hours.

Loretta’s list was scrawled in childish, loopy script across the paper I’d given her. She seemed to remember the details of Eaudelein’s last day only as they pertained to herself. “Mama fixed me breakfast at ten A.M. Mama told me to clean my room before I went to Tammara’s. Mama was washing up the supper dishes when I left with Tammara. She said she might go out later. I asked her to pick up more Froot Loops.”

Loretta’s little world revolved around Loretta. She could tell me pretty much every detail of her day, when she put on her makeup, what she wore, when her boyfriend Eddie called. Her mother existed as cook, chauffeur, and banker to Loretta’s adolescent needs. Oh well, no help there.

“Loretta, I need to leave you here and go see your daddy.”

She didn’t like that. “I’m comin’, too. He’s my daddy.” And you’re only his girlfriend. She left that part hanging unspoken between us.

“They won’t let minors in,” I said. I grabbed my purse and car keys and headed for the door. “There’s sandwich meat in the fridge. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back in an hour.” Loretta was looking like a thundercloud, but I continued on briskly. “If we’re gonna prove that your daddy didn’t kill your mama, we’re gonna have to find out who did. Why don’t you work on that list a bit more and see what you can remember. If your mama was going out last night, where was she going? Was she seein’ anybody in particular?”

I left her sitting at the kitchen table, staring at the pad of paper with her mother’s activities on it. When she didn’t think I was looking, she allowed her grief to show through. Tears slid down her cheeks and hit the paper.

I got a bit nervous on the ride over to see Freddy. I’d never been inside the jail before. Everybody in town knew where it was — a mile outside of town, on State Route 138. It sat back from the road, a small, squat, concrete building with a barbed wire-enclosed exercise yard. Livin’ around here, you drove past it on a regular basis, and like the cemetery, you didn’t pay it much mind until you needed to.

Raydeen was working when I got there. We didn’t know what to say to each other. If everyone thought Freddy was guilty, then what did they think about me? I didn’t want to talk to Raydeen until I’d talked to Freddy and figured out where things were heading.

“I guess you wanna see Freddy, huh?” she asked.

“Well, yeah.” It was all I could do not to scream at her, I was so anxious.

She led me back to the jail proper. Steve Asher, a young deputy just a few years older than Loretta, let me into the visitors’ room. There was a bank of cubicles with brown wooden chairs in front of the counters that held the phones. Just like TV, I thought. I entered a cubicle and sat down. The visitors before me had scratched their initials into the hard Formica: C.R. + J.D. — love forever. T.J. loves M.J. — I will wait forever.

When Freddy was brought in, I realized just how serious our situation was. The man I loved was in jail for murder. Even my loser first husband Roy hadn’t ever been in jail.

Freddy looked scared. We picked up the receivers and pressed them to our ears. “How ya doin’, babe?” he asked with a weak smile.

“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “Loretta’s okay, too. I got her back at our place. Minnie’s gonna handle the funeral arrangements.” Freddy nodded. “I called Sam Barfield and asked him to represent you. He’s gonna come by tonight or first thing tomorrow.” There was one brief moment when I found myself wondering, Freddy, you didn’t do it, did you? Of course not. I couldn’t doubt Freddy’s innocence.

“Who could’ve killed her?” we both asked at the same instant.

“Patsy, don’t take this wrong,” Freddy began. “I’m sad about Eaudelein. Yesterday I could’ve told you that if her guts was on fire, I wouldn’t a spit on her to put ’em out. But, hell, Patsy, I didn’t want her to die. I keep thinkin’ about when we first met, and when Loretta was little. I used to love her. She was Loretta’s mama for Pete’s sake.” I listened, watching Freddy’s face.

“They say I killed Eaudelein because she was gonna take Loretta away from me. They don’t understand. Eaudelein would’ve come to her senses. I wouldn’t have killed her, no matter what she did.”

“Freddy,” I broke in. “You don’t have to explain it to me. I know you. We just gotta figure out who killed her. Do you have any idea?”

“Eaudelein had a habit of pissin’ people off, but I don’t know of anybody who hated her enough to kill her.”

Freddy was thinking now, not feeling sorry for himself. That was good.

“Was she seein’ anybody?”

“Well,” he said slowly, “she’d been stranger than usual lately. She was real peculiar about when I picked up Loretta. She didn’t want me just stopping by to see Loretta without asking. I figured she was seein’ somebody and didn’t want me to know. When she started talking about not letting me see Loretta, I started worrying that her new guy might live out of town. Maybe she was fixin’ to move away with him or something.”

