“I’d rather come back here.” Helen Louise gave me a kiss before she picked up her purse from the counter. “I’ll be back in an hour.”
The muffled sounds of a cell phone ringtone emanated from her purse. Helen Louise dug the phone out and frowned when she saw who was calling. “The bistro,” she said to me before she answered.
I heard only her side of the conversation, and it didn’t take long to figure out that one of her employees had injured himself and was out of commission for the rest of the day. Helen Louise ended the call after promising to be there in about half an hour. She put the phone away.
“Sorry, love.” She grimaced.
“Who’s hurt?”
“Henry cut his left hand pretty badly, and a friend who was in the bistro when it happened has taken him to the emergency room. They’re shorthanded now, so I’m going to have to go in and work. Probably tomorrow, too, because I don’t imagine Henry will be able to do much.”
“You get going. I’m sorry your day away ended like this, but even sorrier for poor Henry.” I slid my arm around her and pulled her to me for another kiss. After several highly satisfying seconds she pulled away.
“Talk to you later,” she said. Diesel followed her to the door, warbling all the way. She rubbed his head quickly before she walked out the door. He stood there for at least thirty seconds, but when she didn’t come back through the door he returned to my side.
Time to call Jack Pemberton. I poured myself a glass of ice water before I settled at the table. Diesel stretched out by my chair.
Jack answered right away. “Hi, Charlie. What’s been going on?”
“Hey, Jack,” I said. “Interesting developments involving Bill Delaney. I’m curious to get your take on everything.” He listened while I told him what had happened today and didn’t comment until I finished. That pleased me because I really hated having my train of thought interrupted while I was trying to make sure I didn’t leave out any details. “So what do you think?”
“First off, I think you’re right. He has some idea of who might want to put him out of the way permanently. Now, whether it’s an old enemy with a score to settle, or the killer in the Barber case trying to get rid of him before he tells what he knows . . .” He paused. “Could be either situation.”
“True,” I said. “It could also be a vigilante type who thinks he got away with murder and decided to see justice done. I’m inclined to think it’s got to be related to the murders in some way.”
“Hadn’t thought of the vigilante angle,” Jack said. “I agree that it’s related to the Barber case. That’s what my gut instinct tells me, and it’s hardly ever wrong.”
“So we’re agreed on that,” I said. “Now, about getting together. I’m available all day tomorrow. If you don’t mind, why don’t you come here? In the afternoon we can go to the hospital to talk to Bill Delaney.” My children would be visiting their respective in-laws with their spouses tomorrow, so my usual Sunday family dinner was canceled. With Helen Louise busy at the bistro, Diesel and I would be on our own.
“That sounds good. I’d like to meet Delaney. Maybe between the two of us we can encourage him to trust us,” Jack said.
“Yes, whether he’s guilty or innocent, we need to get him talking to us,” I said.
“Would ten o’clock work for you?” Jack asked.
“That’s fine.” I gave him the address.
“I’ll e-mail you the files I have on the Barber case,” Jack said. “If you have time to look them over before tomorrow morning, that would be great.”
“No problem,” I said. “I’ve nothing else to do this evening.”
“Great,” Jack replied. “See you in the morning.” He ended the call.
I put my phone aside and gazed down at the dozing cat by my chair. “We’re going to have company tomorrow, Diesel. It’s going to be a busy day.” He roused long enough to offer a sleepy meow in acknowledgment before going back to his nap.
“Uh-oh,” I said as I suddenly realized something. With most of my usual cat-sitters otherwise occupied tomorrow, I had no one to keep an eye on Diesel while Jack and I went to the hospital. I couldn’t remember what Stewart might have told me about his and Haskell’s plans for tomorrow. If they weren’t going to be at home, I’d have to send Jack to the hospital by himself.
I picked up my phone to send a text to Stewart.
Hey there. Hope you’re enjoying your day. Are you and Haskell going to be home tomorrow morning?
I set the phone aside for the moment and got up to refill my water glass. That done, I looked through the fridge to see what my options were for dinner. Sandwich, salad, some hard-boiled eggs. No, I wanted a more substantial meal, although I probably should have gone with a couple hard-boiled eggs and salad. I opened the freezer to find one of Azalea’s casseroles and discovered only one left. Chicken and rice. I took it out and set it on the counter to thaw for an hour or so before I put it in the oven. Casserole plus salad would make a satisfying meal.
In the meantime I decided a small snack wouldn’t hurt, so I peeled a banana. Diesel knew I was eating so he perked up and became interested in my snack. I pinched off a piece of banana and gave it to him. Cats can’t taste sweet so fruit generally doesn’t interest them. Diesel sniffed at the banana for a moment, then he gulped it down. He looked up at me, obviously wanting more. I gave him one more small piece and ate the rest of the banana myself. I sometimes thought the fact that I shared my food with him was more important than the taste of the food itself.
I discarded the banana peel and washed my hands. I had barely finished drying my hands when my phone emitted the new text alert sound. I read Stewart’s response to my message. Evidently Haskell was on duty tomorrow, so Stewart was planning to spend the day at home. I texted back to ask if he would mind babysitting Diesel for a while, and he quickly responded that he’d be happy to. After a quick Thanks back, I put the phone in my pocket.
“Come on, Diesel, let’s go to the den,” I said. “Time to check e-mail.” He ambled along beside me as we left the kitchen.
A few minutes later we were comfortably settled on the sofa in the den. Diesel lay stretched out beside me, his head against my leg. I had the laptop open, waiting for my e-mail to finish loading. The process was taking a little longer than usual because Jack had evidently sent me several large files.
Finally the last of them loaded, and I opened the one that had arrived first. Jack had written a brief explanation of the contents of the file, in this case scans of all the newspaper articles he had been able to find about the Barber case. I opened the file and discovered that there were nearly sixty pages of scans. If the other files were this big, I would do well to read them all and digest the information before our meeting tomorrow.
I heard a beep that alerted me to a new incoming message. From Jack again, this time marked with a red exclamation point, denoting that it was sent with high importance. I opened it to find out what was so urgent.
Managed to track down Elizabeth Barber’s best friend from high school. Girl she spent the night with the night her parents and siblings were murdered. Turns out she’s a doctor and lives in Athena. Leann Finch. Know her?
TWENTY-ONE
The ER doctor, Leann Finch, was Elizabeth Barber’s best friend in high school. What an odd coincidence, I thought, like my son-in-law turning out to be related to the Barber family. Frankly, it wasn’t all that unusual in Mississippi to stumble over connections like these. At least, I thought so, after all those years in Houston where the population of the metropolitan area was more than twice as large as that of the whole state of Mississippi. Since I moved back to Athena, I had encountered this phenomenon more than once.