Page 58 of The Killing Plains

Colly approached the bed and knelt so that she was eye-level with the grieving mother. “This is a tough question, but I have to ask: is it possible Jace—”

“No.” Jolene leaned in so that Colly smelled her breath, a sour mixture of coffee and toothpaste. “Jace has a temper and drinks too much. But if he hurt Denny, he woulda told me.”

“Jace was here when you got home Saturday morning?”

Jolene nodded. “Asleep on the couch. We talked a few minutes, then I made some eggs. We was finishing our coffee when Russ Newland knocked. I couldn’t make no sense of what he said,at first. I told him it must be some other boy by the pond.” She looked away.

Watching her, Colly had a brief, vivid memory of standing at her own living room door, clutching her handgun and staring without comprehension at the scene in front of her.

She pushed the thought aside and turned to Carmen. “Did you see Denny at the clinic when you cleaned it that day?”

Carmen shook her head. “I didn’t get there till after dark. I do it last on Fridays, ’cause the counselors stay late sometimes, finishing their weekly reports. No one was there. I went in the back door—”

Colly looked up. “Was it unlocked?”

“I have a key. I remember thinking it’d be a quick job with Dr. Shaw out of town. His office wouldn’t need much. But there was play-therapy toys all over Brenda’s office. She keeps them in a suitcase in her office closet, but the closet was locked, so it took me a while to find a box to put them in.” Carmen had finished by ten o’clock and, a half-hour later, was home, watching TV in bed, unaware of her nephew’s death until the next morning.

Colly heard a sound and looked up. Avery was leaning against the doorjamb, her hands in her pockets. She met Colly’s eyes and jerked her chin towards the exit. She seemed excited. Colly stood, her knees cracking.

Back in the living room, they thanked their hosts. As she started to follow Avery out the door, Colly paused. “Mrs. Hoyer, can you tell me where you and Jace were yesterday evening?”

Jolene blinked. “Right here, watchin’ the basketball game. Why?”

A sudden, shrill scream and a whir of beating wings cut off Colly’s response. She felt a rush of air as the parrot shot past her face and landed on Jolene’s shoulder.

“That thing flies?” Colly gasped.

“Jace won’t trim Fred’s wings—says it’s cruel.”

“But he’s fine with stabbing a hog through the eye,” Avery murmured in Colly’s ear.

The bird cocked its head and glared at them with a yellow-ringed eye. “Tan your hide, bitch! Shut your hole!”

“You’re sure Jace was with you the whole evening, Mrs. Hoyer?” Colly asked. “Could you have dozed off?”

“I—I was awake.”

The parrot began to bob its head rapidly. “Useless bitch. Better not, better not.”

“Good game last night,” Avery said. “Fourth quarter was a real nail-biter, huh?”

Jolene nodded distractedly. “If something happened last night, Jace didn’t do it. I dunno why folks are so quick to think the worst of him.”

“Because it saves time,” Avery muttered.

Fred chuckled. “Freakin’ psycho.”

Colly thanked Jolene and followed Avery outside.

“Likehellshe was awake,” Avery said when they were back in the car. “That game was dull as dirt after halftime. She was probably drugged out of her mind.” Avery pulled out her phone and thumbed through her apps. “This was in the bathroom.” She showed Colly a photograph of an orange pill bottle.

“You rifled their medicine cabinet?”

“I texted to ask if it was okay, but you didn’t answer. It’s not like I stole anything.”

Colly sighed and took the phone, enlarging the photo with her fingers. “Xanax, huh?”

“Filled a week ago, but there’s only a few pills left. Jolene’s over-medicating.”

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