Chapter Eight

 

Penny raced across the room and grabbed Krystal’s arms the minute she cleared the apartment door. "Policeman call." Her cold fingers tightened. "He want to know when you come home. I say eight o'clock. He come soon."

"That's okay." Krystal smiled at her panicky roommate. "Uncle Andrew called our lawyer. Mr. Masters already called the police and explained why I was at the flea market.”

"They no come?"

"Oh, they'll still come but it's nothing to worry about. They'll just ask us where we were and what we did Saturday night."

"They question me too?"

Krystal flinched from the bite of Penny's fingers. "All they'll do is ask you to confirm I was here all night. I'm sure they'll be very nice to you."

Penny’s head shook back and forth. "Have police come very bad thing. Lose much face."

"Don’t worry about that, not here. In America, it's not a disgrace for the police to talk to you. The neighbors might be a bit curious but we certainly won't lose face over it."

"I no talk to policeman."

"You have to. Just tell them I went to bed early and you stayed home and watched television."

Penny shook her head again. "I don't stay home, Krissie. Adelle, from upstairs, asked do I want to watch movies. I go there."

"You did?" Krystal's eyes widened. "I thought you were here all night. When did you leave?"

"You long time sleeping. Maybe eleven."

"What time did you get home?"

"Movie end very late, two o'clock. Lying to policeman not good. I go shopping."

"No. You can't do that. They'll just come back, or they might pick you up and take you to the police station." Krystal pried Penny's fingers loose and sat down at the table. "This is awful," she said. "I told Uncle Andrew I had an alibi. It's not your fault but I wish you hadn't gone anywhere."

Penny slid into the other chair and sat watching Krystal then she spoke. "Policeman not know Adelle. I say nothing. Not lie. Only not to say."

"Oh, Penny." Relief flooded Krystal's face. "I don't want to get you into any trouble but I hate to think what they'll do if they find out I was home alone."

Penny bobbed her head. "I speak little English. They no understand. Now, we forget about policeman. Tell me about uncle. Was he very angry?"

"Oh, he was okay. In fact, he was quite nice about it. He didn't like it that I'd gone to a detective but he was so relieved I had an alibi that he forgot to lecture me."

"He tell why mother run away?"

"No, but he said we'd talk about it later. I think he was sorry. I don't know, Penny. I'm so confused. All I have of my mother is childish memories and they're all mixed up. I've always believed they made her leave but now I don't know what to believe. Seeing her was such an awful experience. I don't even know how I feel anymore."

"She give you much pain. Talk with uncle good thing. Make you feel better."

The doorbell rang. Krystal paused halfway across the floor and looked at Penny. "That must be the police. Will you be okay?"

Penny nodded. "I go wait." She headed for the living room.

Krystal opened the door as much as the length the chain allowed and peered through the crack at the two men outside.

"Miss Krystal Davis?" Gus held out his identification card.

"Yes." Krystal released the chain and swung open the door. "Come in, please."

"Thank you, ma'am." Gus stepped past her. "I'm Detective Graham and this is Kelly McWinter. Perhaps you recognize him?"

"Yes." She closed the door. "From the flea market."

"That's right. I brought him along in case there's anything we need to clarify about what happened on Saturday."

"I see." She turned and led the way along the hall into the living room. "This is Penny, my roommate."

"Ma'am," Gus acknowledged the introduction.

Penny nodded and quickly averted her eyes.

"Will you have a seat?" Krystal offered.

Kelly selected a straight back chair.

"There's no need to be nervous about this, Miss Davis." Gus sank into a large armchair. "We'll just have a little chat about what happened out at the flea market."

Kelly’d always admired the way Gus handled an investigation. He had that “Y'all-just-set-yourself-down-a-spell-and-chat” kind of atmosphere down pat. It worked every time. If someone had guilty knowledge, Gus' approach put them at ease and made them careless. If they were innocent, it kept them happy and made for good police relations.

"Do you want to know why I was out there?" Krystal asked.

"I've heard what the lawyer said but I'd rather hear it from you. Just take your time and tell us what you remember."

"I suppose you've already found out she was my mother?"

"I understand you were estranged." Gus smiled to soften the remark.

