Chapter Two Sunset Over Verdigris Bend

                 CHAPTER TWO

    The bell over the door of the little grocery store announced Libba’s arrival.  Announced it, though no one appeared to be listening. Since being back home, this was the first Saturday that she had made the grocery store scene, and some notice would have been nice.  As it was, however, no one could have  cared much  less.

    Children who were rushing up and down the aisles playing impromptu games of tag saw Ms. Cohen, the new sixth grade teacher, not Libba Jeffreys who had come home. They paid their respects by ducking their heads and smiling shyly out from under their eyebrows.  Their parents, chatting beside the paper products and visiting by the meat counter, were too engrossed in their own conversations to notice Lib.  
  
    Not even Meredith looked up from the cash register.  She could not.  Standing in front of the checkout counter was an extremely old, extremely heavyset woman.  The lady was from an era when stockings, dress shoes and a hat were required for any trips out of one’s home. Her hair was a gun powder blue that only ladies of a certain age seem to be able to achieve. Whether ladies of any other age would actually desire that color on their hair was another issue entirely.

    Joe Malloy’s Aunt Frances was angry.  Her entire body quivered in rhythm as she recited her grievance to Meredith who, by nature of the layout of the checkout area, was trapped with her back flat up against a wall.  The only way out was blocked by Aunt Frances.

    “Meredith, I cannot tell you how disappointed I am.  My own nephew.  Why, this ham is for The Church.”  Aunt slapped the defenseless piece of meat with her cane.  “And Joe will only give me a five percent discount.  I can get ten percent at the super center  in Claremore.  I am only trying to give him the business, after all,  and here he can’t even meet the price of the competition. Why, the very idea!”

    “But, Aunt Frances, “Meredith was being conciliatory.  “That place in Claremore is part of a big chain.  They have the advantage of buying in bulk and getting bigger discounts from the wholesalers.  Good grief! The founder of that other  store is a billionaire, and the organization  can well afford  to give you a bigger discount.  Hell, they can afford to give you the whole damned pig.  If I give you ten percent off, we will lose money.”

    “Language, young lady, language.” Frances  paused, drew a breath and carried on, “ Well, that’s it then.   I will  just have to go into Claremore to get the ham.  Here it is Saturday, the church supper is Monday, my arthritis and all.  And, I had already promised the girls, ‘Oh, don’t worry about a thing.  My nephew, Joseph, will help us with our church suppers.’ That’s what I told them, Meredith. And  now, “ she paused,  dug into the purse for a hanky, tried to eke out a tear, failed, “I’ll have to explain why I had to buy at another store.  I will be mortified, simply mortified.”  The old woman turned to leave.

    Meredith gave up.  “Here, Aunt.  Take the ham for ten percent off.  I just want you to know that we’re losing money.   Food business or no food business.”  She rang the ham up and began to bag it.

    The old lady, not even trying to conceal her joy that the gambit had worked, shuffled through her purse until she found a small manila envelope where, Libba supposed, she kept ‘church money’.  She paid, a quarter at a time.  Libba could only think that Frances was hoping that Meredith would donate the ham in totality.

    “Here, Aunt.  Do you want me to carry it out to the car for you?  It’s very heavy.”

    Meri reached for the sack and started to move out from behind the counter.  Aunt Frances' bulk stopped her.

    “My place setting of ‘Harvest Moon’ stoneware, please, Meredith”

    For one moment Libba really thought Meredith would explode.  She only turned, very determinedly, and reached for a place setting of the premium dishes.

    Aunt spotted Lib.  “Elizabeth Jeffreys.  I heard you were back and had taken a position over at the school.  Not from anyone around here, you know.  I get all my news from my good friends at circle meetings.  If I depended on my own family, “a glance found its way to the cash register, “I’d not know a thing.

    “I must say that I was pleased to hear that you had given up on the silly notion of living in such a big city and came on back home.  I always knew you’d come to your senses sooner or later.

    “It’s just God’s own blessing that rounder of a husband didn’t murder you in your bed.  Or worse.  I may be old, but I watch television and keep up.   I know things.”

    How on earth did a person appropriately respond to a statement such as that?  Libba did not even try.  “My, Miss Malloy, you’re looking well.  I heard you were put in charge of all the church suppers for the year.”  Over Aunt Frances’ shoulder, Libba could see Meredith shuddering.

    “Oh, well, one has to do one’s part,” a glance In Meredith’s direction. “Well, must be going.  A lot to do before Monday night.  Will we see you and your family at the supper, Meredith, my dear?”

    “I don’t know, Auntie. Joe, Jr has kept his apartment in Oklahoma City until he takes the Bar Exam.  I think Mark has football practice, and Angie has to work at the Rocket hamburger stand. But, Joe and I may be there with Brian.”

