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"Perhaps you&039;d like a glass of water, Mrs Talbot"

Darleen looked at Agent Burns through red-rimmed, swollen eyes ruthlessly outlined with Maybel-line "Yes, sir," she said ht hours, she&039;d learned a whole lot about ed"

All solicitude, Burns rose to go into the bathroom and pour tepid tap water into a paper cup He considered himself an expert interviewer-had even instructed a course on the subject As he would have told his class at the FBI Acadeood interview is to know your subject

Burns figured he had Darleen Talbot&039;s number

Sympathy, flattery, and kindly authority Those were the ords here Burns esti a four- with the paper cup, he offered Darleen a kindly s the ti, Mrs Talbot"

Cautiously, she brought the cup to her unpainted lips She&039;d lost her affection for red lipstick "Junior said I had to"

"Well, I know it&039;s difficult for a youngschedule Where is your little one today?" Burns crossed ask about fa Scooter She likes to sit with hi but Special Agent Matthew Burns, she fiddled with the collar of her flowered blouse "He&039;s her only grandson, you know My two sisters both have girls"

"A handsoh he didn&039;t know if he&039;d ever laid eyes on the youngest Talbot

"He is pretty His hair&039;s as curly as a little laured-accurately-that the only reason Junior hadn&039;t tossed her out of the house was his attachreased lightning on his hands and knees I don&039;t kno I&039;ll keep up with hi"

"I&039;m sure he keeps you on your toes"

More relaxed, Darleen set the cup aside Why, the FBI man wasn&039;t so bad, she decided People just didn&039;t know hi &039;uns?"

"No, I don&039;t" Nor did the fastidious Burns intend to Ever "I&039;m afraidfor criminals"

"Exactly" He beamed at her, as if she&039;d just answered a very complex question "And it&039;s concerned, responsible citizens like yourself who , he took out his mini recorder "This helps me remember accurately"

Darleen eyed the recorder with distrust She began to twist her hands in her lap "Shouldn&039;t I have a lawyer or so?"

"Why, certainly, if you wish" Burns sat down behind Burke&039;s cluttered desk "But I assure you it isn&039;t necessary for this kind of inforround inforer" He stretched out an avuncular hand to hers "I know this is difficult for you, Darleen May I call you Darleen?"

Why, he was just as polite as a waiter in a fancy restaurant Though the coe, it made Darleen respond favorably "That&039;ll be just fine"

"Losing a friend is always painful, but in such a tragic way" He trailed off, letting his silence offer comfort "I&039;ll try not to upset you"

It wasn&039;t difficult or even painful so ed tissue and dabbed her eyes "Talking about it just tears me in two But I want to help," she added bravely "She was my dearest friend"

"I know" Pleased, Burns switched on the recorder "Special Agent Matthew Burns, intervieith Darleen Talbot re Edda Lou Hatinger June twenty-five Now then, Darleen, why don&039;t you tellabout Edda Lou?"

Darleen blew her nose loudly enough to make Burns wince "She was ether, and she was uess she was like a sister to ed confidences"

"We never had secrets from each other My own blood sisters, Belle and Starita? Why, I could never talk to them the way I could to Edda Lou" Another tear squeezed out, and she caught it with her knuckle

"And I&039;m sure she felt equally sympatico with you"

Darleen frowned over the word "I expect"

"I can see that you&039;re an understanding, open-hearted woe had her preening a bit "She did tend to lean ona married woman, I&039;m sure Edda Lou came to you for advice-advice about the ht Edda Lou had liked to brag But Darleen didn&039;t think she should say so "We talked a lot I guess we talked on the phone every single day"

"And at the time of her death, was Edda Lou involved with anyone in particular?"

"Well, sure Everybody knew she was all wrapped up in Tucker Longstreet She could&039;ve had lots of other boyfriends Edda Lou kept herself up real nice, you know She studied pictures in azines for hairdos and makeup tricks and all, and she wouldn&039;t step out of her roo her face up just so But she&039;d set her sights on Tucker Once she hooked hi to Ito be her matron of honor We went to Greenville and picked out dresses and everything" And wasn&039;t it a shaandy goith the puffy sleeves and the big bow?

With encouraging nods Burns street and Edda Lou were to be married?"

Darleen licked her lips and stared at the recorder She was torn between loyalty and truth-with truth standing in for self-preservation Her episode with Junior had her inching back "Edda Lou had her street?"

