"Anyway, he said he got back to Fannie's at around three in the morning. He figured Fannie would still be up cleaning, and sure enough, the front door was unlocked. When he got inside, he saw that the place was a wreck, with the tables moved and everything pulled off of the shelves behind the bar. Then he saw Fannie lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. He said he tried to revive her, but she was already gone. Supposedly that's why he had blood all over him when Fannie's boy Tim came in and saw them. Tim took one look and went running for help. He brought back his uncle Eb and Eb's wife, and they held the shotgun on Caleb while they waited for me to get there."
"It sounds pretty circumstantial to me," I said.
"It was circumstantial, all right, but the circumstances all fit the theory. Everybody in town knew that Caleb was saving up money to buy himself a house before he proposed to Edna, and everybody knew that Fannie was supposed to have a bunch of money stashed somewhere in the bar. The idea was that Caleb came back to look for it, and when Fannie caught him and threatened to call the police, he lost control and hit her. It looked like an accident to me. He pushed her or maybe punched her, and she fell and struck her head on the corner of the bar. He'd probably have gotten a light sentence if he had plea bargained."
"But he didn't."
Chief Norton shook his head. "He denied it to the bitter end. Enough of the jurors believed him that he was found not guilty."
"What do you think?"
Chief Norton didn't answer right off, just reached for another cookie and took his time eating it. "I always liked Caleb Wilkins, but he had been drinking that night. And he was in an awful hurry to marry Edna. I didn't want to believe that he was guilty, and when the court said he wasn't, I was willing to treat him that way."
I could tell that there was more to it. "But...?"
"Laurie Anne, there's nothing I can grab onto, but it just seemed to me that Caleb wasn't telling the whole story. At first I believed him, but after a while I got the feeling that he was holding something back." He shook his head regretfully. "I tried to get him to tell me what it was, but he just kept saying that he had told me everything he was going to."
"You don't have any idea of what he wasn't telling you?"
"I can't even be sure that there was anything, but I had this feeling."
Chief Norton's "feelings" were legendary in Byerly, so I took him seriously.
"That's all I've got," he said.
I asked, "Did you check on the other people who were at the party that night?"
"Of course I did."
"And?"
"A few of them had alibis, but most of them didn't. Pretty much everybody said they had gone home to bed. Either their wives and husbands verified it, which didn't mean a whole lot, or they went home alone."
"So somebody else who was at the party could have done it. Or somebody completely different."
"There weren't any strangers seen, and only people in town would have known about the money." He shrugged. "Now you know about as much as I do. What do you think?"
"I'm just not sure," I said honestly. I wanted to believe Aunt Edna and Aunt Nora, but the evidence was awfully compelling. Even so, Chief Norton hadn't been convinced Wilkins was guilty, despite the evidence, so maybe I shouldn't be either. "I guess that when we find Wilkins," I said, looking at Richard for confirmation, "we'll make up our minds then."
Richard nodded, and added, "If we can find him, that is."
"Finding him is no problem," Chief Norton said with a grin. "He owns a grocery store in Greensboro."
"How did you know that?" I said.
"I keep in touch with the police over there, have been ever since Caleb left Byerly."
"Why?" I asked.
"Fannie's money. We don't know that he found it because it wasn't on him, but we never found it anywhere else. I just wanted to see if he suddenly started spending more than he should have."
Richard said, "But he had already been tried once. You couldn't have arrested him again."
"Probably not," Chief Norton agreed. "Of course we only tried him for the murder, so we might could have tried him for the robbery if he started spending Fannie's money. At least, that's what I told the police in Greensboro. That wasn't the real reason. I just wanted to know. There were a couple of other murders while I was police chief that weren't officially closed, but I had a pretty good idea of who committed them. I never was sure of what happened to Fannie, and it kind of stuck in my craw. It still does, even after all these years." He drank the last of his coffee and said, "If y'all will wait for a minute, I'll go find Caleb's address for you."
Mrs. Norton and Junior's sisters arrived just as Chief Norton gave us the address, and after a few minutes of chatting, Richard and I took it as an excuse to leave. The last thing we heard on our way out the door was Mrs. Norton fussing at Chief Norton. "You made them eat broken cookies with all these nice ones fixed? What on earth were you thinking of?"
It was too late in the day to drive to Greensboro, so Richard and I headed back to Aunt Nora's for dinner. She wasn't really expecting us, but she knew we were in town and that meant that she'd cook about twice as much food as usual, just in case we showed up. I wasn't about to let any of her good cooking go to waste, especially not her biscuits.
This time I didn't mention Caleb Wilkins. Aunt Nora isn't the best woman in Byerly to keep a secret, and I wanted to be sure that Wilkins was worth bringing home before the word got out.
Instead we talked about the family: whether I knew that Sue was pregnant again and how Arthur was doing as city councilor and did I think that Ilene was serious about her new boyfriend. After all, that's why I come home for Christmas.
* * *
The next morning, Richard and I got up bright and early to make the two–hour drive to Greensboro. Since Wilkins owned a grocery store, our plan was to go to the store and see if we could spot him there. If we didn't get a chance to talk to him at the store, we'd go to his home address.
