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A soft rumbling sound could be heard behind the door. Shandra remembered Pim had left school for a year to help with her mother. Was Mrs. Solomon an invalid?
The door opened. A woman close to forty sat in a wheelchair, her hand looped through a rope attached to the door. “What do you want?” she asked.
“I’m Shandra Higheagle—”
“Oh my! Come in! Is this about the scholarship?” The woman pulled her bent hand from the loop and used it to push a toggle on the arm of the wheelchair.
Shandra glanced at Ryan. They stepped over the threshold and he closed the door behind them.
“I was hoping to speak with Pim,” Shandra said, taking the spot on the couch the woman motioned to.
Ryan stood, leaning a shoulder against the wall beside Shandra.
“Pim is at work. She’s a good girl who works hard.” The woman smiled. Only one side of her face worked.
“I thought she was doing YSEP today?” Shandra wondered if she’d remembered the right acronym.
“Is today Friday?”
“Yes,” Ryan said.
The woman looked flustered. “Then she is at the community center with YSEP.” She glanced at the clock. “She should come home any time, now.”
“Where does she work the rest of the week?” Shandra asked. The young woman had used her lunch hour to show up at the community center the day Nelly was killed.
“She’s been working at the new government center. This week she was in the legal services.” Mrs. Solomon peered at her. “My Pim is not a slacker. She always works hard. Didn’t she make up the year she had to take off to help me?”
“I heard Pim and Nelly were friends when they both went to school.” Shandra noticed the woman grimace even though half of her face remained slack.
“They were friends until Nelly started hanging around with Duke Waters. He’s no good. Pim and I both told Nelly to stay away from him.” She moved her head in two short twists. “When she tried to get Pim to help her, my Pim told her no and stayed away.”
“Pim ever say if she knew who Fawn’s father was?” Ryan asked.
The woman glared at him. “Pim wouldn’t know. She’s a good girl.” She acted as if she were trying to spit. “Wendy Wilbur is not such a good girl.” As if she remembered who Shandra was, she placed half a smile on her face. “Pim doesn’t regard my feelings for others.”
Shandra had heard enough. She wanted to find Pim and thought she had an idea of how to make sure she did. “Thank you for your time, Mrs. Solomon.” She stood.
Ryan was at the door before she stepped that direction.
“I thought you wanted to talk to Pim?” the woman asked.
“We will another time.” Shandra hurried out the door Ryan held open and pulled her phone from her purse.
“Who are you calling?” he asked, catching up to her at the pickup.
“Jo, to hold Pim, if both of them are still there. Then Liz. If Pim is working in the legal department, Liz should be able to track down what she did on Tuesday.”
Shandra called Jo. She was getting ready to leave the community center but agreed to look for Pim and keep her in her office until Shandra arrived.
As Ryan drove them to the community center, Shandra dialed the work number she had for Liz.
“Confederated Tribes Legal Aid,” a young woman answered the phone.
Shandra shifted her attention to the young woman on the phone. “Is Liz Piney in?”
“Who’s calling please?”
“Her cousin, Shandra.”
“I’ll put your call through.”
A few clicks and Liz answered. “Hello, Shandra? What are you calling me for? Word in the family is you are here learning about our traditions.”
“I am. But I’m also a bit caught up in the Nelly Bingham murder.”
Liz groaned. “Are you getting on the bad side of the Feds again?”
Shandra laughed. “Not yet. Mrs. Solomon said Pim was working YSEP for the legal department this week.”
“She’ll be here next week, too. Why are you interested in Pim?”
Shandra heard the squeak of a chair in the background. “She was friends with Nelly in school. They might have remained friends without others realizing. And she showed up strangely at the community center Tuesday when we were waiting for Nelly to arrive to receive my scholarship. Aunt Jo was confused by the reason for Pim showing up. I wondered if you could find someone there who Pim might have confided in and find out what time she left for lunch and came back on Tuesday.”
Liz gave a whistle. “I’d almost think you believe Pim killed Nelly with all the questions you want answered.”
“As far as I can tell, Pim didn’t have a reason to kill Nelly but she might have the information we need to prove who did.” Shandra had a strong feeling the murder had to do with Fawn. And from her calculations, Pim and Nelly would have still been friends when Nelly became pregnant.
“I’ll ask around. And see you at the big party on Saturday.”
“What big party?”
The phone went silent.
“Party?” Ryan asked, parking in the Community Center lot.
“I don’t know. Liz said she’d see me at the big party on Saturday.” She scanned the parking lot. Aunt Jo’s car was in its usual place.
They exited the pickup and strode to the building. She knew Aunt Jo would want to get home and check on Fawn.
Inside the center, she led Ryan to Jo’s office. She found Jo talking with Pim.
“Miss Higheagle.” Pim shot to her feet.
“Hi Pim. This is my fiancé, Ryan.” Shandra motioned to Ryan.
“Pim,” he said, leaning his backside on Aunt Jo’s desk.
“Can I head home now?” Aunt Jo asked.
“Yes. And thank you.” Shandra gave her aunt a brief hug and motioned for Pim to sit back down.
