The Killing King of Gratis (12 page)

If any good came from this, though, it was how well Peck adjusted to his new surroundings. He was practically the king of the dog pack. Whenever he was outside they would follow him or come when he called. If they were napping under a tree he could be found napping with them. If they chased rabbits or squirrels he trailed behind them, eager to see what they caught.

Peck also found a real friend in Matthew. Separated by size and years, they both carried an innate shyness they recognized in each other. Matthew, for all his bulk or maybe because of it, never felt comfortable around others unless he was on the football field. Except for the Neck, it was the one place he felt at ease. Off the field that confidence withered away.

In college he would hang out with the other players in downtown Athens. They went to the Odyssey, the Georgia Bar, or some other dive, and they would be the kings of the place. Invariably, someone would get in a fight and a few would meet coeds who wanted a football player. More often than not, he was the one who broke up the fight and watched somebody else go home with the girl. It was easier being in the background. Being the star was scary.

When he first met Peck he thought him quiet. That didn’t bother him.
Most people talk to damn much, anyway
. The kid was respectful, and not just because Matthew was large. Peck had a natural empathy for others. Matthew had no idea that’s what he sensed in him, but he could feel it. He liked the boy.

Peck’s just a dog without a pack
. Matthew knew that feeling. It was a loneliness that was hard to live with.

For Peck’s part, he liked Matthew as soon as he met him. He didn’t order Peck around like most other adults. When they first met he asked Peck if he wanted to see where he would sleep, and whether the room was fine. He asked about what Peck wanted, instead of telling him what he would get.

Peck also liked Matthew’s calm. For a grown adult, Matthew spent a lot of time sitting around and looking out at the swamp, just considering things. He didn’t seem rushed to get anything done. His Uncle Delroy was kind but always rushed. Matthew had no sense of urgency whatsoever, and that suited Peck just fine.

Neither Peck nor Meg knew what to think about Terrence. When he came there they put him in Peck’s room and he cried all night. Peck, not knowing what to say, never asked him what was wrong. It was the next morning before he said anything to him.

“Are you hungry for breakfast?”

Terrence didn’t answer so Peck got up and went to his sister’s room. He lay down on the bed next to her and waited for her to wake up. She wasn’t surprised to see him when she awoke. He had done this since he was able to walk from his crib to her room as a toddler.

“Morning, Peck.”

“Morning, Sister Girl.” She loved it when he called her Sister Girl.

“What’s up?”

“Terrence cried all night, and now he won’t speak to me.”

“Well, you know his mommy died. He’s just sad.”

Peck thought about this for a minute. “How did his Mommy die?”

Meg considered her answer. Cozette told her that someone hurt Terrence’s mother, and that he was staying with them until they found the man responsible. She didn’t mention any connection between the ear they found and Terrence’s mother, but Meg knew there had to be one. She saw Uncle Delroy bring Terrence to the house.

“Well, Peck, someone hurt his mommy really bad, and she died.”

“Did they mean to hurt her?”

“I think so, probably so, yes.”

“Well, maybe we could take him for a ride in the boat.” That always made Peck feel happy.

“Peck, you know Cozette won’t let us take the boat and that it won’t crank. I don’t think Terrence would want to do that right now, anyway.”

Peck thought on this for a moment. “Well, I bet Matthew would let us take the boat. Maybe later.” With that Peck squeezed his sister’s hand and went to eat breakfast. Meg lay there for a moment and thought about what Peck said. She rarely spoke with Matthew, but Peck spent a lot of time with him.

She would like to go out on the boat again. Cozette took the spark plugs out of the engine, but surely Matthew would know where she put them. Meg knew she was at Cozette’s to be safe, but a boat ride wouldn’t hurt anything.
We wouldn’t even go into town, not for long anyway
, she decided.

She smiled at the thought of tying the boat off where it couldn’t be seen and sneaking around to watch people at the neighborhood pool. She might even see her best friends, the twins Piper and Sully, and let them know she was fine. They would never tell and would make a huge fuss over her. She yearned for that.

