Miss Julia Renews Her Vows (41 page)

“Then I guess we’d better get something done tonight,” I said as Lillian set a filled plate in front of me. “Don’t despair, Etta Mae. We have one more matter to take care of and you can see the lieutenant without a care in the world.”

Mr. Pickens’s eyebrows went up, as he sat sideways in his chair, one leg crossed over the other, an arm resting on his empty place mat. The other arm, I noticed, was draped across the back of Hazel Marie’s chair. Etta Mae sat for a few minutes, then with a deep breath, she rose to help Lillian clear the table. Clearly, she was not reassured by what I’d said, but I didn’t go further, hoping that Sam would come in and I’d only have to tell it once.

As Lloyd came bounding into the dining room, his face beaming and his hands full of photographs, I said, “Mr. Pickens, Lloyd and I would like to have the benefit of your forensic expertise, if you don’t mind. Lloyd, did you get everything printed out?”

“Yes, ma’am, I sure did, and I got Etta Mae’s picture, too—one I took the other day—so there’d be no question about it. And Miss Julia, I thought of something else. To be completely fair, we ought to have some other pictures in the lineup that are about the same age as the ones we suspect. So I put Mama’s picture in ’cause she’s about Etta Mae’s age.”

“Thank you, son,” Hazel Marie said, laughing. “I think.”

“And,” Lloyd said, his eyes shining with eagerness, “I got one of you, Miss Julia, when you weren’t looking, because you’re about the age of those other ladies.”

“Of
me
? My word, Lloyd, I don’t want to be in a lineup, and besides, it’s not polite to bring up a person’s age.”

Mr. Pickens had his usual amused look on his face, but then he straightened up. “Lineup? What’ve you two been doing?”

“Police work, Mr. Pickens, if you must know. Sit down, Etta Mae, and listen. Between us, Lloyd and I have just about cleared up this mess. All we need is for Mr. Pickens to take our pictures to that pawnbroker’s nephew so he can identify the real culprit, and we need Mr. Pickens to do it because he has some professional authority. Then he can present it, along with what Lloyd and I heard and witnessed this afternoon, to Binkie and to Lieutenant Peavey.”

Mr. Pickens was sitting straight up by this time, gazing across the table at me with those black eyes. He seemed none too pleased to learn that we’d been encroaching on his territory.

“What’ve you done?”

“Let me tell ’em, Miss Julia,” Lloyd said as Lillian guided him firmly to his place at the table.

“You better eat something ’fore you dry up and blow away,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am, I will, but look, J.D. Look at these pictures. We’ve got a real lineup now, but Miss Julia and me think it was that Evelyn woman, ’cause we heard her crash down that cookie sheet, but we didn’t know what it was at the time, and when we got inside, that other lady acted real scared, telling us we’d come just in time and wanting me to call Mr. Sam to come help her. And then,
then
that Evelyn woman came in and served cookies on the very
same
cookie sheet—we know it was the same one because it was dented—and she just kinda stood there, like she was warning the other lady what could happen again, so when I told Miss Julia about the leg of lamb, why, we just figured it all out, because it was in the dishwasher, not the oven, when the deputies came.”

Hazel Marie peered at him. “What?”

“Take it a little slower, son,” Mr. Pickens said, “and tell us again.”

Between the two of us, Lloyd and I went through the events of the afternoon again. “So,” I summed up, “what we have to do now is take those pictures to the pawnshop and see what that nephew says. He’ll identify Evelyn; I’m sure of it just from the way she acted. And Francie knows the truth now, too, so she’ll have to recant her accusation of Etta Mae. And if she won’t, well, I have a few cookie sheets in my kitchen, too.

“But Mr. Pickens,” I went on, leaning toward him, “we need to get these pictures to the nephew tonight—pawnshops stay open late, don’t they? I mean, with Lieutenant Peavey still breathing down Etta Mae’s neck, we should get this thing settled.”

All this while, Etta Mae had been looking from Lloyd to me, listening to what we were saying, an expression of hopeful wonder on her face. Hazel Marie jumped up and hugged her.

