Dark of the Moon

23

VIRGIL GOT ON the extension, listened through four rings, and then Williamson picked up.

Jesse said, "Todd-I'm sorry I'm late, but I conked out last night. You called me?"

"Just to tell you that I talked to Judge Solms last night and he said that we both ought to get started on DNA testing. We can get kits from the same lab that the sheriff's office uses, and have them witnessed by a court clerk or a sheriff's deputy, and send them off for testing. That'll clear up our rights to the estate of the Judds. I'm still kind of uncertain-I know that you've pretty much got it nailed down."

"Ah, you're a Judd," Jesse said. "You can see it in you, if you look. You can see it in me, too. So what do they do? Suck some blood or something?"

"No, no, it's just a little kit with a Q-tip on the end of it, and then we scrub in the inside of our cheeks. No blood, nothing like that. Doesn't hurt-it's like brushing your teeth. Solms said the reason for using the same lab is, we can get a better price on comparing the DNA to the two Judds'."

"All right," Jesse said. She was interested. "What do I do, just call the sheriff's department and make a date?"

"Call Solms' clerk," Williamson said. "She'll set it up for you. They might have Margo Carr come over from the sheriff's office to supervise, make sure we do it right. Okay?"

VIRGIL THOUGHT he was about to ring off, and made a rolling motion with his forefinger, and Jess nodded and jumped in: "I'd like to talk to you about Virgil Flowers. I'm really getting confused about this. You know, Mom and I visit Betsy Carlson over in Sioux Falls, at the rest home, every once in a while…Do you know Betsy?"

"I know who she is," Williamson said. "Never met her."

"Well, the last time we went over there…her mind wanders. We told her some of the things that were going on. We told her that Bill Judd died, we thought maybe she was in a will or something. Anyway, when we told her, she got all excited, and said she'd seen the man in the moon. She was really freaked out about it: she'd seen the man in the moon."

"I'm sorry," Williamson said. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, I noticed, one time, you've got that man-in-the-moon tattoo on your arm. I thought maybe she was talking about that. And Virgil's been asking me about the man in the moon because I've got man-in-the-moon earrings…and, well, what's this man-in-the-moon stuff?"

Williamson said, "I don't know. Betsy wasn't talking about me. How could she be? We never met."

"I thought, I don't know," Jesse said. "You look a little like Bill Judd, and if you'd interviewed her or something…"

"Nope. Never did," Williamson said. "She was in the home long before I got here."

"All right," Jesse said. "Still. I'd like to talk about Virgil. I'm over in Worthington with my mom, I won't be back until late, 'til the stores close. You think we could hook up somewhere in Bluestem? Like at the Dairy Queen? I'll probably be back at nine-thirty or ten?"

"Let me think…What time do they close? The Dairy Queen?"

"Eleven."

"Ah…tell you what. Let's hook up at ten. I'm working late tonight, I could walk over."

"See you then," she said.

She rang off and Virgil flopped back on the bed. "Excellent," he said.

"You really think he did it?" Margaret Laymon asked. She was sitting on the other bed, had been looking on in bemusement as Virgil and Jesse worked on the phone call.

"Yes. Probably. But not for sure," Virgil said. "If he shows up tonight, he could dig his own grave. Or, he might clear himself. Either way, I get rid of a major suspect."

Margaret looked at her daughter: "Told you. Pure cop."