Ham Bones (11 page)

When I got out, he walked over, a slight flush touching
his cheeks.

"Ms. Tinkie, Sarah Booth, how are y'all doing?"

Gordon had never been one to sit out in the cold without good reason, which concerned me.

"What's going on?" Tinkie asked.

"The sheriff asked me to come by and remind the two
of you that Sarah Booth is the main suspect in a murder."

"Like I'd forget that," I snapped. "What's wrong with
Coleman? Has he completely lost it?"

Gordon looked like I'd asked him to reveal his most intimate secret. "I don't know." He spoke barely above a
whisper. "I honestly don't know, Sarah Booth, but I'm
worried about him. He hasn't eaten or slept. He acts like
a bear with his leg in a trap, and he took off about an hour
ago and didn't say where he was going."

"And you stood out here in the cold to tell me that?" I
didn't believe it for a minute.

"Sarah Booth!" Tinkle frowned at me.

"She's right," Gordon admitted, the flush once again
touching his olive skin. "Coleman sent me to tell you that
as a person charged in a murder case, you're not supposed
to leave the county. That means no more trips to Memphis."

Two things struck me as audacious-the first was that
Coleman had sent someone to remind me of my felonious
state, and the second was that Coleman would attempt to
order me about as if... well, as if I were charged with
murder. That more than likely meant that I had broken my
bond by traipsing off to Memphis with Tinkie. The truth
was, I hadn't honestly considered myself a suspect so all
the rules and regulations given in a spiel by the bail
bondsman had gone in one ear and out the other. Tinkle
put a cold hand on my wrist.

"Gordon, I simply didn't think. I just don't consider
Sarah Booth a serious suspect"

"I know." Gordon almost dug his toe in the shell driveway as he hung his head. "Technically, I should arrest her
for violation of bond, but I won't do it. I know she didn't
hurt that actress"

"Thank you, Gordon" All of my anger dissipated in a
puff of cold wind. I was left shaking. "I never considered
that I was violating my bail. Tinkie and I were trying to
solve the case"

He nodded. "Sarah Booth, Coleman knows that. He
sent me here to warn you not to leave the county again."

"He should never have charged me in the first place." I
put my cards on the table. "He knows I'd never hurt anyone. Not even Renata Trovaioli."

"You're the best suspect and the person charged. He
has to hold you to the letter of the law, Sarah Booth.
Surely you can see that?" He was almost pleading.

"No. I don't see it." My anger had returned. "I don't
see it at all. How can he charge me with a crime he knows
I didn't commit? That's just wrong and you know it."

Gordon looked to Tinkie for help. "If he hadn't charged
you, everyone in town would have gone around whispering behind your back. Because folks know how he feels
about you, there would never have been an end to the suspicions and whispers. It would have been that Coleman
let you get away with murder for the rest of your life. He
didn't want that for you. He knew that would have driven
you out of town and away from him."

Tinkie put her perfectly manicured hand up to her
mouth. "Oh, my God. That's the most romantic thing I've
ever heard"

"Stop melting!" I gave my full attention to Gordon.
"He sent you here to tell me all of that?" I was so mad
that my voice trembled. "He should have told me himself,
the coward."

Gordon stepped back against the blast of my fury. "Of
course he didn't send me here to tell you that. Are you insane?" He held up a hand. "Don't answer that!"

"Sarah Booth, what in the world is wrong with you?"
Tinkie put a restraining hand on my arm. "Gordon is trying to help, and you attack him."

"Why didn't Coleman come to tell me that himself?" I thought something in my chest was going to split. My
heart. It was breaking.

"I'm handling the case," Gordon said. "That's why I'm
here"

I tried hard to draw a deep breath, but it was impossible. My head was spinning and now Tinkie's restraining
hand became one of support as she felt me wobble.

I sought a sensible question and finally found one.
"How did you know about Memphis?"

Gordon didn't bat an eye. "Dewayne followed you. We
figured you were going to the cosmetic shop, but we had
to be sure"

I'd never seen the tail-because I hadn't expected one.

