little puny myself tonight, so I'm breaking my own rule. I can do
that, ' she hastily added, 'because this is my home. Do you want to
talk to both of them together? I'll let you sit at my kitchen table if
you do.' The freshly scrubbed baby was clutching a rag doll by its
hair and looking up at Cole. He pulled his hand free from Tilly's
grasp and put his thumb in his mouth.
'We'd prefer to talk to each one separately, ' Ryan said. 'If you
wouldn't mind asking Jessica Summers to come out on the porch, we'll
wait here.'
'Go find your mama, boy, ' she ordered the child.
The baby pulled his thumb out of his mouth long enough to shout, 'No, '
then turned around and went running toward the back of the house.
Tilly grinned.' No' is that baby's favorite word. He must say it a
good hundred times a day. He isn't sassy or slow-witted, though, just
stubborn.' She glanced behind her to make certain the baby was out of
earshot before she spoke again. 'Like I was saying, Jessica and Grace
are scared as rabbits, and it's all because of that rumor someone
started, saying one of them was a witness to the murders. It was even
written down in the paper. Now, my girls didn't see anything because
they would have told me if they had. I don't want to be hearing you
marshals browbeat them with your questions either. You hear me? '
'Yes, ma'am, we hear you, ' Cole replied.
'I'll go get Jessica, ' she said. 'Then I'm going upstairs with a pot
of tea Grace is kindly brewing for me, but I'll be back down to lock my
doors at ten o'clock on the dot. You expect to be finished by then,
don't you? ' 'Yes, ma'am, we do, ' Ryan answered.
Tilly wasn't quite ready to leave. She had something more to say to
the marshals, and whenever she wanted to speak her mind, she did
exactly that, believing that time was too precious to waste dancing
around a sensitive topic.
'It's a crying shame the way this town is acting. Just because my
girls haven't been here long, they're fair targets for every rumor. I
feel sorry for poor Rebecca James too. She was feeling just as poorly
as my girls. Have you hounded her with questions yet? ' Ryan didn't
answer. 'When did you happen to meet Rebecca? ' 'At church Sunday
last, ' she answered. 'We had us a nice talk after services, and she
told me she was considering moving into my house because her hotel room
was so cramped. She would have been welcome, ' she added, 'And I'm
persnickety in my old age, but I took to her right away.
She's got a good heart. Why, she was even nice to nasty old Lemont
Morganstaff. She made him blush with her compliments about his
garden.
