Miss Julia Meets Her Match (10 page)

“Ah,” he said. “I see.” He ran his hand across his mustache and went on. “When was this, ah, amicable relationship supposed to’ve happened?”

“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t know anything, except it had to’ve been before Mr. Springer’s demise. But the talk’s going to get back to Hazel Marie and Little Lloyd if we don’t do something. I don’t want that child to know that his daddy was a lecherous old goat. I mean, anymore than he’s going to eventually figure out for himself. And I’d like to keep it from Hazel Marie, if we can, to spare her the shame I’ve had to put up with.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean.” By this time, Mr. Pickens had his professional face on, and I could tell that he was considering all the ramifications of the Mooney woman’s presence in our town. “I’ll get right on it.”

“Two more things, Mr. Pickens,” I said. “I know I gave you a hard time before about your fee, but this time there’ll be no quarreling. Whatever you charge, I’ll pay and gladly.”

“You think I’d charge to take care of Hazel Marie and Lloyd?” He tightened his mouth at the thought. “What’s the other thing?”

“Well, we can discuss money matters later. The other thing is I want to take part in your investigation.”

He was shaking his head before I even got it out of my mouth. “We’ve been over that before, too. I’ll stay in touch, but I don’t work with a partner, which you know as well as I do.”

I nodded, but if he thought I was going to stand by and wring my hands while that woman tore us all to smithereens, he’d have to think again.

I sat straight up in bed, wide awake and gasping for breath. The perfect solution to the Mooney woman problem had come to me in my sleep. I glanced at the bedside clock and saw that it was only four-fifteen, much too early to put my plan in motion. Still, I was so excited with the thought of it that I got out of bed and put on a flannel robe against the early morning chill. Then I slipped into the big, fluffy bedroomers that Little Lloyd had given me for one of the birthdays that I no longer acknowledged.

Tiptoeing so as not to wake the others, I went to the kitchen and started the coffee. The incessant rain we’d had all spring made the house feel damp and chilly, so I stood in the kitchen, shivering, while the coffee perked. I could see my reflection in the dark windows, but I turned away, unable to bear such a distressing sight for long.

I went to the refrigerator, thinking I would make a piece of toast, then decided against it. When the coffeepot stopped, I went into the pantry and got a handful of Oreos, then poured a cup of coffee, turned off the lights and went back upstairs.

It was not my custom to eat in bed, but this was a special occasion. I propped pillows behind my back, tucked the covers all around and proceeded to enjoy my coffee and cookies.

Lillian would raise Cain about such a breakfast, but once in a blue moon wouldn’t hurt anybody.

Going over and over it in my mind, I struggled to understand the Mooney woman and her reason for returning to the scene of her disgraceful actions. You’d think that she wouldn’t come within a hundred miles of Abbotsville since, as I’d often told Little Lloyd, people may forgive a step out of line, but they don’t ever forget it.

By this time, I had resigned myself to the fact that the Mooney woman had indeed been one of Wesley Lloyd’s conquests. Or maybe it was the other way around, and he’d been hers. Whichever, though, the result was the same—they’d had physical congress, and her return to Abbotsville had revived the scandal. And I intended to put a stop to it one way or another.

My heart was working overtime as I watched the clock, waiting for a decent hour to get up and dressed. My plan was to call Binkie. Why hadn’t I thought of it before? Here, I’d gone through agonies for an entire day over rumors that I could’ve brought to a screeching halt with one phone call. And it hadn’t even occurred to me. I wondered if my mind was going.

By six-thirty I was fully dressed and on my way downstairs. I thought of calling Binkie at home, knowing she’d be up feeding the baby, but I decided I could wait one more hour. One must be considerate of others, although in this case it was hard to consider anything but what I needed her to do.

Lillian rounded on me as soon as I entered the kitchen. “Who been up in the middle of the night perkin’ this coffee?”

“I was, and good morning to you.”

“Good mornin’, but what you doin’ wanderin’ ’round when you ought to be in bed?”

“I had things on my mind, Lillian, but I’m happy to say that I solved them, and I was so pleased with myself I couldn’t sleep.”

