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“We got word,” Fiona said, “Tillie LeBeau and Darla Boone were victims one and two. Did you know them as well?” Fiona asked and set her empty coffee cup on the wooden countertop.
Mother clutched her chest and her lip quivered. “I didn’t know it had been confirmed. Of course I knew them.” Looking up with watery eyes, she shook her head. “Someone is gonna pay for this. I promise you that.”
“We’re trying to make that happen, Ms. Boyd,” Fiona said.
“Oh child, call me Mother. Anything else sounds foreign.”
“Is there anything you can tell us about the victims?” Fiona asked. “Anyone who gave them trouble? Did they talk about anyone creeping them out? Boyfriend issues? Anything, even if it seems inconsequential.”
Mother patted her eyes with the bottom of her kitchen apron. “I can’t think of anything. The girls were so sweet and good. Gave money to the Lord and were charitable. They didn’t have many worries or troubles. We take care of our own up here. If there’s a need, we fill it. A sore heart, we make sure to mend it.”
Violet had enough of everyone’s evasive answers and self-promoting justice. “Yeah, well, I doubt you’re going to find a way to mend a dead body, Mother.”
Wanda stepped up and scowled. “You can see yourself out.”
Violet had crossed a line. Knew it. And to an old lady do-gooder.
Mother untied her apron, laid it on the butcher block and stepped into Violet’s personal space, but Violet didn’t budge. She placed cool hands on either side of Violet’s cheeks and searched her eyes as if searching her soul. “You’ve known pain, child. Bone-crushin’, agonizin’ pain. I’m sorry for your affliction. I understand your frustration—your job.” She leaned back as if trying to make Violet’s profile come into better view. She traced the side of her face with a rounded nail and touched the cleft in her chin. “You might find a killer up here in the holler, but you won’t find any peace for that pain. I see it. It’s in that pretty, pretty face.”
Violet swallowed hard, frozen at how deep into her soul Mother had seen. Like she knew her history, from conception to now. Seen the desire to be loved while always coming up short. She had never been smart enough, good enough, kind enough, behaved enough...nothing. Even when she went into law enforcement, it wasn’t enough for Reeva. For Grandmother.
Why hadn’t they given her away? Let her be adopted by parents who didn’t know about her conception, wouldn’t hold it against her as if it were her sin to carry. She could have had a happy life. A loving family.
But it wouldn’t have changed her DNA. That couldn’t be altered or erased.
“If...” she cleared her throat from emotion “...if you think of anything else, call us.”
She backed away, strode out the front door, Fiona behind her. Lula sat under a tree with the dog, an empty bowl of cheese curls in the grass, a couple of dolls and a little purse in her hand. Violet opened the passenger door and paused. “Hold up,” she murmured to Fiona then stalked across the lawn. “Hey, Lula, can I see your pretty purse?”
“I gots monies in it.”
“You do? Well, I won’t take any of your monies.”
Lula held it out, and Violet’s heart skipped a beat as she took the brown suede purse. Turning it over in her hand, she inspected the other side. No name on this one, though.
“Where’d you get this?”
“My house.”
Like the other three, it read I am dark but lovely.
Wednesday, October 18
2:30 p.m.
“Lay it on me straight, John,” Asa said as John pulled into the parking lot of a Best Western about sixteen miles southeast of Whitesburg.
“We should have stayed here. I’m not digging that old boarding house turned B and B.”
“I know but it keeps us close to the holler, and I keep thinking if they want us gone so bad, staying right in town will motivate them to help,” Asa said. “Get us gone faster.”
“Except it won’t. They think if they clam up, we’ll have nothing and leave.”
“They haven’t met me.”
Asa Kodiak had been named the Bear by his colleagues, and it had nothing to do with his last name. Everything to do with his ferociousness if need be—whether protecting his cubs on his team or in the quest for justice. John admired him. “They aren’t afraid of bears, Kodiak. Not up here.”
“We’ll see. Now, let’s go talk to these employees and hope for a lead.”
