Page 68 of Rest In Pink

“He’s a good boy,” Hen said.

Jim grinned at me.

“So, they made you the new detective,” Hen said. “And they made Brandon Bartlett detective second grade?”

“Yes, ma’am.” I decided to cut to the heart of the matter. “Jim, did you know your father is out of jail?”

He lost his smile. “What?”

“Mickey Pitts was released from jail several months ago.”

There was a long pause while I could see Jim was thinking it through. “How’d he manage to do that?” he finally asked.

“You keep an eye out,” I warned him. “Do you think your father will try to contact you?”

Jim shook his head. “You said he’s been out for a while. What do you think? My mom and I were happy when he got sent to prison. How the hell did he get out? His sentence was twenty years.” He was trying to sound disgusted but there was something else underneath it, fear maybe?

“Paroled on good behavior.”

Surprisingly, Hen laughed at that. “Mickey Pitts and good behavior don’t belong in the same sentence. Dropped out his sophomore year because they were going to send him to juvie. Burnt down the church but they couldn’t pin it on him.” For a moment she looked different. “That was a sad affair all around. Not sure the church didn’t deserve it.”

He was burning more than that now, I thought, glancing at the remains of the museum down the street.

“Did he do that, too?” Hen said, following my eyes.

“It’s under investigation,” I said, and she snorted, so I went back to Jim.

“Did your father have something against the Blue family?”

“Besides Aunt Faye marrying Cleve?” Jim asked.

“He wasn’t happy about that?” I asked.

Jim shrugged. “Aunt Faye always thought she was better than us. According to my mom, she never looked back once she got married. Never tried to help the family.”

“Do you stay with Faye when you’re in town? At the Blue House and now at Margot’s?” I noticed that Hen was following the conversation, trying to look uninterested but with her ears pricked.

“I was at the Blue House until Cousin Margot rented it to that woman. Alex and I moved into the apartment above the laundromat. It’s cheap and that way we have some privacy.”

“Ever see a biker named Pete around the Blue House when you were there?”

Jim hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah.”

“How often?”

“He’d stopped by a couple of times over the years that I saw. Then started coming by regularly around three months ago.”

“About the time Mickey got out of prison,” I said.

“Just before cousin Navy died,” Jim said.

The words echoed inside my brain. Mickey Pitts got out of prison. Navy Blue, the eldest Blue male, goes through the guardrail. The cardboard factory catches fire, and now the cardboard museum, founded by Cleve. And Pete OneTree, head of the local chapter of the Iron Wolves, shows up to reacquaint himself with Faye Blue, formerly Faye Pitts.

Hen interrupted my jumble of thoughts. “You think Mickey Pitts had something to do with Navy Blue’s death?”

“It was an accident,” I automatically responded, I was so used to giving the party line. We all thought it was a suicide but wouldn’t admit it publicly. But now—

Hen snorted. “Like the fire at the museum was an accident? And last night? What happened at the Shady Rest? I heard someone died in the fire.”

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