by Terry Shames
I run my hand along my jaw. I’d love to be able to brag on that part of it, but I can’t. “It was a misunderstanding.” I can’t resist adding, “But I doubt he’ll be around much anymore.”
“Ah. I see.”
“And you might also want to know that I’ll be looking for a new deputy. Doug Tilley has decided to get on up to Waco after all.”
I see by her expression that she understands what I mean, that Tilley was involved. She reaches over and grabs my hand. “You’ve cleaned house! Good for you.” She stands up. “That’s a good scoop.” Her lips are trembling. “It will make a good final edition.” Her voice wobbles and her eyes tear up.
I get to my feet. “What do you mean?”
“Samuel, I’m done. I’m tired of holding a small-town newspaper together on my own. I’m out of money and out of enthusiasm. I applied to work at the city newspaper in Corpus Christi, and they hired me. I’ve had the offer for a couple of weeks, but I finally made up my mind.” She laughs and dabs at her eyes. “They hired me for the women’s section. Can you imagine that?”
So that’s what the half full boxes mean. She’s packing. I shove one with my foot. “You’re going to hate working for an editor after being your own boss.”
“Ha! You’d be surprised. I’ve struggled with this damned rag of a newspaper for ten years, and I don’t want to do it anymore.”
“Who’s going to take over?”
She shakes her head. “I doubt if anybody will be as stubborn as I am, and there sure isn’t any money in it. But maybe somebody will go for it.”
“I don’t even know how it gets printed,” I say.
“Most people think it’s magic. I contract with a printing operation in Bryan–College Station. But I do all the work myself. I won’t say it wasn’t satisfying on some level, but I’m worn out.”
I’m genuinely sorry to see her go. “I’m going to miss you. I barely got acquainted with you.”
“We made a good team.” Her smile is sad. “It’s sort of your fault I decided to go.”
“What did I have to do with it?”
“You made me see how I’d been spinning my wheels with George Cato all these years. I knew if I stayed here, I’d get old waiting for him to come around. I need something new in my life.” She gestures toward the front door. “Come on outside. I was just about to put up the ‘For Sale’ sign.”
We go out, and I get her to let me pound the sign into the ground in front of her house. For a wild minute I envy her going off for a new adventure, but the feeling subsides by the time I get back to headquarters.
There’s a message from Letitia Sandler that this time goats have gotten in her garden. Who needs more excitement than that?
Acknowledgments
This book is loosely based on a real-life crime that had been in my mind for a long time as the basis for a story. When I started to write the book, I looked up the details and found out that the man who was originally convicted of the crime had recently been freed through the hard work of the Innocence Project. My deepest admiration for this amazing group, which in 1992 was founded by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck at Cardozo School of Law, and which, according to its mission statement, “exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.”
I have a wonderful writers group, and once again would like to thank them for keeping me on track. Staci, Robert, and Laird, you are the best.
Thank you always to my agent, Janet Reid, whose use of the carrot and the stick is masterful.
About the Author
Terry Shames grew up in Texas, a vast and varied landscape that still drives her imagination. She is the author of the bestselling Samuel Craddock series. A Killing at Cotton Hill was awarded the Macavity Award for Best First Novel of 2013, and The Last Death of Jack Harbin was nominated for the Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel of 2014. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. Follow her at www.TerryShames.com.
