Homeward Hound

CHAPTER 14

Bible open, reading glasses perched above the tip of her nose, Aunt Daniella read the page of Luke, chapter 5, verses 36–39. A knock on the door lifted her eyes.

The door opened. Sam, carrying two bags of groceries, stared at his nonreligious aunt. “What are you doing?”

“Cramming.”

He laughed. “You’d have to, Aunt Dan.”

“I never broke the Ten Commandments.”

“What about ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife’?” He carried the bags into her spotless kitchen as he called over his shoulder.

“I never coveted my neighbor’s wife.” She sounded ever so prim and full of herself at the same time.

“You should have been a lawyer.” He unpacked her groceries as she walked into the kitchen.

“Thank you for shopping for me. I hate to drive in bad weather.”

“You should give me the keys to your car.”

“No. I can still drive. Furthermore, I don’t get tickets.”

“Of course you don’t. The sheriff’s department is scared to death of you.”

She pulled out a kitchen chair. “Can I fix you anything to eat?”

“No. I brought roasted chicken for both of us, a side salad. Thought about macaroni but decided against it. You eat like a bird.”

“Birds actually eat a lot.” She smiled. “I can eat. After you finish I will clean up. A human Hoover. Although that expression applies to cocaine.” She got up to set the table.

“How do you know these things?”

“I read, Sam, plus I watch some shows. After you and Gray bought me that big-screen TV and a DVD player I watch Netflix stuff. I like to watch old movies like Raisin in the Sun, Notorious, the good stuff. Movie stars had faces then. Now actors want to look real. I don’t want them to look real. I want them to look like gods.”

“Okay.” He sliced the chicken, pulled the plastic top off the salads. “What kind of dressing do you want?”

“Oil and vinegar. There by the stove.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He opened the fridge and took out a bottle of ranch for himself, then sat down.

“How was the hunt yesterday?”

“Not bad. Awful footing. The packed snow was better than this slop, but then it always is. People put studs on their horses’ shoes but studs don’t do you but so much good in mud.”

“Mercer used to say that.” She mentioned her son, who died two years ago.

“He was always trying to dress me. I never had the money for his kind of clothes. Mercer had an uncanny knack for picking colors, all that stuff.”

“I was happy to divide his clothes between you and Gray. Funny that you three were close in size. No one porked up. God knows my third husband did.” She raised an eyebrow. “I finally told him he had to lose weight because I couldn’t find his member.”

Sam, mouth full, swallowed hard, then laughed. “That would motivate a husband. Aunt Dan, thank you for having me over a lot of nights, for arranging dinners and stuff. Gray, Sister, Yvonne, even Tootie and Weevil, have been great. Crawford’s huntsman has been kind, too. Her romance with Shaker is good, I guess.”

“Makes sense. He’s been divorced long enough to recover. They like the same things. Yvonne will recover, too. What a nasty piece of business that was.”

“I’d have shot the son of a bitch.”

“Then I’m grateful you were not married to him.” She speared a crisp carrot. “How are you, really?”

“I’m…I don’t know. There are so many questions galloping through my mind.”

“That was a remarkable thing you did for him, working extra jobs so you could send him to rehab. I’ve never told you how much I admire you for that. Have you ever noticed white people bugle blast anything they do for one of our people but what we do for them: silence?”

“Not Rory.”

“No.” She hunted down another carrot. “Do you think alcoholism supersedes just about everything else, class, race, gender, all the stuff that fills the news? I don’t read any solutions to all those things, by the way.”

“There are solutions for being a drunk but you have to want to do it, you have to work at it every day. We need to support each other and I pray. I pray a lot, Aunt Dan.”

“I do, too. I’d rather people not know about it.” She grinned.

“What haunts me is I didn’t know he’d come back to drive Trocadero to Crawford’s with me. On the big days people always need help and Crawford is good about letting us earn extra money. Since Crawford wasn’t going, not that we expected him to, he allowed us to go. I hunted that four-year-old he wants me to bring along. The guy’s got the bone to carry him but he’ll have to adjust to Crawford, who is anything but a soft rider. He does try. But Rory usually told me what he was thinking. Did he decide to have a look at the gelding during the hunt? I can’t get it out of my head. Same questions over and over.”

She cut her chicken into small squares. “Was he in money trouble?”

“He would have told me.”

She nodded. “I’m sure Ben has questioned everybody as well as Sister, too. People might talk to her before the sheriff.”

“I’ve even thought what if he was killed elsewhere and dumped in the ditch? He had to have been killed close to Tattenhall Station.”

“I think so, too. Maybe he got in the way. Gregory Luckham is still missing and presumed dead. Maybe Rory took a notion to come by at exactly the wrong time. That’s the only thing I can think of.”

“The medical examiner’s report specified Rory was killed on the day of Christmas Hunt. Ben called me. He knew I was tortured by this. Everyone’s afraid I’ll drink again.” He leveled his gaze right at her.

“It’s not an unreasonable fear, Sam.”

“I would never do that, not after what Rory and I went through. It would break his heart if he knew his death sent me back to the bottle.”

“Yes.” She said this with feeling. “There are promises we make to the dead. I promised your mother I would watch over you and Gray, grown men that you were, when she passed. She was so sweet. I’d fret over her. She believed there was good in everybody. It’s a wonder she wasn’t cheated daily. The Good Lord protected her.”

“I often wish I was more like her.” He drank a tonic water with a wedge of lime.

Aunt Daniella enjoyed her usual bourbon. She drank in front of him even right when he came back from rehab. She swore he had to get used to it or he’d never go to a party again and what fun was that?

“To change the subject, how is Yvonne doing, really?”

“Long leg, natural rhythm. If she sticks to it she’ll be pretty good. After all, Tootie got her athletic ability honestly.”

“M-m-m.” She returned to Rory. “Sam, I think about Rory, I do. Gregory Luckham is still out there, I expect. He came as Ronnie’s guest.”

“Right.”

“Could Ronnie be in danger?”