"I just told you," she whined so piteously that Estelle glared at me. "I was so upset that I literally cried myself to sleep. What am I supposed to do now?"
"Go back to your room and wait for him to drag in," I said. "Either accept his apology or kick him out. It's your future on the line."
Taylor pushed her bangs out of her eyes so that she, too, could glare at me. "That's not a very nice thing to say. Here I am asking for a little compassion and all you can do is say mean things. You don't realize what it's like to be in my situation. It's not easy, you know. Todd's parents are like majorly important in Little Rock society. His mother is the committee chairwoman for the entire debutante thing, and she-"
"You're right," I interrupted. "All I can do is say mean things, and I'm thinking of a whole lot more of them. Why don't you go to your room and call someone who cares?"
"Arly?" Estelle gasped.
I crossed my arms. "My mother's in the hospital in critical condition. Jim Bob's in a jail cell down the road, likely to be charged with murder. You aren't allowed to leave this room unless you're on a leash. I simply don't have time for errant fraternity boys on drunken binges and social climbers who've misplaced their ladders."
Taylor stood up. "Well then, maybe I should leave."
"I never accused you of stupidity," I said as I stepped aside to facilitate her path to the door.
After she flounced out the door (and flounce, she did, as if she were a raven-haired vixen in a Civil War movie), I turned my attention to Estelle.
"This is why you stole the housekeeping cart and passkey?" I said.
"I don't need any lectures from the likes of you. I was merely doing a small favor for Taylor. It's obvious you've taken a dislike to her, but you ain't being fair. Here she is, all alone, pregnant, and going up against this snooty family. She's gonna come into a substantial inheritance before too long, but in the meantime she's doing the best she can to keep her pride intact. You had no business speaking to her like that."
I flopped down on the bed. "I met her type in Manhattan. Did you notice that she never even pretended to be worried about this fiancé who's disappeared? The only reason she wants to find him is so that she can get the gold band on her finger. After that, she'll slap him on the buttocks and send him right back out to fool around with all of his ex-girlfriends."
On that note, I rolled over and gave her an unimpeded view of my backside. She prowled around the room for a long while, then went out onto the balcony, pointedly leaving the door open to allow the cold air to emphasize her disapproval.
I fell asleep just to spite her.
Kevin kept craning his neck every which way, trying to make sure Dahlia hadn't parked in front of any of the businesses along the highway. She sure wouldn't have stopped at a taxidermy shop or a salvage yard, or at a pawnshop with a big sign promising genuine diamond rings at rock-bottom prices. He slowed down as he went past a couple of fast-food places, but she hadn't parked out front.
He braked as he came up on a station wagon crammed full of kids in muddy uniforms. Kevvie Junior, and maybe even Rose Marie, might want to play sports when they got older, he thought mistily, picturing himself on the sideline in a uniform that proclaimed him as head coach.
"Winning's not the most important thing," he'd tell the team during a timeout. "Doin' your level best is what matters most. Course, that don't mean you shouldn't go out there and kick some ass. That's why we're here-right? We didn't come to have a picnic lunch in the middle of the field. Now who wants to kick some ass?"
Suddenly he realized he was approaching the turnoff to the bypass that avoided the sluggish traffic in Farberville. Which way had Dahlia gone? He slowed down even more as he thought it over. If she'd gone on into downtown Farberville, he'd most likely never find her. On the other hand, if she'd taken the bypass, he most likely would spot her and be able to follow her to wherever she was going.
Kevin glanced in the rearview mirror to see how his lipstick was holding up. To his surprise, a state police car was all but riding on the bumper. Comforted by the knowledge that he was obeying the law, he put on the blinker, tapped on the brake pedal, and turned onto the bypass like a law-abiding citizen that was gonna kick some ass soon as he found it.
"Shall I order us bread and water for lunch?" Estelle said, poking me in the back. "I reckon that's what prisoners eat when they're under house arrest."
"Sounds yummy," I said. "What time is it?"
"Visiting hours at the hospital begin before too long. What kind of bread do you want?"
" Rye, with pastrami and Swiss. Mustard on the side." I sat up and rubbed the back of my neck. In college, we'd thought nothing about driving seven hours to Dallas for a concert or fourteen hours to New Orleans for oysters and Bloody Marys. Staying up night and day for the best part of a week during final exams was unremarkable. Maybe Ruby Bee was right when she pointed out (quite often) that I wasn't getting any younger. Few of us are.
Estelle ordered sandwiches and coffee from room service, then said, "I suppose I ought to let Baggins know what's going on. Ruby Bee and I sure won't be in the van tomorrow. Cherri Lucinda may have to stay on account of this mess with Jim Bob. If Todd doesn't turn up, I don't know what Taylor 's gonna do. Rex may have the back of the van to himself."
"I met him in the restaurant," I said. "He told me about the motel in Memphis. I hope you and Ruby Bee had enough sense to stay in your room."
"We were the only ones. Luckily for us, Cherri Lucinda and Stormy found a store where they bought us sandwiches for supper. One of them mentioned that Taylor and Todd had gone out. When I was peeking out the window at the bald man, I saw Baggins come into the parking lot from the direction of the street. Not long after that, Rex showed up at our door, wanting change to use the pay phone by the office. It's a marvel none of them got shot."
"What's all this about a bald man?" I said.
Estelle's cheeks turned several shades pinker than her blusher, which was no easy feat. "Most likely nothing. He was in a black car out by the pool. Yesterday morning I thought I saw him at Graceland in the group behind ours. Maybe I was mistaken. There's got to be more than one bald man in Memphis, just like there is on television. For instance, there's Telly Savalas, Yul Brynner, Mr. Clean-"
"He never spoke to you or attempted to approach you?"
"I never gave him the chance. He looked way too old to be Stormy's boyfriend. If he is, though, he could have been following her instead of me. Baggins might have told him and the other man about the changes in our schedule. He could have been lurking around the hotel when we arrived, then waited until Stormy was alone in the room. She let him in, thinking he wanted to apologize, but he ended up pushing her off the balcony."
"That doesn't explain how he left the room without being seen by the eagle-eyed ladies from Tuscaloosa."
"I guess it doesn't," Estelle conceded, "but I still say Jim Bob would never do a thing like that. What's gonna happen to him?"
"I don't know. There'll be a bond hearing on Monday. The judge has the right to deny bond and keep Jim Bob in jail until the date of the arraignment, which could be anywhere from a month to ninety days."
"Ninety days? You can't let him sit in a cell all that time, Arly. The supermarket will have to close, and that means a lot of folks'll be out of a job. You've got to do something. Why don't you question Baggins? He might know who this man is."
"Because," I said with commendable forbearance, "it doesn't matter if he was Stormy's long-lost father, thought to have perished during a solo trek across the Gobi Desert. He couldn't have been in her room unless he mastered the art of transforming himself into an insect or a bird in order to fly away."