The Sassy Belles Read Online Free Page A

co-counsel,
Blake O’Hara Heart, and when she couldn’t get her, she called me.”
    “Well,” Officer Dooley said, “then I go back to my original
question: Where is the body?” Officer Dooley pushed his tiny glasses up his tiny
nose and looked pointedly at Vivi.
    “I left the body at the Fountain Mist motel and that was the
last time I saw Lewis. Dead on the bed.”
    “An ambulance was called once we’d managed to talk to Vivi and
find out what had happened. It should be there right now,” Harry said.
    Officer Dooley looked relieved. “Well, now. That wasn’t so
hard, was it? I’ll send an officer and squad cars over now.” Vivi collapsed back
into a chair.
    I sat with Vivi, holding her hand and looking around at the old
room we were in, thinking back to my days as a child and visiting my grandfather
in his office just down the block. Nothing changes much in Tuscaloosa. It’s a
town that thrives on its rich history. And I loved that. I noticed that the
decor at the station hadn’t changed since probably 1945. Cracked leather chairs
with cotton seeping from their seats were scattered around the office.
Slow-moving, black ceiling fans whirred around the musty, damp air. The large
windows were just slightly open and the fragrant late Southern spring floated
inside, like slow deep breathing. The room became still. Officer Dooley called
in the incident.
    “Which room, Ms. McFadden?” he asked.
    “Room 106,” Vivi answered. “It was…our room.” The impact of the
moment suddenly strangled her and her voice weakened. Harry squatted down on one
knee to face Vivi eye to eye.
    I walked over to the old water fountain and grabbed one of
those pointy paper cups. I filled three, one for each of us, and walked to Vivi
and Harry and handed them the water.
    “Shouldn’t we head over there?” I said.
    “Yes and no,” Harry said. “Yes, Vivi will need to be there for
statements, but no, I’d rather her not talk. But…we don’t have a choice about
that.”
    We all took a swig of the water as if it were bourbon in a shot
glass, throwing it back like it would stop this nightmare.
    “C’mon, honey,” I said to Vivi. “I’ll be right there next to
you.”
    “Okay,” she said. “Let’s get this over with.”
    She grabbed my hand and pushed her red mass of curls from her
eyes. I could see Vivi breaking, tears coming quickly now. I squeezed her hand
and helped her up.
    “It’s okay, honey,” I said. “We all know you did nothing wrong.
You are going to be fine. Besides, you’ve got the two best attorneys in the
state.”
    And I was sure hoping I was right.

2
    “V ivi and I will go in my
car,” I said.
    “Okay,” Harry agreed. “I’ll take mine in case I have to leave.”
We heard the sirens of the police and emergency vehicles racing ahead of us as
we walked to the parking lot behind the station.
    The warmth of the late-spring sun hit my face in the street.
God, I so loved this time of year. With the magnolias in full blossom, the smell
of the coming Southern summer was overwhelming and transporting. A sweet,
pungent aroma lingered in the breeze, reminding me that summer and good
watermelon were just around the river bend.
    As though a time portal were drawing me in, I was suddenly
eight years old and on my grandmother’s screened front porch. I could smell her
roses and honeysuckle and the huge magnolia trees in the front yard. I watched
the bees on her camellias. I loved Mother’s, every corner of it. I took in a
deep whiff and pulled in as much of the fragrance as I could, held my best
friend’s hand and put her into the Navigator.
    As I walked around to get into the driver’s seat, I felt so
protective of Vivi. People could call her a lot of things, but they certainly
could never call her a murderer.
    As I slid onto the warm leather seat and put my key into the
ignition, Vivi looked over at me with her wet green eyes full of insecurity. “Am
I goin’ to jail, Blake?”
    I answered her