"Once the deed was done, Collier pulled his car into the garage, loaded Kristee in the trunk with her suitcases and the Beemishes' stuff, and took off. He says he drove around for hours, trying to think what to do. The furs finally gave him an idea. He'd worked at Rich's, remember, so he knew they'd be open late stocking the store for the big doorbuster sale. While he was driving around, he told the cops he passed a church-run thrift shop. He couldn't remember the name of it, just that it was in a run-down part of town, somewhere near a big housing project. Collier said God told him to donate the Beemishes' ill-gotten goods and Kristee's worldly belongings to someone doing the Lord's work; he pulled around to the back of the thrift shop, saw a donation bin, and heaved the stuff in."
McAuliffe laughed appreciatively. "Did the cops ever track down the lucky recipients?"
"The Bountiful Jesus Outreach Mission Thrift Shop on Techwood still had some of Kristee's clothes on the racks," I said. "But the shop manager said an antique dealer who stops by regularly looking for vintage clothing snapped up all the Georgian silver and the coins and jewelry the day after she put them on the shelf- The manager said she didn't know the dealer's name, but he paid in cash, like he always did. Seventy-five dollars. Praise Jesus.
"Collier told the cops he felt a white glow surround him after his good work. So he went home and got a good night's sleep in anticipation of the next morning's work Then early in the morning he put on that cute little white coverall he was wearing when he tried to do us in. Hours before the store was due to open, he drove around to the loading dock and wheeled a merchandise hamper off the dock and around to the trunk of his car. It only took a moment to stuff Kristee and the furs inside. After that, he simply pushed the hamper through one of the loading bays and wheeled it up to the fur vault. No problem. As their security chief told me, they stop people from taking stuff out of the store, not people bringing stuff in. If Lilah hadn't started to wonder whether her furs had been put in storage, there's no telling how long that body might have stayed in there."
"Did Rich's announcing they're gonna close the downtown store have anything to do with the unfortunate discovery of that body?" Mac asked.
"Well, it couldn't have helped the perception in people's minds that downtown Atlanta is full of crime and criminals," I admitted. "But hell, that store's been going downhill for years. 'Course the closing broke Edna's heart. She and her cronies used to go there all the time for the chicken salad plate and fashion shows in the Magnolia Room."
"You think Collier really thought he'd get away with killing that girl and hiding the body?"
I shrugged. "He told the cops he planned all along to commit suicide, but first he had to complete his temple work, having Kristee baptized and then sealed to him in marriage."
"Spooky," Mac said.
"Yeah. I bet they never bring him to trial. And as long as they keep him locked up, that's fine with me."
"How's your mother feel about that?"
"You know Edna. She'd like to pull the switch herself. She claims she nearly did have a coronary when he grabbed her as she was leaving the house for her hair appointment. She claims he's putting on the crazy act to get away with it."
"Speaking of being locked up, when does Beemish go away?"
I took off the straw sun hat I was wearing and fanned my face with it. It was starting to get fairly hot out there on the water.
"I read in the Constitution that they're sending him down to that country-club federal prison camp at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, for twelve to fifteen months."
"He got a sweet deal for ratting on Shaloub, didn't he?"
I propped myself up on my elbow again, the better to tan the back of my legs. "Yeah, but look what else happened to Beemish. His creditors took back the land at L'Arrondissement, he lost all his equity in it, and he paid a two-million-dollar fine. He's been publicly humiliated. Best of all, I heard from one of the sorority sisters that Lilah Rose was asked to step down as chairman of the Garden of Eden Ball. Sissy Alewine says she heard Lilah Rose is going to court to fight Big Mama, that's Bo's mother, for control of WDB Enterprises. That's one court fight I'd like to watch."
"Well, the courts can't do Lilah Rose any worse than they did Eddie Shaloub," Mac observed. "Eight years in a maximum security joint like Marion, Illinois, seems kind of harsh, if you ask me, considering the sentence Beemish got."
"Beemish wasn't an elected official," I retorted. "And he didn't pay those thugs to beat the shit out of me. Shaloub did."
"Are we harboring a personal grudge?" Mac asked teasingly.
"Yes, we are. Hey, did I tell you I got a call from Miss Inez?"
McAuliffe got a funny look on his face, as though he'd swallowed one of his fancy feathered flies. "Really?" he said innocently.
"Yeah. She finally got her room at the Idle Hours Comfort Care Home. They won't let her dip snuff, and she says they have cherry Jell-O three meals a day, but otherwise she loves it."
"That so?"
"Uh huh. She also said my friend Bubba came out to her trailer a couple weeks ago and told her he had a home for Katie, her goat. You know anything about that?"
Now it was Mac's turn to blush, under his tan. "It's no big thing. My brother's got a little farm in Conyers. He keeps some pigs and a cow, even got a mule. His kids were thrilled to add a goat to the collection."
I prodded him again with my toes. "You're a soft touch, McAuliffe."
He pulled his fishing hat down over his eyes. "Lean over this way a little bit more and do that again," he said. "The sight of you in that bathing suit of yours is a whole lot easier to look at than the rear end of Rufus."
KATHY HOGAN TROCHECK has written for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other periodicals. Her Callahan Garrity novels include To Live & Die in Dixie, Every Crooked Nanny, and Homemade Sin. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and two children.
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