Krystal glanced over at Penny then turned to speak to Kelly. "You must think I'm a fool after what I did out there."

Kelly shook his head. "You looked like you were having a rough time of it."

"We both understand your feelings," Gus said, pulling her attention back to his question. "Don't worry about what we think. Just tell us in your own words what happened after you decided to try and find your mother."

"It's a long story and hard to explain but I'll try."

Speaking softly, dragging the memories out of her past, Krystal told them about her father's suicide and her mother's disappearance, her attempts to trace her mother, her uncle's refusal to discuss the past and her decision to hire a detective. Finally, she talked about her trip to the flea market and her abortive attempt to speak with her mother.

"It was horrible." Her hands clenched into fists. "This nasty, little man came in the shop while I was watching. He bumped into me and nearly knocked me off my feet. Then he went up to my mother and gave her this brown paper bag. And then my mother opened the bag and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. I was horrified. And every time I think about my mother guzzling out of that whiskey bottle, it makes me sick to my stomach."

She shivered and Kelly felt it in his stomach. God, she reminds me of Lynda. He gave himself a mental shake and focused his attention on Gus.

"I understand," Gus said. "You don't have to go into any more detail. I take it seeing your mother drinking out of the bottle was what prompted you to rush at her the way you did?"

Krystal nodded. "I wanted to get the bottle away from her. Like that would’ve changed anything."

Gus scribbled rapidly in his notebook. "Okay, I don't think we need to go into that any further. What about after you left the flea market? Did you come straight back to the apartment?"

Krystal nodded. "I didn't want anyone to see me. I drove home as soon as I’d pulled myself together enough. I talked to Penny for a few minutes. And then I took a couple of sleeping pills and went to bed."

"You were home when she got here?" Gus turned to Penny.

She nodded, keeping her eyes on the floor. "Krissie come home, cry long time. She take pills. Sleep all night."

"I see." Gus turned back to Krystal. "I wonder if you can help me fix the times. Kelly here thought it was about five when you had your encounter with Anna. Does that seem right?"

"I guess so. I didn't really notice. It was after four when I got to the flea market but it took me awhile to get the courage to approach my mother. Why? Is it important?"

Gus ignored the question. "Do you remember what time you got home?"

"I don't know." She shook her head. "I couldn't drive at first. I sat in the car and cried."

Gus looked at Penny.

Keeping her eyes on the floor she said. "I look at clock very much. Seven o'clock, Krissie come home."

Gus sat forward in the chair and spoke to both of them. "Then you spent the evening at home, is that right?"

"I think it was about eight-thirty when I went to bed." Krystal's voice was strained but she answered without hesitation. "I got up once to go to the bathroom. Penny was watching television."

"Is that right?" Gus turned to Penny. "You spent the entire evening watching television?"

Penny bobbed her head up and down. "I am quiet. Watch television very late. Maybe three in morning."

"Then you confirm Miss Davis' statement that she was home all night."

"Krissie sleep long time. No get up."

"Well, you've both been very helpful. Now, there's just one more thing. I wonder if you could identify this." He pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket and removed the bright red scarf.

"That's my scarf!" Krystal stretched out her hand. "I lost it at the flea market. How did you get it?"

Gus pulled his hand back. "It's difficult to tell you this but it can't be helped. I'm afraid I'll have to keep the scarf for a while because the murderer used it to strangle Mrs. Davis."

Krystal gasped and dropped her head. Blond hair spilled forward and covered her face. She didn't make a sound but her shoulders started shaking.

Penny jumped up and ran to her side. "No, Krissie. Not your fault. You lose scarf."

Krystal lifted her head and stared at Gus. Her eyes were watery and her voice trembled. "That filthy little man who was talking to my mother—the one who gave her the whiskey. Maybe he took it."

"What man? Can you describe him?"

"I didn't really look at him. He smelled like fish. He was short and his legs were bowed. I don't remember his face. I just didn't notice. I was looking at my mother."

Gus shifted himself out of the armchair. "You've been very helpful. I'm sorry we had to stir up unhappy memories but I appreciate your frankness. I'll leave my card and if you think of anything else, I'd appreciate a call."

