Redemption (11 page)

Overton took the phone, which fit in the palm of his hand. “Will it reach to Calhoun?”

“
On most days. Give it a shot.”

He stared at the phone. “I don’t know the number.”

Autumn groaned and took the phone, pressing a few buttons. “Yes, I’d like the number for the Calhoun City Police, traffic division. Uh, could you dial that for me? Thank you.” She handed Overton the phone. “It’s ringing.”

“
Traffic division, Wendy Simpkins speaking.”

“
Howdy, Wendy. This is Sheriff Miles Overton of Pine County.”

“
What can I do for you, Sheriff?”

Overton scratched his head with his free hand. “Well, that’s just it. I’m not exactly sure. You’ve heard what’s going on down here?”

“
Just bits and pieces.”

“
I need any information you can give me on Creed Rydell.”

“
Creed the Weed?”

He was thin as one.
“That what y’all call him?”

“
Hold on. Let me get his file.”

“
They call him ‘Creed the Weed,’” he said to Autumn while he waited.

“
How nice,” Autumn said.

“
He
was
kinda skinny,” Overton said

“
And green.”

“
Okay, it’s a thick one,” Wendy said. “Where do you want to start?”

“
Let’s focus on the parking tickets.”

Wendy laughed. “We’re submitting his name for a world record. He was getting two and three a day at a time, almost six hundred in all.”

Six hundred parking tickets!
“Where?”

“
On Adams Street near Calhoun City Hospital.”

Bingo.
“When was this?”

“
Let’s see ... first ticket was in late September of eighty-three.”

“
And the last?”

“
Mid-March of eighty-four. Nothing since then, and it took us ten years to find him for these. We even put up a wanted poster. Not at the post office, though. We kept it here. It said: ‘Wanted: Creed the Weed.’”

Overton did the math.
Over a seven-month period. Darcy might have had a baby after all.
“What was he driving?”

“
Let’s see ... a seventy-two Cadillac Fleetwood.”

Overton caught his breath. “What color?”

Wendy laughed. “It says pink. I didn’t know they made a pink Cadillac. Creed the Weed in a pink Cadillac!”

Overton’s mind raced. “Uh, thanks for your help.” He handed the phone to Autumn.

“
Well?”

What the hell is happening?
“Creed parked near Calhoun City Hospital for about seven months back in eighty-three and eighty-four... in a
pink
Cadillac.”

“
Oh shit,” Autumn said.

“
You cursed.”

“
Damn right I did, Miles. This is getting spooky.” She rubbed her arms. “It’s damn near a hundred degrees in this house, and I’ve got goose bumps.”

Me, too.
“But who would dig up an old Cadillac out of a junkyard? And why?”

Autumn stood. “I’m leaving.”

“
Why?”

“
Can’t you see what’s happening?”

“
I’m trying.”

She grabbed his elbow and shook it. “J’s back.”

That’s ridiculous!
Overton thought.
I buried Callie’s boy!
“I saw him go into the ground.”
I took his lifeless body off that statue!

“
I think he’s back,” Autumn said, releasing his elbow.

She can’t be serious.
“How do you figure?”

She rubbed her arms. “I don’t know for sure, but ... Let’s say Darcy, Annie, and Lester knew who killed J. Whoever is doing this
knows
that they knew. They know Darcy’s on medication, and she dies of an overdose. He or she or
they
dig up the Cadillac knowing that Crazy Annie will walk right up to it.”

That makes too much sense not to be true, but I held the boy’s body.
“Explain Lester then.”

“
Wasn’t he the last person to see J alive?”

Overton searched his memory. “He might have been. I don’t remember.”

“
And Darcy must have had a baby, what, around March?”

“
Thereabouts.
If
she had a baby at all.”

“
Annie’s star child. The ‘Miracle Baby’ of Calhoun. I’m willing to bet that baby was J’s and Darcy’s.”

Overton shook his head.
This is coming together way too fast!
“No way. She was hospitalized or visiting Calhoun City Hospital for nearly her entire pregnancy—”

“
Calhoun City is best known for its neonatal care.”

“
Its what kind of care?”

“
Neonatal. Premature babies. Darcy’s baby must have been born prematurely.” She paced between the stacks. “It’s her first pregnancy, she’s only sixteen, maybe seventeen. She has complications. They make her rest in bed until the baby’s born, and it comes early.” She turned to face Overton. “Creed visited at first, and then he brings Annie and Darcy to visit the baby until—when was his last ticket?”

“
Sometime in March.”

“
March what?”

“
I didn’t ask.”

She hit re-dial. “Hello, Wendy? This is
Deputy
Harper down in Pine County.” She raised her eyebrows. “Sheriff Overton wants me to ask you the date of Creed Rydell’s last parking ticket ... March fourteenth? Thank you.” She pressed the off button.

