Count on Me (Petal, Georgia) by Lauren Dane
People like Hicks drifted around and frequently changed names to dodge debt collectors or the cops. Of course he had to drift because he appeared to have a problem with his temper and self-control.
“Ron is on it too. He’ll call me tomorrow to check in and I’ll let you know. So he’s in Porter which means you’ll go talk to him? Or?”
“I need to find out all I can and then start putting together a case. I don’t have probable cause right now for a warrant. I can’t search his house either. Hell, you and I know he can tell me to eat shit and slam the door in my face when I go. And yes, I will go to Porter and talk to him, yes.”
“We need a connection. I never knew him so he wasn’t a friend of our family. I worked out at the diner every weekday afternoon so he wasn’t a server or a cook. Do you have pictures?”
Shane opened a file folder and showed her a few of his mug shots.
She shook her head. “He wasn’t a regular. At least not in the afternoon, evening and weekends. I was there enough to know the regulars. I was at school in the mornings until three so maybe it could have been then.
“I’ve been through all the papers I could salvage. Before the trial, early on, my grandmother went through our house, put every one of my dad’s belongings in plastic bags. She told the police to come get it. They’d already searched the house so they didn’t care. One of my friends kept those bags for me in her back shed until my uncle could get it. I had all those papers and ledgers. I’ve never seen that name. She had journals, my mom I mean.”
Shane froze. “I’ve been over that case file three dozen times. There were no journals admitted into evidence.”
“No there weren’t. We brought that up on appeal. I personally called the police department to say I had them, and they weren’t interested. Even his original attorney didn’t care. But I’d have tried to use them, for God’s sake. Anyway, she mentions silly fights they had, or when he left his beard hairs in the sink. But there were no affairs. No violence in their home or in their relationship. No mentions of Vernon Hicks.”
She needed to figure out that connection. Once she knew how Vernon Hicks came into their lives, she’d have everything they needed to send him to prison forever.
“Can I see them? The journals I mean.” He paused at the look on her face. “I’ll respect them. I know these journals are about her inner life. But if anything in them can help me nail Hicks and clear your father, I think it’s worth it.”
She nodded. He was right.
They left after she promised to bring him the journals to the police station the following day. They were in her storage unit so thankfully they weren’t destroyed when her apartment had been broken into.
“You know, I think we should go to the storage unit now. I’m just skeeved out by this Hicks guy, and I don’t want to go there if he can watch you. It’s dark, we’ll know if anyone is around by their lights.”
She agreed, and they headed out of town and toward Riverton, where her stuff was. No one was behind them on the road the whole drive over so Royal breathed a lot easier once they’d retrieved those journals and were on the way home again.
She was quiet, he knew she was anxious and worried and scared and too freaked out to hope. In the dark, mouths fused into a kiss, he loved her until she was too tired to do anything but fall asleep in his arms.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ron had shown up and had briefed Caroline, Edward, Justin and Shane. He’d found Vernon Hicks’s trail from before he’d come to Petal. He’d been born Vernon Pickerell in Amarillo. He had a sealed juvenile file and had enlisted in the army at eighteen and had been dishonorably discharged eighteen months later. He’d lived in Sacramento for a few years until he skipped four months’ back rent, some department-store credit and an assault charge against a nineteen-year-old who worked weekends at the feed store who’d dared to say no when he’d asked her out. As Bob Vernon he’d bounced around, never staying anywhere for long. Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, all for a few months. He’d done six years for manslaughter in Missouri as Bob Vernon. And he’d come to Petal not even a week after he’d been released.
Shane took over at that point, talking about Vernon’s life since he’d left Petal. The DV stuff he’d found along with the assault charges and the time he did for that.
“He’s still in Porter. He’s got a part-time job at a print shop. Which we think might be his connection to the information about the security outage for the cameras at your office.”
“It’s pretty clear he’s got some issues with the ladies.” Caroline shook her head.
“Given the types of crimes he tends to commit over and over, yes, I think women are his favorite target. And in my gut I am convinced this man killed your mother. We’re going to nail him. I’m going to Porter tomorrow. I have a call in to the PD there. I have a few friends so one of them will come with me out to Vernon’s apartment. You will not be coming so don’t even think about asking, Caroline.”
“I’ll wait in the car.”
Royal put his face in his hands.
“What? I want to know! I want to see him. I want to hear him when he lies. I need to.”
Shane took her hands. “Caroline, I know you do, and in your place I would too. Hell, I’m not in your place, and I gotta tell you it will be my pleasure to take this piece of garbage down for you. But this has to be done right. Step by step. You’re a defense attorney, you know this better than anyone else in this room. I want this done absolutely to the letter. You didn’t wait this whole time, suffering all those defeats to screw it up by rushing at the very end.”
Everyone left, Shane promising to let her know how the visit went when he returned from Porter the following afternoon. Ron headed out to Vernon’s old neighborhood to do a canvas, and she tried to work.
At five she called Royal and left him a voicemail that she was going to her grandparents’ house to talk with Shep and also see if her grandparents knew Vernon Hicks.
