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together forty years ago. Marie may think she and Lucinda are good buddies because they went to college together, but Lucinda sure don’t tolerate fools—and Marie’s as big a fool as I’ve ever met. She always thinks she’s more important than anybody else in the room. That just goes to show how stupid she really is.”
    Trust Melba to cut Marie down to size. I laughed. “Sounds like you know Lucinda Long pretty well.”
    â€œI sure do,” Melba said. “I worked on her very first campaign as mayor, and I’ve supported her ever since. She’s done more for this town than all the good ole boys who were in office before her.”
    I had to take Melba’s word for that last statement, since I hadn’t been here during the previous mayors’ tenures. I knew better than to argue with her, anyway.
    â€œShe’s not going to be paying any attention to that idiot,” Melba said. “So don’t even worry about it.”
    â€œThanks,” I said. “I hope the mayor’s rebuff will keep Marie out of my hair. I do not want to have to deal with her having a hissy fit every five minutes because she’s not getting her way.”
    â€œIf Lucinda can’t manage it,” Melba said, “give old Dr. Newkirk a call. He can’t stand the sight of Marie, and all he has to do is say,
Leap, frog
, and the head of the history department says,
How high
? He’ll see to it she doesn’t bug you.”
    â€œGood to hear.” I knew all about Dr. Newkirk’s reputation, and the fact that he was a close friend of the Long family convinced me that I could be firm with Marie and not worry about it. I didn’t intend to keep her from having access to the diaries, but I certainly wasn’t going to let her take them over like they were her own property.
    â€œEnough about Marie.” Melba chuckled. “When are you and Helen Louise going to set a date?”
    I rolled my eyes, even though I knew she couldn’t see me. There was no point in getting exasperated with Melba. She was incorrigible, and she reveled in it.
    â€œWhen we do, I’m sure you’ll know about it three seconds later,” I said. “The CIA could learn from you and your spy network.”
    â€œHow do you know they haven’t already?” Melba retorted. “I notice you said
when we do
, and not
if we do
. I reckon that means you’ll get around to asking her one of these days. I just hope it’s before you need a gurney to get you down the aisle.”
    â€œYou keep it up, and I won’t let you see Diesel for a week,” I said in as stern a tone as I could muster.
    â€œThat’s cruel and unusual, and you know Diesel won’t stand for it. Well, I guess I’d better get off the phone and see about dinner. I’ll see you Wednesday.”
    I smiled as I set my phone on the kitchen table. Melba loved kidding me almost better than breathing, and I had come to regard her as the sister I never had.
    I checked the casserole in the oven, and it wasn’t quite ready—another ten minutes ought to do it. I prepared a salad and poured a glass of iced tea. I was trying to give up diet sodas, and that meant drinking more tea. I also drank a lot of water, but I needed my caffeine.
    While I ate my salad I thought more about Rachel Afton Long and her diaries. Why was there such sudden fierce interest in them? I had both a student and a professor panting to get their hands on the old volumes. I wondered whether Kelly Grimes was a student of Marie’s. That could make an awkward situation even more difficult. I would do my best not to get in the middle of that, but I might not have a choice.
    Diaries were an important source for women’s history. Perhaps the most famous Civil War–era woman’s diary was that of Mary Boykin Chesnut. Her husband, James, served as a senator from South Carolina before the war. Later he became