Page 17 of The Dollmaker

Henry shrugged. “It’s been about a week. I owned a lawn business in Nashville, and I didn’t get up here much. I only just moved back a couple of months ago.”

“Why’d you move back?” Sharp asked.

“The work dried up in Nashville. Hoping to get more here.”

“I have twenty-six grandchildren,” Mrs.Jones said. “It’s getting harder and harder to get them together.”

Henry shook his head. “Grandma raised him right despite his no-account daddy, but I should’ve helped more.”

“Mrs.Jones, I understand he’d just gotten money from you for his birthday,” Sharp coaxed.

Henry nodded. “Twenty dollars.”

“Was my boy robbed and killed for twenty dollars?” Mrs.Jones asked.

“I don’t know. You said his father was in and out of prison? Is he currently incarcerated?”

“Jimmy’s out,” Henry said. “He’s been out over a month.”

Mrs.Jones’s jaw tightened. “He should be rotting in jail.”

“What’s his father’s full name?” Sharp asked.

Henry glanced at his grandmother. “James Tyler Dillon. Jimmy to everyone.”

“Have either of you seen him at all since his release?”

“No,” Mrs.Jones said. “He knows I’d get my double-barreled shotgun handy, and I will shoot him if he shows up on my property.”

Henry shook his head. “I saw him on Saturday in town. He came by my new shop looking for Terrance.”

“You never told me,” she said.

“I didn’t want to upset you. I know how you feel about him. I told him Terrance had missed having him around all these years.”

Mrs.Jones wiped a tear from her cheek. “You should have told me. I’d have tracked him down and run him out of town.”

“Grandma don’t mean that,” Henry said to Sharp.

“Did you tell Terrance about the visit?” Sharp asked.

“I didn’t want to, but I knew Terry had always wanted to know his daddy better. I shouldn’t have, but I called and told him.”

“And what did the boy do?” Sharp asked.

“Jimmy left a number for Terry to call him, and I gave it to Terry. I don’t know what he did with the number.”

“Henry!” Mrs.Jones said. “What the hell were you thinking? Jimmy is the devil!”

Henry nodded, his face tight with grief. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Where is Jimmy Dillon now?” Sharp interjected.

“I don’t know,” Henry said. “He took off again. I called him when we couldn’t find Terrance, but he never called back. He does that. Comes and goes like a cat.”

“He runs from trouble,” Mrs.Jones said.

“Do you know if Terrance called his father?”

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