Gone to Ground (33 page)

Stevie was back workin at the factory. With Mayor B gone, Carl Cypress was runnin the place.

Tully nodded. "How is your brother?"

"He's okay. Sure doesn't trust the police. But he's calmin down. I think he's beginnin to see it's better to tell the truth." Deena looked at her lap. "Course I could say the same thing about myself. I mean if we'd done that right off, maybe he wouldn't have ended up in jail at all."

Maybe. Who's to say? But I couldn't disagree about the truth part.

Deena sighed. "Also, I think writin this book will help me. I mean, this thing with Trent just totally threw me. I still don't get it. To think you know somebody—and then realize they're not at all who you thought . . ."

Bad enough that Deena's childhood friend killed five women. But then to try to kill
her
.
Not until after Trent's arrest did his final words on the phone to Deena become clear.
"I get it. I see why you really called."
He'd thought she'd figured out he was the Closet Killer. And he couldn't let her bring him down.

"Yes, baby." I gave her a sad smile. "I think it will help you sort it out."

Tully and I waited for her to say more.

Deena lifted a shoulder. "That's it."

So. One vote yes. We sat on that for a minute.

I turned to Tully. "How bout you?"

She hesitated. "I say yes too."

I couldn't keep the surprise off my face. She'd always been the quiet one. Private. I didn't think she'd want the world peerin into her life durin the worst days she ever had. "Look like you ain't as sure as Deena."

"I wasn't at first. Then I talked to my parents about it. They're happy to have me and little Michael living with them. But they know eventually I'll want to get out on my own. I need to save for that. But how to save when I'm not working?"

Deena nodded. "You're sure, then, about the divorce? You're not goin back to Mike?"

"I . . . no." Tully plucked at her shirt. "He betrayed me with Erika, even if she did lie about the baby being his. Maybe she didn't know
who
the father was. Anyway, now I can see Mike's not the kind of husband I want, or the kind of father little Michael needs. He'll always be my son's father, but not to live with. If he'd acted like he'd changed . . . But he still blames me for his arrest. When he got home from jail I was in our house, hoping . . . I don't know what I was hoping. And he hit me. Left bruises on my face. That was it. That's the day I packed up and moved to my parents' house for good.
And
marched myself down to the police station to report him. Didn't take him long to violate the restraining order. That's why he's in jail now until his trial. My lawyer thinks he'll get more time when his case comes up."

"Maybe so," Deena said, "if you testify against him."

"Oh, I plan to. I'm going to tell them
everything."

Poor Tully. That would be hard on her. "Baby, I'm sorry. I'll be prayin for you ever day."

"Thanks, I need it." She lowered her eyes. "I've been goin to church again and . . . well, that's important. I don't think I can do this without God."

Amen to that.

"Anyway." Tully took a breath. "At first I couldn't bear to think of writing all this stuff for the world to read. That just . . . I couldn't do it. But by now our story's
already
everywhere. Think of all the national reporters who've been to our town."

Yup, finally they'd come.
After
the murders was over. They all wanted to talk to us bout how we'd helped solve the crimes.

"Now other people are wanting to write our whole story," Tully said. "If
we
write it, we control it. Yes, we have to show the good and the bad. But at least we'll know it's the truth."

Well. Two yeses. We'd all agreed a decision to go ahead had to be unanimous. Seventy-five thousand dollars apiece was a lot a money. But we were a team. We'd do this together or not at all.

Deena looked to me. "What do
you
say?"

There was so very much to say. I'd done a lot a ruminatin over the last three months. "Do you know all my customers—except the Bradmeyers—was nice enough to keep me on cleanin their houses? That's a gift from God." I rubbed my lip. "Tell you what, though—I ain't snoopin no more. Done learned my lesson on that."

Tully smiled.

"But I'm so tired a workin, and this opportunity would allow me to quit. I'd love to stay home and read my literature. Volunteer more at church. Plus I agree with Tully. Half the story's out there anyway but all switched round, with guesses in between. I want to set it straight."

Deena's eyebrows shot up. "So we have three yeses?"

"Yes, ma'am, we do." I raised my lemonade. "Here's to our book!"

"That's amazing!" Tully raised her glass to clink against Deena's, then mine.

"And the future of Amaryllis." Deena raised her glass higher.

We clinked again.

I took a victorious drink. Set down my glass. "You know the other reason we need to write this book? Cause Amaryllis deserves a second chance. Trent wrote bout the town when it was still in the grip a despair. Our book'll show how we got through it, with God's help."

"Yeah." Deena firmed her lips. "That's right."

I plunked my hands on the arms a the chair. "So. We gon write it like the editor wants? Each a us doin our own part, plus Trent's article in pieces?"

Tully nodded. "I think so. You think
The Jackson Bugle
will let us use the feature?"

I gave her a sly look. "I already checked."

Deena chuckled. "So you want to call the editor tomorrow mornin and tell her our decision, Cherrie Mae?"

"You bet I will. First thing."

As the baby slept, we talked bout our futures. How with the book money Tully could go to college. Deena could take a vacation once in awhile. And I wouldn't have to clean other people's toilets. I could work full-time on my part a the book. After that was done, I could sit and read all day if I wanted.
All day.
I couldn't stop smilin, just imaginin it. "Plus I can visit my son and daughter more often, see my grandbabies."

I smiled even more at that.

Our conversation turned to Amaryllis, our businesses and churches. Then to the
po
lice.

"Did you see Ted Arnoldson's house is up for sale?" Deena shook her head. "I hear he's movin away. Where, I don't know. Although he can't move far."

"So sad." I still mourned over Ted, as I did Trent and Mayor B. Ted had already pled guilty to his crimes, but with a clean previous record, he got off with a hefty fine and probation.