He called her back as she was riding over there in Shep’s car.
She saw it was him and answered with an apology. “I know. I wanted to see if they have any info about Vernon Hicks, but Garrett might be there and I didn’t want anyone to get punched.”
“Too bad. I’m waiting in front of your grandparents’ right now, and I will be coming in with you. And if you ever pull this sort of thing again, we’re going to have a big problem, Caroline.”
He was right to be mad. She’d have been in his place too. “Okay. I’m sorry, I should have let you know and included you from the start. I’m glad you’re here, and I’ll see you in a minute or two.”
Shep looked at her briefly. “Told you.”
“Yes, yes you did. The thing is, I sort of want him to punch Garrett and that’s really bad of me. I’m trying to protect him. Not that I think he’d get beaten up. But from all this drama and emotion.”
“If the situations were reversed, how you would you feel? He loves you and he wants to be there with you when you face something difficult. Wouldn’t you want the same in his place?”
“Gah. I hate it when everyone but me is right.”
They pulled up the driveway, and Royal got out of his truck and met them.
“I’m sorry. I should have waited and included you. I just want to protect you from all this gross stuff. But I know you want to be with me and I value that so I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t even have an hour to be mad.” He kissed her.
“The night is young.”
Shep went up the steps and unlocked the door, bringing them inside. “Hey, everyone, I’ve got Caroline and Royal with me,” he called out as they went into the family room.
“Why?” Garrett asked as he looked up.
Caroline sneered at him, and Royal gave him a look that promised blood.
Garrett paled and winced. Message received.
“I need to talk with you all about the case.”
Abigail shook her head. “No. I told you long ago not to bring
“You did. I was twenty years old, and Mindy asked me about the Mendozas. It was a silly question, but the end of it was about where our dad had been born. And you shoved me into the den, slapped my face and said if I ever spoke about any of my father’s family in front of Mindy or Shep, you’d make sure I never saw them again. Good times.”
Heavy silence fell as her grandfather looked over at her grandmother, anger on his features.
“Moving right along. As you know, though we pretend you don’t, I’ve been working for years and years to free our father from prison because he’d been falsely convicted of our mom’s murder.”
Her grandmother stood, back ramrod straight. “I told you never to mention his name.”
“I didn’t mention his name. In any case, as you’re also aware, my father, Enrique, died in prison. There was no more chance to get him freed but that still meant the real killer was out and needed to be found and apprehended.”
“Enrique Mendoza killed your mother!” Abigail reached out to slap Caroline, but it was Royal who halted her hand halfway there.
“No.” Royal shook his head. “I will not allow that.”
“Abigail, let’s settle down and hear what Caroline has to say,” James said to his wife.
Garrett stood and Royal stepped between him and Caroline. “You and I have business. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“I told you there’d be consequences. You stirred that fight at the Pumphouse. A man twice Caroline’s size nearly sucker punched her and you were part of that. And now I hear you’re spreading your special knowledge all over town that Caroline, who got shot at, had her car vandalized, her apartment broken into and her belongings destroyed and received a death threat is somehow faking that. You put her in more danger and that makes me very unhappy.”
“What are you talking about?” Mindy asked.
Royal faced Mindy. “He’s been spreading rumors.”
“I have not.”
Caroline pulled a phone out of her pocket. “Shall I call Polly Chase and let her know you’re calling her a liar? Or maybe we can just ask Grandmother since she was there when he said it.”
“I don’t recall that.” Her grandmother’s lie wasn’t very convincing.
“You’re going to say that to a defense attorney?” Caroline looked at her sister. “Garrett has been stirring trouble for me for two months now. But back to what I was saying.”
“No! You leave Shep and Mindy alone! I forbid this whole thing.”
Shep shook his head. “I’m so bummed you’re acting this way, Grandma. I’ve read the files. I’ve read articles and essays and the trial briefs and motions, all that stuff. I know what was missing, what was never followed up on.”
“That’s lies! She has an agenda. Defense attorneys hate the police. All his people do.”
Caroline pretended it didn’t hurt and sort of succeeded. “His people? You mean my people? Mindy’s people? Shep’s people? Or they get a pass because they look whiter? Grandma, I really don’t know how my mother turned out the way she did hearing this sort of dog-whistle racism all the time. In any case, Shane Chase, the chief of police here is working the case. The chief of police back when our mother was killed wasn’t so very attentive to details when he had an easy target instead. Of course I’ve tried to tell you about all the missing things going into the trial, and you refused to listen.”
“I’ve been sitting in on these meetings, I’ve heard Officer Chase talk. I’ve heard the other police and the investigator too. Grandma, you’ve been hating the wrong person all these years, but you can make it right now and listen to what Caroline is saying.”
“She can’t be here. Caroline, please leave our home now.”
Caroline’s grandfather shook his head, placing a hand on Abigail’s forearm. “No. That’s enough. Come in, let’s all sit down. Garrett, you should be going.”
“What? No. James, I’m here to back you up in this.”
“Have you been going around town stirring enmity toward my granddaughter?”
“Not the way they say!”
