looked old, so old that its edges had been rounded
smooth over the years and there were deep scratches in
the polished top. He would later learn that it was, as he
suspected, the same kitchen table that had belonged to
148
HARD ROW
Buck Harris’s great-grandparents and that it had stood
in this same spot for over a hundred years.
While Denning labored in Harris’s office, Richards
and Jamison were enjoying coffee and homemade cin-
namon rolls at that table.
Dwight joined them in time to hear Mrs. Samuelson
tell how Mrs. Harris had originally hired her some six
or eight years earlier to live in an apartment over the ga-
rage out back and act as both housekeeper and general
caretaker.
“Sid Lomax manages this farm and the migrant camp.
Whenever I need someone to do the grounds or help
with the heavy work here in the house, he’ll lend me a
couple of Mexicans.”
She told them that the Harrises lived together in New
Bern before the separation and divorce. “But this house
is the one he loves best—it was his grandfather’s—and
he wanted it kept so that he could walk right in out of
the fields if he felt like staying over. She always called
if they were both coming, but a lot of times he’d just
show up by himself and expect fresh sheets on the bed,
the rooms aired, and for me to have a meal ready to
eat pretty quick, just like his grandmother did for him.
I always keep something in the freezer that I can stick
in the microwave. I don’t look anything like his old
granny, but he loved my stuffed peppers and they freeze
up good. Meatloaf, too.”
“So he was a demanding employer?” Mayleen asked.
Mrs. Samuelson smoothed the bib of her crisp white
apron. “That’s what he was paying me for. I’ve worked
for worse.”
149
MARGARET MARON
“And you went on working for him after he and Mrs.
Harris separated?”
“She asked me to come with her to New Bern, but
we both knew that was because she wanted to mess it
up here for him.” A bit of gold gleamed in her smile.
“Both my sons are just down the road and so are my
grandbabies. Nothing in New Bern worth moving there
for. Besides, when I told him she wanted me to go, he
raised me a hundred a month if I’d stay.”
Dwight’s phone buzzed and as soon as he’d checked
the small screen, he excused himself to take Deborah’s