“Oh, Etta Mae, it’s over now. The lieutenant will have to believe it, but J.D.,” she said, turning to him, “Miss Julia’s right. You need to get to the pawnshop before it closes. Let’s all go right now.”

“Hold on just one minute,” Mr. Pickens said as my heart fell at his stern look. “Let me see those pictures. It’d be just like somebody I know to send me off half-cocked.” He shuffled through them, giving each one his full attention. Then he set the gatekeeper’s picture aside, saying, “What’s this doing in here? We already know it was a woman.”

“That,” I told him, “was just a practice shot. Please, Mr. Pickens, go do it now. There’s no reason in the world for Etta Mae to go through one more night like she’s been doing.”

“All right,” he said, getting to his feet, to my great relief. “It won’t be legitimate, but Lieutenant Peavey can conduct a more official lineup tomorrow. And,” he said with a quick smile at Etta Mae, “conduct a few different interviews than the one he’d planned.”

“I’ll go with you,” I said, hopping up.

“No, you won’t.” Mr. Pickens glared at me. “I don’t want to make it any more off the books than it already is. Besides, Sam will be here before long, and if I’m not mistaken, you have a few fences to mend, what with gallivanting all over the place and nobody knowing where you were.”

He gave Hazel Marie a quick kiss and left, taking our picture lineup with him. I was tempted to follow him but decided I could leave it to him. We looked around at one another: Etta Mae with hope lighting up her face; Lloyd with his eyes gleaming with excitement; Lillian unsure of what had happened; and Hazel Marie frowning as she thought about it.

“Tell me again,” she finally said. “What did a leg of lamb have to do with it?”

“That’s what I want to know,” Lillian said. “Y’all don’t even
like
lamb.”

We heard voices outside and feet shuffling at the front door. Then Sam stuck his head in and called that he was going with Mr. Pickens. I almost got up to go with them but felt too tired to make the effort. I thought to myself that if the menfolk couldn’t close the case after everything had been handed to them on a platter—or, shall we say, on a cookie sheet—I’d get some rest and pick right up after them in the morning.

So I went to bed, then couldn’t go to sleep for wondering what was happening. As tired as I was from the busy afternoon, to say nothing of the past several days, I sat up in bed and waited for Sam.

I even tried reading the latest issue of
Guideposts
but couldn’t concentrate enough to get anything out of it. Hearing Sam and Mr. Pickens come in downstairs, I immediately put it aside and awaited the latest news. But, of course, Hazel Marie and Etta Mae had waited up for them, and I could hear the murmur of conversation downstairs. When I could stand it no longer, I threw off the covers, intending to join them to hear what had taken place. Then I heard Sam’s footsteps on the stairs.

He’d barely gotten in the bedroom before I asked, “What happened?”

“Well,” he said, laughing as he sat on the bed beside me, “I thought Pickens was going to strangle that nephew. The boy is as nearsighted as anybody I’ve ever seen, and he hemmed and hawed over the pictures of Francie and Evelyn. He couldn’t make up his mind because they were both wearing turbans, and that was the only thing he definitely remembered. According to him, the woman who sold him the bracelet had what he called a funny kind of do-rag on her head.”

“My word,” I said. “Francie would have a fit at having her custom-made turban called a do-rag. But what about Etta Mae’s picture? Did he say anything about that?”

“Didn’t give it a second glance. Anyway, we went from there to the sheriff’s office, called Lieutenant Peavey and waited for him. That’s why we were so long. So Peavey went with us back to the pawnshop, and by that time the nephew had decided it was Evelyn. I don’t know how well he’ll hold up to give testimony, but it hardly matters. Once Peavey homes in on Evelyn, I think he’ll get the truth. He’ll want to talk to you and Lloyd, as well.”

“About time,” I murmured, then said, “So tell me what happened at church tonight. What did Pastor Ledbetter have to say about Dr. Fowler?”

