sober now for thirty-two months,â Helen Hopkins said, gesturing to us to take the two armchairs squeezed together opposite the sofa, where she perched on the edge of a cushion.
âCongratulations, Iâm glad to hear it,â I said.
âIf youâve been in this town for more than ten minutes, someone will have told you something bad about me. I drank and fornicated for many years. But Iâm sober now, by the grace of God and some damn hard work.â
Tolliver nodded, to show we were registering her words.
âBoth my girls are dead,â Helen Hopkins continued. Her voice was absolutely steady and harsh, but the muscles in her jaw were taut with agony. âI ainât had a husband in years. No one here to help me but me, myself, and I. I want to know who brought you here, and what you are, and what you done out in the woods to find my girl. I didnât know anything about this till yesterday, when Hollis called me.â
You couldnât get more straightforward than that. Tolliver and I looked at each other, asking a silent question. This woman was a lot like our motherâwell, my mother, Tolliverâs stepmotherâexcept my mother had gone to law school, and sheâd never gotten sober. Tolliver gave a shrug that couldnât have been seen by anyone but me, and I returned an infinitesimal nod.
âI find bodies, Mrs. Hopkins. I got hit by lightning when I was a girl, and thatâs what happened to me afterward. I found out I just knew when I came close to a dead person. And I knew what had killed that personâthough not who, if the person was murdered.â I wanted to be real clear about that. âWhat I know is how the person died.â
âSybil Teague hired you?â
âYes.â
âHowâd she know about you?â
âI believe through Terry Vale.â
âAre you always right?â
âYes, maâam.â
âYou think the Lord likes what youâre doing?â
âI wonder about it all the time,â I said.
âSo, Sybil asked you to come here and find Monteen. She say why?â
âThe sheriff told me that everyone was thinking her son had killed Teenie, and she wanted to find Teenieâs body to disprove that.â
âAnd you found Teenie.â
âYes, thatâs what Sheriff Branscom told me. Iâm sorry for your loss.â
âI knew she was dead,â Helen said, eyes dry. âI been knowing since she vanished, that Teenie had passed over.â
âHow?â If she could be blunt, I could, too.
âShe wouldâve come home, otherwise.â
According to Hollis, Teenie had been as out of control as her mother at one time. I doubted Helen Hopkins was speaking realistically. Her next words echoed my doubts so closely that I wondered if the woman was psychic.
âSheâd been a wild girl,â Helen Hopkins said slowly, âacting out because she could get away with it, because I was a drunk. But when I sobered up, she began to come around, too.â
She gave me a wisp of a smile, and I tried to smile back. This dried-out husk of a woman had once had a jaunty charm not too many years ago. You could see the traces of it in her face and posture.
âI liked Dell Teague just fine,â Helen said. Her voice was slow, as if she was thinking out what she was saying very carefully. âI didnât ever think that heâd killed my girl. I liked him, and I think Sybilâs okay. But the kids wanted to get married, and I didnât want Teenie to marry early, the way Sally did. Not that Sally made a bad marriage. Hollis is a fine man, and I donât blame him for not caring for me none. He had enough reasons. But Teenie . . . she didnât need to be getting so tight with Dell Teague, so young. Ijust wanted Teenie to have some choices. It was good of Sybil to pay you to look for my girl, though. . . .â
âHollis tell you we went
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