The Guilty

Chapter 16

Pete Clancy and his buddy had woken up and were gone when Robie returned to Danby’s Tavern.

The girl behind the bar wouldn’t meet his eye when he walked in. The tavern area was pretty full, and all eyes turned to him when he came through the door. Robie was sure that every person in the room knew exactly what had happened here.

He reached his room and unlocked the door, bracing for what he might find. But his room had been untouched. For now. He didn’t intend to give anyone a second shot.

The manager at Danby’s had followed him up the stairs.

“I think you need to leave here. Don’t want no trouble.”

He handed Robie back the cash he had paid for the room.

Robie gave him no argument, because he had already decided to go. He carried his duffel out to the car. He would find another place to stay, preferably outside of town.

He climbed into the driver’s seat and slipped his hand under the dashboard. Using Velcro he had brought with him, he had attached a pair of Glock nine-millimeters there. He patted each weapon to make sure it was secured in place and then set off.

The ride to the Willows took about a half hour as he drove along winding macadam, gravel, and sometimes dirt roads to get there.

He reached the house and turned down the pebbled drive, passing under the mingled canopies of the longleaf pines. The sun was heading down now but its glare was still intense, and the tree canopies provided welcome relief. After his fight with Pete Clancy and his walk through the woods with Taggert, his shirt was sticking to his skin. He felt like he was sitting inside a steam shower.

Good old Mississippi.

The Volvo was parked in front of the house. As Robie pulled to a stop next to it and got out, he could see that a table and chairs had been arranged on the porch. Set on the table was a pitcher full of reddish liquid and some glasses. The overhead fans that were aligned along the wraparound porch were whirling away. When Robie stepped up on the planks he could feel the breeze; it wicked away some of the sweat on his face.

The front door opened before he could knock. He expected to see Priscilla there, but it was Victoria. She was wearing a long, colorful sundress and low-heeled sandals that showed off red toenail polish. A bandana matching her dress was around her head.

“Are you all right?” she asked, looking over his face and body apparently for injuries.

“Who told you about it?”

“Priscilla. Pete Clancy is a bully, just like his father.”

“So you know Sherman Clancy?” he asked.

She didn’t answer right away, but led him over to the table and poured them out two glasses from the pitcher.

“Sangria,” she said. “A wonderful antidote to the heat and humidity. Actually, any alcohol will do.”

He took a sip. It tasted both sweet and salty.

Victoria sat down and so did he. He glanced at the window behind them in time to see Priscilla scurry away, with Tyler in her arms.

“Everybody in Cantrell, maybe on the whole Gulf Coast, knows Sherman Clancy. Knew Sherman Clancy,” she corrected. “He got around, made himself quite ubiquitous.”

Robie had pondered on the way over how to approach this. He decided the direct way was preferable.

“And you apparently enjoyed his company at some point.”

She took another sip of the sangria, set her glass down, and took a few moments to wipe her mouth with a cloth napkin on the table. She leaned back in the white wicker chair and studied him.

“So I see you’ve made the rounds of gossip in Cantrell. Busy day for you.”

“I’ve made some rounds. But that statement didn’t come from gossip. It was from your court testimony. Wasn’t it?”

“I spent one drunken night with Sherman Clancy. And no, we did not sleep together. We just drank together. He fell asleep halfway through. I had to keep waking him up.”

“Why drink with him at all? You apparently don’t think much of him. And while I haven’t known you very long, you don’t strike me as being, well, that sort.”

“If you must know, I had a little problem, and I needed Clancy’s help in order to solve it.”

‘What was that little problem?”

“That is none of your business,” she said sharply.

“Did you testify about it in court?”

“No. That was also none of their business. They just needed to know that I was with Clancy when Janet Chisum was killed. They didn’t need to know why.”

“You took a long time to come forward, I understand?”

“Of course I did. It was eating me up inside. My husband was the judge. I would have to testify that I was with another man that night. A man that Dan didn’t get along with in the first place. And though I know I didn’t sleep with him I was well aware that everyone in Cantrell, and that probably includes my husband, would assume that Sherman Clancy had screwed my brains out.”

“But you did come forward?”

“Yes, I did. They were seeking the death penalty against Clancy. I didn’t care for the man, but I couldn’t let the state of Mississippi execute him for a crime I know he couldn’t have committed. I admit that I lied to the police when they initially questioned me about it. But later I knew I had to tell the truth. And the real killer was still out there. If they convicted Clancy, they’d never catch the person who really did it.”

Obviously agitated, she drank down her glass of sangria and poured another. “Maybe I should have just kept quiet,” she said. “Then Clancy would be in prison and my husband wouldn’t be.”

“How did my father take the news about you and Clancy?”

“Not well,” she said tersely. “He…sometimes he doesn’t know his own strength.”

“So he beat you?”

“I wasn’t talking about his physical strength, though he has plenty of that. No, I was talking up here.” She tapped her forehead. “He can be quite cruel with words.”

Don’t I know that, thought Robie. “Do you think he killed Clancy?”

Her look told him that she had expected this question. “I don’t want to believe it.”

“What does he say?”

“He doesn’t say. When I visit him he asks me how Ty is doing. He asks me how I feel. He wants to know what is going on at the Willows. He does not talk about the case against him.”

“I need to get in to see him.”

“He has to allow it, Will. Otherwise they won’t let you in.”

“Can you ask him? Tell him I want to see him?”

She hesitated. “Why? What good would it do?”

“I don’t know if it will do any good at all. But it’s something I have to do.”

“I don’t know anything about the falling-out you two had. Or why you went away. Dan never talked about it.”

“I wouldn’t expect that he would.”

“And your mother? He never talks about her, either.”

“She was as unlike my father as it was possible to be.”

“Well, they do say opposites attract.”

“But can opposites exist together for the long term?”

“Have you ever been married?”

“No.”

“Ever wanted to be?”

Robie didn’t answer right away. He was thinking back to a woman he thought he had loved. Right up until the moment he had put a bullet in her head.

“Maybe.”

“Well, I wanted to be married to your father from the very first moment I saw him.”

“You met at some sort of legal convention?”

She nodded. “I’m not a lawyer. Don’t have the mind for it. I was a pharmaceutical rep for years and a very successful one, if I do say so myself. Frankly, I’d flirt with the male doctors and they bought whatever I was selling. I attended some of our national conventions and learned how they were set up and run. Then I started doing event organizing, and my business really took off. Well, when your father walked into that room, my God, he was tall, robust, beautiful white hair, tanned skin. He just commanded the place. All the other judges flocked to Dan Robie. He just had that sort of presence about him.” She paused. “I’m sure they all hate me for what’s happened. My jealous husband kills my alleged lover.”

“Is that how you see it?”

“Doesn’t matter what I think. It’s what everyone else thinks. That’s reality.”

“Will you tell him I need to talk to him?”

She lifted her gaze to his. “If you really want me to, I will.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. He might refuse. And if he does agree to see you, it might be even worse.”

“How do you figure?”

“Because you’ll be stuck smack in the middle of this mess. Shall we go in to supper?”