I was tempted to pull rank and remind her that I was in charge of the investigation, courtesy of the Stump County sheriff, also known as her boss. However, I sighed and said, "My heels are on the ground. What?"
"Well, I was thinking that these women and their rotten children must have gotten here somehow."
"In a Honda Accord," I murmured, pointing discreetly at Sarah, who was whispering to Rachael at the end of the counter. "Norella had a car, too."
Bonita made me wait while she ate another bite. "Did you notice the body shop next to the church?"
"Yes," I said. I had noticed, after all; I just hadn't noticed anything much about it.
"If you want to hide stolen cattle, you add them to a herd. If you want to hide a car, you leave it parked with a bunch of other cars." She took a scrap of paper out of her shirt pocket. "I wrote down the license plate numbers of four cars that weren't obvious candidates for body work. Two have Arkansas tags, one Oklahoma, one Missouri. One of them's a Honda Accord."
"Very good, Bonita," I said.
"I should have thought of it sooner, but the pain pills dulled my thought process."
Fried chicken and creamed peas were having the same effect on mine. "Stay here and keep an eye on Sarah and Rachael," I said. "I need to call these in, but I can't see doing it from the pay phone by the restrooms."
"I already did."
"Oh."
"It may take time, it being Sunday, but we should know something in an hour or two. Did you learn anything from the prisoner at the PD?"
"He was convinced his ex-wife had brought his boys here, but he claimed not to have gone to the campgrounds. Until we have an identification-"
"Les called me at the motel, since nobody was answering at the PD. Brother Verber wasn't the most coherent witness, but he was fairly sure the body at the lab was Norella Buchanon."
"Fairly sure?"
"That's what Les said." Bonita finished off her cheeseburger, licked mustard off her fingers, and looked at me. "Now what?"
13
"It seems pretty straightforward," I said. "She brought the boys here, so he came after her and killed her. Odds are good that he was drunk at the time and doesn't even remember doing it."
"Why kill her?"
I shrugged. "He has a temper. I've seen it in action."
"How did he know she'd be in the woods yesterday afternoon? What if another Beamer followed her?"
"None of them has anything resembling a motive. Ruth, or maybe I should say Norella, wasn't popular, but she told her mother she was leaving. I'd imagine the other Beamers would have cheerfully carried her suitcase and her boys to the road and left them to walk to her car. They may have been irritated with her, but I can't see them doing more than short-sheeting her bed and cutting off her nightly quota of herbal tea. Crushing someone's head requires blind rage."
"Divide and conquer?" suggested Bonita. "You take one of them and I'll take the other."
"Not just yet. These two are safe here, and Corporal Robarts is at their campsite, watching over the rest of them."
"Boy, that'd make me feel safer than a heifer in a barn with a coyote scratching at the door."
"Mrs. Robarts is in the market for a daughter-in-law with breeding potential. If I send you to her house for questioning, you're likely to end up on the sofa looking at Anthony's class photos and report cards."
"Okay, then what? I can't bear to just sit here when some poor woman's been killed like that."
"Did you bring your dental records? I'm sure Mrs. Robarts would like to examine them. Win any medals in highschool field and track? Swim team? Certificate from the health department that you're free of communicable diseases?"
Bonita floundered, then settled on self-righteous indignation. "Does Sheriff Dorfer know you carry on like this when you're in charge of a murder investigation?"
I stood up. "Beats me. I'm going to the PD to make a fresh pot of coffee, rock back in Chief Panknine's chair, and try to figure out how to proceed. You may come with me if you promise to keep your mouth closed. Your other options are to stay here and have a piece of pie, spend quality time with Willetta Robarts and amateur videos of Anthony starknaked in a wading pool, or go back to the motel and watch pay-for-view porn movies on the TV."
"I could interrogate the witness."
"Not exactly."
"Surely he's sobered up by now."
I told Sarah to stay at the café until I returned, then beckoned Bonita to follow me. While we drove to the PD, I described Duluth's disinclination to remain in jail for any length of time, even under what I had to admit was my watch. She was not impressed.
Les's car was parked by the door. Brother Verber was splayed in a chair, mopping his neck with his handkerchief. Les was likely to be in the back, gawking at the empty cell. I could hardly wait to tell him the whole story.
"So finally you show up," Brother Verber said with his customary eye for technicalities. "I must say I was mightily surprised you weren't here to offer support when I got back from this terrible ordeal. The very minute I went into that cold room and they pulled out the metal drawer, the only thing that kept me from keeling over was my unflagging faith in the Good Lord. I put my hands together to pray like I'd never prayed before."
"But it wasn't Daisy," I said, ignoring Bonita's sudden intake of breath. "It was Norella, right?"
"I reckon so. Daisy had a big of scar on her chin from when she chased me with a shovel and tripped. As for Norella Buchanon, I couldn't help but notice during our counseling sessions that she had a well-endowed bosom."
"And that's what you based your ID on? Her bosom?"
Brother Verber dried his forehead. "Norella's nose was right perky. Perky's hard to miss."
Les came into the room. "You know Duluth's gone?" he asked me.
"Indeed I do. Why don't you and Bonita sniff around town while I take Brother Verber back to the lodge? Duluth may be trying to call someone to come get him. Try the motel lobby, the church office, the café, the convenience store, places like that. I'll meet you back here in forty-five minutes."
Bonita stopped me at the door. "Who's Daisy? Should we be looking for her?"
"She's been dead for forty years, so you'd better hope you don't have much luck." I raised my voice. "Let's go, Brother Verber."
Once we were driving toward the gate, he gave up trying to stanch the perspiration that trickled down his face. I'd always theorized that his brain, as well as his liver, were saturated sponges. Now I had hard evidence, if not proof.
He cleared his throat. "You spoken to Sister Barbara today?"
"All I told her was that you had gone into Dunkicker and then Little Rock to assist us in the investigation."
"That's all?" he said, sounding relieved.
"She wasn't very pleased about it."
"No, I don't 'spose she was," he said, then lapsed into gloomy silence.
I parked next to the blue bus. The girls, including Darla Jean, were stretched out on beach towels covering most of the dock. Big Mac was dog-paddling near the shore, splashing the girls and guffawing when they squealed. Parwell and Billy Dick were tossing a softball back and forth. Jarvis sat well away from the others, gazing moodily at the lake.
"Why, ain't that nice to see our fine upstanding young folks observing the Bible's stricture to rest on the Sabbath," said Brother Verber. "Instead of going to the lodge, mebbe I'll just join them. I might could offer a few words to further inspire them to meditate on the glories of creation. 'The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell within.' That'd be the Twenty-fourth Psalm, which ain't as famous as the Twenty-third."