James picked up the receiver of the phone in the hallway and dialed. “Hello, Polly, it’s James Lassiter. I have a question. Did Garrett Moseby tell you the attacks on Caroline were faked to make Enrique Mendoza look innocent?”
He was quiet as Polly spoke. Most likely lecturing him, or so Caroline hoped. Garrett paled but James had him nailed with a stare so he stood there.
“I see. Yes, yes, you’re right. I understand. Thank you, Polly.”
James turned to Garrett. “Get out of this house, and do not return to it.”
Mindy’s hands went to her mouth and she rounded on Caroline. “Why do you have to ruin everything? We were just fine before you came here.”
Caroline ignored her sister and the pain in her belly at her words. Instead she addressed her grandfather. “A man named Vernon Hicks has been identified as a possible suspect in my mother’s murder. He lived over on Teller Avenue, next door to Joyce Marie Petitbone.”
Her grandfather paused. “Vernon Hicks.” He tapped his chin. “That name sounds familiar.”
“It was sixteen years ago.” But her grandmother also paused. “I’ll be right back. Shep, I need you to pull something down from the attic.”
Shep looked Caroline’s way and she felt awful for him. But he hadn’t wavered in his support or in his belief of their father’s innocence so there was that.
Royal put an arm around her shoulder, holding her close. Reassuring her.
“Garrett, I told you to leave.”
“Sir, don’t you see how she’s ruining your family? Just like her father did. Blood will tell. You know that.”
“Blood will tell? Are you kidding me?” Royal’s gaze went sharp and venomous. “So are you one of the pure who will save us all?”
“Purer than her.” Garrett jerked his chin at Caroline.
“I think you’re looking for inbred, not pure,” Royal said.
Caroline couldn’t stop her surprised cough of laughter.
“You shut your mouth, whore.”
One moment Royal was next to her, and the next he’d sprung from the couch to his feet, using his momentum to carry him to Garrett, who let out a surprised shriek and ran for the front door.
Mindy flipped out, but their grandfather held her as Caroline leapt up to follow.
“I told you what was going to happen and that was before you called my woman a whore, you piece of shit.” Royal stalked Garrett in the front yard. Garrett’s nose was bleeding.
“You punched me!”
“I winged you as you ran past me shrieking. But I will punch you so don’t worry about missing anything,” Royal snarled.
“Someone is going to call the cops,” Caroline called out.
“Don’t care. He called you a whore.”
She smiled. “You’re so sweet, Royal. I appreciate the punch but we talked about this and the whole jail thing.”
Royal made a face and shrugged. Then he took two fast steps Garrett hadn’t expected, cocked back his fist and plowed it straight into Garrett’s face. Hard enough to knock the other man back a few feet before his eyes rolled up and he hit the grass.
“And once again I find myself cleaning your knuckles.” Caroline pulled him back inside to the hall bath where she left him for a moment to go out to the living room. “Let her go, Grandpa. Mindy needs to pick him up off the grass once he’s awake.” Caroline turned and went back to Royal.
“I should apologize, but I can’t. He’s lucky I didn’t beat him to death. That piece of trash calling you a whore? After his racist purity bullshit and everything else he’s done, he deserved a two broken ribs beat down.”
She looked his hand over. Once she’d cleaned it up, she realized all the blood had been Garrett’s.
Royal opened and closed his fist, and then she bent to kiss his hand. “Thank you. I hope you don’t get arre
He grinned and kissed her. “Let’s get your info and go. This place is not for you anymore, if it ever was to start with.”
They headed back out to the living room when her grandmother came in. “Vernon Hicks used to do odd jobs for all the businesses on that stretch of road where the diner was.”
Caroline had to sit down because hope had broken free and was running riot. “Jesus. After all these years.” She looked up at her grandmother. “How did you know?”
“I keep all my date books. They’re stored in the attic in case we ever need them. I pulled the one from the year your mother was killed down and the year before it too and flipped through. I made a note. He worked on the diner a few months prior. I’d asked her his name when a friend of ours needed some work done on his property. I probably wouldn’t have found it, but it was written on one of the tabbed pages. I’d been flipping through them from tab to tab just looking.” Caroline flinched as her grandmother looked up at her. Always waiting for whatever venom would come her way.
Caroline kept her voice level. The flinch had been involuntary but she wouldn’t give anything else. “May I have that?” She indicated the date book in her grandmother’s hand. “They’re going to question Vernon Hicks tomorrow in Porter. I’d like Shane to know about this before he goes. So he understands the connection.”
Her grandmother handed it over.
“Thank you. I’ll be sure Shane gets it back to you when he’s done with it. Excuse me a moment please.” She took several steps away and called Shane. She stared at the name of her mother’s killer on the page. It seemed so immense for what should have been a small thing. Not the information, no that was huge. If they could make a connection tonight, they could serve an arrest warrant and a search warrant at Vernon’s apartment.
That was a whole different kind of immense.
It was the simplicity of a jotted note. A bunch of letters in her grandmother’s date book that spelled out the name of a person who had destroyed her family. Right next to paint for entry powder room.