Sweet and Deadly by Charlaine Harris Page B

way too big. About that other, Catherine: it makes me sick to say it—you know how I felt about your folks—but I don’t think we’ll ever catch who did it. There’s nothing for you here. You shouldn’t have stayed—if you want unasked-for advice, too late.”
    The complexity of being sheriff and suspect, family friend and bereaved daughter, tore at them.
    â€œYou be careful,” he said finally. “I don’t know what you’ve done, or what you know. I’ve known you to do some things that people thought were crazy. Well, in the Delta we’ve got a lot of crazies; known for it. Or maybe I should say eccentrics . Okay. But I’ve never known you to be bad or crooked. There’s a lot of crookedness, a lot of badness, mixed up in this mess. So watch yourself, Catherine.”
    He shut the door behind him.
    She didn’t know whether she’d been threatened or warned.

6
    S HE WAS WATCHING the sheriff ’s car back out into the street when her telephone rang. Maybe that’s Randall, she thought.
    â€œCatherine?”
    â€œSally?” Catherine asked uncertainly. She pulled out one of the bamboo-and-chrome dinette chairs and sat down heavily.
    â€œSure is, honey. I’m so sorry for you! You should have come and spent the night with us! I know you were scared out of your wits.”
    How long had it been since she had talked to Sally Barnes? Sally Barnes Boone, Catherine corrected herself.
    â€œI’m fine,” Catherine said, and made a face into the glass of the table. Once polite lies got into your blood, you never quit telling them, she thought.
    â€œWell, I heard at church,” Sally was saying, “and I just couldn’t believe it…that poor woman! Daddy was so upset, that she was on that land he rents from you! He’d been riding the place that morning, but not close to that field, so he didn’t see anything. I just can’t imagine who could have done it. Someone from Memphis, I bet. Going through town to the fishing camps at the river.”
    â€œI guess so,” said Catherine, who didn’t think so at all. “How is Bob?” She remembered, almost too late, that Sally had a child. “And the baby?” A little girl, was it?
    â€œOh, they’re fine, just fine. Chrissy’s cutting teeth.”
    â€œI know she’s fretful,” Catherine said sympathetically. She had heard somewhere that this was the case with teething babies.
    â€œOh boy,” Sally answered feelingly. “But I want to know about you . How are you? What have you been doing? I can’t believe I never see you in a town this size!”
    Because I have been taking care not to be seen, she thought to herself. I have been waiting.
    She could hear a baby’s wail in the background, on Sally’s end of the line.
    â€œSally, thanks for calling, I really appreciate it,” Catherine said hastily. “But really, I’m not scared. I just happened to find…” she trailed off. “But it’s not like it was in my yard or anything. I’ll be fine. Thanks again. I can tell you need to go.”
    The baby’s wails were reaching a crescendo of pique.
    â€œChrissy, hush!” Sally said faintly. “Bob, pick her up!” Sally’s voice grew louder. “Oh, Catherine, I better go, but you come see me real soon. I mean it, now!”
    â€œSure will. Tell Bob I said hello,” and Catherine hung up.
    She absently noted that the top of the table was smeared. Her fingernails tapped along the glass as she considered what Sally had said. So Martin Barnes had lied to his daughter. He had said he had been out riding his place. Well, that was possible; every planter rode his acres, looking and assessing. But he had been near the shack where Leona’s body was lying. And Catherine had the impression that Mr. Barnes had not been driving from the direction of the shack but had pulled out