Page 69 of A Rose of Steel
I sucked my tongue.Why was I even worried about Rhett and that woman?
“Auntie,” I said, shaking my head clear of Rhett thoughts, “just use my cellphone. Call Shane or that coach guy, and tell them you’ll meet with them at another time.”
“Do you want to solve this?” I think with her words, she pressed down harder on the accelerator, “or not?”
I braced myself against the dashboard. “We’re not going to solve Bumper’s murder by questioning these guys, that’s for sure. Because they didn’t do it.” I glanced over at her. “You want to slow down?”
“You want to stop thinking that those two aren’t coldblooded killers?”
“I could perhaps understand LaJay doing it,” I said, trying to reason with her, “to get the girl, but not all three of them.”
“Well, it’s too late now, we’re here and there they are.” She swung into the parking lot, hitting the apron of the parking lot so fast that it nearly made me bump my head on the top of the car. “Already here. Lying in wait,” she said.
“What are you going to ask them?” I said.
“Just thought I’d wing it,” she said, pushing the gear into park. “And I didn’t think I’d have to wing it for long. I figured the Cavalry would roll in and this case would be closed.”
“Chase lied to me about the inhaler,” I said, maybe updating her on the information I had would deter her from questioning these two guys. “Maybe it was him that killed Bumper.” I nodded, wanting her to agree with me.
“How did he lie?”
“He told me that he hadn’t seen Bumper’s inhaler.”
“Thatwasa lie.”
“How do you know that that’s a lie?” I asked, scrutinizing her.
“I have my ways,” she said.
“Piper told me yesterday at the funeral that he had it,” I said, wondering how she knew. “They were in the front yard that day talking. I believe her.”
“Miriam Colter told me that he had it.”
“The organist?” I asked.
“Yep.”
“Is that what you were going to tell me at the funeral?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t think right now. I’ve got to concentrate on interrogating these two.” She hitched a thumb in Shane Blanchard and Coach Buddy’s direction. “I’m going to talk to them. You give Rhett one more call and see if he and his partner, Special Agent Aaron can’t get here.”
“Is that what she is?” I asked. “A special agent?”
“I’m telling you they only put the most qualified in charge of things like this. Top level.”
“And what exactly do you want me to tell them when I reach Rhett?”
“Tell ’em to come guns a-blazin’.”
“Why were you two at Bumper’s funeral?” Auntie was saying when I walked in the door. I had gotten ahold of Rhett, who wanted me to spend time explaining why Auntie thought he was running a sting operation. It’s what happens when you give Babet Derbinay a tiny piece of information, I had told him. She inflates it like a soufflé.
He’d told Auntie he had some affiliation with the FBI and that was all it took. Seemed like he should have known better than to tell her something like that.
“Why were you there?” Auntie Zanne was saying, her small five-foot-three frame standing in front of their towering, six-foot or more ones. Wagging a finger at them, she didn’t act frightened in the least little bit.
Where had she gotten all that courage from in the last three minutes? I stood back and watched her in action.
“We wanted to show our respect,” Shane said, his brow creased in confusion.