    “Don’t tell me.  I can’t bear it. Families today, flung this way and that,” Shaking her head and sputtering, the old lady, hand bag and cane in one hand, free dishes and twenty pounds of dead pig in the other, marched off to take charge of the impending supper.

    As soon as the door was completely closed, Meredith exploded, “Do you believe that old hen? What does she think?  Those dishes are free?  And girls?  Where are these girls that she’s talking about? She and her circle friends have not been girls since before Harry Truman lived in the White House.”

    “You could have let her go into Claremore, Meri.  What difference does it make?  You lost money anyway.”

    “What?  Are you serious?  Libba, you have been gone way too long.  It would be all over town by three o’clock this afternoon.  Joe’s mother would hear, and you know how she is about this business.  She thinks Malloy’s Market is a town institution.  If Claremore pork were served at the church supper on Monday night, we’d be going to her funeral on Wednesday.  Count on it.  Oh yeah, here are your lids.”  She pulled them up from behind the counter.

    As Libba was paying for the lids, the door behind her opened.  She turned just in time to face him.  The dusky brown hair was now laced with gray.  The jaw was square, and the chin too long. He had, what was referred to in town as The Carmichael Chin.  Combined with the jaw, it gave him a look of stubbornness that Libba knew was not misleading.  He stood before her, a barrel-chested, muscular, though not a tall, man.  In fact, they were standing eye to eye, and it  was his  eyes that Libba most noticed.  While the rest of him hadn’t changed all that much, the eyes were different.  Just as deeply brown, but older, gentler.   Sadder, maybe?

            “Hello, Libba.”

            “Bobby, how are you doing?”

    “You two can save your hellos. Bobby, what more do you know about the mess over at the school?”

    For once, Libba was grateful for Meredith's mouth.  It gave her a chance to get her heart out of her throat.

    “Well, not much more than we did, Meri.  The medical examiner has the skeleton.  We probably won’t know any more until Monday.

    He casually placed one hand on Libba’s shoulder, reached across her to get two packs of tobacco and laid them on the counter.

    Libba was disconcerted to find that, when he removed his hand from her shoulder and reached into his pocket for money, the skin underneath her shirt remained warm.  Unable to think of anything to say and unwilling to let him know of his effect on her, she gathered her canning lids and prepared to leave.

            “I’ll walk with you, Lib.”

            “Sure.  Sure, Bobby.”

            “Where’s your car?”

            “I walked.” 

              Why, oh why, after all these years did he still make her feel like a ditzy little schoolgirl?

              “Oh.  Well, then do you mind if I walk part way with you?  I’m on my way back to the City Building.”

              Located on Turley Avenue, the main street through town, the City Building sat right across the street from Cyclone Park.  Housing all the municipal services for the town, it was a brick, three story structure with all the architectural appeal of a cracker box.  Some previous mayor, in an attempt to capitalize on the town’s Old West heritage had placed a railing that, she supposed, was meant to be a place to tie up one’s horse.  Cute, but pointless.  Since coming home, the only horses she had noticed had been under the hoods of grossly oversized trucks

    On the first floor were the Post Office and Police Station with the Verdigris Bend Volunteer Fire Department occupying the back half.  The city offices were on the second floor.  The third floor housed the Verdigris Bend Historical Society and Museum. 
 
    Only a few steps from the little grocery store to the entrance into the police station, the walk was beginning to feel interminable.

    “How have you been?”  Bobby didn’t appear to be any more comfortable than she.  “Your mother said you’re living out at your grandparents’ old place.”

    “Yeah.  It seemed like a good idea.  This teaching job is only a one-year contract.  Once Barbara’s back, I’ll have to look for something else, and who knows?  I could end up any place, Oklahoma City, Muskogee.”

    “You could have stayed with your Mom and Dad.  It’s in town, closer to work.  That old place is kind of far out, Lib.  Kind of risky for you, by yourself and all.”

    Libba could not believe she felt herself bristling.  He had not changed.  He was still a dominating, controlling.....no.  She would not get into a battle over where she was staying.  She wouldn’t.  Change the subject, Libba.  Quick.  Before you beat him on the head with a paper bag full of canning lids.

    “When do you think you’ll know any more about the skeleton in the Old Red Building?  I was thinking about it last night.  The only thing it could be, Bobby, is a hobo who crawled in through a loose board sometimes after the place was condemned and just died of old age or exposure.  Or something.”

