'Wow,' he said. 'We should fight in public more often. And if you don't stop that, we'll be doing something else in public'
'We'll do it, but not in public. First - do I need to say again that I'm sorry?'
'No.'
She took his hand and led him back to the steps.'Good. Because we've got stuff to talk about. Serious stuff.'
He put his other hand over hers. 'I'm listening.'
She told him about what had happened at the station - Julia being turned away after Andy Sanders had been allowed down to confront the prisoner. She told about going to the church so she and Jackie could talk to Julia in private, and the later conversation at the parsonage, with Piper Libby and Rommie Burpee added to the mix. When she told him about the beginning rigor they had observed in Brenda Perkins's body, Rusty s ears pricked up.
'Jackie!' he called. 'How sure are you about the rigor?'
'Pretty!' she called back.
'Hi, Daddy!'Judy called. 'Men Jannie's gonna loop the loop!'
'No you're not,' Rusty called back, and stood to blow kisses from the palms of his hands. Each girl caught one; when it came to kiss-catching, they were aces.
'What time did you see the bodies, Lin?'
'Around ten-thirty, I think. The supermarket mess was long over.'
'And if Jackie's right about the rigor just setting in... but we can't be absolutely sure of that, can we?'
'No, but listen. I talked with Rose Twitchell. Barbara got to Sweetbriar at ten minutes to six. From then until the bodies were discovered, he's alibied. So he would've had to kill her when? Five? Five thirty? How likely is that, if rigor was just setting in five hours later?'
'Not likely but not impossible. Rigor mortis is affected by all sorts of variables. The temperature of the body-storage site, for one. How hot was it in that pantry?'
'Warm,' she admitted, then crossed her arms over her br**sts and cupped her shoulders. 'Warm and smelly!
'See what I mean? Under those circumstances, he could have killed her someplace at four a.m., then taken her there and stuffed her into the - '
'I thought you were on his side.'
'I am, and it's really not likely, because the pantry would have been much cooler at four in the morning. Why would he have been with Brenda at four in the morning, anyway? What would the cops say? That he was boffmg her? Even if older women - much older - were his thing... three days after her husband of thirty-plus years was killed?'
'They'd say it wasn't consensual,' she told him bleakly. 'They'd say it was rape. Same as they're already saying tor those two girls.'
'And Coggins?'
'If they're framing him, they'll think of something.'
'Is Julia going to print all this?'
'She's going to write the story and raise some questions, but she'll hold back the stuff about rigor being in the early stages. Randolph might be too stupid to figure out where that information came from, but Rennie would know.'
'It could still be dangerous,' Rusty said. 'If they muzzle her, she can't exactly go to the ACLU.'
'I don't think she cares. She's mad as hell. She even thinks the supermarket riot might have been a setup.'
Probably was, Rusty thought. What he said was, 'Damn, f wish I'd seen those bodies.'
'Maybe you still can.'
'I know what you're thinking, hon, but you and Jackie could lose your jobs. Or worse, if this is Big Jim's way of getting rid of an annoying problem.'
'We can't just leave it like this - '
'Also, it might not do any good. Probably wouldn't. If Brenda Perkins commenced rigor between four and eight, she's probably in full rigor by now and there isn't much I can tell from the body. The Castle County ME might be able to, but he's as out of reach as the ACLU'
'Maybe there's something else. Something about her corpse or one of the others. You know that sign they have in some post-mortem theaters? "This is where the dead speak to the living"?'
'Long shot. You know what would be better? If someone saw Brenda alive after Barbie reported to work at five fifty this morning. That would put a hole in their boat too big to plug.'
Judy and Janelle, dressed in their pajamas, came flying up for hugs. Rusty did his duty in this regard. Jackie Wettington, following along behind them, heard Rusty's last comment and said, 'I'll ask around.'
'But quietly,' he said.
'You bet. And for the record, I'm still not entirely convinced. His dog tags were in Angie's hand.'
'And he never noticed they were gone during the time between losing them and the bodies being found?'
'What bodies, Dad?' Jannie asked.
He sighed. 'It's complex, honey. And not for little girls.'
Her eyes said that was good. Her younger sister, meanwhile, had gone off to pick a few late flowers but came back empty-handed. 'They're dying,' she reported. 'All brown and yucky at the edges.'
'It's probably too warm for them,' Linda said, and for a moment Rusty thought she was going to cry. He stepped into the breach.
'You girls go in and brush your teeth. Get a little water from the jug on the counter. Jannie, you're the designated water-pourer. Now go.' He turned back to the women. To Linda in particular. 'You okay?'
'Yes. It's just that... it keeps hitting me in different ways. I think, "Those flowers have no business dying," and then I think, "None of this has any business happening in the first place."'
They were silent for a moment, thinking about this.Then Rusty spoke up.
'We should wait and see if Randolph asks me to examine the bodies. If he does, I'll get my look without any risk of hot water for you two. If he doesn't, it tells us something.'
'Meanwhile, Barbie's, in jail,' Linda said. 'They could be trying to get a confession out of him right now.'
'Siuppose you flashed your badges and got me into the funeral parlor?' Rusty asked. 'Further suppose I found something that exonerates Barbie. Do you think they'd just say "Oh shit, our bad" and let him out? And then let him take over? Because that's what the government wants; it's all over town. Do you think Rennie would allow - '