Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Magnolia
“ I ’ll go in first, and you and your sister-in-law can follow,” Chief Montgomery said, then added, “I can make sure the floor’s safe to walk on.”
“Okay.” We all knew he didn’t need to go in with us, and I was grateful he was trying not to make it obvious.
He headed up the three wooden steps to the front door. I followed close behind him while Belinda took up the rear. The stairs shook as I landed on the second step, and Chief Montgomery reached out a hand. I took it and let him tug me up the rest of the way into the house.
I turned around to help Belinda, but she was already at the top and followed me inside.
We stood side by side as I scanned the living room, or what was left of it. A sofa was pushed up under the window. The skirt at the bottom of the sofa looked like it had once been a forest green, but what was left of the upholstery on the top and along the arms was sun-faded to a beige. It was obvious birds and other animals had been claiming the stuffing to repurpose for their own use. Pieces of glass, from what looked like a couple of broken lamps, littered the floor close to the opposite wall. A recliner was tipped over and an old console TV cabinet sat across from the window, its screen broken. The jagged pieces looked like vicious teeth, waiting to devour me.
There were a few pictures on the wall, but one caught my attention—an 11x14-inch framed family photo of a mother, father, and two girls. I took a step toward it and a floorboard cracked under my foot.
“You stay there,” Chief Montgomery said, holding up a hand. “Let me get it.” He carefully picked his way across the creaking, sagging floor. Then he took the photo off the wall and brought it to me.
I took it, feeling embarrassed. He was the police chief, and he was acting like my personal gofer.
“You don’t have to stick around, Chief Montgomery,” I said. “You’ve already gone above and beyond for us.”
“It’s pretty slow this afternoon,” he said, “and I’m worried if I leave, I’ll have to come back and pull one of you out of a huge hole in the floor.”
He grinned, his eyes lighting up and making him look even more handsome. Pre-Colt I would have been flirting up a storm, but now flirting felt like a betrayal. Nevertheless, five minutes with Chief Montgomery was enough to tell me that he was a good man. Summer was a very lucky woman.
I turned my attention to the photo, touching the glass over the face of the oldest girl. It was clear as day she was Momma. I presumed the other girl was her sister. Both girls looked like they were in elementary school and only a few years apart.
“It’s interesting they had such an old photo on the wall,” Belinda said. “If they had a more current photo, surely they would have hung that one in the living room.”
“True,” I said, “but most people don’t get a new family photo every year or even every other year. We only had a couple.”
“We never had any,” Belinda said, reminding me that her childhood had been even less idyllic than my own.
“My family had one nearly every year,” the police chief said. “Our church had a photographer come every fall to get photos for the directory. People were big into family photos around here back when I was a kid, and I know my parents had multiple years’ worth of photos from when we were in school.” His mouth quirked to the side. “I realize your mother was a good twenty years older than us, but if this was truly their last family photo, then it might mean something.”
Belinda gave him a long look. “Do you know anything about Magnolia’s mother’s family?”
He hesitated. “I confess, I don’t. I knew this property was out here and was abandoned, but I didn’t know who owned it.” Then he added, “While Sweet Briar only has a little over two thousand residents, the city limits extend out into quite a bit of farmland. I know a lot of residents, but I don’t know them all, and to the best of my knowledge, surprisingly kids don’t use this place as a party place. Otherwise, I’d know more about it.”
Belinda nodded, then stayed me with a warning look. She was probably worried I’d snap and accuse him of hiding information so we’d hire his girlfriend, but I was fairly sure he was on the up and up.
“I’m gonna take this with me,” I said as I propped it up against the wall next to the open door. “Let’s see if we find anything else.”
We went into the kitchen, which was in much better shape than the living room but was covered in a thick layer of dust. It was small and the cabinets and appliances looked like they’d been installed many decades ago. There were some small, ancient-looking appliances on the counter along with some Tupperware canisters. A Tupperware salt and pepper shaker set sat on the round Formica kitchen table, and the avocado-green vinyl upholstery on the metal-framed chairs was in better shape than anything in the living room.
“It looks like a time capsule,” Belinda said. “Like people were here one minute and gone the next. Kind of apocalyptic.”
I shivered. She was right.
“Do you want to look around in here?” Chief Montgomery asked.
Belinda walked over to the cabinets and opened a few doors, then drawers, stopping at the junk drawer. “Just plates and glasses…the usual kitchen stuff. Nothing exciting in their catchall drawer.” She looked over at me. “Do you want to take a peek?”
I shook my head. “I’m good. Let’s check out the other rooms.”
The police chief led us down a short hall, then shined his flashlight into the windowless bathroom, which was covered in pink tile. I stood on the threshold and took in the sight. A couple of tiles had fallen off the shower wall, and there was plenty of dust, but otherwise, it was unremarkable.
Stepping back into the hall, I said, “I wonder if the person interested in buying this place plans to remodel or bulldoze it.”
“You have a potential buyer?” Chief Montgomery asked.
“So the attorney says. But I wanted to see it before I let it go.”
