Mama Rocks the Empty Cradle (18 page)

“I took pictures of each grave,” I said.

“The names of the Ponds twins were on the list, but those two babies didn’t have headstones in the cemetery,” Mama continued. “I figured maybe they weren’t buried there. Midnight brought home two skulls. I was sure he hadn’t gotten them from that graveyard—there was no sign of digging. When Dan, Rose’s cousin—”

“Nightmare,” I interrupted.

Mama raised her eyebrows and said, “When Dan told me that Midnight had been born on the Pondses’ place, coupled with the fact that Midnight first showed up at our house about the time old Buck Ponds died, I surmised that dog might have gone back from time to time. So I asked Dan, who admitted that he frequented the Pondses’ place to hunt. He confirmed my suspicion that Midnight had been digging in the old man’s backyard.

“The day that we went to Cricket’s funeral, I saw a station wagon with Birdie in it. It was a terrible rainstorm, it didn’t make any sense for Birdie to be just sitting in her car outside of the church. Even more puzzling to me was that I saw Birdie in the station wagon on the road again when we were driving to Rose’s house. I couldn’t help but wonder whether I was wrong in thinking that she was back off her medication and that she wasn’t functioning right.”

“Why did Birdie kidnap Morgan?” Yasmine asked.

“Birdie’s childhood was terribly traumatic. Her father, Buck Ponds, was an awful man. The doctor told Abe that when Birdie’s mind first fixed on little Morgan Childs, it was simply because she thought Morgan was pretty. But when she stopped taking her medicine, she decided that Cricket wasn’t a good mother because of her reputation. It wasn’t too far a step for Birdie to begin thinking that Morgan should belong to her. Birdie believed that it was Morgan’s great-grandmother, Miss Lucy Bell, who was responsible for the death of her own twin boys because the old midwife exposed her twins to the fever that killed them.”

Yasmine still seemed puzzled. “But how did Birdie get Morgan?” she asked.

“Timber already believed that Cricket wasn’t a good mother to his baby because of her association with Sabrina Miley, who was running a blackmail business on her gentlemen friends. It was easy for Birdie to give Timber money to buy liquor and at the same time encourage him to steal the child for her to care for. Timber told Cricket he was taking the baby to his mother for a few hours. Instead, he took Morgan and gave her to Birdie.”

“Okay,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “So Timber stole Morgan. But why did he kill Cricket?”

“Timber told Abe that news got to him that Clarence Young was working out of town for a few days. He decided it would be easy to break into
Clarence’s empty apartment, to help himself to a few things. But Cricket found Timber in front of the Cherry Ridge Apartments a few seconds after he’d sprung Clarence’s lock. Cricket started talking loud, demanding to know where Morgan was, who Timber had left Morgan with, yelling at Timber. Timber didn’t want to draw attention to himself, so he took Cricket into Clarence Young’s apartment. When Timber told Cricket that he’d given Morgan to a nice lady to be taken care of, Cricket went ballistic. According to Timber, he had to kill Cricket to keep her from killing him.”

My brother Rodney waved his fork. “Is there enough evidence to convict Timber of killing Cricket?”

Mama nodded, her eyes sad. “Cricket’s fingernails were torn and bloody. Scrapings from her nails held evidence of the skin of the person who killed her. The samples match Timber’s DNA. And there were numerous bloodstains in the apartment where Cricket died. Some of those stains matched Timber’s blood type, and samples of his hair were found on Cricket’s body, her clothes. Timber’s fingerprints were on a glass found inside the room. Cricket fought hard to stay alive. Yes, I think there will be plenty of forensic evidence to convict Timber when the case goes to trial.”

There was a moment of silence.

“I have one last question,” I said. “Why in the world did Birdie bring Morgan into the crowded Winn Dixie the first time she snatched her?”

Mama shook her head absently. “Poor Birdie was confused. It was one of those times when she didn’t take her medicine. Like I said, without it, she can’t think straight.”

“Timber will probably get six or seven years, am I right?” Rodney asked Cliff.

Cliff nodded. “If an attorney can prove that it wasn’t Timber’s intent to murder Cricket, yes.”

“Rose Childs’s family was glad to have Morgan back with them. That poor child will have a good home for the first time in her life. I don’t know when Birdie will be released from the hospital, but Isaiah told me that when she comes home, he’ll personally make sure she’ll keep taking her medicine.”

“That sounds like a promise Isaiah Smiley has made before,” I said.

Daddy pushed back in his chair. He reached across the table and touched Mama’s hand. “Baby,” he said, smiling, “you’ve outdone yourself with this meal. You’ve really outdone yourself this time.”

And Mama smiled.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

N
ORA
D
E
L
OACH
is an Orlando, Florida, native presently living in Decatur, Georgia. She is married and the mother of three. Her most recent Mama mystery is MAMA ROCKS THE EMPTY CRADLE, which is the fourth in the series, and she is currently at work on the fifth Mama mystery, MAMA PURSUES MURDEROUS SHADOWS.