"Well she&039;d&039;ve brought hiot her teeth in sostreet to propose?"

"I guess you could put it like that"

"Pressured hinly "Could she have known about some weakness, some problem, that would have convinced hiht about that awhile, then to Burns&039;s disappointment shook her head "No, Tucker&039;s not one for proble is, I tried to tell Edda Lou the reason he cut things off with her was because she was getting too pushy Men don&039;t like to be shoved into e"

Darleen drew from her vast scope of marital bliss "You take my Junior? I just waited around, real cale to ask e, he&039;d&039;ve been off like a shot Men just naturally resist the idea of settling And that&039;s what I told her," Darleen said with a knowing nod "But she wouldn&039;t listen Stubborn that way And she was dead set to live at Sater I mean, to be with Tucker," she corrected herself "Edda Lou ild for his ran very deep," Burns h the sarcasstreet had an altercation the day she died"

"Edda Lou caled more comfortably in her chair It was just like Perry Mason, she thought "She was spitting fire, too You see, Tucker&039;d broke things off with her, and she&039;d figured on laying back a feeeks, until he couldn&039;t stand being without her anyured with the sex being so good and all, he&039;d coht herself and flushed "What I mean to say is, she knew he loved her"

Face expressionless, Burns nodded "I understand coet a bit itchy And then Tucker starts seeing Chrissy Fuller-her being divorced now and all Well, Edda Lou wasn&039;t going to put up with that, not for a New York minute She tracked Tuck down at the Chat &039;N Chew and told hinant"

Darleen pressed her lips together and stared down at her shoes "I reckon she made a mistake about that She was that upset, you see, because Tucker wasto slip away"

"Is that what she told you when she came to see you that afternoon?"

"She was that upset" Darleen began to twist her fingers together "A woot a broken heart She was stor to toss her away like used goods He wasn&039;t going to do to her what his daddy had done to her daddy"

"Excuseto be the first to pass along gossip-even if the gossip was o Edda Lou&039;s daddy had been courting Miss Madeline-Tucker&039;sexactly, as people say who re Miss Madeline, even though her daddy was a state senator and all and he was just a dirt farmer Edda Lou used to say it was like a Cinderella story in reverse But the thing was that Miss Madeline was crazy for Beau Longstreet The er wanted her He never had streets"

"So," Burns interrupted with so story short "There&039;s been bad blood between the families for some time"

"Real bad He and Mr Beau almost took each other apart at a church social My daddy was one of the ones that pulled them apart, and he tells the story now and then"

Burns cleared his throat "That&039;s very interesting, Darleen, but-"

"What I&039; to say is, because of all that, the way her father saw Beau as taking as his, Edda Lou thought she deserved Sater And she went after Tuck, &039;cause well, he&039;s real good-lookin&039; and he ain&039;t stingy with his pennies like his daddy was Buther pa So she was pretty hot about hiht there in public that he didn&039;t want her So she says toto eat those words, Darleen You wait and see&039; "

"Did she happen to tell you how she was going to et him alone somewhere and let nature take its course" Darleen sent Burns a coy wink "She took real good care of herself, Edda Lou did Kept herself up and kne to dress so men would look twice"

"Any men in particular?"

"Before Tucker? She kinda played the field Had John Thomas Bonny stuck on her last winter, and before that Judson O&039;Hara and Will Shiver And there was Ben Koons, too Though he was a married man and she never took him seriously"

Burns noted down the na "With a woht have been a man who remained stuck on her after she&039;d costreet"

"Oh, Edda Lou liked to brag that et over her in the wink of an eye She could&039;ve had any of them"

"I see What about Toby March?"

"Oh" Darleen picked up the paper cup and drank the rest of the water "Well"

"Yes?"

"There is nothing to that, Mr Burns No indeed Edda Lou like to tease some That was just her way"

"She teased Mr March?"

"It was just a little ganaw on the nail "Edda Lou wouldn&039;t be interested in a black man Curious maybe"

"And she was curious about Mr March?"

"It was just to hit back at her daddy He&039;d walloped Toby soo Gave him that scar And Edda Lou&039;s brother, Cy, he was friends with Toby&039;s boy Austin Hatinger raised holy hell about that So Edda Lou just liked to flirt with Toby because he&039;d get all stiff and flustered"

"Did she have an affair with him?"

