Winter's Child

Rouse’s murder and I heard him call Terry Wilson and razz him about not finding the .45 that Sergeant Overholt used to shoot J.D. Nevertheless, Bo Poole was ready to close it out as a cleared case even though they would not have been able to convict Overholt for J.D.’s death without the gun.

“Don’t you find one thing a little odd?” I asked as I finished unpacking our clothes and hung Dwight’s suit back in his side of our walk-in closet.

“You mean something odder than Overholt knowing J.D. would be driving down that road? Or for that matter, how he even knew what J.D. drove, much less what he looked like when he just got back from overseas?”

“Well, I hadn’t thought about those two points, but yes.”

“What else?”

“Overholt had several handguns, right?”

“That’s what Richards and Terry say.”

“Yet he used a rifle to shoot his wife at fairly close range 31 and a handgun to shoot a target that’s moving away from him?”

Dwight frowned. “Good point. Maybe I’ll ask Bo to hold off on closing the file right now. Give Richards another day on it, see if she can turn up new suspects.”

“The wife’s brother is definitely cleared?”

“Not definitely, but he seems unlikely. The crew all vouch for him, but even more, the developer saw him about ten or fifteen minutes before the shooting. He would have had to rush to the back of the property, through the woods, and get in position just as Rouse came driving past.”

He showered and shaved while I wrapped the gift we were giving Kate and Rob’s infant son—a jumper swing that clamps on a doorframe.

“Isn’t he too little for that?” Cal asked dubiously as he watched me.

“He is right now, but in just a few months he should get a kick out of it. Want to sign the card?”

“What’s his name again?”

“They haven’t decided whether to call him Bobby or R.W., but his full name is Robert Wallace Bryant Junior, which now makes your Uncle Rob Robert Wallace Bryant Senior. You know what the Wallace is for, don’t you?”

Cal shook his head.

“Before she married your grandfather, your grandma’s name was Emily Wallace.”

“And Dad is Dwight Avery Bryant because his grandmother was an Avery, right?”

“Right.”

“And I’m Calvin for Dad’s father and Shay for Mother.”

“That’s right,” I said as I tied the package with a big blue bow. “And if I’m not mistaken, her Anson grandfather might have been a John.”

I kept my voice as casual as possible because I wanted Cal to feel comfortable talking about Jonna with us.

“Who were you named for?”

“Well, my mother used to say she just thought it was a nice name. There aren’t any Deborahs on either side of our family, though, and she did like family names. My middle name is Stephenson because that was her family name, so I’ve always had the feeling that there was a mystery about why she named me that.”

“Does Mr. Kezzie know?”

“If he does, he’s never said. If he tells you, let me know, okay?”

“Okay.” He read through the welcome-baby card and said, “I think I’m gonna call him R.W.” Beneath where I’d signed my name and Dwight’s, he carefully wrote in newly acquired cursive, “For R.W., love, your cusin Calvin Shay Bryant.”

The baby was adorable but he looked more like Dwight than Rob, who has Miss Emily’s red hair and slender build.

“Takes after the good-looking side of the family,”

Dwight said with a grin for Cal.

When Kate read our card, she said to Cal, “Did Jake and Mary Pat put you up to this?”

“Up to what?” he asked.

“They want to call him R.W., too.” She gave a mock sigh of regret. “Looks like I’m outvoted.”

“Yay!” said Mary Pat, who was six months older than Cal. Her cheer was echoed by four-year-old Jake.

They had been a little stiff with Cal at first in deference to his new half-orphan status, but since both of Mary Pat’s parents had died before she was three, she had no memory of losing a mother, and of course, Jake couldn’t conceive of losing Kate, so they were quickly reverting to normal. By the time we were ready to go have supper with Miss Emily so that Kate could rest, they were back to teasing and shoving one another.

As the three children followed Dwight out to the car, Kate and Rob asked for the condensed version of what had happened in Virginia.

“We were hoping to see more of Cal as he got older, but not like this,” Rob said, shaking his red head.