My mouth began watering. Azalea made wonderful hotcakes.
Diesel wandered into the kitchen and sat down a few feet away from Azalea.
She regarded him with a gimlet eye, and he stared back unfazed. “I don’t need no help from you,” Azalea said.
Diesel warbled at her, and Azalea turned her back on him, busying herself with preparing breakfast.
“Diesel, let’s go see if Justin is up.” I put my coffee cup aside and stood. “Come on, boy.”
Diesel was off like a streak. I followed at a much more leisurely pace.
When I reached Justin’s room, I found the door open and Justin sitting at his computer with Diesel climbing into his lap. I tapped lightly on the door, and Justin looked up at me.
The worn, frightened look had left his face, and this morning he appeared more his usual self, I was glad to see.
“Good morning.” I smiled. “Azalea’s downstairs making hotcakes for breakfast.”
Justin’s face lit up. “I sure am hungry.” His head ducked down for a moment. “Uh, about yesterday . . .”
“Yes,” I said when he paused.
“Thank you,” Justin said, raising his head to look at me. “I’m glad you were there, sir.”
“You’re welcome.” He seemed younger than eighteen right then. He’d had more than one deep shock yesterday, and the Lord only knew how it would all affect him in the long run. “Come on downstairs when you’re ready. Breakfast will be on the table soon.”
“Yes, sir. I will.” Justin rubbed Diesel’s head, and the cat chirped happily.
I reached the kitchen in time to answer the phone. The appetizing smells emanating from the stove made my stomach rumble. Justin wasn’t the only hungry one.
“Hello.”
“Good morning, Mr. Harris. This is Ray Appleby from the Athena Daily Register. I’d like to talk to you about the murder of Godfrey Priest.”
I glanced at the clock. It was only seven-fifteen.
“You’re calling pretty early, Mr. Appleby. I haven’t had my breakfast yet.” My tone was sharp, but I didn’t care.
“I apologize if I woke you,” Appleby said. He didn’t sound apologetic. “But I really need to talk to you as soon as possible. According to my sources you found the body.”
“If you want to call back at a more civilized hour, I might be willing to talk to you. Until then, I have nothing more to say.” I hung up the phone.
I turned to find Azalea regarding me, her expression inquisitive.
“Somebody from the paper, wanting to talk to me about yesterday.” I sat down at the table.
“That’s mighty rude, calling somebody this early.” She turned back to the stove. “People just ain’t raised right these days.”
“It’s only going to get worse,” I said. I picked up my coffee cup and, seeing that it was empty, got up to refill it.
“I guess he was pretty big news.” Azalea expertly flipped a couple of hotcakes as I poured the coffee.
“He was, and there’ll probably be news crews from all over the country here.” I stirred some sugar substitute into the coffee. “And it looks like your daughter may be center stage, since she’s in charge of the investigation.”
Azalea made a noise that sounded like hmmph.
“It’s a big chance for her.” I sat down at the table again and drank some coffee.
“That girl wanna be on TV, she should’ve been an actress.” Azalea set a plate with three hotcakes and three sausages on the table in front of me.
“Thank you,” I said, reaching for the syrup she had placed on the table, along with a napkin and cutlery.
Justin appeared a few minutes later when Diesel was begging for another bite of hotcake. Justin saw it and grinned.
“Good morning, child.” Azalea treated the young man to one of her rare smiles. “You set on down here and eat you some breakfast. You need your strength.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Justin said, eyeing the plate of hotcakes and sausage avidly. “Thank you, Miss Azalea. I’m starving.”
Azalea stood, arms folded, watching Justin eat for a moment. Then she inspected my plate. “How about some more?”
I groaned and pushed my plate away. “No, thank you. That was delicious, but if I eat any more I’ll have to go run around the track for two hours.”
The housekeeper cocked an eyebrow at that. She knew I was not a runner. “Just go up and down them stairs a few times. That’ll do it.”
The doorbell rang, and I started to get up from the table.
“You set still.” Azalea motioned me back into my chair. “I’ll take care of whatever heathen that is, ringing the bell this time of the morning.”
“Thank you,” I said. I knew better than to argue with her.
As I watched Justin shovel the food into his mouth with Diesel sitting hopefully by his chair, I heard raised voices come from the hallway. I recognized one of them and sighed.
The voices neared.
“I done told you, girl, you ain’t going in that kitchen. You go and set yourself down in the living room. Mr. Charlie’ll come in there when he’s done finished with his breakfast.”
“Mama, this is ridiculous.” Kanesha Berry sounded angry.
“Git on in there like I told you. Ain’t gonna hurt you to wait five minutes.”
“Oh good Lord. If this don’t beat all.”
Justin stared at me, round-eyed, and I tried hard not to laugh. The stern, commanding deputy of the night before was starting to sound like a petulant teenager.
Azalea entered the kitchen alone, and I hastily drank some coffee to hide my smile. Justin dipped his head down and stuck another forkful of hotcake and sausage in his mouth.
“Miss High and Mighty Deputy is waiting to talk to you, Mr. Charlie, when you be done with your breakfast.” Azalea proceeded to the stove as if Justin and I had heard nothing of the argument between her and Kanesha.
“Thank you, Azalea,” I said. “I’m not exactly dressed for an interview, but I don’t think she’ll want to wait while I shower and dress.”
Something like hmmph sounded from the direction of the stove, and I shrugged at Justin.
“Are you going to your classes this morning?”
Justin regarded his plate for a moment. “I guess so. Do you think I should? Or maybe I should go over to the hospital?”
“Why don’t you call your mother and talk to her about it? My guess is she’ll say you should go to your classes and keep busy.”
“Yes, sir.” Justin appeared relieved.
The last thing he needed was to be hanging around the house all day. I was hoping the media didn’t know who he was yet, so they’d leave him alone.
“But if people start pestering you with questions,” I said as I thought about it, “you come on back here and don’t worry about your classes, okay?”
“You mean like newspeople?”
I nodded.
Justin made a face. “I’m not talking to them. I don’t want to be in the news.”
“Then you don’t have to talk to them. Remember that.”
“Okay.”
I stood. “Now I’d better go talk to Deputy Berry.”
As I was leaving the room, I glanced back to see Azalea serving Justin more hotcakes and sausage. Diesel remained with him, ever hopeful.
If only I had a metabolism like that, I thought wistfully.
I tightened the belt of my robe before I entered the living room. I should have washed my hands, I realized too late. Oh well.
“Good morning, Deputy. You wanted to see me?”
Kanesha turned from studying one of the bookcases against the far wall. Lines of tiredness had etched her face overnight. I wondered whether she’d had any sleep at all.
“Good morning, Mr. Harris.” Kanesha frowned. Whether she was still riled up from the argument with her mother, I couldn’t tell. “Yes, I do.”
“Why don’t we sit down?” I gestured toward the sofa and chairs.