Page 51 of Good Dirt

Answers

E ven in a town of this size, there are surveillance cameras, and they will help the police to find the answers they need. By the next morning, the murder has been connected to a vehicle found abandoned nearby. A white SUV, but not Henry’s SUV. A car connected to someone who knew the victim. There are images of her and the suspect together. There is word of an arrest and a call from the commissariat to go pick up Henry’s stuff. The rental car will be released the next day.

Ebby is relieved at the speed with which Henry is cleared of suspicion, and at the thought that Avery will soon be back in her own vehicle. As Ebby drives, Avery turns up the volume on the car radio. Pieces of the murder victim’s story are emerging, that of a woman on the run from a ruinous relationship. The suspect in custody is a man who had been involved with the victim. A crime of passion, police say. Avery repeats what they say in English, then turns to Ebby.

“Thank goodness,” Avery says.

Ebby nods.

“I mean, it’s terrible, what happened to that woman. It’s sad. It’s just that…” She hesitates, and Ebby finishes her thought.

“They don’t think it’s Henry.”

“Exactly. I was starting to worry, you know? The way he disappeared, and all of a sudden, there’s this murder. Of course, it was ridiculous to even think it.”

Ebby chuckles.

“I feel guilty for laughing, but it’s even more ridiculous to think that Henry simply tripped and fell on his butt.”

Avery gives a short bark of laughter. “ And dropped his phone in the river. Henry Pepper, can you believe it?”

Ebby glances over at Avery. Her mouth wide open, her teeth whitener-bright. Still, Avery’s eyes are moist with emotion. Ebby gets it. Ebby would hate to think that she had been wrong about everything important when it came to Henry. He’s still the man she nearly married.

Ebby pulls the car up to the hospital. There’s just enough time for Avery to leave Henry’s phone with him inside before visiting hours end. It will be another five hours before the evening visits begin. Henry will be fine, they agree. And, no, they decide, it would not be too tacky to go sightseeing while they wait. They’re not that far from a chateau Avery wants to visit.

“Could we?” Avery wants to know. “We were supposed to see it this week, before we changed our plans.” What she means is, before they found Ebby at the guesthouse and cut short their two-week reservation.

Ebby glances at Avery. She sees, now, how awful it must have been for Avery to show up at a holiday place, which she herself had booked, only to find that the person managing it was her boyfriend’s ex-fiancée. And knowing how badly things had ended between them. How publicly. How recently. She feels a little sorry for Avery, though she feels sorrier for herself. She’s stuck taking her ex’s current girlfriend on a sightseeing trip. And the worst part is, it feels like it’s the right thing todo.