A Deadly Affair at Bobtail Ridge by Terry Shames Page B

trouble.”
    â€œShe stirred up her own trouble.” He chuckles. “Anyway, like I said, Eddie was a jock. Played football. He got a football scholarship to SMU.”
    I whistle. “I don’t know anybody from around here ever played for SMU.”
    â€œWell, that’s the thing. He didn’t. Something went wrong. I never did hear what it was, but they withdrew the scholarship.”
    I excuse myself to go talk to a couple I saw at the hospital when I went to comfort Jenny the day Vera died. Martha and Lloyd Glenn tell me they’ve lived down the street from Vera for almost forty years. “I taught school with Vera for a few years, but I wasn’t cut out for it the way she was. I retired a long time ago.” Martha Glenn has ice blue eyes, a very pointed nose, and a severe look, so I expect there were students who were pretty relieved to escape having those eyes track them.
    â€œYou know her kids, too?”
    â€œOh, yes, our daughter Rhonda was Jenny’s classmate, although they never were close. She came to the funeral today, though. She always liked Vera. Everybody did. Rhonda’s over there.” She points to a group of people Jenny’s age. “She’s the one with gray pantsuit. Her husband is next to her. He’s a dentist.”
    â€œDid Rhonda know Jenny’s brother, Eddie?”
    â€œOf course she did. She had a crush on Eddie. But then, every girl did. Such a good-looking boy. And smart. The apple of Vera’s eye.” She’s beaming, but then something catches at her thoughts and she glances at her husband. Their eyes meet and something unsettled passes between them. Her husband’s lips are set in a line of disapproval. “Anyway . . .” She looks around for an escape.
    â€œDid you know Howard Sandstone?”
    â€œYes, we did. We played bridge together when the kids were young. He was a nice man.”
    For the first time, her husband speaks up. “Shame he ran out on the family. Never would have expected it.”
    â€œLloyd, we’d better be off,” Martha says.
    â€œDid Jenny and her brother get along?”
    Again, that odd look between the Glenns. “You know how brothers and sisters are,” Martha Glenn says briskly. “Now if you’ll excuse us.”
    They bolt, leaving me to muse that no, I don’t necessarily know how brothers and sisters are—especially Jenny and her brother Eddie. But I do know that there was something going on in that family.
    As I’m walking out I spot Wilson Landreau, the man Jenny was arguing with the day I first came to see Vera. “Just the man I want to see,” he says. “Can you give me a call, so we can get together and talk?” He hands me his card.
    â€œOf course.” I’m surprised, not so much at the request, but at the furtive way he glances around as if he doesn’t want anyone to know we’re talking.

CHAPTER 10
    Until I see Loretta standing at my front door, I don’t realize how much I’ve missed her. She bustles into my house full of chatter about her trip to Washington with the world’s most perfect grandsons.
    â€œWe went to all the monuments and the Vietnam Memorial—I found Oliver Barkeley’s name on it and got a picture of it for his sister. We spent a whole day at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum . That is one big place! The boys loved seeing all the airplanes and space capsules.” And then she brightens. “One thing I know you would have liked. You know my son’s wife has some different ideas and she wanted to go to the Hirshborn Museum one day. I think that’s the name.”
    â€œHirsh horn ?”
    â€œThat’s the one, with all the modern art. I told her I’d go with her because none of the males would go and I could tell her feelings were hurt. But I liked it more than I thought I would. I guess I’m used to seeing some of the pictures here