Digging Up The Dirt

CHAPTER 20

An’gel felt sick to her stomach, even though she had been expecting this news. She could see her own shock mirrored in the faces of her sister and her friends.

“Hello, everyone, sorry we’re late,” Reba Dalrymple said as she walked into the waiting room, her son Martin right behind her. “We were having car trouble this morning, otherwise we’d have been here half an hour ago.”

An’gel stared at Reba in shock. Car trouble?

“How is Arliss?” Reba said. “Oh, hello, Deputy Berry.” She hesitated. “What’s wrong? Why is everyone staring at us like that?”

“Good morning, Mrs. Dalrymple,” Kanesha said. “Mr. Dalrymple. What kind of car trouble were you having?”

An’gel felt the tension in the room as they all waited for Reba’s answer.

“Dead battery,” Reba said, still obviously puzzled. “We had to ask our next-door neighbor to jump us off. Why are you so interested in that? What’s going on here?”

“Right before you and Martin came in,” An’gel said, “Deputy Berry informed us that she’s pretty sure someone deliberately ran Arliss off the road.”

Reba paled. “Oh my Lord. How horrible.” She glanced around the room, and then she apparently figured out why they had all been staring. “Surely you didn’t think . . . ?” Her voice trailed off. She found an empty chair and dropped into it.

“You certainly couldn’t blame us for wondering,” Barbie said tartly. “You walk into the room talking about car trouble right after we hear that terrible news.”

Martin moved to stand beside his mother and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Mama would never do something crazy like that.” He laughed. “She has really bad night vision, anyway.”

“Do you?” An’gel asked before she stopped to think.

Martin blinked at her. “What? Do I have bad night vision?” He shook his head. “No. Why?”

Reba glared at An’gel. “Martin would never do such a thing. He never even left the house last night. How dare you imply anything of the sort, An’gel Ducote.”

“If Miss An’gel hadn’t asked, I was about to,” Kanesha said. “Look, folks, I don’t know what’s going on here. First, Miss Hetherington dies under suspicious circumstances, and now Mrs. McGonigal is severely injured in what appears to be a deliberate attempt on her life. I swear to you, I will get to the bottom of this, and the person responsible is going to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Despite her cool professional manner, Kanesha was furious. An’gel knew her well enough to see that. She didn’t blame her. These cold-blooded actions sickened her. Who was behind them? And why?

“If you’ll excuse me now,” Kanesha said into the dead silence that followed her last words, “I need to find Mrs. McGonigal’s doctor. Under the circumstances, I am going to insist that no one other than immediate family be allowed access to Mrs. McGonigal. The police department and the sheriff’s department will be taking turns guarding her until this matter is resolved.” With that, she nodded, turned, and left the waiting room.

An’gel looked around the room to gauge reactions to Kanesha’s parting words. Everyone seemed stunned, and that was to be expected. She did not see anything she could interpret as fear, however.

She exchanged an uneasy glance with Dickce, and she knew her sister was thinking the same thing. One of the other five people in the room was the murderer. But which one?

They waited in silence for several minutes, though An’gel could see the others were restless, casting sly looks at one another. The tension was palpable.

A young man in scrubs and a white coat strode into the room. He stopped for a moment, then approached Hadley. “Mr. Partridge, if I could have a word with you, please.”

Hadley nodded. “Of course, doctor, but whatever you have to tell me, you can tell everyone here. We’re all concerned about Mrs. McGonigal.”

“Very well,” the doctor said. “She is still in a coma, and her vital signs are mostly steady. But she faces a long recovery once she’s out of the coma. Her injuries are extensive, and there is a possibility she will not be able to walk again or have the use of her upper limbs.” He paused. “I’m sorry, I know the news is not encouraging, but we are hoping for the best.” He turned and left the room.

“Oh dear Lord,” Barbie said as her eyes filled with tears. She hung her head, and Lottie, seated next to her, wrapped her arms around Barbie and hugged her tight.

An’gel felt her own eyes filling. The thought of her friend, always so vibrant, left paralyzed was shocking. She would pray that Arliss might defy the doctor’s prognosis and be able to walk and laugh again. She knew, however, that if Arliss survived the immediate threat to her life, her will to live would be strong. They would all have to do everything they could to help her.

Hadley walked out of the room without a word to anyone, though he did glance at An’gel and Dickce. An’gel tried to read his expression. He was obviously deeply upset, but there was something else there, something she couldn’t quite put a finger on. Perhaps it was rage.

That was her predominant emotion, now that the first shock of the doctor’s words was passing. Rage against the sick, coldhearted, lost soul who had done this thing.

Was this attempt at murder connected in some way with Callie Partridge’s disappearance? At the moment An’gel couldn’t figure out how it might be. She had a hunch that there was a connection, she and Dickce simply had to find it.

Right now, though, she had to think of other matters. She looked around the waiting room. The first thing to do was to clear this room and send people home.

“I think you all should go on home,” An’gel said in a firm tone. “It’s obvious that we can do little for Arliss at the moment except pray, since we won’t be allowed to see her. Her sister ought to be here soon, and she doesn’t need a crowd of people to deal with when she arrives. Dickce and I will stay here until she comes, but the rest of you should go.”

Barbie, her face blotched with red from crying, stood. “You’re right, An’gel. Come on, Lottie. Let us know if you hear anything.”