We got to Greensboro at around eleven and after consulting a map, found the store pretty quickly. It was a small place, but the number of cars in the parking lot showed that Wilkins had his share of customers.
I pulled out a shopping cart as we walked in the door.
"What's that for?" Richard asked.
"We can't just browse in a grocery store," I said. "It would look funny." We glanced around, but didn't see anybody old enough to be Caleb Wilkins, so we started slowly going down the aisles.
The shopping cart really had just been for camouflage, but I did find a few things to put inside.
"Pork rinds?" Richard asked, with a look of distaste.
"I like them," I said. And the country ham would keep for us to carry back to Boston, and you can't get Cheerwine, my favorite cherry soda, anywhere but in North Carolina. Fortunately, before I could fill the cart, we saw an older man with a name tag on that said, "Mr. Wilkins."
"There he is," I whispered.
"Looks decent enough."
Not like a murderer, Richard meant. I know you can't tell a book by its cover, but I certainly wouldn't have picked out the round–faced man with salt–and–pepper hair as anybody sinister.
I suddenly realized that this whole trip might be a waste of time if he were already married. Just because Aunt Edna was lonely didn't mean that he was. I took a closer look, and was relieved to see that there was no wedding band on his finger.
We were trying to be surreptitious, but I guess he could tell that we were watching him, because after approving a check for one of the cashiers, he came over to Richard and me.
"Can I help y'all with something?" he asked with a smile.
I said, "Mr. Wilkins? Mr. Caleb Wilkins?"
"Yes."
"From Byerly?"
The smile seemed to freeze. "I used to live there, yes."
"Mr. Wilkins, my name is Laura Fleming, and I'm from Byerly. This is my husband Richard."
There was a pause as we all tried to decide whether or n
"What can I do for you, Mrs. Fleming?"
"My aunt is Edna Randolph." Then I corrected myself. "Edna Burnette Randolph."
He nodded and looked a little more at ease. "The Christmas card I sent."
"Yes, sir. Do you think we could talk for a few minutes?"
He glanced around the store. "I think I could leave for a little while, and my house is just around the corner. Why don't we go there?"
We agreed, though I did wonder if going to a suspected murderer's house was a good idea. He spoke to his assistant while Richard and I paid for our groceries and loaded them into the car. Then we all walked to Wilkins's house. None of us spoke along the way.
Wilkins had a nice house, and I realized it was oddly similar to Aunt Edna's. It was just as neat, just as well–tended, just as empty. He let us into the living room, offered us a drink, and when we declined, gestured us toward the couch and sat opposite us in a wing chair.
Wilkins said, "I thought that it might be a mistake to send Edna that card. It's just that I was thinking of her and I wanted her to know. Is she doing all right?"
"She's fine."
"And the rest of your family?"
"Just fine."
"I remember that Edna's sister Alice had a little girl named Laurie Anne. Is that you?"
"Yes, sir." Then I added, "My mother passed away many years ago."
"I knew about that. I did try to keep up with things in Byerly for a while, but I haven’t heard anything in a long time." He thought for a minute. "How's Edna's family? I know that she married Loman Randolph. They just had the one son, didn't they?"
I nodded. "Linwood. He's married himself now, with three children and another on the way."
"Is that right? I can't imagine Edna as a grandmother. She and Loman must be very proud."
"Actually, Loman has been dead for about a year and a half."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't know."
I asked, "How about you? Did you ever get married?" It was probably rude to ask, but I had to be sure. I was pretty sure he hadn't, both because there was no ring on his finger and because the house didn't show any signs of a woman.
He shook his head slowly. "No, I never did." Wilkins went on to ask a few more questions about people in Byerly, and I answered them as best I could. Finally he asked, "Did Edna have a message for me or anything?"
"Not exactly," I said, feeling awkward. "Mr. Wilkins, we'd like you to come back to Byerly."
"Did Edna send you?"
"Not exactly," I said again, which was a polite way of saying not at all. "I thought that seeing you would be a nice surprise for her, sort of a Christmas present."
He leaned back, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. I couldn't even guess at what he was thinking. Then he opened his eyes again and said, "I don't think that would be possible."
"I know about Fannie Topper, Mr. Wilkins," I said, "but it's been over twenty years. And you were acquitted."
"Edna must have told you how people in Byerly acted. I don't think that they've forgotten."
"But if you were innocent..?"
He smiled sadly. "That's what I mean. You're Edna's niece, and you're not even sure, are you? That's why I can't go back to Byerly. I've made a life for myself, and I'm happy enough. Nobody here knows anything about my past, so I don't have to worry about people whispering behind my back."
This wasn't what I had expected. I had thought that he'd want to renew his lost romance, that he'd jump at the chance to come home. I briefly considered bringing Aunt Edna to him, but then I thought about how angry she had been when he left. After all of that, I just knew she wouldn't come to him. The Burnettes have a lot of pride, and a lot of stubbornness. I know, because I'm as stubborn as a mule myself, which was why I wasn't ready to give up.
I said, "What if the real murderer was found? Would you come back then?"
"I don't think that's very likely."
"But if he was?"
He looked at me funny, but he said, "I suppose I might."
