Unknown by Unknown

happen to Daddy? Or my Dixie dog?”
    “No, they’re both fine, Candace. Do you remember my cousin Frank?”
    Candace’s expression went from worried to troubled. Standing behind Dot, I also noticed that one of her domino-playing companions had stopped playing and was intent on the conversation. This young woman was younger than Candace and strikingly beautiful. She was a little heavyset, and tried to conceal that with loose sweats, but her face was lovely. She had huge brown eyes with long dark lashes, and glossy black hair. And right now her lower lip was trembling a little.
    “I remember Frank,” Candace said, a little louder than necessary. “Did something happen to him, Mom? I hope it did. He’s not a nice man.”
    Dot looked a little surprised by her daughter’s vehemence. “Yes, something happened to him. He had an accident and he died, Candace. There will be funeral services for him at church tomorrow morning. Do you want to go?”
    Candace shook her head. “No. I have to work tomorrow and I don’t want to ask for a day off. And you said that we go to funerals because we’re sad when somebody dies. I don’t think I’m sad about Frank.”
    Candace was usually pretty blunt, but I’d never heard her express a hurtful thought about anybody before. She was the kind of person who bent down and took earthworms off the sidewalk so they wouldn’t dry up before they got to a strip of grass. The more I heard people talk about Frank Collins, the more I wondered about all the parts of his life I hadn’t been privy to. He certainly engendered a lot of hard feelings in the people he dealt with. This was, as the kids would say, one bad dude.
    “I want to go to the funeral, Candace’s mom. Will you take me?” Dot looked almost as surprised by the other woman’s request as she had at Candace’s outburst.
    “Sure, Lucy. I’d be happy to take you. Can you get off work tomorrow? I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
    “Wednesday is my day off. I don’t have to go in,” Lucy said. As I looked at Lucy more closely I could see one thing that might explain why she was living in a group home when at first she looked perfectly normal. The right side of her head didn’t appear to be shaped the same way as the left, making a shallow curved indentation under her black hair. Perhaps she’d suffered brain damage at some point. When we were alone I would ask Dot about it.
    “All right, then there’s no problem with you going,” Dot said and paused a moment. “Did you know about Frank before I came tonight?” Dot’s question struck me as a little strange until I remembered that she had told me before that Lucy was dating a young man apprenticed to the plumber. I had probably seen Matt without really knowing it when the kitchen in the apartment was being reworked. I tried to think back to Leopold’s crew, but couldn’t remember what he or his helpers looked like.
    Lucy looked down at the table. “I knew. Matt told me. He’s going to go tomorrow, too. I want to sit with him.”
    “I think that can be arranged,” Dot said. Suddenly she looked back at me. “Goodness, where are my manners? Gracie Lee, this is Candace’s roommate Lucy, and across the table from me is their friend Tina. Lucy and Tina, this is my friend Gracie Lee. She goes to my church, and lives in the apartment where Candace used to live a few years ago.”
    “Hi, Gracie Lee,” Lucy said. Tina looked up at me and then looked at Lucy while she scowled slightly. On her thin, slightly pinched face it wasn’t an attractive expression. Tina looked a little older than the other two, with short, straw-blond hair and faded blue eyes. I noticed that the dominoes in front of them all were the kids version that had pictures instead of dots to count. It was probably easier for some of them to manage.
    Tina was still scowling. “Are you going to play dominoes or not, Lucy? It’s your turn.”
    Lucy waved one hand. “In a minute, Tina. If you want to