The deputy, Steve, opened the door and said something to Freddy. “I gotta go now, babe. Hang in there.”

Hang in there. That was my Freddy, worrying about me. I picked up my purse and headed home. At least I had something to go on now. Eaudelein had a new boyfriend. Loretta hadn’t said a word about that.

It was the first thing I asked her about when I got home. She had been on the phone when I got there but hung up quickly as I walked through the front door. She’d been crying again. I sat down next to her on the couch. I wanted to reach over and put my arms around her, but she was such a prickly pear. She didn’t like me, so I wasn’t going to push myself on her.

“I stopped at the Kentucky Fried and grabbed us a bucket of extra crispy. Let’s go eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Honey, you got to eat.” Loretta was no match for me. She might have had the rest of the adults in Barrow scared of her, but I drove a schoolbus. I ate kids like her for lunch, sack and all.

“Sweetie,” I went on, ignoring her attitude, “I know you don’t feel like it, but we’ve got a lot to do. I can’t have you fainting from lack of food. Eat. It’ll make you feel better, and you’ll be able to think better, too.”

She followed me into the kitchen. We polished off the entire bucket between us and made big dents in the coleslaw and potatoes.

“Now,” I said, clearing the plates away, “who was your mother seeing?”

Loretta looked uneasy. “Nobody,” she said.

“Loretta,” I said, daring her to lie again.

“She didn’t want me to tell anybody.” She was working it out. “It was Daddy’s partner, Hank. Mama said Daddy’d freak if he knew. She and Hank wanted to keep it a secret till they figured out what to do.”

Hank? That was so hard to believe. Hank and Freddy were best friends. They owned the Bait and Tackle Shop together. Hank had stuck by Freddy all through the divorce, siding with him, commiserating with him. Hank would never go near Eaudelein.

“Loretta, are you sure?” I asked.

“I’m sure,” she said earnestly. “If she was going out last night, it would have been with him. She always went out when I was with Daddy or over at a friend’s house.”

“When did she start seeing Hank?”

“About three months ago. I didn’t find out until about a month ago. I came home early from a friend’s house just as he was leavin’. Hank was all freaked about it. Mama just laughed. She told me later that Hank didn’t want Daddy to know and that we’d better keep it quiet, just till everything got sorted out and they could tell Daddy.”

This was just great. Freddy’s ex and his best friend. If Freddy’d been bitter before, he’d swear off matrimony forever now. What this was gonna do to his friendship with Hank, and their business, was beyond me. I’d be really pissed if I were him.

Then I started thinking. Hank didn’t have an alibi for last night. Hank was the last person to see Eaudelein alive. Could he have killed her?

“Loretta, I gotta go see Hank.” I was headed for the door before she could formulate a response.

“Wait,” she yelled as I pushed open the door. “I’m coming, too.”

“No, Loretta. You stay here by the phone. If your daddy calls, don’t tell him where I am.” Oh good, I thought, now I’m a liar, too.

Hank wasn’t at the bait shop. The door had a sign, hastily scrawled, that read: “Closed due to death.”

I headed on down to the lake where Hank had a double-wide. Hank was thirty-five and had never been married. He lived alone on the lake, where he kept his Ranger bass boat lovingly housed in a covered boat dock. The boathouse and bass boat had cost Hank more than his lake property and the double-wide. Hank lived to fish. He was a tall, quiet man who had always seemed a bit awkward around women. I’d seen him many a time, chatting it up with a male customer about fish, or what bait to use. As soon as a woman so much as pulled up to the gas pumps outside, he’d clam up. He was only a little less bashful around me.

He was walking up the hill from the dock when I got out of my car. His head was down, and he carried his tackle box with him. I waited till he got closer, then called out, “What’s the matter, fish not bitin’?” Hank was startled and turned a bright red.

“Aw, I just thought fishing might take my mind off things. You know how that goes, I guess.”

“No, Hank, I don’t. I’ve been forced to stay right here dealin’ with Loretta and gettin’ your buddy Freddy a lawyer.”

Hank’s blush crept down his neck, below his bushy black beard. His ears were burning, too. I was angry, but I didn’t want to blow any chance of getting information from him by losing it.

“Loretta told me you’ve been seein’ Eaudelein. She said you saw her last night.” I just laid it there between us and waited.

“Oh, Patsy. Gawd dawg.” Hank sighed and wiped his hand over his face. “Yeah, it’s true. Gawd, I feel like such a heel. I didn’t mean nobody any pain. Eaudelein, she just kept comin’ around and comin’ around, talkin’ and flirtin’ with me.” He paused and fiddled with the latch on his tackle box.

