“About Missy?”
“Yes.”
Marybeth sighed and shook her head. “I haven’t told either one. I was thinking we would have to do it tonight.”
Joe said, “We?”
“We. Coming up with the right words, though . . . that will be tough.”
“What about Sheridan?”
Marybeth said she’d sent her a text and asked her to call home as soon as she got a chance, but Sheridan had responded with a text of her own saying, “I know, Mom. Everybody knows. Did she do it?”
“And you told her what?” Joe asked.
Marybeth glared at him. “I told her it was all a big mistake.”
Lucy and April sat side by side on the living room couch. April smoldered with her arms crossed in front of her and her chin down, upturned eyes like daggers. Joe was distracted by Lucy. She hadn’t removed the makeup from the tryouts, and she looked strikingly mature and beautiful. It was as if she’d turned from a girl into a woman in a single night, and he didn’t welcome it because he was sure he wasn’t the only one to notice the transformation. Looking at her, he envisioned long nights ahead of sitting on his front porch with his shotgun across his knees, keeping high-school boys at bay. He was happy they’d moved so far out of town.
He wondered how they’d take the news. April had never been close to Missy, and Missy regarded her as an interloper. Slightly higher on the food chain than Joe himself, in fact. It was an alliance they shared.
Although Lucy had distanced herself from Missy in the past year, there was absolutely no doubt that Missy preferred her over all the girls. At one time, when Lucy was still vulnerable to her grandmother’s charms, Missy had gone through a period where she bought matching outfits for the two of them and took her favorite granddaughter for shopping and long lunches.
“Something terrible happened today,” Marybeth said to the girls on the couch.
“You took my phone,” April muttered.
Marybeth closed her eyes, fighting back anger. “Much worse than a phone,” she said. “Your Grandmother Missy was accused of murdering Earl. They found his body this morning. In fact, your dad found it.”
April’s mouth shot open involuntarily, then just as quickly she realized that she was baring her feelings and she shut it again. It was as if the Perpetual Mask of Petulance had slipped momentarily. Joe was relieved to see there was still a girl inside vulnerable to such news.
Lucy’s eyes were huge. She said, “I got some texts in school asking me about Grandma Missy, but I didn’t know what to answer.”
“I got no texts,” April hissed, “because you people stole my phone.”
“It’s all been a terrible misunderstanding,” Marybeth said, ignoring April.
“You mean Earl isn’t dead?” Lucy asked softly.
“No . . . he’s gone,” Marybeth said. Then she turned to him. “Joe?”
“He was murdered,” Joe said. “No doubt about it. Somebody killed him.”
“But it wasn’t Grandmother Missy?” Lucy asked, looking back and forth from Joe to Marybeth.
“Of course not,” Marybeth said. “But she’s been accused of it. We don’t have all the facts yet, but we think someone made it look like she had something to do with the crime. We don’t know who or why. Once everything’s investigated, she’ll be back home.”
“I can’t believe it,” Lucy said. “Did she stab him or poison him or what?”
Joe thought it interesting Lucy made the leap from Earl’s death to how Missy would have likely chosen to kill him.
“He was shot,” Joe said. “Then hung from a windmill.”
“Eeew,” April said, making a face.
“This is like a joke,” Lucy said. “What will people say about her? What will people think about
April snorted and sat back in the couch, her arms still folded across her like an iron breastplate. “Well,” she said, “I guess maybe
Marybeth recoiled, tears suddenly in her eyes. Joe reached out and pulled Marybeth to him and said to April, “I know you’re mad, but that wasn’t necessary.”
“But it’s true,” April said, narrowing her eyes, looking mean. “Maybe it’s time you people learned how to handle the truth.”
“Actually,” Joe said, “I think we’re pretty good at it.”
April rolled her eyes, suddenly bored.
“Meeting’s over,” Joe said. His tone was hard. And effective, since he rarely used it.
April sprang up and marched to her bedroom, smirking and satisfied with herself, but a quick look back at him indicated she thought she might have gone too far.
