“How should I know, Mace? You know plants a lot better than I do. Why don’t you look it up in a plant book?’’
“It’s a beggar’s tick, Jeb. And I don’t mean, What is it? I mean, How in the hell did it come to be hitching a ride on your Wranglers?’’
He cocked his boot up to examine the back of his pant leg. Then he repeated it with the other leg. “I thought I got all of those off before I headed over here to see you. I worked this morning, but I did clean up. Not that you’d be able to tell it from the stink of me, after I drove all the way from Wauchula in my sweat box of a truck.’’
I tucked the beggar’s tick into the pocket of my work pants. You never know what you might need as evidence.
“What are you so freaked out about anyway? Is that from some nasty plant you don’t want taking hold here at Himmarshee Park?” His eyebrows raised in a question. And then, as he realized what I was implying, they V-ed down to a frown. “You’re not serious, Mace.’’
“As serious as a heart attack.’’ I took a step back, my hands on my hips. “Which is what I almost had this morning, when I was convinced something in those woods was stalking me. Now I find a burr from the brush on a man who claimed he’d rather be anywhere else than out stomping through some swampy woods.’’
“You’ve lost your mind.’’ He inched away, like he was afraid to catch crazy from me. “Your mama getting arrested for murder has sent you clear round the bend.’’ Staring at me, he shook his head. “Do you think Himmarshee Park is the only place in Florida with brush?’’
He waited for an answer. I didn’t give him one, staring off into the trees.
“Well, it’s not.’’ Jeb answered his own question. “I was tearing through it on my own property early this morning when a calf got tangled up. He ran off, trailing some barbed wire into the woods.’’
I thought about that for a moment. It seemed logical. I was beginning to feel stupid.
“Are you gonna suspect me of everything, just because I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life when we were kids? How many times can I say I’m sorry I lied to you? I’m sorry I cheated on you. I was young and stupid. I didn’t know how to handle the attention from the girls who hang around the rodeo.’’
He put a hand on my wrist. My skin felt hot where he touched it, and it wasn’t just the outside temperature.
“Look at me, Mace.’’
I slowly shifted my gaze from the tree line to his face. He was staring into my eyes. His hand still burned a palm print around my wrist.
“Sorry,’’ I mumbled.
Jeb cupped his other hand to his ear. “Can you speak up a little? I didn’t quite hear that.’’
“I said I’m sorry.’’ I shook off his hand. “This case has got me as skittish as a colt in a pasture full of snakes.’’
I looked down to where he’d held my wrist. I was surprised to see no outward sign of how his touch had affected me. But I did notice the daisies were starting to wilt. “Why don’t we go on in and get out of this oven?’’ I said.
I led the way across the lot and onto a wood-chip trail. We don’t waste much in Himmarshee. If a hurricane or lightning storm takes down a tree, workers with chain saws cut it up, feed it into a chipper, and truck in the chips for pathways. Jeb and I turned at the fork, heading away from Ollie’s pool and toward the office.
“Look at that,’’ I whispered. As we rounded a bend near Himmarshee Creek, a great blue heron startled into flight. The woods were so quiet; we heard his big wings beating the heavy air.
At the office, I went inside to put the daisies into water. Jeb stopped to buy sodas at the vending machine. He didn’t need to ask what I liked. A Coke for me; an orange drink for him. He was just settling onto a bench in the shady breezeway when I returned to join him.
“When did you find out about Mama getting tossed in jail?’’ I asked, as I popped the top on my can of Coke.
“I already knew that night at the diner, Mace. One of my hands at the ranch dates a gal who works at the Dairy Queen. I didn’t let on when you told me. I didn’t want to embarrass you. And I didn’t think it’d be too nice to greet your mama after ten years by saying, ‘Glad to hear you’re out of the slammer, Ma’am.’ ’’
He took a long slug from his soda. Staring at the spot where his lips met the can, I felt memory waves wash over me. Lying on three folded blankets in the bed of his truck, watching shooting stars. The feel of his lips on mine, soft yet insistent. My first time, and how Jeb kissed away the tears that came from the realization that I wasn’t a virgin anymore.
“Can I ask you something, Mace?’’
I nodded, hoping it wouldn’t be “What are you thinking?’’
Jeb said, “They let your mama out of jail. But you said the case is making you nuts. Why are you still involved?’’
Good question, I thought.
“Well, for one thing, someone has made it pretty clear they don’t want us looking into Jim Albert’s murder.’’ I told him about Mama’s stuffed dog, and about my close call in the canal.
“That sounds pretty dangerous. Yet you’re still fooling around, trying to figure out whodunnit.’’
“You’ve known me a long time, Jeb. Tell me I can’t do something, and that’s exactly what I want to do. Besides, Mama’s name hasn’t been cleared.’’ I outlined how her fellow church-goers had stared and whispered. Martinez might be busy right now, I said, trying to build a stronger case against her. I didn’t mention I’d tried to steer the detective off my mother by telling him about Jeb’s troubles with Jim Albert.
I watched a drop of condensation roll off my can and onto my thigh.
“I also want to know how Mama’s boyfriend figures in, Jeb. What if he’s responsible? Mama could be in danger. I’d toss myself into Ollie the alligator’s pond if something happens to her, and I could have prevented it.’’
“It just seems like you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself, Mace.’’
“I’m not alone. Both my sisters are involved. We’re all trying to find the real murderer. You don’t think Maddie would let anything happen to me, do you?’’
He smiled, and put an arm around my shoulder to draw me close. “Your sister Maddie’s like a mama gator with a clutch of babies. She smacked her tail, showed her teeth, and hissed at me. And all I did was invite you to a barbecue.’’
I thought of a gator’s head, with huge gaping jaws, on my sister’s body. It was such a fitting image that I laughed out loud.
“Now, that’s what I like to hear, Mace. I always did love your laugh.’’ He traced a finger around my lips. “It’s not a girly giggle; you bring it up from deep down in your belly.’’ He touched my belt buckle. “I like that in a woman.’’