Page 43 of Trouble Comes in Threes

Miss Adolpha sighed. “Most of them live up in Little Rock, and they pester me to move up there, but I’ve lived here most of my life. I’m not sure I could do it. I had a wide group of friends, and even though some have moved on both geographically and metaphorically, I still have activities that keep me busy. Even in here.” She cleared her throat. “In any case, I know I have some photos of the house in here, and like I said, I thought they could help with your search.”

Miss Adolpha started pulling out photos. She looked so happy to be showing them to us that we kept asking her questions. They’d lived in two houses, and there were multiple photos of both. But something struck me when I looked at one of the front-view photos of the house on Olive Street.

“Neely Kate, look,” I said, pointing to the corner where we found the box. “There’s a bush here.”

She took the photo from me. “Oh my stars and garters! You’re right.”

“Is that a problem?” Miss Adolpha asked.

“That’s where we found the box,” I said. “And the bush wasn’t there when we started the landscaping project.”

“Which means the box was buried sometime after the bush was removed,” Neely Kate said, getting excited.

“Do you know when it was removed?” I asked.

Miss Adolpha rubbed her chin. “George removed it not long before we moved out.”

“So it could have been one of the renters,” Neely Kate said.

“Or one of the girls I mentioned yesterday. The girls next door,” Miss Adolpha said. “I’d forgotten how close the two houses were to each other.”

Neely Kate’s smile faded. “Miss Adolpha, did anyone dangerous live in your rental house?”

Obviously, she was thinking about my vision.

“Dangerous?” she asked in surprise. She shook her head. “No. Of course not. George was very careful about who lived there.”

“What about next door?” Neely Kate pressed.

The elderly woman released a nervous chuckle. “Do you think whatever’s in the box is dangerous?”

“No, of course not,” I assured her. “We’re just gathering information.”

“Trying to make sure we don’t accidentally talk to someone who’s unsavory,” Neely Kate said, trying to sound nonchalant but not quite pulling it off.

Miss Adolpha seemed to consider it for a moment. “There might have been someone.”

“Someone dangerous?” I asked in surprise.

Her lips pressed together. “Yes. George claimed a bunch of thugs had moved in next door. They had lots of very loud parties, and the man who lived there was arrested for assault a few times.”

I took a second to absorb what she’d said. “Do you remember their names?”

She considered it for a few seconds. “No. I can’t seem to recall. I’m sorry.”

“Do you know when they might have lived there?” I asked.

“It was when the Kempners lived there. They were upset with all the ruckus and threatened to break the lease and move. But thankfully, the man got arrested for something or another, and it must have stuck because he didn’t come back. The other people living there moved, and new people moved in soon after.”

“Do you possibly have a timeframe?” I asked.

She drew in a breath as she closed her eyes. “I want to say that my son Greg was eleven or twelve. He mowed the Kempners’ yard one summer after Bill Kempner broke his leg. George considered dropping him off and picking him up later, but he was worried about leaving him alone with the neighbors next door.”

“And how old is David now?” Neely Kate asked.

“In his late forties. So that would have been about thirty years ago.”

“That’s very helpful,” I said. “Thank you.”

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