I eased off the causeway into the little business district on her side of town. Gun shop, gas station, dollar store. I asked her, “Any idea why Jackson went out the window?”
She sighed. I could tell she was embarrassed.
“Now, Mazie,” I said, “you know I ain’t going to judge him none. Not only do you and I go way back, but compared to what I saw in Charleston, nothing in this town is going to shock me.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just, he’s gotten in a few scrapes. Like possession of marijuana. I know it’s wrong, but—”
I sighed. “It’s about as low on the totem pole of wrong as a crime can be. Hell, I wish my Noah’d just been doing that. He had a problem with painkillers, and then with the accident it got even worse.”
“Leland, I am so sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Hardly anyone does. He’s come out of it now, I think, but I almost lost him. Smoking reefer’s a cakewalk compared to that.”
“Well, still,” she said. “He shouldn’t be doing it. But I think he must’ve had some stashed someplace, and he ran to dump it somewhere in case they searched his room.”
“Okay,” I said. “That ain’t great, but it’s understandable.”
As I reached an intersection and stopped at the light, I could feel her looking at me from the passenger seat. She said, “I probably shouldn’t have talked to them, huh?”
Before I could answer, a car shot past and something exploded across my windshield.
“What the hell!” I veered to the shoulder, my heart hammering. The glass was covered with what looked like a chocolate milkshake. I leaned out the window to see what I could of the other car. Its taillights were disappearing in the distance.
“What was that?” I said. “Some new YouTube prank or something?”
She gave a bitter laugh. “Oh, no. Leland, you’ve been gone a long time.”
“How do you mean?” I turned the wipers on. They didn’t help much.
“That’s what you get for mixing with the Wartons. Somebody must’ve spotted me in your car.”
I hit the windshield-washer button, trying to think of another explanation.
“More likely just some stupid kids,” I said. “The speed they were going, I don’t know how they could’ve gotten a good look at you. They weren’t even on the passenger side.”
“Maybe,” she said after a moment. “It’s just hard. After a while, I mean, you get to expect the insults and being the butt of every joke.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry things went this way for you,” I said. “You should’ve had a better life.”
She shrugged. She didn’t say anything, but as she breathed I heard a catch in her throat that made me think she might start crying again.
“Listen,” I said, “let’s get you home. Don’t let those punks distract us from what’s going on. Jackson’s got to be scared. He ain’t thinking straight, but he’s just a kid.” I pulled out into the road again. “We’re the grown-ups. We got to think this through.”
“You’re right.”
“So, what all do you think might’ve made the police want to talk to him?”
“Just the fight, I think. Half the neighborhood saw that. And all of them heard it.”
“But they also saw Karl leave, right?”
“Yeah. And he was alone. Jackson came back inside.”
“Well, okay then.” It sounded to me like if Karl fell in the water after that, the killer was probably Jack Daniels, not Jackson.
I parked in front of her house. As we went up the rickety porch, I saw the next-door neighbor’s curtain twitching and made a mental note to keep my voice down even when we got inside.
Jackson still wasn’t home. As Mazie turned on the lights, I asked if I could make her something: coffee, maybe a sandwich?
“I’m not hungry,” she said. She was planted right in front of me, staring up into my eyes, desperation in her voice. “I don’t want nothing but to know my boy is going to be okay.”
That was exactly how I’d felt at the hospital after Noah’s accident. Her pale, tired face had the same vulnerability she used to have in high school. She’d always have that, I thought; if life hadn’t hardened her by now, it never would. But motherhood had made her fierce, and I understood that down to my bones.
“Mazie,” I said, “you can help him. Let’s figure this out. Hang on one second.”
I didn’t want any nosy neighbors to overhear, but it was too hot to shut the windows. I turned the TV on loud and signaled that we should talk quietly. “So,” I said, “everyone saw Karl show up drunk, right? What happened then?”
“He just stood in the front yard hollering. He was saying horrible things about me. Nothing I ain’t used to, but still. Jackson was mad. I tried to stop him, but he went out on the porch and told Karl he was a loser and needed to get on home and never come back. And, Leland, everybody heard that. Anybody who could see anything must’ve seen that Karl came charging up the porch, yelling that Jackson had no right to talk like that to his own father, and hit him right in the face.”
“That’s the black eye,” I said.
“Yes. I ran out and got between them. I don’t think Jackson even landed a punch at all. He just went out to defend me, and then he had to fend off his dad. He didn’t get Karl’s mean streak, thank the Lord.”
“Well, he’s your son too,” I said. “And you raised him right. What happened then? He just come on back in and, what, eat and go to bed?”
“He came in, and I put him in the shower and cleaned his face up after. He needed a Band-Aid.” She touched
