Page 87 of Don't Say a Word

“Edith.” This woman was a hoot. “Did you notice over the last couple of months a young man standing or sitting behind that wall.” I gestured toward the wall separating the vet clinic from the street. It turned and traversed the property line between Edith’s half of the duplex and the rear of the vet. It was only three feet high, but when it reached the mid-point of the duplex, it had been built up to six feet to offer privacy to the residence.

“Yes, I did. I demanded to know why he was sneaking around, then when I got closer, I recognized him as the nice boy from the Cactus Stop.”

“You know Elijah?”

“Yes, I stop there on my walk every day. Two blocks, every day, even with this bad leg.”

“Did he tell you why he was hiding there?”

“Hesaidhe was just taking a break. I didn’t believe him. Told him he was a liar, and good boys don’t lie.”

“Did he tell you the truth?”

She shrugged, took a deep drag on the cigarette. Slowly let out the smoke.

“Don’t know, maybe. Not all, but maybe.”

“Which was?”

She stared at me with her magnified eyes. “Why you want to know?”

“Elijah died two weeks ago,” I said. “His mother hired me to find out what happened.”

She froze, the cigarette halfway to her lips. “I was wondering why I hadn’t seen him around.”

She thought, took a drag, stared at the store.

“How’d he die?” she asked me.

“The police say he died of a drug overdose. His mother is skeptical. I found pictures Elijah took from that spot behind the wall—people going in and out of the store. Based on the time stamps, he went there when he got off work, stayed for several hours.”

She was nodding as I spoke, but didn’t look at me.

“Edith, I’m stuck,” I said. “Do you know why Elijah was taking pictures of people leaving the store?”

“I don’t know,” she said, “but I saw him many times. Confronted him. When I caught him lying, he askedmequestions. He said, ‘Miz Edith, you ever notice that when I’m not working, store traffic picks up?’ I told him I didn’t pay no attention to it, but then I started. Told him so. Told him mornings and nights were busy. Then he said a damn funny thing, made no sense to me, maybe it will to you.”

I waited as she finished her cigarette and stubbed it out in the sand. “He said, ‘Now I know why they never let me work nights.’ ”

I didn’t know what to make of it.

“One more question,” I said. “No one can find Elijah’s backpack. Could he have left it by the wall? Did you see it at some point in the last two weeks?”

Edith laughed. “If he left it, it’s long gone. So many people in and out of my neighborhood. I’ve lived here for nineteen years, ever since I retired. See down the street?”

I looked where she pointed, away from the Cactus Stop.

“This was a nice little street. Still is, mostly. People keep to themselves, help when they can. But it’s become a pathway fromthere—” she pointed toward the busier Hatcher “—down to Dunlap. And the people walking don’t live here. They don’t care about the neighborhood. Theylitter.” She pushed up from her seat and shuffled to the door.

“You know,” she said, holding on to the screen door, “there was a dead girl behind the vet a few months back. Younger than you, maybe twenty, not much older. Whole life ahead of her. Died of a drug overdose, I heard. That’s what the police said when they came.” Edith shook her head. “I saw her there out my window. A Sunday. Thought she was homeless, had that look about her. My granddaughter picked me up for church as she does every Sunday at eight a.m. Mimi is a good girl, has been taking me to church since she got her driver’s license, when my eyes got so bad I couldn’t pass the damn test. That morning there was a line at my favorite diner after church, so I told Mimi I’d make her pancakes. We got back at ten thirty, and that girl was still there. I called the police, because she hadn’t moved.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “That must have been upsetting.”

Edith didn’t respond, but there really was nothing to say. The girl had died, and the old woman felt helpless.

I knew that feeling.

Edith stepped inside the house and said, “Maybe that dead girl upset Elijah as much as she upset me.”