Deena
tsked
. "I still stay Chief Cotter's ego got in the way of solvin the murders earlier."

"But he did give us credit for helping him," Tully said.

"Only cause he had to. Reporters were findin out everything anyway. Otherwise he'd have claimed to crack the case all on his own."

I had to admit she was probly right. "Well, what matters is, Amaryllis is finally healin, thanks be to God."

"Yes." Deena nodded.

I stared at my closed curtains, thinkin bout it all.

Deena nudged Tully. "Look at her. What do you bet she's thinkin up a quote about now."

Tully smiled. "Bet you're right."

Now how did they know that?

They focused on me, eyebrows raised.

I nodded slowly. They wanted a quote—they'd get one. "'Neither man nor angel can discern hypocrisy, the only evil that walks invisible, except to God alone.' John Milton."

Tully tilted her head, thinkin that one over, then nodded. "Amen to that." She raised her glass.

Deena held hers up. "All too true."

I reached for my lemonade. We clinked our agreement one final time.

Chapter 1

"My mind rebels at stagnation."

Sherlock Holmes,
The Sign of the Four
, by Arthur Conan Doyle

Chapter 7

"Behold where Ares, breathing forth the breath of strife and carnage, paces—paces on." Chorus,
Electra
, by Sophocles

"Man's conscience is the oracle of God."

The Island
, by Lord Byron

Chapter 9

"Crime is common; logic is rare."

Sherlock Holmes,
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
, by Arthur Conan Doyle

Chapter 13

"The games one plays are not the games one chooses always."

Essex,
Elizabeth the Queen
, by Maxwell Anderson

Chapter 17

"Justice, while she winks at crimes, stumbles on innocence sometimes."

Hudibras
, by Samuel Butler

Chapter 19

"Circumstances may accumulate so strongly even against an innocent man, that directed, sharpened, and pointed, they may slay him."

The Mystery of Edwin Drood
, by Charles Dickens

Chapter 20

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."

Algernon,
The Importance of Being Earnest
, by Oscar Wilde

Chapter 23

"A slovenly dress denotes a disorderly mind."

Don Quixote,
Don Quixote
, by Miguel de Cervantes

"The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew."

To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest
with the Plough
, by Robert Burns

"Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself."

Robinson Crusoe
, by Daniel Defoe

Chapter 26

"What anxious moments pass between the birth of plots and their last fatal periods."

Sempronius,
Cato
, by Joseph Addison

Chapter 28

"In this world you've just got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends."

Charlotta the Fourth,
Anne of Avonlea
, by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Chapter 29

"Misery acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows."

Trinculos,
The Tempest
, by William Shakespeare

Chapter 32

"It is the nature of truth to struggle to the light."

Man and Wife
, by Wilkie Collins

Chapter 33

"Silence is of different kinds, and breathes different meanings."

Villette
, by Charlotte Bronte

Chapter 35

"It is no use, lying to one's self."

Dr. Rank,
A Doll's House
, by Henrik Ibsen

Chapter 37

"Let the winged Fancy roam, Pleasure never is at home."

Fancy
, by John Keats

Chapter 39

"Time comes stealing on by night and day."

Dromio of Syracuse,
Comedy of Errors
, by Shakespeare

Chapter 42

"To fair request, silent performance maketh best return."

Virgil,
The Divine Comedy
, by Dante Alighieri

Epilogue

"Neither man nor angel can discern hypocrisy, the only evil that walks invisible except to God alone."

Paradise Lost
, by John Milton

1. In the prologue an unnamed character is talking to Chief Cotter. As the story progressed, who did you guess this character was?

2. How did you respond to the excerpts from Trent Williams's Pulitzer prize-winning article, "Gone to Ground"? What reasons do you think the author had for including them in this format?

3. What did you think of the dialect of the three main characters? Did it help characterize them for you? Did you find it at all distracting?

4. As the story progressed, who did you think was the killer? Did your opinion change?

5. Did you relate more to one of the three main characters than the others? Which one?

6. Could the story have been told as well in third person?

7. All the characters in this book, including the three main characters, struggled with some form of hypocrisy. How did Cherrie Mae, Deena, and Tully each struggle with this issue?

8. If each of these three characters had told the full truth from the beginning, would things have gone easier for them?

9. Has hypocrisy ever crept into your life—or into the life of someone you know—in a way that surprised you?

10. If you were in Cherrie Mae's situation, how would you have handled it?

11. If you were in Deena's shoes, what would you have done?

12. How about Tully? What would you have done in her situation?

13. What classical quote from Cherrie Mae did you like best?

14. What was the biggest surprise for you in this story?

15. What did you learn from this story?

Acknowledgments

My thanks to these wonderful people who generously
gave their time to help me research this story:

Elsa James of Cielo Salon in Redwood City, California, provided background information regarding Deena's work in her hair salon.

Dan Blackledge, raised in Jasper County and a member of the Men's Garden Clubs of America since the mid-eighties, told me about Jasper County history, as well as imparted valuable information about planting and tending amaryllis flowers in Mississippi.

Keith Wilkerson, who has studied the history of Jasper County and created a Web site for that information, graciously answered questions about when my town of Amaryllis could have been founded, and what the county was like at that time. Keith's Web site is at: http://webpages.charter.net/hondapotamus/jasper.htm.

Jeff Herrin, investigator with Mississippi's 13th Circuit Ct. District, answered questions regarding law enforcement issues for the state and for Jasper County.

Peggy and Earl Schneider of Wisteria Bed and Breakfast in Laurel, Mississippi, provided a beautiful and historic place for me to stay as I researched nearby Jasper County. I enjoyed the ambiance and the conversation.