Who Let That Killer In The House? Read Online Free Page B

were a few who thought a Tanner ought to marry only a doctor, a lawyer, or a businessman, but most were tickled that she’d found that big gentle fireman with a face full of freckles and hair like a penny. With her splendid auburn hair, they made a striking couple. When the girls came along, everybody loved to see the Stantons, hair blazing in two shades of red, sharing ice cream downtown or walking down the aisle at church. For fourteen years they seemed a storybook family—until Fred was killed.
    The amazing thing was, all the while that trouble followed her up one year and down another, Sara Meg kept smiling. She had a drop-dead gorgeous smile with white, even teeth and a brave happy look in her dark eyes that made the whole town love her. Only Joe Riddley said there was something not quite natural about Sara Meg and her smile. “She doesn’t let things touch her,” he claimed. “Walks around with her eyes half-closed and doesn’t see a thing except what she wants to see.” Sara Meg had seen so much trouble, it seemed to me she had a right to shut out as much as she could.
    Speaking of trouble, who was that handsome blond man Bethany was all twined around down on the field? I asked as soon as Martha panted back up the bleachers, still carrying the bag and gasping, “I couldn’t catch her. But I saw Buddy and told him to meet us at Myrtle’s.”
    “That’s good. But who is that boy with Bethany?”
    Martha heaved a disgusted mother’s sigh. “Ridd calls him her latest mistake. His name is Todd Wylie. He’s nineteen, and he lives over in Louisville. They met at some party, and he’s been hanging around her for nearly a month. We think he’s too old for her, and too fast, but every time we say a word against him, she gets all stony-faced.”
    I could have said a few words against him myself. He was kissing my granddaughter down on the ball field in front of God and everybody, and she didn’t seem to mind a bit.
    Martha sighed again. “I’ve been wondering whether I ought to ask Hollis to caution Bethany a bit.”
    “Honey, I’m not sure right now Bethany would hear a word anybody said.”
    Martha looked down to where Buddy was shaking Garnet’s elbow to tell her it was time to leave. Garnet shut her book with obvious reluctance and rose to follow him. “Sometimes I wish Bethany were more like Garnet—interested in nothing except books and music.”
    I personally was glad Bethany was Bethany. She was a whole lot more alive than Garnet, who would look better if she’d stop hunching her shoulders and would wear something besides a shapeless maroon shirt and long black skirt. I couldn’t understand how a woman with Sara Meg’s artistic taste could let a daughter go around looking like she bought her wardrobe from passing bag ladies. Of course, Garnet was a musician. Maybe that’s what made her so peculiar.
    “I guess Garnet still takes piano lessons?” I asked Martha.
    “Oh, yes. Buddy drives her to Augusta every Friday afternoon.”
    “Why doesn’t she drive herself?”
    “Hollis says they won’t let her drive. Right after she got her license, she had a little fender bender and lost her confidence, so Sara Meg said she should wait a while and Buddy canceled her insurance.” Martha peered down at Bethany and Hollis, who were finally heading toward the locker room. “Those two have enough confidence for four. Has Bethany told you of their plan to drive from here to California as soon as they can convince their mothers to lend them a car?” We shared a laugh at the incredible assurance of high-school seniors, but our laughs were bittersweet. Those girls might jump up and down like preschoolers right now, but who knew to what distant places and dangers they’d be heading for in little more than a year?
    That reminded me of something I’d wanted to ask. “Why is Garnet still around? Wasn’t she accepted at a New York conservatory?”
    Martha made a face. “Yeah. But also according to