Sintown Chronicles I: Behind Closed Doors (26 page)

“Actually,” the smiling youth replied, “you're right on time. I left Winston early because I'm not always too good at following directions and I didn't want to be late."

The two men went to the study and Tim got right to the point. “Your girlfriend is considering taking over a law practice here in Dot. It was from her, during dinner at our house last night, that Sandy and I heard about you. Until then, neither of us had thought about employing a business manager, but while Susan talked about you, the idea occurred to both Sandy and me independently. I hope you will seriously consider the outline of my proposal, understanding that I don't have all the details worked out yet."

While Tim and Vic talked business, Sandra placed a call to the Charlotte Memorial Hospital. There was a new recorded message. Matt Dilson was still in ICU, had undergone extensive surgery, and his condition had been upgraded to “guarded."

“Thank you God,” she whispered as she dialed the number of Dr. Honneycutt, and was pleased when the sisters accepted her invitation to join her for an afternoon of fishing and a dinner of turkey leftovers. As she headed to the bedroom to change clothes she thought, Did I just pray my first prayer?

“Instead of telling you how much my present salary is,” Mack McGee said to the unscheduled meeting of the Dot Baptist Church Pulpit Committee, why don't you tell me how much you can afford to pay?"

“It is a bit embarrassing,” replied Victoria White, the chairperson. “Our last minister was right out of the seminary. We paid him $20,000 a year. We know that salary would be an insult to you."

“Why would it be an insult? You would also be providing me with a home to live in. If this is the very best you can afford to offer, I don't think God requires more, and neither do I. I believe I would really enjoy being your minister. I have never felt so at home with any congregation in my life."

“Then, if the church voted to call you as its new minister, you would accept with a salary of $20,000 and the use of the house?"

“You all know I am divorced, don't you?” he asked. “Divorced ministers and Baptist churches usually don't mix."

“We know,” said Joe Sizemore, “and we also know that not all marriages are made in heaven."

“In that case, I would humbly accept the position if offered, and I will accept whatever compensation the congregation agrees is the best they can afford."

“You should have been a hoss-trader,” said Deacon Jones.

“Why do you say that?"

“Because you drive a hard bargain. Everyone in this room, except maybe you, knows that somehow we can do better than $20,000."

Sandra waved from the fishing pier when she saw Bobby approaching the house, and waved again when the three men departed.

Sitting in the afternoon sun with her two new acquaintances, with whom she hoped to become friends, felt good. The Honneycutt sisters knew more about fishing than did she. Susan displayed an unexpected sense of humor and the good doctor urged Sandra to drop the formal professional title.

Sandra studied Susan relaxing in a lawn chair, intently watching the float on her line. Susan had seemed delighted when told that Tim was talking with Vic about the possibility of becoming his business manager, but she insisted that Vic must know that she had nothing to do with it. “Vic's masculine pride would be destroyed if he thought I used my influence on his behalf,” she had said.

As the November sun approached the western horizon, the temperature began to drop noticeably. The three ladies were reeling in their lines for the final time when Tim and Vic joined them.

“Sandy,” Tim said. “I think we have things pretty well worked out. Vic is going to come on board as our business manager. He needs to give his current employer a two-week notice. We're going to fix up the old tenant house on the other side of your spring for Vic to live in for the time being, and set him up with an office in the back of the hardware store. We're both pretty excited about it."

Sandra draped her arms around Vic in a friendly hug. “Welcome aboard,” she said aloud, and to herself she said, Damn it, he has an erection. She did not notice that Vic's eyes focused on Susan's breasts, which he could just barely glimpse as she bent from the waist to close the tackle box.

It was shortly after noon on Monday, under gray and threatening skies, that SBI agents Ralph Potts and David Evers left the Dollars’ residence and began the return trip to Charlotte. Potts turned the plain blue Taurus onto Highway 13 without first stopping at the end of the driveway. “Whadaya think, David?"

“I think that if I were a cop I would give you a ticket for entering the highway like that."

Both men laughed. “Do you think we got the truth out of the Dollars?"

“Yeah, the truth, but not the whole truth."

“That was my feeling. I think what they gave us was correct—hell, nobody could have invented that story—but I also think they reserved some details. Probably not important."

“There's no question they burned some video cassettes. He's gonna have a hell of a time getting that melted plastic out of his barbecue pit."

“It will be weeks before we can question Dilson,” Potts continued, turning right onto the Old Charlotte Highway just barely making the yellow light, “and we may never find the prostitute."

“Oh, she'll turn up, probably in California or some place like that, but I'm not sure we really need to question either one."

“Maybe not. Let's see what we know. The autopsy showed Deputy Cathy Long was on drugs. We found pot in her apartment, in her car and in her pants. Her salary would not support the habit, so she had a few income producing schemes up her sleeve."

“Yeah. We know she tried to blackmail Sandra Dollar. If necessary Mrs. Dollar will testify to that."

“It looks like the sexual harassment charge against Matt Dilson was another type of blackmail attempt. Poor bastard must have really been in love with her. Didn't the report say he hit that bridge abutment at 100 miles per?"

“Yeah. She stood to collect $50,000 from the county on that trumped-up charge."

“That's the part of the puzzle that bothers me. She knew that money was coming. Why did she continue with the motel scam?"

“No, she didn't know the money was coming. She caught a bullet between her eyes before the county agreed to her terms."

“You're right. We know Matt couldn't have been the shooter. He didn't have a motive until after she was dead. Sandra Dollar certainly had the motive, but her alibi seems pretty tight."

“It must have been a scam gone wrong. We know from the motel clerk that she had a passkey, and that she paid him a few bucks from time to time to keep quiet. We know the room was rented by a whore known to the clerk."

