of Trina and Trisha’s disagreement. That is how I learned they’d both dated Race Champion, and neither of them knew he was still seeing the other one until Atonement Day outed them all.
Mama shook her head and peered at me over the rim of her coffee cup. “None of this should go any further, of course. That would be unkind gossip.”
I was flabbergasted. “But how is it considered gossip if you witnessed it?” I had asked. “You cannot have been the only one to overhear them.”
“Still, under these circumstances it’s best to let them be the ones who tell the police.”
Sometimes Mama operates under the belief that all church-going people are always honest. I could tell her a few things. But I won’t.
That is how I found myself sitting at Rayna’s garden table biting my tongue, while she and Bitty batted around all kind of crazy theories about Race Champion’s murder and Trina Madewell’s possible part in it. Some of their theories really made me squirm.
“Maybe Trina’s pregnant and Race’s engagement to Naomi put her over the edge,” Bitty said, but Rayna shook her head.
“She’s too old to have babies. Besides, she had a partial hysterectomy when she was married to Russell Irons.”
“I remember Rusty. Didn’t he end up dead in some bridge accident?”
Rayna nodded. “He was an ironworker. Rusty’s now part of one of the concrete piers that hold up the bridge over the Tallahatchie. He’s on the Oxford side, closer to Leflore County, I think.”
A cool breeze wafted the sweet, lemony scent of magnolia blossoms toward us. A huge magnolia tree nearly two hundred years old sits square in the middle of the garden. I tried to focus on how much history this old tree must have seen rather than the discussion going on around me. It was too tempting to jump in and tell what I knew.
How could my normally sweet mother have done this to me? It was torture sitting there and not saying anything. So when one of Rayna’s dogs came up to me to be petted, I was delighted to have the distraction.
One of Rayna's extracurricular activities includes the use of her dog as a search and rescue animal. It’s a noble endeavor, and quite useful when someone goes missing in Holly Springs National Forest or over at Lake Chewalla. There are vast stretches of real estate in Mississippi occupied only by deer, rabbits, raccoons, and armadillos. It’s easy enough to get lost if you aren’t familiar with the area. Sometimes, even if you are.
At any rate, when Jinx isn’t searching for a lost child or a drunken hunter, he’s more likely to be looking for a stray hambone or hot dog. Most dogs I’ve known are highly-motivated by food. Which can be a very useful bit of trivia to know, by the way.
So while I played fetch with Jinx, Rayna and Bitty continued proposing various scenarios that involved Trina, Naomi, and Race.
“Race could have made a date with Trina, and Naomi just showed up,” Rayna suggested. “Surely he wouldn’t be dumb enough to take Naomi to Madewell Courts right under Trina’s nose.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.” Bitty adjusted Chen Ling in her sling so the sun wouldn’t get in the dog’s eyes. “The man could be absolutely oblivious to anything but what he wanted. He liked to show off, too. He just loved having lots of women flock around him, even when he was on a date with someone else. I wouldn’t stand for that, I’ll tell you that much.”
“So if he did take Naomi to Madewell Courts, and Trina found out and made a scene . . . would she just stand there and let Naomi shoot him?”
“For that matter, if he was with Trina and Naomi found them together and shot him, why hasn’t Naomi told the police who the other woman was?”
“Maybe because then Trina would be an eye-witness against her.”
“Then why hasn’t Trina told the police what she saw? Unless,” Bitty said with a sudden jerk of her hand that made Chen Ling bark, “Race was with a man! ”
“ Trisha ,” I
Mama shook her head and peered at me over the rim of her coffee cup. “None of this should go any further, of course. That would be unkind gossip.”
I was flabbergasted. “But how is it considered gossip if you witnessed it?” I had asked. “You cannot have been the only one to overhear them.”
“Still, under these circumstances it’s best to let them be the ones who tell the police.”
Sometimes Mama operates under the belief that all church-going people are always honest. I could tell her a few things. But I won’t.
That is how I found myself sitting at Rayna’s garden table biting my tongue, while she and Bitty batted around all kind of crazy theories about Race Champion’s murder and Trina Madewell’s possible part in it. Some of their theories really made me squirm.
“Maybe Trina’s pregnant and Race’s engagement to Naomi put her over the edge,” Bitty said, but Rayna shook her head.
“She’s too old to have babies. Besides, she had a partial hysterectomy when she was married to Russell Irons.”
“I remember Rusty. Didn’t he end up dead in some bridge accident?”
Rayna nodded. “He was an ironworker. Rusty’s now part of one of the concrete piers that hold up the bridge over the Tallahatchie. He’s on the Oxford side, closer to Leflore County, I think.”
A cool breeze wafted the sweet, lemony scent of magnolia blossoms toward us. A huge magnolia tree nearly two hundred years old sits square in the middle of the garden. I tried to focus on how much history this old tree must have seen rather than the discussion going on around me. It was too tempting to jump in and tell what I knew.
How could my normally sweet mother have done this to me? It was torture sitting there and not saying anything. So when one of Rayna’s dogs came up to me to be petted, I was delighted to have the distraction.
One of Rayna's extracurricular activities includes the use of her dog as a search and rescue animal. It’s a noble endeavor, and quite useful when someone goes missing in Holly Springs National Forest or over at Lake Chewalla. There are vast stretches of real estate in Mississippi occupied only by deer, rabbits, raccoons, and armadillos. It’s easy enough to get lost if you aren’t familiar with the area. Sometimes, even if you are.
At any rate, when Jinx isn’t searching for a lost child or a drunken hunter, he’s more likely to be looking for a stray hambone or hot dog. Most dogs I’ve known are highly-motivated by food. Which can be a very useful bit of trivia to know, by the way.
So while I played fetch with Jinx, Rayna and Bitty continued proposing various scenarios that involved Trina, Naomi, and Race.
“Race could have made a date with Trina, and Naomi just showed up,” Rayna suggested. “Surely he wouldn’t be dumb enough to take Naomi to Madewell Courts right under Trina’s nose.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.” Bitty adjusted Chen Ling in her sling so the sun wouldn’t get in the dog’s eyes. “The man could be absolutely oblivious to anything but what he wanted. He liked to show off, too. He just loved having lots of women flock around him, even when he was on a date with someone else. I wouldn’t stand for that, I’ll tell you that much.”
“So if he did take Naomi to Madewell Courts, and Trina found out and made a scene . . . would she just stand there and let Naomi shoot him?”
“For that matter, if he was with Trina and Naomi found them together and shot him, why hasn’t Naomi told the police who the other woman was?”
“Maybe because then Trina would be an eye-witness against her.”
“Then why hasn’t Trina told the police what she saw? Unless,” Bitty said with a sudden jerk of her hand that made Chen Ling bark, “Race was with a man! ”
“ Trisha ,” I
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