Cozette thought Meg looked awfully happy that morning at breakfast. She even failed to complain that all they had was real bacon and not the god-awful turkey “lite” version. If she wasn’t so worried about Terrence, and all the laws she was surely breaking by keeping him, she would have worried about Meg’s positive new outlook. Instead, she put more bread in the toaster and made a mental note to get extra bacon next time she was at the Piggly Wiggly.

These kids are eating me out of house and home. Delroy’s gonna have a big old bill when this is done.
She smiled as she imagined handing Delroy a bill, and then went to get Terrence from his room. He might be sad, but she wasn’t going to let him starve, not on her watch.
Poor baby
, she thought.

D
elroy awoke the next morning somewhat clear-eyed. He drank only one rather small glass of Jack Daniels the night before and went to sleep before the late news aired. He even made it to the bed instead of falling asleep on the couch. Before going to bed an idea about how to find Millicent’s killer grumbled in his mind. He struggled with it as he slept and it sprang forth, fully grown, when he awoke.
God bless the subconscious
, he thought.

The audacity of what he planned to do made him giggle as he washed and dressed.
Son of a bitch
, he thought,
what the hell
? After he finally staunched the bleeding from all the giggle cuts he inflicted while shaving, he put on his favorite tie. It had small yellow flowers on a field of blue. The children gave it to him for Christmas two years ago. He looked at himself in the mirror.

His blue eyes stared back at him with bags under them he hadn’t seen since his divorce. The lines going through his brow had deepened in the last few weeks. His skin was a bit mottled, “damn liquor”, he whispered, and he could swear his teeth weren’t as white as usual.

I look like total ass
, he thought. Despite himself he giggled again.

Leaving the house, he headed toward the Suburban, but then decided to take the tarp off the Chevelle convertible he kept in the garage. He was in attack mode, and it was well suited for his purpose. He gave the car to himself after his divorce as a consolation prize, and loved the bright white paint job and the red leather seats.
This is not a mere car
, he thought,
this is a war chariot
.

He drove into the town square, the Chevelle roaring as he accelerated. He went around the square and found a parking space directly in front of his destination. Before getting out he looked in the rearview mirror, smoothed his hair back, and told himself he looked like a hell of a man.

The patrons of Le Café were gossiping and eating when Delroy walked in and strode to the main table. All chewing ceased as Delroy stopped, looked down and said, “Ms. Johnnie Lee, we need to talk now. Does that work for you?”

Johnnie smiled. “Why yes, Mr. Jones, so good to see you. Why don’t we go to my house and have a chat?” She was a clever old pro and gave no indication she was as surprised as the rest of the diners by Delroy’s presence. Delroy threw a twenty on the table and walked Johnnie outside.

Some diners in Le Café went back to eating. Some put their forks down and just stared. None were sure of what would come from this unexpected development. They were all sure, however, that they couldn’t wait to read the next Proclaimer. Too bad it only came out twice a week.

Delroy followed Johnnie’s Grand Mercury over to her house in the Pine Hills neighborhood. This was the oldest middle class neighborhood in Gratis, book-ended by the First Baptist Church on one end and the outskirts of downtown on the other.

Most of the houses were mid-century brick homes or well-maintained ranches sporting additions tacked on over the years. Delroy grew up in this neighborhood and knew it well. His dad bought a home there when he finally built up his insurance business. He often told Delroy that the day they moved from the mill village to the small brick ranch house was the proudest day of his life. Sometimes he would also add “after marrying your mother, of course,” but not always.

They sold the house after his mother died. He still drove by every couple of weeks just to make sure it looked okay.

Johnnie’s house was one street over from his old home. It had whitewashed brick and green shutters, a large fireplace on the side, and a yard fairly exploding with arbors, trellises, and flower gardens. Delroy had never seen so many large, full rose bushes. They were almost obscene.

I have to admit
, he thought,
she does keep her place nice
. He didn’t know that the upkeep was cheap, considering Johnnie’s blackmail of the sports editor.

