Chapter Forty-Nine

By the time the sun was supposed to be up, I had showered and dressed in a clean pair of jeans and sweatshirt. The rain had stopped, but the clouds held steady overhead, promising to dump more of their heavy load before moving on to torment elsewhere.

Kitty was waiting by her empty food dish when I entered the kitchen. I knew I couldn't get away with making a few telephone calls before tending to her need to be fed. So I opened a can of her food and spooned it into the dish before I picked up the phone.

As eager as I was to call Mitch, I made a quick call to Alicia's dormitory room first. I wasn't too disappointed when I pushed in the button to disconnect the ringing in my ear. Then I tapped in Mitch's numbers.

I was disappointed when his answering machine kicked on to the sound of his recorded voice. Just in case he hadn't left the farm yet, I left a message for him to call me, adding that it was urgent. If I was lucky, he'd return my call in the next few minutes. It was possible he was out in the barn feeding the assortment of farm animals he'd begun to accumulate over the past several months.

I waited around the house another twenty minutes or so for him to call. When he didn't, I grabbed the little diary off the couch and carried it with me into the garage and into the car. I drove past the church down the road from my place before I remembered it was Sunday. No point in going to Joe's place now. He'd be getting ready for early morning church service.

I spotted Mitch's pickup in the crowded parking lot outside the local gossip corner and pulled in and parked. As I went in the front door of the noisy restaurant, I saw the high school-aged girl behind the counter busy pouring coffee. Willie had Sunday's off so she could attend church, too. And I hoped so she could get some rest after her six-day work week.

I headed toward the end booth after I got the young waitress's attention and gave her my breakfast order.

"Called your place earlier," I said as I slid in on the seat across from Mitch.

"Left early today," he informed as he folded up the newspaper he had been reading and put it down on the seat next to him.

"I got a call from Betsy during the night," I was telling him when the waitress arrived with my bowl of cold cereal and steaming coffee. She was thanked before she zipped off to tend to other customers who just came in the door.

I don't think Mitch even noticed I had chosen a healthier choice of food for breakfast. He was too eager for me to continue on with the details of my telephone conversation with Betsy. So I did. I relayed almost everything, word for word. I did leave off the beginning part about the unexpected passing of Betsy s mother-in-law.

When I finished, Mitch knew everything I knew about Angel Traditor's past. And once I had finished, he remained quiet for a while. I could tell he was worried. I also felt he wasn't talking yet because he needed the extra time for everything to sink in and settle first.

"Your friend Betsy's right, you know. None of this can be used against Angel. Can't even be reason to bring her in for questioning."

I ate my soggy cereal while Mitch did a little more thinking aloud. Basically, he was doing what I had done earlier by asking himself questions he seldom had answers for.