    “Precisely.  Or something.  Crawling into an abandoned building to get warm is one thing.  But, somehow, I just can’t see placing yourself into the boiler and closing the door after yourself, no matter how cold you are.”  At the look of amazement in her eyes, he paused,  

    “I didn’t tell Meredith everything back at the store.  Libba, if Meredith knows, all of Verdigris Bend knows.  That skeleton had a hole in the  back of the skull you could drive a truck through.  Besides that, it was a woman.  And, my dear Ms. Cohen” she didn't miss his emphasis on the Ms., “at the risk of sounding sexist, not that many lady hobos pass through our tiny little town.  Not now and, especially, not fifteen or twenty years ago.  Where you’ve been living, I don’t know.  I’ve heard tell of bag ladies and such…..”

    With a jolt, Libba realized he had been teasing her, about bag ladies, about living alone so far out of town, about everything.    She had forgotten that his sense of humor could be so dry that it was difficult to tell when he was teasing and when he was serious.

    This time, she did slap his arm with the bag of canning lids.  “Robert Carmichael, you clown!  You really had me going!  And, just for the record, contrary to everyone’s belief, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is really quite a safe city.”

    He smiled, a smile that took the sadness, or whatever it was, out of his eyes. “I’m sure it is, ma’am. I’m sorry, Libba.  I couldn’t help myself.  We were just both so uptight.  Even though we had our disagreements, I, honestly, wished you only the best.  Friends?”

        She took his outstretched hand and felt the extreme strength of the man.  His grip served to remind her that the muscles, so slightly delineated through the well-worn denim were definitely there. This was a man who could take care of himself and anyone else. And again, just as disconcertingly as before, when he took back his hand, her skin stayed warm from the touch.

          “Sure.  Friends.

        “But, Bobby, the boiler?  I know that building has been out of commission for years, but they still had to keep the heat on or the pipes would have frozen.  How could a body be left undiscovered in a boiler for that long?”

    “Because, when they built the new building, they installed gas furnaces in both buildings.  Taking the boiler out was too expensive.  So they just tied it off and left it there.  It has been inoperative since then.  Of course, looks like the stench would have raised some concerns.  I’ve been wondering about that.  The swing sets and slides are over there by  that building. The building, itself, is right up against the new one.  Why your own classroom looks  out on it.   It really looks like one of the kids or even, one of the teachers, would have said something.”

    “Oh my Lord, how gruesome.  Well, I sure wish you luck.”

    They covered the last few steps to the police entrance in a more companionable silence. 
    “Well, Lib, here’s where I leave you. I’ve got some work to do.”

    “I didn’t know the Chief of Police had to work on Saturdays.”

    “We’re a two man department. Josh and I kind of divide up the weekends.  Besides, I have to look over some old records.  I thought I’d see if any women from around here dropped out of sight around the time we think this person was killed.”

            “Do you, honestly, think it was someone from here?’

            He drew his fingers through his hair. Again, the gray got her attention. There was more  than she had first noticed.  All in all, however, Bobby had matured into a man who was even more attractive than he had been as a boy.  Which was saying something. The boy had been no slouch.

    “It’s a place to start.  Face it, Lib.  Verdigris Bend is sort of off the beaten path, even now. That many years ago, before the main highway was extended from Tulsa, this town was really out in the boondocks.”

    “Yeah, but what difference does it make whether Meri or anyone else knows?  Surely, there’s no danger now, after all these years, and you can’t expect to keep it a secret for too much longer.”

    “True, but Lib,” Bobby was all police officer now. “I don’t really like to think that anyone we know would beat the hell out of some woman, stuff her into a boiler and leave her there. There’s one thing I can’t get past though.  If it happened during the time the building was still in use, only a local would know when they could count on being alone.  Why, they even held night meetings over there sometimes.

     He shook his head.  “Granted, the murderer might be dead now, as well.  But, if he is still alive and still around here, he” a look at her, “or she, must be pretty nervous right now.  All in all, I just think talk should be kept to a minimum.”

    “Well, good luck with that one, hon.  I won’t tell Meredith or anyone else.  But, like I said, you can’t expect to keep it secret for too much longer.  It will be all over town before you can stop it.  Christ.  You’ve got the entire demolition crew who saw it.   And, Bobby, your deputy is Josh Banks, for crying out loud.”

    “Now, now, Josh isn’t a bad sort.  I know you two had your issues, Lib, but he’s a good police officer.  Although, you’re right, I know.  So let’s just hope two vagrants had a quarrel.”

    “I’ve got to leave you to your records.  I have got some fruit trees that need to be picked.  See you.”

       “Yeah.  See you.”

          As she walked away, she didn’t know that Bobby was watching. Stood staring down the road, in fact, until she passed over the slight rise in the road and vanished from sight.