“You gonna wish you had yo’ sleep, come afternoon,” she mumbled. “Now set down an’ eat something ’fore you keel over.”

“I’m feeling fine, Lillian. Don’t go to any trouble for me, I had a little snack earlier.”

“You don’t s’posed to be eatin’ no snacks ’fore breakfast. What’s wrong with you?”

We both looked up at the ceiling, as the footsteps of Latisha and Little Lloyd rumbled overhead. They stomped from room to room, with Latisha calling to him, wanting to know what he was wearing to school and could she go with him and when would he be back and would he play with her when he got home.

“Law, that chile,” Lillian said. “She be the death of me yet.”

“Well, I’ll tell you, Lillian, I never thought I’d see the day that this house would be filled with children. But, now that it is, I have to admit that I hardly mind it at all.”

She grunted, but she didn’t disagree. She set a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me and said, “What all goin’ on with you an’ Mr. Sam? He s’posed to eat supper with us las’ night, an’ he never showed.”

“Now, Lillian, that’s between him and me.” I stirred my eggs, wondering if I could get them past the sudden lump in my throat. Here, I’d been feeling so good about ending the gossip problem, and Lillian had to bring up the very thing to send me into the dumps again.

“You better watch yo’self,” Lillian warned. “You hurt that good man’s feelin’s, you gonna be left high an’ dry without nobody.”

“I know, I know. I don’t need a lecture on the subject. There’s something else going on that I’ve been meaning to tell you about, but . . .”

I got no further, for Latisha and Little Lloyd came crashing down the back staircase, laughing and talking and ready for breakfast. The commotion was too much for me, so I greeted them, then took myself upstairs so I could use the phone in some semblance of peace and quiet.

At one minute past eight, I dialed Binkie’s office. “Mary Ellen,” I said to her receptionist, “I need to speak with Binkie. It’s urgent.”

“She just got in. Hold on a minute and I’ll see if she can take your call.”

She’d better take it, I thought to myself, or she’ll have me camping on her doorstep.

“Miss Julia,” Binkie said, sounding out of breath. “What can I do for you this morning?”

“Binkie, I apologize for not asking how you are or how the baby is, but I don’t have time to chat. What I need you to do is get me out of a lease I signed before I knew what it entailed.”

“What kind of lease and for what?”

“For twenty, more or less, idle acres running between Berea Church and County Line Roads, and it’s a five-year lease with two options to renew. And I know I should’ve consulted you, Binkie, but I didn’t, and now I’ve changed my mind, and I want out of it.”

“Well, I don’t know, Miss Julia. If the lease is properly drawn up and you’ve signed it and accepted payment, you may be stuck with it. Unless, of course, the lessee has misrepresented himself or what he wants to use it for. Who’d you lease it to?”

“Some fly-by-night person by the name of Dwayne Dooley. He’s planning to put a Christian theme park out there with all the stops that Jesus made when he walked the earth. Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

There was silence for a minute, except for the breathing that I could hear over the line. She noticeably exhaled then and said, “Is all that covered in the lease? I mean, spelled out?”

“I’m afraid so. I read every word, Binkie, and I know I should’ve let you see it first, but he was so eager and he had money in hand, and all I could think of was getting some good out of that land.”

“Sounds like you’ll have to honor it, then.”

“Oh, my goodness,” I said, feeling the bottom drop from under me. “Binkie, think of something, because I really need to get out of it. I’ve just found out some disturbing things about that bunch of so-called Christians.” I stopped, so undone that my perfect solution to the Mooney woman problem wasn’t so perfect, after all. And all because I’d been so eager to make a little money on unused property. Greed is a terrible thing, and even worse when you find it flourishing within yourself.

Binkie said, “If they’re doing something illegal, you can break the lease, no problem.”

“I don’t know if what they’re doing is illegal or not. But I’m certainly going to have Coleman and the whole sheriff ’s department go out there and check them out. They could be doing anything. Binkie, the truth of the matter is . . .” I stopped, not ready to tell her what the truth was. “Well, let’s put it this way, I just don’t like them. I don’t want to be associated with them, and I want them gone, out of sight and out of mind.”

