Bess's eyes grew damp and she stared off beyond me. "He was such a kind man," she whispered. "I couldn't see why he was talking to Nosmo, but that was before I knew about Nosmo and the men he worked for."
"What about his girlfriend?"
Bess focused back on me. "Pauline Conrad?" Bess snorted. "She was nothing but a cheap plaything to Nosmo. He likes them young and pretty and stupid. So Pauline was just perfect. He'd had her for about two years, kept her in a little condo on Elm Street. Two years is usually his limit. That's about when they get difficult and he gets rid of them."
She must've seen the look on my face because she jumped in with an explanation. "No, not like that… He doesn't get rid of them like that. He buys them out and cuts them off." She frowned. "You look surprised, like why would I stick around if I knew all that? Well, I'll tell you why. Nosmo wouldn't let me leave. He said he'd find me and kill me if I ever tried to walk away."
Bess tapped the table with the tips of her long acrylic nails.
"And baby, Nosmo King was one to make good on a threat."
She lifted a curl away from the side of her forehead, exposing an ugly pink scar. "You see that?" she asked. "That's what happened the only time I ever asked him for a divorce. He hit me with the butt end of his pistol and I wound up with thirty-two stitches." The curls fell back in place. "And yes," she said caustically, "he said the only way I'd leave was over his dead body."
"Where were you last Friday?" I asked.
Bess King laughed. "At the Twilight Motel, waiting on Vernell. He never showed."
And that's when I caught her. Bess King was lying.
"Bess, I've got a witness says they saw you go into the Twilight Motel with Vernell."
Her face changed, for a second there was a flicker of uncertainty, and then nothing. "I mean later. I went in with Vernell early, but then he left, said he had something to take care of and for me to wait."
I sat back in my chair and just stared at her for a long moment. I tried to rock my chair back on two legs like Weathers does, but I couldn't do it and look tough. I wanted to look hard, and like I'd made her for a liar.
"Bess," I said, "a cop taught me that when a person lies, their eyes cut up and to the left." Actually, I couldn't remember which direction it was, but I figured I had a fifty-fifty shot at being right anyhow. "You are telling me a whopper."
"I am not!" she cried.
I just looked at her, like Mama would if I'd been fibbing to her.
"Then make me believe you," I said.
I watched her wrestle with it, tossing and turning her options over and over in her head. While she stewed, I looked around the barn again. Every bit of the reception had been cleared away. Even the trashcans stood empty.
At last Bess made a decision, raising her head and placing her hands on the table in front of her, folding them together like a child in church. I figured she wanted me to believe her.
"Vernell was the one who told me about Nosmo," she said, her voice hushed and soft, so soft I had to lean in to hear her. "I'm so stupid, I actually thought the gas station was his only business. Then I found out he was a banker for the Redneck Mafia." Her face twisted with contempt. "That's how come he had so many friends. I couldn't see why anyone would like him at all, but Vernell set me straight. They don't like him, they need him."
I said nothing, just sat there watching her twist her hands together, over and over, as if washing them clean.
"Vernell needed money. He thought Nosmo was his only option. He was in big-time trouble." She looked up at me and frowned. "He said he didn't want to tell you about it. He figured he'd messed things up enough."
So he told her. Well, it figured. I was more of a mother to Vernell than a confidante. And that was how it had to be.
"We didn't mean to fall in love," she said. "What woman in her right mind does?" A quick smile flashed across her face, then vanished. "But he was so kind, and he just listened and listened. I guess it just sort of happened. Next thing you knew, I was no better than Nosmo, sneaking off to motels and hiding lingerie."
She rubbed her hands across the surface of the table, back and forth as if soothing herself.
"I didn't know he was going to ask Nosmo to give me a divorce. All I knew was that Vernell was going to meet Nosmo and tell him he didn't need the money after all. He said the price was too high. Nosmo would want Vernell in his pocket. Vernell don't do that. But Nosmo was expecting to give him three million dollars."
Three million dollars? Vernell Spivey and three million dollars? The idea blew me away. Maybe the mobile home lot and the satellite dish business together were worth a million, but not three. How would Vernell have paid it back?
Bess looked up at me. "It would've worked out fine," she said, "but then Nosmo got himself killed and now we're all in a mess."
Bonnie's cell phone rang, startling both of us. I fished into the pocket of my jacket, drew out the phone, and flipped open the lid.
"Just thought I'd let you know she's here," Weathers said.
"Good." The relief was clear in my voice and Weathers picked up on it.
"It's all right," he murmured. "I'm not going to let a thing happen to her."
"Well, I would appreciate it if you would not start in with her until I get there." I looked at my watch. "Give me fifteen minutes."
I didn't wait for an answer; instead I flipped the phone closed and hung up on him. For the briefest second I wondered if Tracy the cadet was giving my daughter hot chocolate and making nice.
Bess looked at the phone. "Guess you need to go, huh?"
I stood up, pushed the phone back into my jacket pocket, and scowled at her. "Maybe this is something you and Vernell need to discuss tonight when you go to see him. When three million dollars is missing, people get angry. Nosmo's boss is looking to get his money back. Since he can't get to Vernell to convince him, he's threatening his family. If Nosmo didn't know about you, then his boss probably didn't know about you. That leaves me and Sheila on the front line. Vernell is jeopardizing his daughter's life in an attempt to make money."
"That's not fair!" Bess said. "It's not like that at all. He's trying to give Sheila a future. We don't know where Nosmo's money is. Hell, for two days I didn't even know where Vernell was!"
I seized on that. "Where was he for two days?"
Bess shook her head. "He can't remember. He started drinking with Nosmo. He'd been sober for a month, but the strain of facing Nosmo down was too much, I reckon. He tied one on good."
Bess had the earnest face of a do-gooder, an I-know-he'll-change-with-enough-love face. I'd been the same way with Vernell when I was twenty, but years of him letting me down had hardened me to reality. I didn't think Vernell would ever change, not enough. This latest foolishness seemed to prove it.
I left Bess sitting at the table and walked back out to Bonnie's van. I was no better off for talking to Bess than I had been before, except that I knew who Nosmo's girlfriend was and I had an idea about where to find her. But why wasn't Marshall Weathers interested in Bess as a suspect? And why wasn't the Redneck Mafia going to her for answers? And where had Vernell been for two days? What if he'd taken the money in an alcohol-induced blackout, and then lost it? What if he'd killed Nosmo and couldn't remember?
I started up the van and began to move down the driveway. I couldn't think about it all anymore. I had one thing on my mind: getting to Sheila and making sure she was safe. I had to make Weathers believe that we were in danger, and I had to figure out how to protect my daughter. I reached for the radio, hit the button, and was immediately rewarded with Patty Loveless.