You know how judgmental and demanding she was. She’d get into her head that you were a sinner and that she was going to get you good-before God had a chance.” Ruth’s eyes held mine for a long moment. “Crazy people don’t need motives.” “So she just made up that story about you trying to kill her? For no good reason?” “That’s right. Like I said, she was nuts.” “Odd. I always thought she knew exactly what she was doing.” “If she did it, it was because she didn’t like me. Maybe she was planning her censorship campaign then and knowing I’d side against her, she decided to smear me off the board. Look, Jordy,”-her voice imparted frustration-“she redefined pathetic, okay?” “I won’t argue with you on that point.” “You might want to save your arguments for the police.” Ruth frowned. “You said you didn’t know who killed her.
The police and that bumpkin D.A. asked me about you and Miss Harcher.
Like how bad did it get between the two of you at the board meetings.
They wanted to know if you threatened her at the meetings. Someone told Billy Ray that you said you could’ve killed Beta.” I kept from groaning. Who had been standing there after Ruth hustled Beta out?
Eula Mae, Tamma, and almost six other library regulars. I wished I’d bitten off my intemperate tongue. “Billy Ray asked me to confirm that when I told him I saw the fight between you and Beta, but I told him I hadn’t heard you say any such thing.” “Thanks. Billy Ray’s hot on my trail.” Ruth shook her head. “I already told you I don’t think you did it. Whoever killed that woman had to hate her from the get-go. It couldn’t have been a crime of passion; no one loved her.” “Passion can mean hate, too. And Matt sure seems to have hated her.” Ruth Wills drew back from the table, resting against the booth. She shook her head. “No. I don’t believe Matt could murder anyone.” It was an unexpected defense. “You should have seen him today. He hated her guts. I didn’t like her; neither did you or Eula Mae. I think she irritated Bob Don and the Hufnagels more than they’d admit. But Matt despised her.” She shook her head again. “I don’t know Matt very well, but he served his country and I don’t think he’d kill Beta.” “Then who?” She leaned forward. “It obviously had to be someone she knew.
She wouldn’t have been in the library with a stranger. She didn’t have a key.” “Tamma Hufnagel says Beta swiped Adam’s key,” I interjected.
Ruth snorted. “Whatever. Regardless of who had the key, she wouldn’t have been there, late at night, with someone she didn’t know. So why was she at the library?” “I don’t know.” “She was meeting someone there. Someone she couldn’t meet elsewhere because they needed privacy. If she had to meet with someone on the library board, why not at the deserted library?” She tapped fingertips on the table. “She could have met me at my place-I live alone. Same with Eula Mae. But not so with Matt, Bob Don, Janice Schneider, Reverend Hufnagel, or you. You all have keys and you all have families in your homes. Now I don’t think that you or Matt did it. Adam Hufnagel’s the biggest stuffed shirt I can imagine, but he is a preacher and I don’t think he’s a killer. Janice Schneider-pardon me, I know she’s kin to you-is a wimp. That just leaves Bob Don.” I opened my mouth and shut it again. I hadn’t given much thought to why Beta was at the library; I’d assumed she’d wanted to get rid of books she’d objected to. “So why would Bob Don want to kill her?” I asked. Ruth smirked. “I would pick him, when you start narrowing down the options.” “Why Bob Don?” I thought of Bob Don’s heartiness toward me, his seeming willingness to help me. And Tamma’s story of his arrival at Beta’s as she left, looking angry. “Something that happened last Saturday. I’ve been looking at buying a pickup truck and Bob Don’d told me he’d give me a good price. I stopped by the dealership late Saturday after I got off my shift at the hospital. He’d told me he’d deal with me direct So I went back to his office.” Ruth fidgeted for a minute. “Beta was there.
I heard her voice even before I was at the door. She was screaming at him, telling him he was nothing but a lousy lying sinner. I opened the door-I actually thought something violent was going on. Beta and Bob Don were in there, all right And Bob Don looked like I’d just kept him from committing murder. His face was all bloated and red, he was so mad. Beta had spit on her chin and she was waving that damned old Bible of hers in his face. The tension, the hatred in that room.” She shivered. All news to me. “My God! What happened?” I asked. She drained the last of her margarita. “I muttered something about how they were yelling loud enough to raise the dead. I thought Bob Don was going to have a stroke. He’s got one of those pulsy veins in his forehead that jitter when he’s mad. Beta gave me one of those triumphant little sneers. She told Bob Don to remember what she said, ‘or you know who’ll pay. You don’t want ’em hurt, do you?’ I can’t forget the words, because she said them with such contempt. She threatened him, with me right there. I was speechless. She called me a name-I believe hussy was her new vocabulary word- then she pushed past me and left.” “I saw Bob Don today. Junebug and Billy Ray paid him a visit.” Ruth nodded. “They saw me at the hospital this morning. I told them where I’d been last night. That was their first question, and then I told them about Bob Don and Beta.” “So where were you last night?” She didn’t seem to mind the question. “On duty at the hospital. I worked a double shift ’cause I’m taking off some time later this month.” “So did Bob Don say anything to you after Beta left?” “Like I said, I was ready to call the cops. I thought his aorta was about to conk out. He just sank into his chair and looked up at me like he’d never seen me before.” Ruth fell silent as a smiling, talkative waiter cleared the table of the empty pitcher and plates.
After he hustled away, she continued: “I asked him if he was okay, and he didn’t even answer me the first time. He finally said he’d be fine, so I left. It was weird. I’ve seen a look like that in my work. When somebody hears a loved one has died, or that they’re terminally ill.”
Bob Don. He’d been hearty, not shaken, when I was in his office. From Ruth’s account you might have thought he’d weep in relief when I told him Beta was dead. He’d acted like he was hardly affected. What had she done to him? Who were the they she threatened to hurt? I was still thinking when she propositioned me. I almost didn’t hear her. “What?”
I said, thinking she’d misspoken. “I said, let’s go back to my place.
We’ve both had rotten days, Jordy. Maybe we can help each other relax.” Her voice already felt like hands gently massaging my shoulders. A red fingernail idly traced the hair on my wrist. Now I grew up a hick, but that awkwardness was long past me. I’d been a big boy for a while and could handle a sexually aggressive and confident woman. God knows I was attracted to her. The yes half-formed on my tongue till I thought of Beta’s allegations against her and Eula Mae’s warning to be careful. I liked Ruth, but I wasn’t sure I trusted her.
And I was suddenly far too tired. Not that Candace did not influence my decision in any way. Remotely. “No, thanks, Ruth. I appreciate the offer, but it’s been a long and stressful day. I need to get on home.”
She smiled a smile she didn’t mean. I saw her eyes crinkle in anger for a bare moment; she wasn’t accustomed to refusal and she didn’t like it. The crinkle faded. “I understand. Why don’t you call me when you’re feeling more up to par?” I nodded, wondering if she was challenging my potency with that last remark. I walked her out to her car. It was a red Miata. “Cool wheels,” I said. She patted it. “My vice,” she said. “I know it’s an indulgence, but nurses don’t get many chances to spoil themselves. I got an inheritance from my aunt in Corpus and decided to splurge.” She opened the door and slid inside.