Rufus drove me home a little while later. Lady lay curled on my lap. I stroked her head absently while I thought about Crystal.
“It could have been anyone,” I murmured.
“Who committed the crime?” Rufus asked.
I turned to him. “She was with Sykes Laffoon just last night.”
“You’re not saying it was him, are you?”
“No. Yes? I don’t know.” A headache bloomed in the back of my skull. I winced at the sharp pain. “Maybe he knows something, has an idea of who might’ve done it.”
“The police will talk to him.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sure. Tuney Sluggs will put him at the top of the list, right after the chief declares that Crystal tripped and fell on a knife that was lying in Dooley Hutto’s yard.”
Rufus snickered. “Your faith in that man never ceases to amaze me.”
“That’s because I have none.”
“I know.”
He slowed to a stop in front of the house. “Hold on and I’ll get the door.”
Rufus came around and took Lady from my arms. “Where are we?” she mumbled.
“Home,” I answered.
“Oh, that’s good.”
Rufus walked me to the porch and gave me a kiss on the cheek and said goodbye. After I got inside and settled Lady in bed, I had a moment to think about Crystal and what had happened.
Someone had murdered her in the open, where they could easily have been seen by anyone. It took a pretty big pair of hair curlers to have that sort of courage. It was probably a personal vendetta. That’s usually how these things went. But I didn’t like the idea that a murderer was running loose in my town.
I knew what I had seen, and the police would need my help on this one—of that, I was sure.
It was settled. First thing tomorrow, I was going to get to the bottom of what had happened to Crystal Darsey.
“Morning, Clem,”Julie Bender said in greeting the next day. “I heard you’ve been seeing some premonitions.”
I dropped my purse onto the counter of Bender’s, Julie’s coffee shop, with a sigh. “No matter what you’re hearing out there, I did not have a premonition. There is a magical doorknob that can see places.”
Julie’s eyes flared with intrigue. “And here I thought a premonition was cool. You’ve schooled me. Now I want to see this doorknob.”
“It sounds dumb, doesn’t it?”
“A doorknob that can see places?” Julie started building my usual coffee without me having to ask. “Nah. Doesn’t sound dumb at all—sounds like a Disney movie. You know that old one,Bedknobs and Broomsticks?”
I shot her a scathing look. “Okay, then I guess I can see premonitions because no one’s going to believe the doorknob story.”
“Girl, everyone will believe it if you put some enthusiasm into your tale.”
She handed me the coffee, and I slid my money across the counter. “Did you know much about Crystal?”
“Other than the fact that she was a hussy?”
“Right.”
Julie shook her dark head of curls. “I can say with pride that Mr. Bender never once looked at Crystal Darsey, God rest his soul, and no, I didn’t know much about that girl. I managed to stay out of all the talk about her, unlike most of the other wives in this town. But there’s her mama outside. She could probably use some condolences right about now.”
