Page 159 of Call Back

Chapter 31

My mother was buriedon a warm Monday afternoon in April.

I stood by her grave and looked up at the clear blue sky, feeling the sun on my face.

“It’s a good day for a funeral,” Tilly said. “Your mother would have loved it.”

Colt laughed. “She would have made fun of you for saying that.”

The minister gave us dirty looks, but I didn’t care. He obviously hadn’t known my mother.

As per my mother’s instructions, she only had a graveside service, which lasted less than ten minutes, also per her instructions. Roy had a fit, but the funeral home insisted Momma was very specific. I watched her coffin lowered into the rectangular hole, but I knew she wasn’t there. She wasn’t in the clouds either. She was in Tilly and Belinda, and even in Colt. She was in my fresh-brewed coffee and the coffee cake I’d made that morning without a single screwup. She was in her once again impeccably clean house. She was in Tilly’s laugh, Colt’s protectiveness, and Belinda’s goodness.

I had my father’s looks, but I had my mother’s practicality, a trait that would last me years longer than my beauty. I realized she’d spent her life preparing me for the real world, even if I hadn’t known it. I didn’t need a goodbye, because she wasn’t really gone. She was still here, looking over my shoulder and yelling at me for filling shrimp puffs with buttercream frosting. She was whispering in my ear to be brave. That I was a strong, capable woman. That I would survive this loss.

When the service was over, Roy stood to my right ignoring me as we greeted the mourners. I shook hands for nearly an hour, realizing for the first time how many people were there.

Roy left first. When I saw Brady approaching me, I sent Tilly and Belinda to the funeral dinner, telling them I would catch up. Colt saw Brady and gave me a questioning look.

“I need to talk to him. But I’d like you to wait.”

He nodded and walked toward the back of the chairs that had been set up.

Brady stopped in front of me. “I’m truly sorry for your loss, Magnolia,” he said, casting a glance toward her grave.

“Thank you.”

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard the news, but Bill James has disappeared.”

My mouth gaped. “I haven’t.”

“Two bodies were found in the basement of Savannah House,” he said, watching me closely. “The night of the ball.”

I feigned surprise. “Oh, my goodness.”

“An old associate of your father’s was murdered. Do you know anything about it?”

“An associate? I didn’t know Daddy had any left.”

“Rowena Rogers. And someone we presume was working with her.”

“Do you think that’s why Bill James left?”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Who said he left?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Are you really interrogating me at my mother’s graveside, Detective Bennett?”

He looked flustered at that. “I’m sorry. But we need to talk soon.” He leaned closer. “And we need to take a walk out in the woods behind your mother’s house.” He took a step back. “I’ll be in touch. Once again, I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” I murmured and watched him walk away as someone else approached me.

The last of the mourners went on their way, and finally Colt and I were alone next to Momma’s open grave. We’d been too busy with funeral preparation and my grief to address his betrayal, and I knew he sensed it was only a temporary reprieve. The reckoning was coming.

“How long?” I asked, knowing he’d know what I meant.

“Three years.” He sounded relieved to finally address the cloud that had been hanging over us.

“How did it happen?”

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