An’gel nodded. Lottie rose obediently at Barbie’s words and followed her friend out of the waiting room. An’gel turned to Reba and Martin. Before she could speak again, Reba rose from her seat.

“Come along, Martin. We have to go buy a new battery for the car.” She nodded in An’gel’s direction before she departed. Martin shambled after her, staring at his phone as he went.

“Thank goodness you got them to go,” Dickce said quietly. “I couldn’t stand to look at any of them, knowing that one of them has to be responsible for this.”

“I couldn’t stand looking at them either,” An’gel said. “We have a cold-blooded killer as a friend, and it makes me ill to think about it.”

Arliss’s younger sister Frances and her husband, Bill, turned up a few minutes later. An’gel and Dickce told them, as gently as possible, the truth of what had happened to Arliss. Frances and Bill were stunned, as the sisters expected, and they looked a little fearful. An’gel couldn’t blame them.

“Please call us if there is anything at all we can do for you.” An’gel gave them a card with the sisters’ contact information. She and Dickce left the couple after sharing a brief prayer with them for Arliss’s recovery.

“I hate leaving them alone like that, in that cold waiting room,” Dickce said as she and An’gel walked out of the hospital.

“I know,” Angel said. “Under the circumstances, however, I think it’s best. Though we’ve met them a few times over the years, they don’t really know us. They can’t be sure one of us isn’t responsible for the current situation. They really can’t afford to trust any of Arliss’s so-called friends until this is cleared up.”

“I suppose not,” Dickce said. “That’s horrible to contemplate, though.”

“Yes, it is.” An’gel unlocked the car and climbed into the driver’s seat. She was in no mood for her sister’s driving at the moment.

They drove home to Riverhill in silence. When they entered the kitchen, they found Benjy, along with Peanut and Endora, talking with Clementine.

“How is she?” Clementine asked the moment she saw them.

An’gel shared the news of Arliss’s condition. Clementine shook her head. “I’ll be praying for her.”

“She’s going to need all our prayers,” Dickce said.

“You both need hot coffee and food,” Clementine said. “Y’all set yourselves down there at the table, and I’ll have something ready for you in a minute.”

“I’ll get the coffee for you,” Benjy said.

“Thank you,” An’gel said. “Coffee and food would be good.”

Peanut came to her and rubbed against her legs. She sat at the table, and he put his head in her lap. She stroked it, and he gazed up at her lovingly. She felt better for his attention.

Endora hopped into Dickce’s lap the moment Dickce sat. An’gel could see that her sister found the cat’s attentions as soothing as she did Peanut’s. Benjy set cups of coffee in front of each of them, and they both thanked him.

A little while later, An’gel pushed back her empty plate. “Thank you, Clementine. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was. Dickce and I rushed off to the hospital without even any coffee.”

“I know.” Clementine frowned. “You shouldn’t be doing things like that. Can’t go neglecting yourselves. Not going to help anybody by doing that.”

An’gel nodded. “You’re right.” Clementine fussed over them occasionally like they were her children. At times like this, An’gel appreciated her concern.

“Thank you,” Dickce said. “I feel much better after that.” She turned to Benjy. “What are you up to today?”

“Now that y’all are back, I thought I would go to the public library,” he said. “I want to see whether they have the old phone books, like you and I were talking about. See what I can find through their databases.”

“That sounds like an excellent plan,” An’gel said. “If you can’t find what you need there, let me or Dickce know, and we can call Charlie Harris and ask him to help you. I believe this is one of his days to work at the archive at the college.”

“Thanks, I’ll do that,” Benjy said. “Is it true that he takes his cat to work with him?” He glanced at Peanut and Endora and laughed. “I can just imagine taking these two with me and trying to focus on work.”

“When they’re older, perhaps.” Dickce favored the pets with an indulgent smile. “They’re still young, practically like children in kindergarten. They’ll be more settled before long.”

“To answer your question, yes, Charlie does take Diesel to work with him,” An’gel said. “Diesel has better manners than some people I know. He’s a very well-behaved cat.” She frowned at Endora. “This little miss could take a few lessons from him.”

“Endora is a very good girl most of the time,” Dickce said, a touch indignantly. “She’s still kittenish, and you can’t blame her for her occasional high spirits.”

Benjy laughed. “Whenever Peanut gets in trouble, she’s usually the ringleader. Will you mind looking after them while I’m in town?”

“Not at all,” Clementine said. “If Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce are too busy, they can keep me company.”

“Thanks,” Benjy said. “In that case, I’m going to grab my backpack and laptop and head to the library.” He patted the dog and the cat on their heads, gave all three women a quick peck on the cheek, and then he was out the back door.

The phone rang a moment later, and Clementine answered. “Yes, they’re right here.” She looked at An’gel. “It’s Kanesha.”

“I’ll take it,” An’gel said. Clementine gave her the handset. “Hello, Kanesha. Do you have any news about Arliss McGonigal?”

“Nothing new, Miss An’gel,” the deputy said. “She’s still holding her own. The reason I called, though, is to tell you we have a preliminary report from the professor at the college.”

An’gel gripped the handset tighter. “What’s the verdict?”

“He says the remains are definitely not old bones, as he called them. They’re too recent. So I suspect we have probably found Callie Partridge.”