“
Impersonating an officer is a serious—”

“
They found the ‘Miracle Baby’ in that cemetery on March
fifteenth
.”

Overton was silent for a long time.
Another coincidence?
“That
has
to be a coincidence. I don’t believe that Darcy and Annie and even Creed would devote all that time and effort to be with that baby then leave it at a cemetery. That makes no sense at all. Annie may have been crazy, and Creed wasn’t all there either, but there is no way that they left a defenseless baby—”

“
Unless the baby was defective in some way.”

“
But the hospital wouldn’t have released—”

“
Think about it. It’s
J’s
baby.”

“
So?”

“
So it had to have been a black baby.”

“
It didn’t have to be,” Overton said. “Jeremiah was half white, and Darcy was white.”

“
The child is still mixed, Miles,” Autumn said. “How many mixed kids you know of in Pine County even today being raised by white girls?”

None.
“But the baby would have only been a quarter black. The paper even listed it—”

“
I know, I know. As a
white
baby. But it could have been light-skinned, right?”

It could have been.
“Maybe. But where is Darcy’s baby now?”

“
If she even had one, right? Hell, she might have been at the hospital for any number of reasons.” She threw up her hands. “And it’s not like we can get to her records.”

“
No, but we can get to her daddy. He isn’t going anywhere, and I bet he’d like some company. I have to go to Calhoun anyway.”

“
What for?”

“
Gonna stop by a junkyard. Want to tag along?”

“
Is this a date?” Autumn batted her eyelashes.

“
No.”

“
Why don’t you take Ramsey?”

“
Well, I was, uh, hoping to use your car. The, uh, AC’s acting up again in my car.”

Autumn rolled her eyes. “Ah. As long as you buy me lunch.”

“
Deal.”

Overton called down the stairs. “Ramsey?”

Ramsey came to the bottom of the stairs. “Yes, Sheriff?”

“
I’m going to Calhoun with Miss Harper to visit Creed Rydell. You’re in charge of Snow.”

“
I am?”

“
Yes. After you’ve loaded what you can in the car, unload it at Lester’s.” He winced.
It may never be called Lester’s again.
“At the garage. Then hang by the phone, okay?”

“
Yes sir!”

Overton left the house and saw Autumn, notepad out, interviewing none other than Jimmy Lee Sellers, Junior. He couldn’t help comparing Jimmy Lee to J.
Same height, build, smile, but Jimmy Lee’s blonder, if “blonder” is even a word.
He wore dark blue jeans and a light blue polo shirt.

“
Howdy, Jimmy Lee,” Overton said.

Jimmy Lee nodded once to Autumn and left her by her car. “Howdy, Sheriff. I need to talk to you.”

“
Sure.” Overton eyed Autumn’s car, and she got the hint, getting in and starting it up. “Hot enough for you?”

Jimmy Lee strode to the side of the house. “What the hell’s goin’ on, Sheriff?”

I’ve been saying that a lot myself these days.
“What do you mean?”

Jimmy Lee’s clear blue eyes narrowed. “Why do you have my places sealed up?”

“
They’re crime scenes, Jimmy Lee. Possible homicides at all three.”

“
Oh, horseshit! I read the papers. You got nothin’ but two suicides and an accident.”

“
I’m not so sure now, Jimmy Lee.” He deliberately turned his back on Jimmy Lee and looked at where Mt. Zion used to be. “I just want to make sure. You understand, don’t you? Lester was a friend of mine. Just want to do right by him.”
And I don’t want to make the same mistakes Sheriff Hughes made,
Overton thought.
I want to leave a legacy I can be proud of.

“
How long you gonna be?”

“
We’ll be out of here by the end of the day, ought to have Darcy’s done tomorrow, Lester’s by Friday.”

Jimmy Lee sighed. “I can’t auction them all off on Saturday if I can’t clean ‘em up!”

“
So have the auction Sunday.”

Overton heard Jimmy spit. “Can’t have a Sunday auction. It ain’t Christian.”

Auctioning off the property of dead folks who haven’t even been buried ain’t Christian either.
“So put it off a week or two.” He turned to face Jimmy Lee. “What’s the rush?”

Jimmy Lee looked away. “Just want things over and done with. And what is Autumn Harper doin’ here anyway?”

This man defines the word “paranoid.” He is literally digging a hole in the ground with his shoe.
“I called in an expert. Annie’s got quite a collection of newspaper clippings inside, mostly from the
Beacon.
Since Autumn wrote most of ‘em, I just figured—”

“
Well, I don’t like it.”

“
Sorry about that.”

“
And y’all are on my property. I could get a court-order.”

“
You could.”
And that would foul things up in a big way.
“But that might not go over too well with the voters.”

“
What?”

A little sensitive about voters, huh?
“I don’t know. Seems to me a man trying to auction off some properties of dead folks so soon after their departure from this life might have a little trouble convincing his constituency that he’s a man of the people.”