Read Online False Pretenses by Kathy Herman - Free Book Online Page B

for the dinner hour. She took a slow, deep breath and then walked over to her.
    “How’s it coming?”
    “Almost done. I’m ready to get off my feet.”
    “I see you put daisies in the bud vases, too. Looks nice.”
    “They’re really fresh today,” Savannah said flatly.
    An awkward moment of silence prodded Zoe to do what she came to do.
    “I owe you an apology, Savannah. I probably sounded as if I were scolding you this morning about Hebert and the guys needing more coffee. Actually I was upset and preoccupied about something totally unrelated. I’m sorry I was short with you.”
    “You don’t have to apologize.”
    “Why, because I’m the boss?” She reached over and squeezed Savannah’s hand. “That’s not the way we do things around here. I didn’t want you to go home for the day without my having explained myself.”
    “It’s okay. I could tell something wasn’t right.” Savannah put a fresh candle in the glass holder. “Actually nothing about this day seemed right. Everyone who came in was talking about the lynching, even the tourists. I’ve grown up here and heard stories about the way things used to be. I never thought it would happen now. And never to a white man.”
    “Are the authorities actually calling it a lynching?”
    “Of course not.” Savannah rolled her eyes. “But the sheriff didn’t deny that someone left a note on a deputy’s car that suggested it was. He just won’t comment on it.”
    “Have the authorities released the name of the victim?”
    “Not yet. Everyone’s wondering who it is, but they have to notify the next of kin first.”
    “I wonder what’s taking so long.” Zoe smoothed a wrinkle out of the tablecloth. “Wasn’t the body found early this morning?”
    “Yes. And I’m pretty sure the call came in when the sheriff was sitting right here with two deputies. They left without ordering and said they needed to go take care of something. That was at sunup.”
    “I can’t imagine why they haven’t released the victim’s name.”
    “I sure hope it’s not someone I know.”
    “And who would that be?” Zoe said. “You know just about everybody in town.”

    Vanessa sat with Sheriff Jude Prejean and Deputy Stone Castille at the kitchen table in her apartment.
    “Sheriff, I never expected you to come over here personally,” Vanessa said. “I just felt compelled to report my concern about the hanging—and the fact that it happened on the property adjacent to Langley Manor. Do you have any leads?”
    “We can’t discuss the details of the investigation,” Jude said. “We haven’t even released the victim’s name yet.”
    “Are you aware that just a few minutes ago, a man called the radio station again, this time revealing exactly what was in the note?”
    “What he claims was in the note.”
    “So there was a note?” Vanessa studied the sheriff’s expressionless face. “Look, I understand you can’t give details, but can’t you just say whether or not this was racially motivated?”
    “We can’t rule it out.”
    “Then shouldn’t we rethink the validity of my son’s story,” Vanessa said, “now that there’s been a murder in close proximity—one that might’ve been racially motivated?”
    “Yes, I think we should.” Sheriff Prejean cleared his throat and seemed to be thinking. “For starters I’d like to go ahead and run DNA testing on the lemon drop. It’s a bit of a long shot that we’ll get viable DNA, but the sugar coating is gone, which suggests it had been in someone’s mouth before it ended up on your floor.” Jude rubbed the sandpaper shadow on his chin. “If your son really did see a man in the closet, we need to discover who that individual is and if he was also at the scene of the hanging. It’s certainly suspicious.”
    Vanessa brushed the hair out of her eyes. “I’m just so confused why your deputies didn’t find any evidence that the man broke in.”
    “That was baffling to us, too,” Jude said.