“Sounds reasonable,” he said as he walked to the next doorway.
“You really don’t have to babysit us,” I said.
“I don’t mind, Ms. Steele.” He flashed a grin as he paused on the threshold. “Gives me an excuse to insist one of my other officers be on standby for the woodworkers’ meetin’.”
“You have officers manning a woodworkers’ meeting?” Belinda asked in surprise.
“Just this particular meetin’,” he said. “Two of the members are currently feudin’ and haven’t seen each other since their last altercation. We’re just bein’ proactive.”
“Sounds like a colorful town,” I said, then realized it sounded bitchier than I’d intended.
He laughed. “It definitely is. Too bad you didn’t make it to the Boll Weevil Parade last spring. Quite the excitement.”
I laughed too, surprised when it bubbled up. “I’m kind of sorry I missed it.”
I’d been in the middle of my mess when they’d invited me to be the guest of honor last spring. Part of me couldn’t help wishing for an alternate reality where I’d gone, and that my real world hadn’t crashed in on me.
“There’s always the Thanksgiving Parade,” he said, taking a step back from the doorway. “I’m sure Mayor Sterling would be happy to re-extend the invite.”
I grinned. “I’ll take it under consideration.”
Then I stepped into the room.
It was a girl’s bedroom—two girls, based on the two twin beds and the very different decor on both sides of the room. One bed was covered in a light lavender bedspread and had photos strewn across it. The yellowed tape on the wall suggested they’d once hung there and had fallen down sometime over the past few decades.
The other side had a white chenille bedspread, with what looked like velvet blacklight posters of horses on the walls. A few stuffed animals were scattered on the bed. The window had broken, but a vinyl blind covered the opening and was secured at the bottom. Several slats were missing, the broken pieces on the floor, but a large tree outside the window provided shade, which must have been why the bedspreads had been spared the sun damage we’d seen in the living room. A single dresser was placed opposite the window, next to the lavender bed.
“That must have been Lila’s,” Belinda said, gesturing to the lavender bed. “And the other side was her sister’s. I can’t see Lila having posters of horses.”
I didn’t respond, mostly because it felt like maybe I hadn’t really known my mother after all. “I can’t believe Momma had a sister I never knew about,” I said. “It seems wrong.”
“If anything ever happened to you, I bet Roy would never mention you,” Belinda said. “Not unless he was cursing you.”
“True enough,” I said with a sigh. “So does that mean Momma hated her sister? I can’t believe I don’t even know her name.”
“That should be easy to find out,” Chief Montgomery said. “I suspect her name’s somewhere in this house, but if it’s not, all it will take is some askin’ around to find out.”
“You mean hiring your girlfriend,” I said in a dry tone.
“I’ve got no horse in this race,” he said, holding his hands out at his sides. “Summer’s got work to keep her busy, but I know she’d rather be workin’ on your case.” Then he added, “And no, it’s not because of who you are or her hopin’ to use you for publicity. She told me she’d prefer to keep both your names out of the tabloids. She truly likes helpin’ people.”
“She seems very sweet,” Belinda said.
“I admit that I’m biased,” he said, “but I believe her heart is in the right place. She could have gone along with that producer of her TV show and had fewer headaches, including the one induced by the concussion she suffered while investigating a case her producer didn’t want her to dig into. But she promised a woman she’d find her missing brother, and Summer was determined to keep her promise.”
“For ratings,” I said.
His jaw tensed. “She had no idea that show would do as well as it did. And sure, she hoped the case would make the show, especially considering the crap her producer was givin’ her, but she did it to give a woman closure, and she damn near lost her life for it. Twice.”
I was impressed he was still being civil, considering that I was being borderline rude.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’ve gotten pretty skeptical in the last six months or so. Forgive my antagonism.”
“It’s understandable,” he said evenly, but I was pretty sure I saw a flicker of pity in his eyes. “And not to worry, I’ve got a pretty tough skin. It takes a lot to get under it, but even Achilles had a weak spot, and I admit that Summer’s mine.”
“I apologize,” I said. “I was out of line.”
“No,” he said. “You’re entitled to your skepticism, whether she’s my girlfriend or not.”
I glanced around the room, feeling overwhelmed. This room was like a time capsule too. How soon after my mother left town had my grandparents died? “I can probably find the information about my mother on my own.”
“True,” he said, “and sometimes we don’t have to ask for help, but there’s no shame in takin’ it when it’s offered.”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I walked over to the lavender bed and picked up a couple of the photos. They had curled at the edges and were faded enough that I could barely recognize that the images were supposed to be people, let alone determine who they were. When I flipped them over, the names written on the back had faded and what ink was left had bled so much I couldn’t read them. It was clear the photos wouldn’t give me any clues to my mother’s past.
Turned out nothing else in the house did either. My grandparents had lived meagerly and hadn’t saved anything that gave me any insight into their lives or my mother’s, not even my aunt’s.
Looked like Belinda and Chief Montgomery were about to get their way.
“Okay,” I said, running a hand over my head. “Let’s call Summer.”