Sam started laughing again. “I’ll tell you the truth: if you hadn’t already told me what really happened with Francie, I wouldn’t have heard about it tonight. Ledbetter went on and on, putting the best face on it he could, but what it came down to was Dr. Fowler had to withdraw for personal reasons. Which, I noted with interest, were never clearly defined. So the enrichment classes are canceled, and nobody seemed that upset about it.”

“But Sam,” I said, putting my hand on his arm, “are
you
upset?”

“Me? With football on Monday nights? I should say not.” He put his hand on mine. “Why? Were you planning to go?”

“Oh goodness, no. Our marriage is as enriched as it can get as far as I’m concerned. But Sam,” I said, almost choking on the emotion I was feeling, “if you don’t feel that way, we can find another counselor, one with some sense this time, or I’ll read a book, or I’ll even ask Francie to share some of her secrets, even though it would about kill me to do it. What I mean is, well, I’ll do anything to make you happy.”

Sam frowned and looked carefully at me. “What is this? I’m already a happy man. I don’t need, or want, anything else.”

“Well, but you wouldn’t have gone to those classes if you hadn’t felt something was missing, and, I declare, Sam, I don’t know how to stoke our embers any higher than they are, but if you’ll just tell me, I’ll try my best to do whatever it takes.”

“Honey, I told you. I only went because Ledbetter asked us to. I thought it’d be something you and I could laugh about, because there wouldn’t be a thing Dr. Fowler could teach us. I thought you’d enjoy the irony of an unmarried man who lives with his mother trying to teach new tricks to a couple of old hands like us.”

“Oh, Sam,” I said, trying not to cry but doing it anyway, “I couldn’t enjoy anything with that man around. I’ve spent all this time trying to stay out of his way, afraid he’d say something that would turn you against me. You don’t know what I’ve suffered, and I could just stay quiet and not tell you now because he’s leaving, but I have to. I can’t stand keeping it from you, so here it is.” I stopped, took a rasping breath and whispered, “Pastor Ledbetter caught Dr. Fowler and me in the bridal parlor, too.”

Sam stared at me for a minute, then he said, “You mean that time they were after the Springer estate? Sweetheart, I know all about that. Ledbetter told me in detail at the time.”

“He
did
?” I sat straight up in bed and glared at him. “You mean you’ve known all along? I can’t believe this. Then why did you think I’d want to be anywhere around Dr. Fowler? And,” I said, flopping back on the pillow, just so undone, “how could you marry me, knowing all that?”

“Why, sweetheart, that just made me more eager. I like a feisty woman, or haven’t you noticed?”

“It never made any difference to you?”

“Look, I knew what Ledbetter and Fowler were doing and what they were after. But I
didn’t
know that you were still troubled by it. I should’ve figured it out, though, and I’m sorry about that. All I knew was that if Fowler made a move toward you, I was going to cut him off at the knees.”

“Oh, Sam,” I said, trying to decide whether to laugh or to cry. “Maybe we need a class on communication skills, but then again,” I went on as he stretched out beside me, “maybe not.”

A while later, I said, “Sam?”

“Hmm?” He was a little out of breath.

“Hazel Marie thinks we should renew our vows.”

His head rose up off the pillow. “You mean they’ve expired? I thought we had a lifetime subscription.”

“Well,
I
do. I just want to be sure that you do, too.”

“How can you not be sure?” Sam said, smiling as he smoothed back the hair from my face. “Look at me. I’m the happiest man you’ll ever meet. Besides, we’ve gotten married twice already.”

“I know, but the first one didn’t take, so we can’t count that. Anyway, I just want you to know that I do love and honor you, and I promise to try to obey you, and I will do all three for the rest of my life. And if you ever begin to feel impoverished, like something’s missing and in need of anything at all, I promise to do whatever it takes to make your life as happy and as full as it can possibly be.” I put my hand on his neck and smiled up at him. “There now. I’ve renewed my vows. Are you feeling enriched?”

“More than you know,” he said with the sweetest smile.

Not only did Evelyn own up to hitting Francie and taking her bracelet, she told Lieutenant Peavey she’d do it again if she had to. We got all the inside information from Mr. Pickens, who got it from the lieutenant and from what he called general cop talk.