“My goodness, you do feel strongly about it. Well, look, I can talk to Mr. Dooley and tell him you’ve changed your mind. He might be willing to cooperate, especially if I tell him I’ll find another place for him.”

“No, Binkie, you’re not understanding me. I want them gone from Abbot County, somewhere as far away as they can get. Finding another place just won’t do. I just want you to get me out of that lease.”

“Whew, that won’t be easy, especially since you have no good reason for breaking it.”

“I have a good reason.”

“Well, tell me and I’ll go from there.”

“I can’t, Binkie. I can’t tell anyone because I don’t want it known.” Any more than it already is, I added to myself.

She was silent again, while I sat there waiting for her to come up with a way to null and void that lease without telling everybody and his brother why I wanted out. “Binkie?”

“I’m thinking.”

“Will it be that hard?”

“Pretty hard, especially since you’ve accepted advance payment.”

“He can have it back. I don’t want his money, and where did an itinerant preacher get the money to pay a half a year’s rent in one fell swoop, anyway?”

“Miss Julia,” Binkie said, sounding just the least bit exasperated, “it doesn’t sound as if you have any evidence of wrongdoing on his part, and certainly nothing to take into court.”

“Court? Who said anything about
court?
”

“
He
might, if we try to break the lease. And if he did, you’d have to show cause and, if you’re unwilling to tell me, what’re you going to tell the court? What I’ll do is appeal to his sense of fair play and his desire for the good will of the community. And give him his money back, of course.”

“Go further than that, Binkie, if you have to. Offer him something for his pain and suffering. You know, for the inconvenience.”

“I can offer to buy out the lease, but it’ll cost you.”

“I don’t care what it costs. Just get rid of him and the flatbed trucks he came in on. What I want to hear is that he’s packing up today and taking that whole crew to Arkansas or somewhere.”

After we hung up, I continued to sit there and wring my hands, knowing I was doomed to even more worry while waiting for his response. I just despised being at the mercy of someone else’s willful decisions.

Mentally shaking myself, I got up and went downstairs. I knew I’d feel better after sharing my anxiety with Lillian, who was as trustworthy as anyone could be. And, when I told her, I’d have someone in the house who could help me bear the burden of protecting Hazel Marie and Little Lloyd. And who, also, could tell me if she heard more of that terrible gossip.

But wouldn’t you know it? She was on her way up the back stairs with Latisha, telling her that she needed to get dressed and brush her teeth. It was the first time that I felt any resentment toward Janine for sending Latisha to us. I needed Lillian. I did not need her to be busy with someone else when I was in such dire straits.

As I poured another cup of coffee—my third or fourth of the day, and it not yet nine o’clock, I heard Hazel Marie’s car pull in, back from taking Little Lloyd to school. Well, some things do work out, I thought. If Lillian had been available, I would’ve barely scratched the surface before having to stop so Hazel Marie wouldn’t hear.

“Hey, Miss Julia,” she said, smiling with her usual good spirits. “You’ll never guess what I heard when I dropped Lloyd off at school.”

My coffee sloshed out of the cup and spread across the table. “What did you hear?”

“Here, let me get a paper towel for that.” She quickly wiped up my spill, then sat down across from me. “Well, I saw Amy Broughton just as I was leaving the school, and she pulled over and rolled her window down. Her husband is on the session and he told her about their meeting last night. Pastor Ledbetter alerted them—that’s what she said, alerted them—that we’re going to have a VIP visiting the church for the next few months.”

“You mean somebody from the General Assembly? Are they checking up on us? I wouldn’t doubt for a minute that we’re not following their guidelines, but what can they do about it? They need the churches more than the churches need them, because we’re where the money comes from.”

“No, not from the General Assembly, nothing like that.”

“Then it’s probably somebody on a Pastor Seeking Committee from another church. Oh, Hazel Marie, maybe Pastor Ledbetter’ll get a call from a bigger church, and he’ll take it, I know he will. Then we can get a more agreeable preacher, one who won’t fight me at every turn. Even though,” I went on after thinking about it, “he’s proven himself somewhat more amiable since having a few troubles of his own.”