"I can&039;t say" Darleen chewed the nail down to the nub "It wasn&039;t nothing serious She was just teasing"

But it ht A married black in a small southern tohere some lines were deadly to cross

"When did she tease him, Darleen?"

"Oh, mostly after Tucker cut her off That&039;s when Toby was doing work at the boardinghouse But she wouldn&039;t have done anything, really Why, her daddy would have killed her He&039;d have strung Toby up, and he&039;d have skinned Edda Lou alive If he didn&039;t get to it himself, Vernon would have done it for him Edda Lou and Vernon didn&039;t have any use for each other, but Vernon couldn&039;t have held his head up if it got around that Edda Lou&039;d-you knoith one of Toby&039;s kind"

Burns save him three more suspects

Threehelp"

While Toby and young Jim hammered away at the braces on her back porch, Caroline took aiht a little ht," Susie advised "You jerk toward the left whenever you pull the trigger"

"I don&039;t knohy I&039; Hold your breath this tier" Susie pursed her lips when Caroline fired again, ain "You&039;ll do better once you learn to keep both eyes open But I&039;d give this year&039;s Fourth of July contest a pass"

"I&039; to hit one, just one, before I ht of that Luis again"

"Nope I&039;ve just about gotten that out ofyou&039;d have a weak ory details"

"More cliched than gory I caught hiht about it "Do you ht" She steadied her hand and took aiiving hie"

"My, un wavered as Caroline laughed "No I&039; my wimp period"

"You seem to be over it now"

"The wiain, swore, and buckled down "Da to hit one It&039;s just a matter of practice Nobody knows hted in "I&039;"

She clipped the side, and while it didn&039;t precisely sing, the quick bang was enough to satisfy her

"Nice going, Dead-eye" Susie gave her a congratulatory pat on the back "Why don&039;t you take a break?"

"Why don&039;t I?" Caroline meticulously unloaded Unlike Susie, she was less than coun "I did better than yesterday It took over two hours for me to hit one of those stupid cans Today it took"-she checked her watch-"only an hour forty-five" For lack of a better place, she duht you&039;d never ask" They started back toward the house "You&039;re keeping Toby and Jim busy I like the new blue paint Really freshens the place up"

"They&039;re going to do the porches, too In white Can we get through here, Toby?"

"Sure, just mind your step Afternoon, Mrs Truesdale"

"Hey, Toby When you&039;re done here, why don&039;t you cohis face with his bandanna The dirt fro to his skin, settled wetly into the creases "Now, I told hio"

"He tellsaround to it" She stepped around the toolbox "I guess he&039;s got a lot on his mind"

Toby&039;s smile faded "Yes&039;m Jim, you hold that board steady now" He kept his eyes on his hands as Caroline ushered Susie into the kitchen

"Well now, there&039;s that little pup I&039;ve heard so much about" Susie crouched down to where Useless was huddled under one of the kitchen chairs-a position he&039;d assuuard dog" Caroline watched as he trembled and whined and licked at Susie&039;s hand "I must have been crazy"

"No, just soft-hearted Thanks" She stood, accepting the glass of iced tea Caroline offered "I&039;ve beento stop on out before It&039;s been real hectic since Marvella got engaged"

"I heard about that" Noting the look in Susie&039;s eyes, Caroline searched through the cupboards for soar and low in nutrition She settled on the cupcakes she&039;d bought to treat Jim at lunch "Here, have some chocolate and preservatives"

"Thanks" Susie sniffled and tore at the cellophane "I swear, I&039;ve been as bad as a leaky faucet ever since it happened I just think about it and off I go" She bit into the cupcake "I kneas co around each other for two years When they weren&039;t n"

"But she&039;s your little girl"

"Yeah" Susie swiped at a tear "My baby My first baby I&039; plans, but if I just sit and think about it, I start dripping"

Caroline eyed the second cupcake, and decided she deserved it "Have they set a date?"

"September Marvella&039;s always been partial to chrysanthemums She wants the church full of them, and her five bridesot her own ideas, all right Russet and gold, she says" Firing up, Susie licked cruers "Now, I say russet&039;s like red, and see, but she&039;s set Won&039;t even talk about pastels" Susie caught Caroline&039;s look and grinned "I know, I know, colors aren&039;t so important as why It&039;s just easier forto have the reception outside at the house or if we should rent out the Moose Hall" She gave a slow sigh "Burke and I had a justice of the peace wedding"

"I&039; to be beautiful"