Page 61 of The Girl in the River

“I wonder who that call was from,” Ellie said glancing back at the store. “She certainly shut us down right after it.”

She glanced through the window. Missy finally picked up the card, then she tossed it into the trash and snagged her phone again. Her dark lips curled into a frown and she paced back and forth behind the counter, clearly upset.

What had she meant when she said she was handling it? Was she talking about the business? Or was she referring to them?

EIGHTY

Ellie and Derrick walked from Moonbeams to the souvenir shop, Moondust. T-shirts boasting the name of the town catered to tourists with shelves of trinkets, natural stones and gems. Small vials containing fake moondust were also a commodity.

The store manager was a robust woman who also praised the Moons. “Wouldn’t have no job without that family,” she said as she motioned to another clerk to take over the register.

“I do remember Jesse,” she said, her eye twitching. “Always thought her designs were ahead of the times for these parts, but they weren’t as wild as Missy’s.”

“Do you know anything about Jesse’s disappearance?” Derrick asked.

“Just what the Moons said. She ran off and left poor Kevin.” She clucked her teeth. “Boy was all busted up for months.”

They chatted for another moment before leaving, passing the coined-laundromat, which was empty, then stopping in the convenience store. Hunched behind the checkout counter, a scrawny gray-haired man in overalls squinted through coke-bottle glasses. His name tag read Buster and an opened can of Pabst Blue Ribbon sat behind the counter.

Derrick introduced them, then asked about the Moons. The man coughed into his hand, eyes darting around the store as if to make sure they were alone.

“People round here owe ’em,” Buster said.

“Does that include you?” Ellie asked.

His wrinkled face twisted into a scowl. “Yeah. Fell on hard times but Moon asked me to run this place. Ain’t glamorous but keeps the lights on.”

And him in beer, Ellie thought.

“Did you know Jesse Habersham?” Derrick asked.

“Seen her around, but never talked to her.”

Just then, a short beefy guy with a scraggly beard in overalls entered, his eyes cutting to Buster, his teeth stained from chewing tobacco.

As the man veered toward the back by the cooler, Buster ducked his head and his hand trembled as he reached for his PBR.

Ellie left her card with him and they exited, but her anxiety was mounting. They visited two more shops with the same response each time. Everyone owed the Moons.

“Let’s go into Moon Pies then head to Moondoggy’s for lunch.” Cafés were always a hub of gossip and conversation.

“I haven’t had a Moon Pie since I was a kid,” Derrick said.

“These are homemade,” Ellie said as they entered. “Look, they even have RC colas.” One of her favorite Southern treats when she and her dad went camping was an RC cola and a Moon Pie.

A bell rang as they entered and Ellie saw a woman behind the counter handing over Moon Pies to three children and another two to the parents with a smile. She was as wide as she was tall and her apron was dusted with flour and dotted with chocolate stains.

When she saw them, her smile faded.

Ellie smiled and introduced them as they stepped up to the counter, asking her name. Always better to appear friendly and non-confrontational.

“Name’s Opal Dean,” the woman replied, “but folks around here call me Ms. Opal,” she said, as if she was proud they respected her.

“Hi, Ms. Opal. Your Moon Pies look great. We’ll take a couple to go,” Derrick said.

The woman wrapped two pies and put them in a bag, but her eyes kept shooting to the door. The same reaction Buster had had.

“Did you know Jesse Habersham?” Ellie asked as she picked an RC cola from the glass case next to the counter.

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