saw one leaving with a large plastic bag held out at arm’s length. Deputy Bates asked if I wanted my towels back, but I told him not to bother. I appreciated them taking that calling card out of my bathroom, and I knew Lillian did, too.
By the time they all left, I’d had about as much excitement as I could stand. Lillian called two of her granddaughters to come help her straighten up the mess in the house, and I was grateful for them. Deputy Bates stood in the kitchen with a worried look on his face and a cup of coffee in his hand.
“Little Lloyd,” I said, “go out in the yard and play. You’ve been cooped up in the car or the house all day, and you need to be outside for a while. Here”—I reached into the pantry—“take this bag of Oreos. We may not have much supper tonight.”
He looked up at me through those thick glasses in a way that gave me a start. His eyes were so much like Wesley Lloyd’s sometimes that it was like looking at my husband before I ever met him.
When he left with his cookies, I turned to Deputy Bates. “What in the world’s going on here? First you find blood in thatchild’s house and now this house’s been broken into. I’m beginning to feel something bad’s going to happen every time I turn around. You don’t reckon whoever did this to my house was somebody you arrested, do you?”
“I doubt it, Miss Julia. I haven’t been here long enough to make anybody that mad at me. But to catch you up on the other, we had the crime-scene unit down at Bud’s house, and preliminary tests confirm that it is blood. Human or not, we won’t know until we hear from the SBI lab. There wasn’t a lot of it, some spattering and a long smear on the wall. And a little pool on the floor, which was still sticky. That means it got there fairly recently, although the humidity in the closed garage may’ve had something to do with that. I’ve got bad news for you, though. If it’s human blood, you’re going to have to tell Sheriff Frady how you came to have Bud with you. We’ll have to track down his mother, using every method we have, to be sure, first of all, that it’s not her blood since she was the last known tenant of the house. And as far as we know, you were the last person to see her around here. Tracing her is going to open a whole can of worms for you.”
“A can of worms is right,” I said. I leaned against the kitchen counter, tired to death of all the complications that Wesley Lloyd had left me. “You know there was somebody with her when she left here. I told you she wasn’t driving the car, so I wasn’t the last one to see her.”
“I know. But we don’t know who that was. We don’t know if she went straight to Raleigh from here or whether she went back to her house. We don’t know if the blood was in the garage before she brought Bud here or if it got there after she left him. We don’t know anything, and won’t, until we find her. I just want you to be prepared. You’re going to have to tell the investigating officers everything that’s happened. And be prepared forthe possibility that Bud’s mother knows something about the blood in her garage. Or that it’s hers.”
“Oh my Lord,” I said, holding on to the counter. “You don’t think something’s happened to her?” I was ashamed to admit that my first thought was of being stuck with that child forever, in spite of reassuring the child to the contrary not three hours earlier. “That poor woman,” I said, quickly getting my mind in the proper frame.
“It’s too early to know. But for now I’m going to the hardware store and get some more locks for your doors. And a pane of glass for the broken one upstairs.”
“Go to Prince’s Hardware,” I told him, “and charge it to my account.”
I went into the living room to help Lillian and her two grands, but she told me to keep out of their way. So I went outside to the backyard and sat with Little Lloyd in the glider. I folded my hands in my lap
By the time they all left, I’d had about as much excitement as I could stand. Lillian called two of her granddaughters to come help her straighten up the mess in the house, and I was grateful for them. Deputy Bates stood in the kitchen with a worried look on his face and a cup of coffee in his hand.
“Little Lloyd,” I said, “go out in the yard and play. You’ve been cooped up in the car or the house all day, and you need to be outside for a while. Here”—I reached into the pantry—“take this bag of Oreos. We may not have much supper tonight.”
He looked up at me through those thick glasses in a way that gave me a start. His eyes were so much like Wesley Lloyd’s sometimes that it was like looking at my husband before I ever met him.
When he left with his cookies, I turned to Deputy Bates. “What in the world’s going on here? First you find blood in thatchild’s house and now this house’s been broken into. I’m beginning to feel something bad’s going to happen every time I turn around. You don’t reckon whoever did this to my house was somebody you arrested, do you?”
“I doubt it, Miss Julia. I haven’t been here long enough to make anybody that mad at me. But to catch you up on the other, we had the crime-scene unit down at Bud’s house, and preliminary tests confirm that it is blood. Human or not, we won’t know until we hear from the SBI lab. There wasn’t a lot of it, some spattering and a long smear on the wall. And a little pool on the floor, which was still sticky. That means it got there fairly recently, although the humidity in the closed garage may’ve had something to do with that. I’ve got bad news for you, though. If it’s human blood, you’re going to have to tell Sheriff Frady how you came to have Bud with you. We’ll have to track down his mother, using every method we have, to be sure, first of all, that it’s not her blood since she was the last known tenant of the house. And as far as we know, you were the last person to see her around here. Tracing her is going to open a whole can of worms for you.”
“A can of worms is right,” I said. I leaned against the kitchen counter, tired to death of all the complications that Wesley Lloyd had left me. “You know there was somebody with her when she left here. I told you she wasn’t driving the car, so I wasn’t the last one to see her.”
“I know. But we don’t know who that was. We don’t know if she went straight to Raleigh from here or whether she went back to her house. We don’t know if the blood was in the garage before she brought Bud here or if it got there after she left him. We don’t know anything, and won’t, until we find her. I just want you to be prepared. You’re going to have to tell the investigating officers everything that’s happened. And be prepared forthe possibility that Bud’s mother knows something about the blood in her garage. Or that it’s hers.”
“Oh my Lord,” I said, holding on to the counter. “You don’t think something’s happened to her?” I was ashamed to admit that my first thought was of being stuck with that child forever, in spite of reassuring the child to the contrary not three hours earlier. “That poor woman,” I said, quickly getting my mind in the proper frame.
“It’s too early to know. But for now I’m going to the hardware store and get some more locks for your doors. And a pane of glass for the broken one upstairs.”
“Go to Prince’s Hardware,” I told him, “and charge it to my account.”
I went into the living room to help Lillian and her two grands, but she told me to keep out of their way. So I went outside to the backyard and sat with Little Lloyd in the glider. I folded my hands in my lap
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