Page 42 of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

“Thank you,” Belinda said with tears in her eyes. “And Magnolia appreciates it too. Even if she’s not very good at showing it.”

Then she got in her car and they drove away, Magnolia giving the house one last, sullen look.

Chapter Sixteen

Summer

Idropped Dixie off in front of the office, then headed west to an older neighborhood where Luke’s father lived. His small ranch house was in desperate need of updates, but Chip Montgomery considered fixing up his house a frivolous waste of money. When I once mentioned that new windows would increase the resale value as well as help with his heating and cooling bills, he told me he was never selling and he never used the a/c…which was true, and one of several reasons I hadn’t visited him at his house over the summer. A house without air conditioning in southern Alabama was a hotbox. Thankfully it was cooler now, but I would have come to see him anyway. Chip was a hoarder, and I was hoping it would work to my advantage.

I wasn’t sure if he’d be home, so I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw his car in the driveway. He used to work for a lumber mill outside of town that had closed a few years ago, succumbing to the competition from Dunbar Lumber on the north side of town. He’d just turned fifty and hadn’t been able to find another job, so he’d started repairing lawn mowers in his home garage. Between the small insurance payout he’d gotten after the death of Luke’s mother, his limited income, and his frugalness, he seemed to get by just fine.

I parked in front of the house and walked up to the open single-bay garage. He was sitting in an old, metal office chair, leaning over to work on a push mower so rusted it looked like it needed to be scrapped.

“Well hello, Summer,” he said good-naturedly as I entered the garage. “What brings you by?”

“Oh, a few things, but first, how are you? I haven’t seen you in a few weeks, and Luke said you’d had a cold.”

“Oh,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Allergies.”

“With a fever?” I asked skeptically.

“Luke and his brother are worrywarts. Especially Levi since he got that medical degree.”

“You let them worry,” I said with a grin. “They want to make sure you’re taken care of.”

His eyes took on an ornery look. “You could bring me a home-cooked meal every now and again.”

I laughed. “You presume that I cook. I’ve told you before that Luke’s the one who does a lot of the cooking when we eat together. I just assist.”

“When you gonna marry my son and make an honest man out of him?”

I laughed again. “I’m not sure that’s the way it works.”

“At least you two aren’t livin’ in sin.”

Knowing him as I did, I was pretty sure he was serious. He had some antiquated ideas and marriage for cohabitation was one of them.

“You think we’re as pure as the driven snow because we aren’t sleeping in the same bed every night?” I teased.

He closed his eyes and cringed. “Cathy’s rollin’ in her grave listenin’ to you talk.”

“Cathy’s too busy playing the church organ with the heavenly choir to hear anything I say, so don’t you spend another moment worryin’ aboutthat.”

He tried to look stern, but the corners of his lips twitched and his eyes twinkled.

“Well, now that I know you’re not sick, and we’ve determined that my soul and Luke’s are safe, I have a question to ask.”

“Shoot,” he said, giving his attention to the lawn mower again.

“I know you’ve gone to the Methodist church since you were a baby.”

“My mother took me there when I was four days old,” he said with a note of pride.

“Well, there you go,” I said, leaning my shoulder into a wooden shelf attached to the wall. “Do you remember anything about the Brewer family? The parents were Jim Bob and Celia Brewer, and they had two daughters—Lila and I’m not sure about her younger sister’s name. The sisters would have been a bit older than you, I think. I think they were members of the church.”

He pursed his lips, a faraway look clouding his eyes. “They sound vaguely familiar, but I can’t remember anything specific.” He eyed me warily. “Why?”

“Just curious,” I said, acting nonchalant. “I heard that the younger sister died, but I don’t know how. Lila left town around the same time, or so I hear through the grapevine. I thought maybe you might remember.”

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