“Ouch,” I said.
“Oh, Miss Cooke, I sure am sorry to have hit you.”
The sun was in my eyes, so I tented my hand and brought it to my forehead. “Wylie?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Wylie South took a step back and regarded me. “I heard about what old Sluggs did. Are you okay?”
I nodded dumbly. “Yeah, I’m fine. But how’re you holding up?”
He shrugged. “Pete hasn’t been hanging out at the camper as much the past day or so.”
Imagine that.“Do you think he’s feeling better?”
He scrubbed a hand down the stubble on his cheek. “Heck, I don’t know, but I’m glad if he ain’t too tore up about that Crystal. I mean, I figured he would be and all, and he has been some, but it’s better if he just moves on. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I do.” Maybe Wylie wasn’t as protective of Pete as Pete thought. I paused. “Hey, did you go to the apple-picking contest?”
He shook his head. “No, ma’am. I wasn’t there. It doesn’t sound like any fun to me, going out and picking apples all day just so you can ride in the back of a truck.”
“No,” I murmured, “I guess not.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, I thought you might have seen something that would help the investigation.”
“Oh.” He bobbed his head in understanding. “You mean something that will prove that you’re innocent.”
“Yes, something like that.”
“Well, I wish that I could say that I had seen something, ’cause I’d sure as shooting tell the truth about everything. But in this case I wasn’t there to witness one lick of it. I’m sorry, Miss Cooke. Wish I could tell you differently.”
I patted his arm. “It’s okay, Wylie. I appreciate all your help.”
We said goodbye, and then I headed home to grab Lady, who was all worried about me.
“Clem,” she said in a chastising voice, “I can’t believe you left me here when you clearly need my help. You need my support, Clem. We are best friends.”
I scratched behind her ear. “You’re right. I’m sorry, but I thought I needed to be alone. Turns out, folks all think I’m guilty. They’re giving me accusing looks out in the world.”
Lady pressed her cold, wet nose into my palm. “Well, I know you’re innocent. If you want me to, I’ll go and tell all of them about it. I’ll say, ‘Clem is innocent! Y’all need to leave her alone.’”
I chuckled. “Thank you, friend. You are my own personal cheerleader.”
Her ears perked up. “Does that mean I get a cute outfit to go with it?”
I smirked. “Don’t press your luck.” I moved to grab my keys.
“What’re you doing?”
“I thought we might go out to Hadley’s and see how the demolition is going with Liam.”
Lady immediately padded to the door. “That sounds great. Let’s go. Can we get ice cream on the way back?”
“Ice cream is bad for dogs.”
“All dogs? Even ones that talk?”
