After Emma Price had gotten the Laurel County Leader to crop the engagement photo they’d run before, and run a mug shot of his handsome face, he’d gotten fan mail. He’d even had a love letter from a young woman willing to marry him in prison and have conjugal visits.
He had opted out of that, but his Grandma Flo and his mother were visiting incessantly, bringing him inspirational books he would never read, and weeping outside the partitions that kept them apart. It got on his nerves at times.
His grandfather, they told him, had confessed to the killing of Kasey Hill to everyone who visited him in the nursing home. They also told him that everybody was standing by him.
Jackson knew better. His ex-fiancée was on an extended trip to Italy with her two best friends, and had not sent so much as a postcard. As for State Senator Fulton Chase, he had said “No comment,” a few dozen times before the reporters gave up, Worse still, he hadn’t yet agreed to hire the famous defense attorney Jackson wanted even after Grandma Flo had offered to take out a second mortgage on her house to help with the fees.
The person who was most fixated on the trial besides Jackson was Jazz. He planned to be there every day and wanted to be one of those witnesses who spoke to the judge before the sentencing. He wanted people to know that Kasey loved Logan, that she was a sweet person almost all the time, and that she had been his best friend. Jazz had been sorry to learn from his mother that Georgia no longer used the electric chair.
Holly Wellston was thinking about Christmas. They’d had Thanksgiving with Roger’s family, but now, she thought, it was time to get back to normal, and she would invite everyone to have Christmas dinner with them. Roger had already promised to get a real tree. He was in a better mood now. A group of Mennonite volunteers had helped cut up the pine tree and clear the lot of the debris from the trailer. He had put up a For Sale sign and already had two offers.
They had also had a nice little hand-written note from Pinky Brayburn, who expressed her sympathy over their loss, and added without explanation, that she was setting up a trust fund for Logan’s college education and they would be hearing from Benton Tinsley about the details.
Logan Hill, soon to be Logan Hill Wellston, had just turned over a glass of orange juice on Bo-Bear and was trying to wipe it off with his pajama shirt.
At the Tinsley mansion, Evergreen was still in bed, scratching Loki behind the ears and thinking about a dream she’d had the night before.
Pinky Brayburn was in it, leaving her house with her poodles barking and pulling at their leashes.
And Lady was standing guard on the front porch of the blue house on Willow Street.
THE END
Also by Charlotte Moore
The Hunter Jones Series
DEEP SOUTH DEAD
DEATH OVER THE DAM
WHEN I AM DEAD MY DEAREST
MISSED YOU IN CHURCH
OVER TROUBLED WATER
WHO MURDERED MAMMA NELLE?
LOOKING FOR LILLIAN
ONE SHOT AT SUNRISE
DEATH COMES TO THE CAT LADY
The Kate & Kylie Series
A BODY IN THE BARGAIN
TRASH, TREASURES AND TREACHERY
THE WORST REUNION EVER
WHO MURDERED THE MAYOR?
The Laurel Grove Series
SIENNA
Coming soon:
CLASS OF ’57
Who Killed Kasey Hill Page 16
