Baked ham, green beans, and mashed potatoes filled Dani’s plate. For a slight girl, she could pack enough food in her stomach to make grown men push away from the table, and she ate like the food would expire in ten minutes’ time.
Her uncle Otis and aunt Jeannie shared a grin as they sat at the dining room table and picked at their own plates full of food. Watching their niece chow down was an amusing spectacle.
“Couldn’t make heads nor tails of it,” Dani said after she washed a mouthful of potatoes down with a gulp of water.
“She just said preacher? She didn’t give you any indication which one?”
“No, sir. She just told me to get a preacher drunk.”
“Curious,” Otis said. “And she let on like she and Rafe know all there is to know about this business?”
“The way she talked, everyone beyond our elevation knows of it.”
Jeannie slid a strand of silver hair behind her ear. “Lord knows I wish you two’d stop your police talk at the table.”
“It’s important stuff, Aunt J. Kids have gone missing.”
“I heard. I heard. Breaks my heart to think of it, and since I can’t do nothing about it, I’d just as soon not have to hear about it.”
“How ’bout your preacher?” Dani asked, cutting into her slice of ham.
“What about him?”
“You think he’s got any thoughts on the subject?”
Jeannie bristled. “I most certainly do not. Pastor Tom is a good man who wouldn’t harbor that kind of information. He’d pass it along as soon as he got wind of it.”
Dani shrugged. “Maybe. Suppose someone come to him to confess their sins on the matter? He couldn’t pass it along then, could he?”
“Dani, sweetie, I know it’s been a while since you’ve been to church, but we of the proper Christian faith do not undertake confession. We leave that to the Catholics and the Lutherans.”
“So what do you do when you sin?”
“We go straight to the source,” Jeannie said, pointing up. “Only God can forgive, so only God need hear confessions.”
“Son-bitch must get an earful,” Otis said with a laugh.
Jeannie threw her napkin at him. “Otis Royal, don’t you dare be so foulmouthed about the Lord. You’ll have to answer to him one of these days, and then where will you be?”
Dani covered her mouth as she giggled wildly.
“There, you happy? You’ve corrupted your niece closer to the devil. It ain’t bad enough you got her taking on man’s work. You’re flaunting your blasphemous ways in her face.” Jeannie placed her hand on Dani’s. “Look here, I wish you’d give up the policing and do something proper. It’s turning you crass.”
“Aunt J, you know I came to you about as crass as you can get.”
“You come to us as a lost girl who done some crass things. There’s a difference.”
“Leave the girl alone,” Otis said. “She’s got an aptitude for police work. As far as I know, aptitude is just another way of saying a gift from God.”
“A fat lot you’d know about gifts from God. She should look into that position at Mrs. Miller’s store.”
“What position?” Dani asked.
Jeannie shot darts at Otis with her eyes. “You said you talked to her about it. You said she didn’t have no interest.”
“She don’t have no interest…”
“How could you know that if you didn’t say nothing to her?”
“Because I know my niece, Jeannie. She don’t want to work at no Christian bridal shop—”
Dani blew out an ear-piercing whistle. “What Christian bridal shop?”
“It was just a fool idea your aunt had…”
“Fool idea?” Jeannie set her elbows on the table and clasped her hands together. “Lord give me strength.” She turned to Dani. “Mrs. Miller stood up and made an announcement at the end of service last Sunday that she was looking for a good Christian girl to help her in her bridal shop. I told her all about you, and she said she’d have you in for an interview. Your uncle said he talked to you about it, but you gave a flat no. He just lied through his yellow teeth.”
Dani hid a smile. “Aunt J, I appreciate you trying to look out for me, but there’s a couple of things you should know. I like my job. I do. I get a chance to help people, and make a little bit of a difference in folks’ lives. And the other thing is, I ain’t near a good Christian girl. I ain’t got no desire to be a good Christian girl. I’m just a cop. That’s all I am.”
Jeannie placed her hand on Dani’s again. “Ima pray God into your life. You’ll see. In no time at all, you’re gonna come to me and seek guidance into the wonders of the Lord.” She stood and cleared her plate away.
When Jeannie was in the kitchen, Otis leaned across the table and whispered, “Don’t fret. She’s been trying to pray God into my life for forty years, and it ain’t took yet.”
“That’s because you’re the devil, Otis Royal,” Jeannie yelled from the kitchen. “The prince of darkness himself!”
Otis flinched at the shrillness of her voice. “Woman’s got ears like a bat!” He shouted so she would be sure to hear.
Dani stuffed a thick hunk of ham in her mouth, anxious to get back to the topic of the missing girls. After swallowing she asked, “What do you think I oughta do about Ruby and Rafe?”
Her uncle considered her question carefully. “Not much to be done. They ain’t likely to give you more than you already got.” He looked over his shoulder and watched his wife exit the kitchen and enter the living room. She clicked on the television and sat on the sofa. Turning back to Dani, Otis said in a whisper, “I’d take Ruby’s advice if I were you.”
“What’s that?”
“Get a preacher drunk.”
“But which one?”
Otis shrugged. “Pastor Tom is as good a preacher as any to start.”
“But Aunt J…”
“If you learn nothing else from me, little deputy, learn this. Your aunt talks out of her ass when it comes to that church and her pastor. Ol’ Tom’s the senior preacher in Baptist Flats. If a pastor knows, I’d lay odds it’d be him.”
“I’ll pay him a visit tomorrow…”
“You’re likely to be tied up a good bit of tomorrow,” Otis said, still whispering. “I called in a favor with a couple of folks at Tanner Tobacco. They set aside a special shipment for our friend Trace Connor to haul out about noontime. I got a feeling his rig will be in violation of all sorts of regulations. Enough to detain him for a couple of hours.”
Dani smiled. “That’s sneaky as shit, Sheriff Royal.”
“That’s how good police work is done, little deputy.” He tiptoed into the kitchen and returned with an unmarked bottle of tawny liquid. “Bought this off a fella in Maiden Falls. He’s a goddamned artist is what he is. Pay ol’ Pastor Tom a visit tonight.”