“She told me she liked me. She wanted us to go out. I told her no at first, but she had such a way about her.” When Eaudelein wanted something, she got it all right. Hank, with his lack of experience with women, would have been no match for Eaudelein. I waited for him to go on.

“I never had a woman do that to me before.” He looked like a stupid schoolboy. He’d fallen in love. “I didn’t know what to do about it. It was killin’ me. I felt like dirt every time I was around Freddy. I wanted to tell him, but I never could find the right time.”

“Were you with her last night?”

Hank looked miserable. “No, er, aw hell, yeah. I was with her. But honest to Gawd, I had her back to her place by one. She didn’t want to stay over ’cause Loretta was comin’ home first thing in the morning. We hung around here, then I took her back to her place.”

“Did you see her go inside?” Hank nodded yes. “Then what happened?”

“Well, I came back here and decided to go fishin’. I’d told Freddy I’d meet him out on the lake by daybreak. I figured I’d just hook up with him earlier. I wasn’t really sleepy, and I did need to get some time in before the tournament.”

“Well, good, then,” I said, relieved. “You and Freddy are each other’s alibis for the time of the murder.”

Hank looked down, scuffing at a patch of grass with his boot. “Patsy, I didn’t find Freddy till around five. He wasn’t in any of our usual places. I looked everywhere. I finally caught up to him at the gas docks. I don’t know were he was.”

This was not good. I left Hank’s feeling more confused than before. Where had Freddy been? Was Hank telling the truth? I was inclined to think so. Freddy was gonna be devastated when he found out Hank had been lying to him for months. How could he ever trust anyone again? We’d never get married at this rate.

It was best not to dwell on that right now. I was gonna have enough trouble springing Freddy from jail. Maybe Loretta had remembered some helpful detail from Eaudelein’s life that could help us figure out just who had done her in. But I wasn’t feeling hopeful when I got back home.

Loretta’s boyfriend Eddie had come over. She’d known better than to let him in, so they were sitting on the porch swing together. Loretta was crying, and Eddie had his arm around her shoulders.

She wiped her eyes and jumped up to greet me as I started up the path. “Well,” she said impatiently, “what did he say? Was he with her?”

“He was with her,” I answered, “but he dropped her back at the house around one A.M.”

“Bullsh...” Loretta broke off abruptly and clammed up.

“Loretta? Do you know something else? Have you remembered something else?”

“No. You didn’t believe him, did you?”

“I don’t know, Loretta. I was kinda hoping he would tell us something that would let your father off the hook, but if anything, he made it more confusing. He said after he dropped your mama off, he went looking for your daddy out on the lake but didn’t find him till five.”

Loretta was scowling. Eddie must have sensed that another storm was brewing because he said he had to get on home. Loretta let him kiss her on the cheek, then watched him climb into his old clunker and drive off.

I went inside, and Loretta followed me. “I’m gonna go off for a little while,” she said.

“You can’t go off now. It’s getting dark.” I didn’t want her wandering across town alone, after dark.

“I wanta go see Tammara.” Tears trembled on her lashes. “She’s my best friend.”

I sighed. Hell, the kid had lost her mama, and her daddy had been arrested, all in one day. If she wanted to talk to her best friend, then why not?

“All right, but I’ll drive you over.” That suited her. “And you can’t stay too long. I’ll run a couple of errands, then come back and pick you up.” Loretta didn’t say anything, just sat quietly for the short ride to Tammara’s.

Tammara was waiting in the front yard. She was a cute, short cheerleader with an attitude. She wore combat boots and little round sunglasses and had her hair pulled back in a ponytail. When Loretta hopped out of the car, Tammara wrapped her in a tight hug and began to cry tears of sympathy.

I leaned out the windows. “I’ll be back to get you in an hour,” I called. As I drove away, I saw the two girls sink into a huddle on the front lawn. I decided to go see Minnie, Eaudelein’s sister, and let her know that I’d be keeping Loretta indefinitely. I needed to find out about the funeral arrangements, too.

Minnie’s place wasn’t hard to find. She and the rest of Eaudelein’s family lived in a family compound that surrounded their grandfather’s farm. Minnie was sitting on the front porch of her tiny house with a few other family members. They all stared as I pulled in the driveway and parked. “Hey, Minnie,” I said as I walked up. I didn’t wait for her to respond. “I just came by to let you know we’d be keeping Loretta.”