"Have you spoken with the owner of La Burnisco?"
Tinkie was working the case instead of nursing hurt feelings.

Gordon nodded. "I was there yesterday. They claim to
know nothing about Renata Trovaioli's lipstick. The
owner said she'd never had an older man working for her,
not even in a part-time capacity."

Which was exactly the same thing Tinkie and I had
discovered, but a new flush of anger took me at the thought
that Gordon hadn't done better than I had at grilling the
blonde. "You believed her?"

Gordon gave me a look that made me realize I'd hurt
his feelings again. "I didn't believe or disbelieve her,
Sarah Booth. What she said runs counter to your statement,
but there has to be an explanation that doesn't involve
you putting cyanide in a tube of lipstick. You obviously
got the lipstick somewhere, so why would you make up a
place that actually exists and could be checked?"

"I'm sorry, Gordon." It was my turn to blush.

"They have a book at La Burnisco. Every person who buys cosmetics signs the book" He never dropped his
gaze. "Your name wasn't there"

"But I signed it. The old man insisted. I told him the
lipstick wasn't even for me, that I was just picking it up,
but he insisted that I sign it." This was getting crazier
with each new twist.

"Do you remember any other names on the book?"

"I signed at the top of a blank page. There weren't any
other names" I knew then the old man was part of an
elaborate frame. How did he get in the shop, though,
without the blond barracuda's knowledge? "I bought that
lipstick at La Burnisco from an old man who looked like
Ebenezer Scrooge" I had a recurring flash-and not a hot
one. "My credit card will show the purchase!"

Gordon shook his head. "We've checked that already.
There's no charge for lipstick from La Burnisco on your
card, Sarah Booth."

"But that's impossible!" I turned to Tinkie. "I gave
Graf the slip with the charge on it to give to Renata so I
could be reimbursed. The stupid lipstick was a hundred
and fifty dollars!"

I know you gave Renata the lipstick, but I never got
the charge fee. Renata told me before you came back
from Memphis that she would personally take care of reimbursing you"

I couldn't believe this. The charge had to be on my
credit card. The old man had run my card-Id watched
him. "Was there a receipt in Renata's things?"

"No" Gordon spoke softly. "That's not even the worst
of it, Sarah Booth"

"Oh, shit." I needed a drink and sofa to fall onto.
"Come inside." They followed me into the house, and I
went straight to the cut-glass decanters on the sideboard in the parlor. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flicker of
movement in the dining room and knew Jitty was listening in. I poured a drink for me and Tinkie and offered
Gordon some iced tea. When we were all seated, I nodded
for him to tell me the rest.

"We went to Sheffield's Feed Store"

His pause was dramatic and I motioned him to continue. Sheffield's was where I bought Reveler's grain.
Neil "Bad Boy" Sheffield owned the store. I'd known him
since high school, when he'd taught me how to dirtydance. He was an irresistible charmer who made me feel
like a million dollars even when I went in the store wearing paddock boots and cut-off shorts, an ensemble guaranteed to make Tinkie's well-groomed hair stand on end.

"The clerk there, Nancy Bulgarelli, said you were in
the store last week trying to buy poison. Said you needed
it for raccoons in your feed room."

My perplexity must have shown on my face because
Gordon waved a hand. "The problem is that Nancy has no
reason to lie."

I don't have raccoons in the feed room and even if I
did, I wouldn't poison them"

"Sarah Booth would never hurt an animal." Tinkie was
incensed at the suggestion. "That's the biggest tub of hog
slops I've ever seen."

When Tinkie gets to talking about hog slops, things
are on a dangerous slide. "Why would Nancy tell such a
whopper?" I asked the question aloud, but it was mainly
for my consumption. Nancy was a fifteen-year-old high-
schooler with big blue eyes, a lingerie model's figure,
dimples, and a ninth-grader's obsession with boys, but
she was a sweet kid.

"She admits she didn't get a good look at you. She was stocking shelves on a ladder. She said you came in wearing a big gardening hat, went behind the aisle with the insecticides, and asked about strychnine pellets."

