“Wait.” I finally remembered why I called. “Have you heard anything more about the letter?”
“I’ll be right there,” he told someone. Then to me, he said, “Nothing else has shaken loose, but I’m still on it. Now, I’ve really got to go. I’ll call you tonight at the usual time, okay? I love you, babe.”
TRACE
____________________________
The next day, I sat slumped in the passenger seat of Bev’s brand-new truck as she drove into Grace Brethren Memorial Park, New Dyer’s fanciest cemetery. She’d picked me up after work so we could visit our mother together, but considering my black mood, I should’ve gone home. Between Amber ignoring my messages, this nonsense with Shannon, the constant crank calls, and what Bev had told me last night, I was about to lose my shit. Somebody had spray painted SATAN’S SISTER on the windows of her nail salon.
I’d only gotten four hours of sleep, one of which I’d spent trapped in Daddy’s nightmare. Seconds after I woke, my thoughts flew straight to Shannon. The fear and mistrust I’d seen in her eyes haunted me even now. I didn’t think I’d ever care what she thought, but I did. She was terrified of me. Hell, if I’d told her the truth about Nyle, she probably would’ve run off screaming.
As Bev taxied up the two-lane road, intermittent winks of sunlight flashed above a thick line of skeletal trees. This was where all the well-to-dos went when they kicked the bucket. Mama had cleaned their houses, so if she couldn’t live like them, she figured her final resting place would be as swanky as theirs. I was just glad she’d gotten the last laugh.
“We've gone as far as we can go,” Bev said, tugging me back. She cut the engine and pulled some Marlboros from the visor. Staring straight ahead, she tapped the crumpled pack until a cigarette inched out. She lit it and exhaled. “The north access road is closed. We gotta hike the rest of the way.” She pointed to a path on a hill that faded into a copse of snow-speckled evergreens. “Mama’s up there,” she said in monotone.
Clearly neither of us was in the mood for this visit. Having avoided the cemetery since Mama and Daddy’s funeral, Bev claimed grief kept her away, but I knew better. Mother and daughter had never been close.
From Bev’s cradle to Mama’s grave, they’d fought 365 days a year.
Out of the blue, she said, “I’ve been putting this off, but now’s a good a time as any. Zoe called about the job.”
“It’s a no-go, right?”
She nodded sadly. “Her husband Jerome heard one of the Bradfords was behind it. Betty Todd’s the county purchasing director and she told Jerome if he hired you, he could lose the Temptation library contract. Jerome said Sears Bradford is friends with all three commissioners. So’s his son Mead. They’ve basically blacklisted y’all…everywhere. That’s prob’ly why Cholly can’t get any local contractors for his club.”
I ground my jaw. An all too familiar hellish shade of red flashed before me. “Devious sons-a-bitches. I should’ve known.”
Not that I’d thought I’d had a snowball’s chance of getting that job, but I’d hoped something would’ve shaken loose by now so I wouldn’t have to lean so much on Cholly.
Sears and Mead Bradford wouldn’t be happy until they’d run us both off.
Bev took a drag. “Can’t you ask Shannon to talk to them?”
“Why should I?”
“Aren’t y’all friends now?”
Friends? Yeah, right. “Where’d you get that impression?”
“She called when I was at the house and Randa Quince saw you leave her office yesterday. Others have seen y’all as well.”
I rubbed my tired eyes. So Bev’s House of Nails also doubled as a hen-pecking factory. “Those women need to mind their own damn business.”
“Well, if y’all are friends it gives me hope. I mean, if you can forgive her…I dunno. Maybe you can forgive Patrick.”
I drew myself up. The girl was relentless. “I don’t want to talk about this no more, Beverly.” I fanned the air. “And stop blowing smoke in my face.”
“So now it’s ‘Beverly’? Yeah, you’re pissed.” She sucked on her cigarette as two crows landed on a nearby crypt. “Look, Patrick told me what he done at the plaza. He was just actin’ a fool, okay? But he’s my husband. Nothin’s gonna change that.”
“Does he even know you’re here? With me?” Soon as she hooded her eyes, I said, “You’ve got a lot of nerve coming at me with this when you’re sneaking around just to see your own brother.”
“It’s up to you to make amends. You started this war.”
I fixed her with a coarse look. “Your judgment’s always been off. The friends you pick, the men you choose—you’re a pleaser. Just like Mama. Every man you ever had treated you like shit. Hell, you up and married the first bum you met in stir. And why? ‘Cause you don’t think you deserve better.”
“Patrick’s not a bum. He’s a sinner—like all of us.”
“Uh-oh, I hear a sermon coming on.”
“Well, God knows you’ve lost your way.”
“And you’ve lost your damn mind.” I yanked off my seatbelt. “All that scripture slinging won’t erase the truth. You’re clueless when it comes to men. Eddie Gray proves it.”
Her cheeks burned red. “He has nothin’ to do with this.”
“Oh, really?” I stared a hole into the windshield. “Well, if you ask me, you went from one slimeball to another.”
“God’s word says I’m to cleave to my husband, rain or shine. Nobody’s perfect, so I don’t hold all his mistakes—”
“Mistakes?” I tore around. “Icky’s a crackhead and a wife beater. Mama even had him figured. Mama, the same woman who put up with Daddy’s shit. And you up and marry a sorry son-of-a-bitch just like him.”
“Judge not lest you be judged!”
“Don’t preach at me, Beverly,” I hollered. “You know that Bible-thumpin’ of yours drives me nuts.”
“‘Bible-thumpin’ helped me and him forgive each other.”
“What the hell does Icky gotta forgive you for?”
“We’ve all fallen short of God’s grace and glory!”
Any minute now she’d start speaking in tongues. I just shook my head. “No wonder you and Mama never got along. You’re both alike. Neither of you had the sense God gave a brick.”
I felt like an ass the second the words left my mouth. Especially after she ripped her seatbelt off and stormed out. I snatched up the flowers I’d bought at 7-11 and shouldered the door open. Wind hit my face and tugged at my jacket. Even in the dead of winter, cemetery air smelled of death and decay.
Bev tossed her cigarette. Her breath came in misty bursts while she paced back and forth in a frenzy. “You can be a hateful somethin’ when you wanna be.”
“Look, I’m just in a mood. We both are.” I slammed the door and the truck wobbled. “Swear to God, I didn’t mean it.”
“Yeah, you did.” She hugged herself. “You’re as judgmental as those prigs in Willow’s Corner. Lord help you.”
I set an apologetic hand on her shoulder when she zipped past me. “Hell, Bevy, I said I’m sorry.”
“Bastard,” she whimpered, jerking away. “Who are you? And what have you done with my brother?” Her ponytail waved as she blazed a trail up the hill.
Bev’s words had barely sunk in before her screams pierced the silence.
With my stomach lodged in my throat, I stumbled up the ruddy path, only to encounter my worst nightmare. Our differences forgotten, Bev and me stood side by side at the foot of our mother’s grave, both of us frozen in shock.
My flowers fell to the ground just as Bev’s legs gave out.
“Mama,” she sobbed. “Maamaah!” She grasped fistfuls of snow as her tortured cries echoed over the barren cemetery.