I looked at Richard, and he nodded slightly. "My husband and I have had some success in investigations before, and we've been looking into the case."
"Are you two private detectives, something like that?"
"We've worked with the police in the past, both in an official and unofficial capacity." Richard's face showed the strain, but he didn't say anything. Before Wilkins could press for any more details, I said, "Do you think you could answer some questions for us?"
He agreed, and I asked him what had happened that night. What he said didn't add anything to what Chief Norton had told us, other than a list of the other men on the championship ball team. Richard dutifully jotted the names on a pad he produced from his pocket.
After Wilkins had gone through the story, he said, "That's pretty much what I told Chief Norton all those years ago, and it didn't help him."
As delicately as I could, I said, "Chief Norton said he always thought you were holding something back. Is that true?"
He didn't answer for a long time, and I wondered if he was about to throw Richard and me out. Finally he said, "There was something, but it probably doesn't mean anything."
I just sat and waited, hoping that he'd go on.
"I never told anybody, not even Edna," he said slowly. Then he took a deep breath, and I guess he had convinced himself. "You know that when I went back to Fannie's Place, I was looking for my ball cap."
"Yes, sir."
"Well, that hat was the first thing I saw when I came in. It was lying on the floor next to Fannie's body. With blood on it. Chief Norton took it as evidence."
I nodded.
"A week or so later, after they let me out on bail, I dropped my keys onto the floor of my car and I had to reach up under the seat to get them. I found my hat under there."
I cocked my head. "If your hat was under there, then whose hat was it at Fannie's?"
"I don't know."
"So it must have been left by one of the other players." I didn't see why this was important.
"You don't understand. That hat wasn't there when I left the bar after the party. Edna and I stayed to help Fannie clean up, even swept up for her, and I know it wasn't there when we left."
"And the team members were the only ones with hats like that," I said, starting to get more interested.
Wilkins nodded.
"Couldn't somebody else have had one?" Richard asked.
"There weren't any more. Big Bill Walters would only pay for enough for the team members. If he had had his way, he'd have only had enough made for the fellows on the field at one time and made us trade back and forth. We talked him out of that idea, but you can be darned sure that he didn't get any extras."
"So what you're saying is that one of the other team members killed Fannie," I said.
"I'm not saying anything of the kind. All I'm saying is that the hat on the floor at Fannie's Place wasn't mine."
"Why didn't you tell Chief Norton? Maybe he could have found out who it was that was missing his hat."
Wilkins shrugged, and wouldn't quite meet my eyes.
"Was it loyalty? Did you think that it would be a bad thing to turn in a team member?"
He shrugged again.
"How could you be loyal to a murderer? The murderer didn't care anything about you. You could have been sent to prison."
"But I wasn't. If one of them killed Fannie, I know that he'd have come forward if I had been found guilty."
"He let you get chased out of Byerly without speaking up."
Wilkins was shaking his head. "You don't understand how it was. Every one of the fellows came to see me in jail. They raised the money for my bail, and they paid for my lawyer, too. How could I go to Chief Norton and tell him that one of those men was a killer? It would have looked like I was trying to save myself by dragging them down."
"Of course you realize that one of those men only helped out because he felt guilty," I pointed out.
"But the others did it because they were my friends," he shot back. "Chief Norton would have questioned all of them, stuck his nose into all kinds of places where it didn't belong."
I suppose I should have left it alone, but I just couldn't. "So you let a murderer go free?"
"I don't think it was murder. Even Chief Norton said it looked like whoever it was didn't mean to kill Fannie."
"What about Tim Topper? Don't you think he deserves to know what really happened to his mother?"
Wilkins looked down. "I felt bad about Tim, I really did. He was a good boy. But I couldn't bring his mama back no matter what I did."
"What about afterward, when the people in Byerly treated you so badly? Why didn’t you tell Chief Norton about the hat then?"
"I thought about it, but that's all I did. I felt like I had made my decision and I'd have to live with it."
"What about Aunt Edna?"
Again he wouldn't meet my eyes. "In a way, Edna is the reason I had to leave Byerly. I could have stood it if it had just been me people were talking about. But I couldn't put Edna through that. She deserved better."
What I thought was that what Aunt Edna deserved was a chance to make her own choices, not have them made for her. I wanted to tell him that, too, but he looked so sad that I just couldn't. "Aunt Edna still cares for you," I said softly.
"I care for her, too."
Richard touched my shoulder then to tell me that it was time to go.
* * *
I had to make myself drive slowly on the way back to Byerly because I was so mad that I wanted to drive like a Boston cabbie. "Can you believe that man?" I demanded of Richard. "If Wilkins had told Chief Norton the truth all those years ago, the real murderer would have been found out instead of getting away with it, and Aunt Edna would have married him instead of Loman. She'd be happy now!"
"Don't you think you're laying an awful lot of blame on poor Caleb?" Richard said mildly.
"No, I don't," I said, but I didn't really believe it. I just couldn't stop thinking about how things might have been. "All right, I don't really blame Wilkins for everything that's happened, but I do think he should have told Aunt Edna what he was going to do. Aunt Nora said that she'd have gone with him."
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