“Yeah,” laughed Evers. “That clerk sang like the villain in a TV mystery as the hour draws to a close. Cathy would burst into a room, probably with gun drawn, and scare the shit out of the mark, relieve him of his cash and send him home to mama."

“We don't know if the whore was in on the scam."

“For our purposes, does it matter?"

“Probably not. That narrows the killer down to two general possibilities."

“Three,” corrected Evers.

“Three?"

“Yeah. Could be the mark overpowered her someway, or could have been a previous victim who set her up."

“Yeah, that's one possibility. The other is that the whore wasn't getting her cut of the take and she did it. What's the third possibility?"

“Could have been a pimp involved, and he set Cathy up."

“Okay. I think we have enough. Let's get back to the room, type up the report and head back to Raleigh. With any luck we can be home for supper."

“I wish there were some way we could get Dilson off the hook. We could have if he hadn't written those damned love notes."

“Do you think Mrs. Dollar really burned those photographs?"

“She said she did, so their whereabouts are no longer a mystery. Why would she want to keep them? They were not exactly the kind of photographs one would want to show to the grandkids."

They chuckled and Potts increased his speed to seventy on the fifty-five mile an hour limit road.

“Ralph, do you think they will ever find the shooter?"

“Could be. If the shooter is smart, they won't. These cases have a way of solving themselves, though. The revolver may turn up with fingerprints. The whore may someday spill her guts in a plea bargain attempt. Or, if it was some salesman who panicked, he might just walk into the sheriff's office and confess out of pure remorse."

“At any rate, it isn't our problem anymore."

Tim and Sandra sat at the breakfast room table, eating turkey sandwiches for lunch. “How many times,” Sandra asked, “have we thought it was over? Do you think it is really over now, Tim?"

“I don't know, Dudette. I hope so. It's really rough on you, isn't it?” He smiled gently at her.

“It's rough on you too,” she replied. “That's what bothers me the most. One of these days, you are going to have enough and kick me out."

“Do you want to get married?"

“Where did that come from, Dude?"

“Sandy, I can make speeches to anybody and everybody but you. Somehow, I have trouble saying what I really feel to you. I've told you I love you, and that's something I didn't think I would ever say again to anyone. I've made you a part of my life, such as it is, and you've jumped on that. I know I haven't told you that I need you, but I do. I would never think of throwing you out, Sandy, but I love you enough to let you go if you should ever want to."

Tears welled up in Sandra's eyes. “That's the sweetest thing anyone ever said to me, Tim. It was a hell of a speech."

“Anyway,” he continued. “You seem to feel insecure in our current relationship. I thought you might feel better—more confident of the future—if we were married."

What Sandra did not hear Tim say was that
he
wanted to marry her. She did not immediately reply; hoping the words would follow. When they didn't, she said, “Marriage is no more secure than our special relationship, Tim. It's just about as easy to get a divorce as it is to get married."

“Hang in there, Sandy. I really do need you. I admit that at first, I wanted to get rid of you, but if you think back to the instant we met, we've made a lot of progress. It's been a joint effort. Sure, you've done some things on your own, and so have I, but even while going our own ways, we have leaned on each other. We make a good team, Dudette. There is no way I am going to get rid of my partner."

Sandra stood up, went to him, leaned over and pressed her lips to his. He fondled her breasts.

“Want to go to bed?” she asked.

“Not in the middle of the afternoon,” he replied with a mock expression of shock in his tone.

She drew back, pretending to pout, and he stood up, wrapping his strong arms around her.

“What's wrong with the breakfast room table?” he grinned.

Sandra stood in the back of the bookstore, holding a copy of the
New Jerusalem Bible
. Tim was also in Charlotte inspecting the renovation of his rental houses. Earlier, when they showered together, he invited her to accompany him. She declined, saying she wanted to work on her novel. She tried, but words would not come. The two hours of questioning by the SBI agents that morning unnerved her. She remembered her conversation with Mack McGee and decided this was a good time to begin keeping her promise to the preacher.

There was only one copy of the
New Jerusalem Bible
available. It was expensive, but also beautiful. The cover was made of black padded leather with gold embossing. The thin India pages, edged in gold, contained small but distinct and easy to read print. There were two sewed-in red ribbons to use as bookmarks. Sandra felt slightly embarrassed by her lack of biblical knowledge. She had no idea where to find the
Gospel of John
. She turned the first few pages until she found the Table of Contents and was comforted to see this edition of the Bible contained explanatory notes, and introductions to various sections. She also found that the section for which she was looking began on page 1744 in the
New Testament
.

She began to read:

In the beginning was the Word:

the Word was with God

and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things came into

being,

not one thing came into being

except through him.

What has come into being in him was

life,

life that was the light of men;

and light shines in darkness,

and darkness could not overpower

it.

A man came, sent by God.

His name was John.

He came as a witness,

to bear witness to the light,

so that everyone might believe

through him.

He was not the light,

he was to bear witness to the

light.

The Word was the real light

that gives light to everyone;

he was coming into the world.

He was in the world

that had come into being through

him,

and the world did not recognize

him.

He came to his own

and his own people did not accept

him.

But to those who did accept him

he gave power to become children of

God,

to those who believed in his name

who were born not from human stock

or human desire

or human will

but from God himself.

The Word became flesh,

he lived among us,

and we saw his glory,

the glory that he has from the

Father as only Son of the Father,

full of grace and truth.

John witnesses to him. He

proclaims:

'This is the one of whom I said:

He who comes after me

has passed ahead of me

because he existed before me.'

Indeed, from his fullness we have,

all of us, received -