Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons
Page 97

Anger seethed in my gut. “Well, this whole morning hasn’t gone the way I wanted it to, so consider us even.”
“You’re forgettin’ who has the gun here.”
“Then shoot me already!”
“Not until you get that diary.”
That meant I had a little time. He wanted the nonexistent diary and was willing to delay my execution until he got it. However, he seemed agitated enough that I wasn’t sure that he’d take the time to drive to the woods before finishing me off.
Thinking about Joe opened the door to my fear and it swamped my head, stealing all my senses. I shoved it back before I started bawling. I suspected Jimmy would rather deal with a babbling woman than a sobbing one.
“I still don’t know why you killed Frank. I know you’re a murderer and all, but you’re still a Southern gentleman and I would hope you’d keep your word.”
“Well, you keep interrupting.”
“I’m not interruptin’ now!”
“After the pensions were stolen, I was eating lunch at Merilee’s. I happened to be sittin’ behind two zoning employees and they were discussing the rezoning for the superstore. I already had two rental properties in Forest Ridge, but realized if I bought houses in strategic locations, I might get more money. Most of the owners were willin’ to sell. They didn’t know anything about the superstore and with the economy being so bad, I practically stole those houses out from under ’em.”
“Except for Frank.”
“His house was dead center. But that stubborn son of a bitch flat-out refused. He was in debt up to his eyeballs and I kept raising the offer but nothing. They had to get sixty percent of the owners to agree or the deal fell through. If he refused to sell, they might have moved the parking lot further north and I’d be stuck with all fifteen houses.”
“But I don’t understand. Killing him didn’t help anything. He couldn’t sell it if he was dead and his son sold it to an investment company in Louisiana.”
He grinned. “Owned by my third cousin. We split the profit from the sale to the superstore.”
“So it couldn’t be tracked back to you. It would look suspicious if you bought it a couple of months after he died.”
“Exactly, although the Henryetta Police had already arrested Bruce Decker. Besides, I didn’t mean to kill Frank. I just wanted to scare him. But we got to arguing, and the next thing I knew, I picked up a crowbar off a shelf and whacked him.”
“And you stole the money to make it look like a robbery.”
“Yeah, I would have taken more, but I realized I’d lost my grandmother’s pin and I was searching for it. I heard a noise in the warehouse and took off before I remembered the cash.”
“Not that it mattered. The police didn’t care.”
“Gotta love the Henryetta Police Department.”
I didn’t see the point in disagreeing.
Jimmy was only a block from my house. I needed to come up with something fast. “But an innocent man is takin’ the blame. You don’t feel guilty about that?”
“I did at first. Until I realized he had a long arrest record.”
“But nothing violent.”
Jimmy shrugged.
“What about me?” I didn’t mean for it too sound strangled. I took a breath and forced myself to sound brave. “I don’t have an arrest record. I’m an innocent citizen.”
He laughed. “You are far from innocent. I’ll admit, I felt bad when I first decided you had to go, but it’s you or me. And let’s face it, you’ve annoyed a lot of people.”
Jimmy pulled into my driveway and I pondered the truth of his statement. Maybe I’d annoyed half the town, Jimmy included, but that wasn’t a crime worthy of execution.
I wasn’t going out without a fight. Jimmy DeWade had messed with the wrong woman.
Miss Mildred walked out her front door, watering can in her hand and I knew exactly what she was up to. Only a fool would water her flowers in the heat of the day, and while Miss Mildred was a lot of things, a fool wasn’t one of them.
For once, I might be able to use Miss Mildred to my advantage.
Jimmy looked through the windshield. “Is that your shed?”
“Yeah, but I need the key. It’s inside.”
“Okay, we’ll get the key then wander back there. Do anything stupid and I won’t hesitate to shoot you, got it?”
I didn’t see the point of all of this. Jimmy had noticed Miss Mildred out on her porch, but maybe he was fooled by her age, especially after I’d told him she was blind and deaf. Well, he was in for a rude awakening. Not only could Miss Mildred give a perfect description of any suspect from fifty feet away, I wouldn’t be surprised if she couldn’t draw the photographic likeness herself.
“I still have to pee.” My bathroom had a window. If he let me go take care of business, I could climb out and run for help.
“You keep saying that but so far, you seem to be doing fine.”
I lifted my eyebrows in indignation. “Would you rather I pee on your seat and leave DNA evidence?”
“Fine…”
It took me three pushes to get passenger door open. Jimmy walked around the back of the car and stood next to the door. As I climbed out, I glimpsed Miss Mildred crossing the street with a broom in her hand.
Oh crappy doodles.
“I’ve had enough of this nonsense!” she shouted.