the same place. And I wanted to be the Appalachian success story, you know? I wanted to be that woman. I didnât care to share any of it with you. Plus, I was jealous.â
âOh, come on.â
âI mean it. You had a handsome husband and a cute little baby girl and a lifeâa real life. You know what I had? I had a studio apartment and a rusty bike and a debt total that was rising so high and so fast I couldnât see over it anymore.â Her voice shifted, lightened, lost its load of bitterness. âAnd my dad. I had my dad.â She smiled. The smile chased the bleakness out of her face. âHe believed in me, Bell. As little as he had, he gave it to me. So that I could make something of myself. And not just money. Heâd send me these amazing letters twice, three times a week. Thatâs what kept me goingâseeing that West Virginia postmark. Iâd run home after class and Iâd tear open those letters and Iâd read every word. Just standing there, holding my books. I was hungry and tiredâit didnât matter. Iâd still stand there, reading every damned word. I couldnât wait. I craved those letters. Needed them. Turns out thatâs what I was really hungry for.â
âJust takes one.â
âOne what?â
âOne person who believes in you,â Bell said. âThe rest of the world can go to hellâas long as youâve got one person in your corner.â Darlene did not ask, but if she had, Bell would have told her that for her, the one person had been Nick Fogelsong, former sheriff of Raythune County. Heâd known her since she was ten years old. Heâd seen her through all the major phases of her life, good and bad. Without him, her life would have been ⦠Well, she did not want to finish that sentence. âYour dad must have been pretty special.â
âHe was. He really was. Anyone who knew him will tell you that. Heâd never been out of Barr County in his life and thenâ boom . Right after Pearl Harbor, he runs down and he enlists. Him and his two best friends. He was only fifteen, so he had to lie about his age. Served in the Navy. He was part of the D-Day landing. Never talked about it, but I got the story from other people over the years. He was a great man. A truly great man.â Darlene swallowed hard. âWhich is why youâre going to be surprised at what I came here to tell you tonight.â
âWhatâs that?â
Darlene leaned across the table. Her face had changed. The look in her eye was unsettling.
âI killed him,â she said.
âYouââ
âI didnât pull a trigger. But I saw there was something going on. I should have forced that director to get to the bottom of it. Iâll regret that for the rest of my life. Because now my father is dead. He trusted me to take care of him, and I let him down.â Her jaw tightened. When she spoke again, her voice had a lost and pleading quality to it. âIf you donât help meâsomeoneâs going to get away with murder.â
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
Bell stood alongside her Ford Explorer in the dark parking lot. She watched the snow come down in a furious, wind-driven swirl, the millions of bits briefly illuminated as they intersected with the thin triangle of light provided by the single bulb fastened to a pole alongside the lot.
By now the snow completely covered the gravel. It piled up in sugary peaks and tufts against the tires of the cars. It smothered windshields like grave blankets.
Back in the bar, she had listened to the rest of Darleneâs story. It was long on accusation, short on evidence. They had discussed options, strategies, possibilities. Then Darlene settled the bill. They looped thick scarves around their necks and buttoned up their heavy coats and tugged on gloves and left the low-slung, cinder block building, exchanging the crunch of peanut shells for the crunch