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MARGARET MARON
tried not to grin, “then the day Mr. Woodall comes to
court in a skirt, I’ll wear one, too.”
Hobart had threatened me with contempt, but the
next day every woman in the courthouse showed up in
pants, even the clerks who didn’t particularly like me
but who liked being lectured on dress and decorum
even less. He had been censured more than once and
his last one came when he informed the jury that the
defendant might not be sitting there if her husband had
taken a strap to her backside once in a while.
“I think his birthday’s this spring,” Portland said as
I parked in front of the restaurant on the north edge of
Makely.
Because of our late start, most of the tables were
filled by the time we paid our money and looked for
seats. And wouldn’t you know it? The only table with
two empty chairs had Harrison Hobart at it. It was a
no-brainer.
We split up.
Portland caught a ride back to Dobbs with Reid, so
I headed straight home after the dinner and got there a
little before ten. Both my guys were in bed, but only Cal
was asleep. Dwight was watching the early news, but he
turned it off and came out to the kitchen for a glass of
milk and the last of the chocolate chip cookies while I
reheated a cup of coffee left over from the morning.
I told him about the dinner and Portland’s comments
about Flame Smith. “Is she a suspect?”
“Probably not. She gave me the names of people who
saw her down in Wilmington during the three days after
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HARD ROW
Harris was last seen. I’ve got a query in with the sheriff
down there. He said he’d check her statement for me.”
“I hear you finally found the head?”
“Yeah. Stuck on a fence post at the back of one of the
fields out there, so it’s definitely someone familiar with
the place.”
“Get anything out of that migrant who knew Harris
was dead?” I asked.
“He says he stumbled into that empty shed by mis-
take, and seeing all that blood and gore’s what made
him go looking for a quick high on Saturday.”
“But?” I asked, hearing something more in his
voice.
“Oh hell, Deb’rah. I don’t know. I got the feeling that
he was holding something back, but if he ever had any
