Chapter Thirty-Two

Mitch had just finished up a late breakfast at the local gossip corner when I arrived around 8:45. I was dressed in all black. My big floppy hat was even black. Mitch not only looked up from the newspaper spread out in front of him, but stared at me admiringly.

"You look real nice this mornin,' Fay."

"Thank you, but I don't feel very nice," I warned as I slid into the booth across from him.

"Your ankle still givin' you fits, uh?"

"It's not my ankle."

"You look good in black," Willie complimented as she put coffee in front of me.

"Well, don't expect to see me in it again for a long, long time."

"You really aren't feelin' quite up to par," Mitch said as he and Willie exchanged bewildered looks they didn't think I saw.

"Want your usual breakfast?" Willie asked.

"No breakfast today, Willie."

There was another exchange of looks between the two of them before Willie scurried off.

"What's wrong, Fay?"

"What's right? It's still raining. I can't find my daughter. A woman who was as dear to me as my grandmother has been murdered. And Joe... Well he has Angel now."

I looked over into sympathetic eyes. "Did I leave anything out?"

A soft smile wiggled around Mitch's mouth. I half expected to hear from him, and you've got me. But before his next breath, the smile was gone.

"You forgot about your ex wantin' you back," he said. "Although that could be a positive thing."

I sipped coffee while I tried to figure out if he was being a smart aleck or if he was just plain jealous. Before I could comment, and not that I was sure of what I'd say if I did, Mitch changed the subject on me. At least he steered it away from Allen and his offer for a reconciliation between us.

"Should have somethin' back from the crime lab on Ethel's clothes by Monday."

"You talking about the possible match with Angel's fingerprint?"

"Maybe. And hopefully a brand name for the lipstick found on the sleeve of Ethel's dress."

"If it's a popular brand, have fun figuring out which, among the thousands or millions of women that wear it, happened to brush lips against Ethel's sleeve."

"It's a longshot, okay. But it's somethin' besides the wig hair."

"Anything turn up on that yet?"

"None of the local beauty shops have records of recent sales in that particular shade of red."

"You check the malls? Then there's those mail order places around the country."

Mitch was starting to look as depressed as I felt when he tilted his coffee cup against his lips. He did perk up a bit when I told him I had Betsy checking into Angel's background.