Mama Pursues Murderous Shadows Read Free

Sarah, what’s wrong? What happened?”
    Sarah was sitting up in bed, and although I was sure she’d been given at least a mild sedative, her coal black eyes were as large as silver dollars. Tears sparkled in them. Her trembling hands clutched the neck of her pale blue hospital garment as if she washolding the gown closed to keep somebody from snatching it from her. I don’t know if it was because of whatever medication she had been given or her mental state, but sweat formed like little pearl beads on her forehead. “Candi,” she gasped, her voice desperate, her eyes frantic, “thank God you’ve finally come!”
    I glanced at Sarah’s two constant companions. Annie Mae Gregory is a very fat, very dark woman with eyes that are small and very piercing. Set deep in her fat face, Annie Mae’s eyes always remind me of a raccoon’s—bright and extremely inquisitive. When her head is tilted a certain way, she looks cross-eyed.
    Carrie Smalls, on the other hand, is tall, with mocha skin and straight, shoulder-length hair. Carrie looks younger than her two friends but that’s because she dyes her hair jet black. She also has a strong chin, thin lips, and eyes that seldom seem to blink. She has a scary strength about her. I always tell Mama that it’s Carrie Smalls’s strength that gives these three women their presence when they’re together.
    Sarah’s two companions sat on chairs on each side of her hospital bed, arms folded over their bosoms like they were Roman sentries standing guard at their post. Carrie’s back was so straight you’d think she’s carried books on her head most of her life. “Pull up a chair,” she told Mama in a tone that sounded like a command.
    Mama complied. I stood behind Mama’s chair.
    “Candi,” Sarah wailed, gripping her hospital gown.
“You’ve got to help me!”
    Mama reached over and patted Sarah’s arm. “I’ll do what I can,” she soothed. “But, Sarah, tell me exactly what’s happened.”
    “You heard that Ruby Spikes was found dead in one of the rooms at the Avondale Inn, haven’t you?”
    Mama nodded.
    “Ruby was my godchild, Candi. After her mama and daddy died, I took out a life insurance policy on her. I’ve paid one dollar and fifty cents a week for the past ten years.”
    Before Sarah had a chance to finish her story Carrie Smalls blurted out, “The insurance company won’t pay Sarah the five-thousand-dollar face value of the policy. Sarah almost had a heart attack when she found out that she wasn’t going to get her hands on that money. That’s why she’s here!”
    “It ain’t right,” Sarah said dramatically. “Carrie and Annie Mae know I paid my premiums regularly!”
    Annie Mae spoke for the first time, her fat body shaking like Jell-O. “That’s right. I can testify to the fact that Bobby Campbell shows up on Sarah’s doorstep every Monday morning to collect that money.”
    Mama took a deep breath. “The only thing I can suggest is that you report this to Abe,” she offered. Abe Stanley is Otis’s sheriff.
    Sarah Jenkins clutched her nightgown eventighter. “I’ve gone to Abe,” she wailed. “He claims there ain’t nothing he can do to make Bobby pay the policy.”
    “I don’t believe him,” Carrie Smalls interjected sternly.
    “Why won’t Bobby pay the policy?” I asked, not understanding why she couldn’t get the money.
    Sarah cut her eyes at me. “Bobby Campbell says that Ruby died by her own hands. And the insurance company won’t pay in the case of suicide. But I know for a fact, Ruby wasn’t about to kill herself!”
    Carrie leaned forward. “I was in Capers Hardware two days before Ruby died. I heard her order a brand new washer and dryer from old man Capers. Candi, do you think Ruby would have ordered that kind of thing and then decide to kill herself?”
    The light in Mama’s eyes as she sat there thinking was the glint that always shines in them when her sleuthing instinct is aroused. I was a bit concerned. I