“For how long?” she asked. Everyone else just stared.

“We’ll figure out the details when Freddy gets out.”

Minnie snorted. “Freddy Buck Owens murdered my sister. He’ll never see the outside of a prison if I have anything to do with it.” She was daring me to get into it with her.

I ignored the bait. “Did you know she was seeing Hank?” I asked.

“Me and just about everybody else in town but you and Freddy.” The group on the porch snickered. This was going nowhere. I could call the town’s one funeral parlor to find out about the funeral. In the meantime, I needed to get to the Piggly Wiggly and buy Froot Loops for Loretta.

It had been exactly an hour when I returned to Tammara’s house. The girls had disappeared from the front yard, so I went up to the front door and rang the bell. Tammara’s mother came to the door looking politely confused. I explained that I’d come to pick up Loretta.

“Oh, well, they’re not here. Tammara left to drive Loretta home. She said they were supposed to meet you there.”

“Maybe we miscommunicated,” I said. “I’ll meet them there.” I turned to leave, then turned around. “Can I ask you one more question?”

“Sure.” Tammara’s mother waited.

“When did Loretta leave to go home this morning?”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Tammara’s mother said. “Loretta wasn’t here this morning.”

“She didn’t spend the night?”

“No, absolutely not. Tammara’s been on restriction all week. She hasn’t been allowed to have company. I only made an exception today because of Loretta’s mother.”

Loretta had lied.

I didn’t know what was going on, but I was beginning to get a picture. I couldn’t wait to get to that girl, but when I got to my place, Loretta wasn’t there.

Maybe Tammara had driven Loretta to see Eddie. I knew his parents, so it wasn’t hard to find his phone number in the book. Eddie answered. No, he hadn’t seen or heard from Loretta. Just as well; I’d thought of a few questions I wanted to ask him without Loretta around to coach him. I grabbed my chance. “Eddie, where did you and Loretta go last night?”

“We went to, uh, well, we were just riding around the square. Then...” Eddie caught up with himself and clammed up. Bingo. The next question I wanted to ask in person.

I raced across town and was in luck. Eddie answered the door. He was startled to see me, and frightened. “Come out here on the porch,” I hissed. He hesitated, looking back over his shoulder into the living room where his parents sat.

“Who is it, Eddie?” his father called.

“Just a friend, Dad.” Eddie quickly pulled the door shut behind him and stepped outside. “I told you, she’s not here,” he said.

“I know, Eddie. I just had one more question. Where did you two spend the night?”

Eddie was flustered. “What do you mean? We didn’t...”

I didn’t have time to waste on whatever story he was trying to manufacture. I had a feeling that Loretta was in danger. “Cut to the chase, Eddie. I know you and Loretta spent the night together. Now, was it at her house or where?”

Eddie gave up. “Yeah, we were at her place. Her mama was spending the night out with her boyfriend.”

“Did she tell Loretta that?”

“No, but that’s what she always did when Loretta wasn’t home. That’s why we knew it would be cool at her place.”

That was all I needed to hear. I turned and raced for the car. I yelled back over my shoulder, “Eddie, call the sheriff, ask for Randy Vaughn. Tell him Patsy said to get out to Hank Starr’s, and bring some deputies with him.” Eddie seemed hesitant. “Do it, Eddie!”

He had turned and was going inside when I drove off. I had to hurry. My car, an older Cavalier, wasn’t used to fast speeds. I drove defensively, prided myself on that; now I hurtled out of town like a maniac.

When I hit the dirt road to Hank’s place, I had to stand on the brakes to keep from plowing into the rear of Tammara’s VW. Tammara was leaning against the side, smoking a cigarette. She looked scared.

“Oh man, I’m really glad you’re here. Loretta told me to wait here and, if she wasn’t back in a half hour, call you.” She twisted her watch around on her wrist and stared at it. “It’s been twenty-seven minutes.”

Loretta had been a very foolish girl. “Tammara, here’s what you do, honey. Get yourself up the road to the Quick Stop and use their phone to call 911. Tell them to get ahold of Randy, and give him directions here. Tell him to hurry.” I wanted to cover myself in case Eddie hadn’t called.

Then I took off running for Hank’s place. I didn’t want him to hear me coming and do anything foolish. It was quite dark now; the light in Hank’s boathouse was the only thing to guide me. I crept past the house, headed for the dock.

The sound of voices carried up from the water. Hank’s was a low monotone, Loretta’s an angry tornado. “You can’t get away with this,” she yelled. “They’ll know it was you.” I slipped silently up to the boathouse. Hank was unhitching the bow lines and preparing to cast off. Loretta lay on the floor of the boat, her arms and legs bound with rope.