Kelly stood. "I'm sorry." Krystal raised her eyes. "Maybe I can give you a ring later. I knew Anna pretty well. If you'd like to talk about her, I'd be happy to share what I know."

"Thank you," she said. "I'd like that."

"You know the guy she was talking about?" Gus asked as they walked back to the car.

"Bubba. But if you think he had anything to do with strangling Anna, you can forget it. Bubba couldn’t lie worth a damn if his life depended on it. Shows all over his face. I’ve talked to him about it a couple of times, not just once. If he was hiding something about Anna's murder, I'da damn sure known."

"Greed does strange things to people," Gus said. "We're already checking him out anyway. One of your Creek people told us Bubba had a falling out with Anna over some fish camp he wanted to buy."

"Frank Perkins, of course." Kelly sighed. "If there's any shit to start you can always count on Frank. Sure, Bubba and Anna’d been talking about buying a fish camp for a long time. They had words that night but it was booze talk. Anna was temperamental when she got to drinking and Bubba knew it."

"I'll keep that in mind." Gus pulled his car up beside Old Blue and turned to face Kelly. "I'm running a check on everybody out there, especially the ones hanging around the Hideaway that night. If I come up with anything, I'll give you a call. In the meantime, keep your ears open and let me know what you hear."

"Will do," Kelly said. "And thanks for the ribs. Next time, they'll be on me."

Kelly didn’t hit Indian Creek till after ten but he knew Cam would be waiting for news, so he stopped at the Hideaway. Leroy and Marty played cribbage at their usual table. Otherwise, the bar was empty. Kelly sat on a bar stool and Cam reached in the cooler for a Budweiser.

"Anything new?"

"Gus found the mystery woman." Kelly propped his arms on the counter. "She wasn't much help though."

"I see." Cam's face dropped.

"It's not hopeless. She gave us a couple of leads I'm going to follow up. That's more than I had before I went there. Krystal—that's her name—is Anna's daughter and from what she had to say, I' got an idea Anna's past could stand some looking into."

"I'll be damned." Cam's eyes widened and he shook his head in disbelief. "I never figgered Anna for having a kid. How come she never came around before?"

"Seems Anna took off when Krystal was seven and left her with her grandmother. Krystal hired a detective a couple weeks ago and he tracked Anna down."

Cam frowned. "There was a fella named Boscon nosing around out here. He claimed to be writing a story for some fishing magazine. I wondered about him at the time. He asked a lot of questions and most of them had nothing to do with fishing."

"That's the guy. He told Krystal about Anna's stall at the flea market and she came out to look. She was waiting for a chance to talk to Anna when Bubba showed up with a bottle of whiskey."

Cam grinned. "Sounds like Bubba."

"Yep! You know how Anna was. She tipped the bottle right there in her stall and started guzzling. Seems Krystal snapped when she saw that. She tried to grab the bottle and fell into Anna's chair."

"Do you believe her?"

"Yeah. Her story pretty much jives with what I saw. It's her family situation that's got me curious. Krystal always wondered what happened to her mother, I mean, who wouldn’t? But nobody in the family would talk about it. All she knows is that her father committed suicide and her mother disappeared the same night."

"Sounds like a can of worms."

"Got a nasty smell all right. So I'm planning to dig around in the past a bit and I think I'll start with her husband's suicide."

"Maybe Anna killed him."

Kelly shook his head. "I doubt it. The police are damn good and thorough when one of the rich crowd commits suicide. What I can't figure is why Anna walked out on his estate the way she did."

"That doesn't sound like Anna."

"That's what I mean. She was tight about money. I'd have expected her to fight like a tiger to hold onto what was hers."

"I always had a feeling there was something strange about Anna moving here."

"What do you mean strange?"

"You weren't around when she first came to the Creek. She was a real looker then. Lots of class. Most of us thought she was running away from a bad marriage. Funny! I knew her damn near eighteen years and she never talked about her past."

"Anna knew how to keep her mouth shut." Kelly set his beer can back on the counter. "I'm going to call it a night now but don't give up hope. I offered to meet with Krystal and tell her what I know about Anna. She seemed to like the idea, so I’m hoping we can get together."