Delroy parked on the street in front and followed Johnnie into her home. Once inside he immediately felt claustrophobic. She led him into a front living room stuffed with knickknacks and mementos. Figurines adorned every shelf, prominently featuring cats and songbirds coexisting in a static world. He wondered if Johnnie realized that cats loved killing songbirds, whether for food or sport. He smiled as he imagined the figurines coming to life in front of Johnnie.
The feline fueled massacre would be awesome.

Johnnie spoke first.

“Delroy, please wait in here while I freshen up and make some tea. I will only be a moment.” With that she left the room and went waddling back toward the kitchen. He was there only a few minutes, by this time imagining the whole menagerie turning on Johnnie, when the doorbell rang. Johnnie, now clanging around in the kitchen, called for the visitor to come in.

The first thing Delroy noticed was the click of high heels as the visitor walked into the front hallway. The next thing he noticed, as the visitor walked into the room, was her smile. It was warm and perfectly framed under milk chocolate brown eyes. She was smallish, not more than five feet four inches tall. Delroy thought she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. His hand shook, just a bit, as he extended it to meet hers.

“Mr. Jones,” the beautiful woman said, “my name is Amy Delahunt. It is a real pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Well, you can call me Delroy. It’s nice to meet you, too.” Delroy wished his face was less mottled and that the bags under his eyes weren’t so dark.

“Thank you Delroy. I’m here because Ms. Lee asked me to help her in this matter.”

“How so?” This wasn’t something Delroy expected.

“I’m her lawyer. She is concerned about what you want to meet with her about and wants me to make sure everything is alright. I told her I would be glad to help her out, but that I was sure everything would be fine.”

Delroy noticed how bright Amy’s smile was, but then how it appeared a little less warm after she revealed her avocation. Having an attorney weigh the things he would tell Johnnie might make her less helpful.

Hell
, he thought,
this pretty young woman is trying to fetter me.

It also occurred to Delroy that this was the new attorney Johnnie wrote about in her column. He had to admire that Amy cozied up to the one person in Gratis who could get her the most business in the shortest amount of time. He also felt that nagging fear smack him, if only for one unreasonable split second, that she knew his ex-wife and ex-boss.

“I would be happy to have you sit in with me whenever I speak to Miss Johnnie, if she asks you to. That would be just fine.” Delroy wondered if she caught the second of indecision on his face before he answered her. He was starting to shake off his estimation of her as a woman and starting to weigh her as a potential adversary. She was young, and he wondered how much real experience she had.

“Well, you can’t speak to her without me if I’m her attorney. You know that. It doesn’t matter whether she asks me to sit in or not.” Her smile suddenly turned serious, and she cut through him with those bottomless eyes.

This put Delroy at ease. It was much easier dealing with another attorney than an impossibly beautiful woman.

“Well, Ms. Delahunt, we’re not currently parties in a case that involves Miss Johnnie, and I’m not a cop. If she wants to speak with me, she can. No lawyer can keep two old friends from sharing gossip.” At that Delroy smiled his biggest smile, enjoying the anger starting to flash in his opponent’s eyes.

“Oh my, it’s so nice to see you two have had a chance to meet.” Johnnie came swooshing into the living room with flair. She was carrying a tea set piled with cookies and a pitcher of sweet tea. Her dress brushed the faux birds and cats crowding around her as she maneuvered into a chair and placed the set on the coffee table. Not a porcelain pet was lost. She smiled cherubically and addressed the two.

“I couldn’t help but to hear y’all’s tete a tete. Here’s how this works. I suspect that Delroy wants to speak with me about the case involving my dear friend Millicent Knox. Pardon me.” She brushed away a tear, a move she had the opportunity to practice often since Millie’s death. Delroy watched as Amy produced a tissue seemingly out of nowhere. He was impressed with how women could do that.

“Thank you, dear. As I was saying, there’s a reason Delroy wants to speak with me. Ms. Delahunt is here at this time as my friend, not my counselor. She has been a real help while I’ve been going through this horrible time.” Johnnie smiled at Amy. Delroy could tell that Ms. Delahunt wasn’t charging a fee for this friendship. He wondered which woman would use the other the most. His money was on Johnnie.