Page 40 of Bone Echo

The idea of Junie Mae behind the wheel of her ancient Chevrolet, dodging every time a car in the thick Memphis traffic passed in the lane beside her, was enough to make Dudley want to ground her, the way he would Elizabeth Ann if she got out of hand when she became a teenager. But then, Mawmaw would have no way to get groceries or go to church or drive to her neighbor’s house to play bridge.

Even worse would be his mother witnessing the inside of the garage that was sealed with crime tape.

“Soon as I can I’ll come down there and drive you back so you can visit with Laura.”Unless it turns out she’s the perpetrator.

“Don’t you worry about me, hon. You just find Charlie. Iknowyou can.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I never doubted that for one single minute. My boys are the best! You find Charlie and tell him to quit scaring his Mawmaw this way.”

If only that were possible!

“I will. You get some rest now, and don’t worry.”

After he closed his Blackberry, Jack said to him, “I wish my mother was still living. I’d didn’t always do right by her.”

“Yeah. I know what you mean.”

They both stared out the window and drove the rest of the way to the station in pained and nostalgic silence, two grown men turned to little boys by the sound of a mother’s voice.

CHAPTER TEN

Memphis Police Station

The bullet casing and the casting of a man’s shoe added to their slim pile of evidence. So far, there was no record of anyone with a bullet wound to the arm coming to the medical clinics after the break-and-enter at Laura’s. The name EDNA SUE was posted in large letters on their board. Who was she? What did she have to do with Charlie?

While Dudley and Jack had been interviewing Laura and the gas station owner, the research team had scoured the internet and discovered a wealth of information about Charlie’s wife. Laura Sue Hilliard Stephens had lived in four foster homes before she was sixteen and had run away from one when she was only fourteen.

She lived in the first two homes until she was twelve without incident: Jimmy and Jane Gruber and Wesley and Anna Palmer, both Arkansas farm families. She was moved into Little Rock with school teachers Abel and Cynthia Jones when she was thirteen and ran away at fourteen. Records show she was sexually molested by both her foster parents.

Both were stripped of their teachers’ licenses, charged, and served ten years of their twelve-year prison sentence.

After counseling, Laura was moved into the home of Dr. and Mrs. Clifton Adams, where she lived until she aged out at eighteen.

Things got really interesting after that. If their hunch was right, the illusive man in a muscle car with Arkansas license plates could be the same one Laura became engaged to within a month of leaving the Adams home. A ne-er do well by the name of Maxey Cayson, arrested and charged six months later with assault and battery with a deadly weapon and felony rape. The accuser was none other than Laura, herself. He was convicted to twenty years and was currently out on parole.

The piece of evidence that would tie them together in Charlie’s murder was still missing. It would take a while for her telephone carrier to release her records.

“It’s time for some outside agency assistance,” Jack said.

“And food,” somebody yelled as boxes of pizza were brought into their war room.

By the time they were all pouring coffee and stacking pizza slices onto their plates, Dudley finally noticed the time. it was already seven o’clock. He bolted toward the men’s room like he’d been shot.

Behind closed doors, he punched in his wife’s cell phone number. She answered on the first ring.

“I’m still at the station.”

“I don’t want to hear any excuses, Dudley. In the morning you can explain to Elizabeth Ann why you didn’t care enough to come to her recital.”

“I probably won’t be there in the morning.” His statement was met with blistering silence. “It looks like Jack and I will be in Arkansas, following a lead.”

“You realize what day tomorrow is?” The question was loaded. She wasn’t asking him about the day of the week. Tomorrow was the start of the children’s spring vacation from school. Gloria Jean had already asked for time off from her firm.

Tomorrow Dudley was supposed to take his family to the Smoky Mountains for a spring vacation.

“We’ll have to postpone it a couple of days. Or you can go ahead with the children and I’ll join you when I can.” Silence from her end. “Gloria Jean? I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

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