“I’m Sara Chisum. Janet was my older sister.”
“I’m sorry,” said Robie. “But then I don’t understand why you’re here. Back there on the dirt road is where they found Clancy’s body in his car.”
She looked around, her face twisted in confusion. “I…I didn’t know that. This spot was where Janet and me would come.”
Robie leaned against a tree and folded his arms over his chest. “Why would you come here?”
Sara Chisum looked uncertain for a moment. The next second she stared defiantly at him and said, “What the hell business is it of yours?”
Robie said, “I was young once. And I had spots along the Pearl where I came to drink beer. And do other… things.”
This assessment seemed to take all the fight out of the young woman. She plunked down on a fallen tree. “We’d smoke some weed, too. Not something our parents would understand. But there’s just nothin’ to do around here. I hate it.”
“Why’d your family move here?”
“Work. For my dad.”
“What’s he do?”
She looked nervously at her shoes. “He’s the preacher over at the Jerusalem Baptist Church. We came from Mobile. He…he doesn’t know about what we do here. Or did here,” she added hastily, her lips quivering.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
She looked at him curiously. “You’re not from around here?”
“No, but I was.” He paused, choosing his next words carefully. “They say your sister spent time with Clancy?”
He thought she might get angry again, but she didn’t. She just kept looking down at her shoes, even as her hand slipped into her bag and pulled out a can of Coors Light. She popped the top and took a swig.
“He gave her money.” She looked up. “He gave me money, too.”
“So he liked giving people money?”
She nodded. “But not for nothin’,” she said slowly. “No, not for nothin’. We had to do stuff for him.” She said in a small voice. “To him.”
“Did your parents know about any of that?”
“They didn’t till that stuff about Janet came out in the trial. I had to testify. Like to kill my daddy. Then they didn’t even convict the bastard.”
“Because he had an alibi.”
She took another sip of beer and held it up. “You want some?”
“No thanks.”
“Right, he had an alibi.” She looked at him accusingly. “Your daddy’s wife gave it to him. She was with him the night Janet was killed. That’s what she said.”
“And if she was, that means someone else killed your sister. Any idea who that might have been?”
“I…I couldn’t say nothin’ ’bout that.”
“I didn’t ask you if you could. I asked if you had any ideas.” She didn’t answer him, and Robie waited a few moments before adding, “I know you want your sister’s killer to pay for what he did.”
“Of course I do!” she snapped.
“Have the police talked to you about it?”
“Not yet. But I guess they will. I guess they’re sort’a focusin’ on your daddy for killin’ Clancy. Police department ain’t that big, I reckon.”
“You have another sister, don’t you?”
“Emma. But she’s only thirteen. She don’t know nothin’.”
“Have you talked to her about it?”
“She don’t know nothin’, okay!”
He put up his hands in mock surrender. “Okay.”
Robie made a mental note to check out what Emma Chisum might actually know.
“I gotta go,” said Sara.
“Damn, Will, sight for sore eyes, man, sight for sooorrre eyes,” replied Aubrey Davis, his twangy speech so exaggerated that Robie felt sure the man was doing it in front of the locals simply to increase his potential vote count when he ran for Congress.
He sat on the stool next to Robie and unbuttoned his jacket. He flicked a finger at the waitress, and a few moments later a cup of black coffee was set in front of him.
“Thank you, darlin’,” said Davis before turning sideways on his stool and eyeing Robie.
“What the hell you been doin’ with yourself, Will?”
“This and that.”