“I don’t understand? Mrs. Elwood didn’t say you were coming to see me.” Pim frowned and glanced from Shandra to Ryan.
“That’s because I asked her not to.” Shandra took the chair her aunt had vacated.
“Does this have anything to do with the scholarship?” Pim’s eyes brightened and her voice rose in excitement.
“Yes and no. I have some questions I’d like answered.”
“Sure.” The young woman settled back in the chair and smiled at Shandra.
“You and Nelly were friends before she dropped out of school to have Fawn, right?” Shandra studied the woman. The happiness disappeared, replaced by suspicion.
“Yeah. Why do you want to know about Nelly and me?”
“I want to know if she told you who Fawn’s father is.” Shandra hoped the young woman could answer that question.
Pim’s eyes flashed with anger before her lashes lowered, hiding her emotions. She picked at the hem of her shirt. “She wasn’t sure but told everyone it was Duke Waters. She had a thing for the pervie old man.”
“Do you believe the father is Duke?” Shandra asked.
Pim shrugged. “I don’t know. She’d been sleeping with several boys at the time, getting them to use and start buying from Duke. Honestly, it could have been any of them.”
“Can you give me their names?” Shandra glanced at Ryan. He nodded. He’d make note of the names.
“Arthur Randal, Billy Crow, Jeremy Ten, David Forth, just about any high school and adult male. I can’t remember all of them.” Pim stared her in the eyes. “Nelly was a whore and used people.”
The hatred in Pim’s eyes startled Shandra. She’d hoped for answers, but the young woman was adding herself to the suspect list. She had a thought.
“Did Nelly and Tripp hook up back then?”
Sparks snapped in the depths of Pim’s eyes. “She stole him from me. If she hadn’t used her whoring on him, we’d be married. But once she touched him, there was no way my family would ever allow me to marry him.” She glared at Ryan and then Shandra. “I’m surprised Velma hasn’t done something to spare her sweet Wendy from Tripp’s charm.” She smirked. “Believe me, he can charm the pants off any woman.”
“Why did you really come here Tuesday?” Shandra asked, changing the subject and making a mental note to have a talk with Wendy.
Pim sat up straighter. “I came to look at the list of volunteer jobs for the powwow in July.”
Shandra shook her head. “That’s not what you said on Tuesday. You asked Jo where the YSEP meeting was going to be held today.”
Caught in her lie, her mouth opened slowly and snapped shut. Her gaze flicked between Shandra and Ryan. “I’d heard there would be an announcement Tuesday about the scholarship recipient. When I didn’t get called, I thought I’d come by, see if anyone said anything. My mom and I are really hoping for the scholarship. With her medical condition there isn’t any way I can go to school without help.”
“Did you see Nelly when you arrived?” Ryan asked. He’d let Shandra lead the questions up till now. He had a feeling this young woman knew more about Fawn’s father than she let on and she was trying to play on Shandra’s sympathies. He was immune after all the years he’d worked as a cop.
Pim’s face swung toward him. “No. Why would I? She never showed up.”
“I think she was here. I’d witnessed her arguing with Tripp earlier,” Shandra said.
At Shandra’s statement Pim’s eyebrows rose. “She was arguing with Tripp? Here? Wendy was here. Did she see it?”
“No, she didn’t know about the argument. But you talked to Wendy,” Ryan said, bringing the woman’s attention back to him.
She narrowed her eyes. “How do you know?”
“She told us.” Ryan tipped his head toward Shandra and she nodded.
“Then you know what we said.” Pim crossed her arms.
“Tell us what you said. We only have Wendy’s account.” Ryan saw her thinking behind her steady gaze. Either she was bringing up the conversation or figuring what to say that might have been close to what Wendy had said.
“I think I said something about the scholarship. She said Nelly was late to get it. I asked about Tripp. She said they were happy. And I left. She seemed to be distracted.” Pim nodded as if she’d just finished a long recitation.
“Wendy told you Nelly was late to receive the scholarship?” Ryan didn’t remember Wendy saying if she’d mentioned the scholarship to Pim.
“Yes. She said something like, ‘you’d think she’d be on time for her ticket out of here.’” The young woman smiled. “I sure would have been here early.”
Ryan was getting mixed conversations from the two young women who had a grudge against the victim. They both had reason to want Nelly out of their way. He could see Pim stabbing her adversary to get what she wanted. While Wendy was practically family and she seemed a bit meek to shove a knife in anyone’s belly, even one who was trying to take her boyfriend.
“You have no idea who Fawn’s father is?” Shandra asked, making him wonder what she had picked up on that he hadn’t.
“I told you. Nelly was sleeping with anyone she could lure into drugs. For all I know it’s one of the four who overdosed and are laying in the cemetery.” Pim stood. “I’m going home. Mom needs her medication.”
Ryan watched the young woman walk out of the office. He glanced down at Shandra. “She just gave us more suspects. If Nelly started four men on drugs who overdosed, they might have some family who were out for revenge.”
Shandra nodded and stood. “The more we dig, the more people we find who might have a reason.” She sighed. “Including Wendy.”