"I never did any such thing." I swirled the ice cubes in
my drink. "I'm beginning to see a definite pattern here,
and it reeks of a setup. The person who really killed Renata has been working for at least a week to pin this on
me"

Gordon rose and handed me the empty tea glass.
"That's exactly what I think, Sarah Booth. The problem is
we have to prove it, and Nancy won't budge off her
story."

"If she didn't get a clear view of me, why does she
think it was me?" I'd have a talk with Nancy. She worked
afternoons, and she'd be at the store the next day. I wouldn't
have to leave Sunflower County to find her.

"She said you mentioned Reveler and that you left
your phone number for Neil to call you when he got back
from picking up feed in Clarksdale."

Up until that point, everything Gordon had said had
served to anger me. When Reveler was mentioned, I felt
as if someone had opened the door on a freezer and
blasted me with icy air. Tinkie felt it, too. She slowly
stood, her face so pale that her coral lipstick looked too
dark.

"Whoever is doing this to Sarah Booth knows way too
much about her life."

"Who might that be?" Gordon asked.

I thought of the people who might hate me, and there
were a few names on the list, but none of those people
would think to kill Renata and pin it on me. Except for
someone in the acting company.

I looked at Tinkie and her mouth silently formed the word "Graf." Neither of us spoke it, though. "I don't
know," I said. Meaning that even if I suspected Graf I
wasn't going to say so.

"Coleman has made a list, and Graf Milieu is at the
top of the list. Of course, he can't openly pursue that,
Sarah Booth, because you've made it obvious that you
have feelings for Graf and folks are already talking. To
try to shift the focus to him would have folks saying
Coleman is protecting you and trying to get rid of his
competition."

"So what if that's what folks say?" I'd never known
Coleman to flinch before public opinion. He did what
was right, not what was popular.

"It's not for him, Sarah Booth. He's looking out for
you. You're the one who'll have to live with the outcome
of all of this."

Tinkie came over and put her arm around my waist.
"He's right, you know. Coleman's playing it by the book
so that no one will ever be able to say you did it and got
away with it."

That was cold comfort.

The Club's auditorium was filled to capacity, and at
least fifty unticketed people were standing outside, hoping for admittance. Keith was beside himself with glee,
and he was running all around the auditorium acting very
much like a Nazi commandant.

"Sarah Booth! Sarah Booth!" He screamed my name
as if he didn't know exactly where I was.

Bobbe finished blotting my makeup, and I started to
slip from the chair when she touched my shoulder. "I
need to talk to you"

The look in her eyes told me she was afraid of something. "After the show?" I asked.

She nodded. "Don't tell anyone."

"Okay." I wanted to question her more, but the makeup
room door flew open, and Keith stood there, panting.

"A reporter from New York is in the audience. He
wants to talk to you after the show."

I glanced at Bobbe and saw her face fall. "I have a
commitment already."

"Sarah Booth, it's Broadway Bound. You have to do
the interview."

He looked so desperate. "Keith, you've had Broadway
hits, why is this so important?"

"Just do it, please."

"Fifteen minutes. That's all I have" Bobbe gave me a
nod of agreement before she slipped from the room.

"I didn't want to say in front of Bobbe, but this whole
thing with Renata's murder and all has created such publicity." Keith ran a hand through his thinning hair. "I've
gotten calls from London and Tokyo and even Sydney.
It's becoming an international incident. If they don't put
you in prison, you'll be a huge star, and I'm the one who
discovered you! My career will soar!"

"Thanks, Keith. Glad to know I got here on Renata's
corpse" I brushed past him and went to the wings to take
my place. Somehow, all of the glamour had evaporated
from being on stage. Now, it was really going to be work
to put on a performance.

I made it to the final curtain with a pounding headache, and when Keith showed up backstage with a rotund
little man with a tape recorder and notepad, I gave the interview, running through my routine denials of guilt in Renata's death. At last, though, I walked back to the dressing
room to find Bobbe.

She was sitting in her makeup chair, tears running
silently down her cheeks. When I closed the door firmly
behind me, she turned to face me.

"All I ever wanted was to be at home with my family.
That isn't a crime."