“Loretta,” Hank said as he moved to untie the stem lines, “This carryin’ on won’t do you no good. Cain’t nobody hear you. I wouldn’t be havin’ to do this if you’d been doin’ what yore mama told you to do last night.” Hank moved to the driver’s seat and inserted the key in the ignition. He was fixin’ to pull out of the boathouse and take Loretta. I couldn’t let that happen.

“My daddy’ll come after you, Hank,” Loretta screamed. “They’ll fry your ass if you kill me. I’m a minor.” Oh nice goin’, Loretta, I thought.

Hank stayed cool. “No they won’t, Loretta. When you don’t show up, they’ll figure you lured your mama down to your daddy’s shop and killed her. They’ll think you wanted to frame your daddy so’s you could get the insurance money. Just like them brothers out in California done. Kids are runnin’ wild these days.”

Loretta’s response was lost as Hank cranked the engine. It was now or never. I made my move. I took a flying leap from the dock and hit the bow of the boat just as it moved out of the slip into the open channel.

Loretta’s eyes widened, and Hank looked as if he couldn’t believe it was me. When he came for me, I tried to be ready. All those classes at Mr. Chu’s Tae Kwan Do studio were going to come in handy, I thought. Where were the police?

“Hank Starr, you take this boat back to shore!” I screamed. “I’m placing you under a citizen’s arrest!” His beefy hands wrapped around my throat like a vise. This was not like any practice I’d ever done at Mr. Chu’s. Spots danced before my eyes and as it grew impossible to breathe, I saw Freddy’s face. He was lookin’ real sad, and I started feelin’ sad. We were never gonna get married. Then I started getting mad. Hell fire, it was always something.

Mr. Chu’s face floated up then. What was he saying? Oh, yeah, I could hear his voice. “Find your rage,” he said. “Break his hold. Hit him where it hurts. Predators look for the weak.”

I had found my rage. No Hank Starr was gonna keep me from the altar. I summoned up one last burst of energy and threw my arms up through Hank’s. I brought my knee up and rammed it into his groin. I had lost control and was going to kill him. I shattered his kneecap with a swift kick and would have crushed his windpipe had not Randy arrived.

Apparently he’d been screaming at me from the shore, but I hadn’t heard. As the boat had drifted back toward the dock, Randy had leapt on board.

He grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “Patsy, stop. It’s Randy. Stop, you’re okay now.” I was shaking with the adrenaline and fear. “It’s okay now, honey,” he said, pulling me closer to him.

The dock was overrun with deputies. Raydeen was bustling around, issuing orders. Randy told me later that both Eddie and Tammara had called 911, leaving desperate messages. Randy had arrived with all the backup available in Wallace County.

Hank told everything once he was faced with the reality of his arrest. He and Eaudelein had been at the bait shop around three A.M. Hank was preparing to go fishing and needed to pick up some bait. He and Eaudelein had been out drinking all night, celebrating because Eaudelein had agreed to marry Hank. While Hank was scooping out minnows, Eaudelein started going on about how, when they were married, she’d have control over the Bait Shop. She was crowing about how she’d make Freddy’s life miserable. Hank realized that Eaudelein never really loved him; she’d merely wanted to use him to torture her ex-husband.

Hank, about to lose the one love of his life, lost control. He grabbed the baseball bat and beat Eaudelein to death. He was getting ready to take her out to the middle of the lake and dump her when some fishermen pulled up to the shop.

They saw Hank’s pickup, figured someone was there, and began knocking on the door. Hank panicked and dumped Eaudelein in the tank. Then he gave the men bait and sent them on their way. Even though the men weren’t locals, Randy figured they’d be easy enough to track down, if need be.

“The way things look now,” Randy said, “Hank’s gonna plead guilty. Says he was temporarily insane.”

“Hell,” said Freddy as Randy returned his personal belongings and signed the release papers, “I guess that explains my whole marriage to Eaudelein. Too bad I couldn’t plead that during the divorce.”

Freddy stuck close by me the whole ride home. “Babe, you sure he didn’t hurt you?”

“Freddy, I’m fine,” I insisted. If the truth be known, I was enjoying myself.

“Babe, I just don’t know how I can ever repay you,” he said for the umpteenth time.

“Aw, Freddy,” I said, patting his knee, “we’ll think of something.” I was thinking a June weddin’ would be nice. We’d hitch a knot in the tail of matrimony yet.