Miss Julia Paints the Town by Ann B. Ross Page B

the country club, but so does most everybody else in town. What kind of paper did you find, Lieutenant? And how does it connect those two?”
    Lieutenant Peavey stared down from his great height and said, “That’s evidence and not for public dissemination. But people who’ve lost money are up in arms, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it sooner or later. And if not us, the FBI.”
    He turned and headed for the stairs, leaving me stunned at the unsettling knowledge of all the underhanded dealing by and with and to my friends and neighbors that I had known nothing about.

Chapter 11
    Then as another thought came to mind, I took myself in hand and trotted after Lieutenant Peavey. He was well ahead of me, his long legs making strides down the staircase and through the crowd in the foyer. No one dared delay him with questions, but they all stopped and watched as he went out the front door. I was right behind him.
    â€œLieutenant Peavey,” I called, as I hurried to catch up to him before he reached his squad car. He’d parked on Mildred’s lawn, which was the only clear space, but I knew she’d have a fit when she saw tire tracks on her grass.
    He stopped and barely turned to see who had called him. At the sight of me, I do believe he would’ve continued on if I hadn’t moved in front of him and stood there on the walk beside the corner of the sunroom, next to a camellia bush.
    â€œLieutenant Peavey,” I said, all in a rush since he wasn’t what you’d call the conversational type. “Mildred Allen is a good friend of mine, and I would be remiss if I didn’t bring to your attention something you seem to have overlooked.”
    His eyes narrowed and he looked down at me from his great height. “If you know something germane to this case, let’s hear it.”
    â€œI don’t know if it’s germane or not, but you seem to have only two possibilities in mind—either Horace was killed in that wreck, which is unlikely since you can’t find his body, or he’s involved with Assured Estate Planners and is running from the law. I’d like to remind you that there is another possibility.” I stopped to take a breath, then hurried on before he could dismiss me, which he had a way of doing whenever he thought somebody was interfering with the way he enforced the law. “Think about this: What if Horace was a victim of a carjacking? What if somebody bashed him over the head, far from that accident site, left him dazed and injured, then drove the car up that mountain and crashed it? Then that thief walked away, leaving everybody to think that Horace had been driving it, when in fact Horace is on the other side of the county or in Asheville or who-knows-where, all unaware of what he’s being accused of. And furthermore,” I went on hastily, since Lieutenant Peavey didn’t seem too impressed with what I was saying, “that driver, whoever he was, could be the one who left that paper in the car. He, not Horace Allen, could be connected to Assured Estate Planners. Don’t you see?”
    I didn’t think the lieutenant’s eyes could get any narrower, but they did. Then they lifted from their gaze of me to look over my head as he slipped on his dark aviator glasses, in spite of the fact that the sun had almost set. “It’s possible,” he said.
    â€œOf course it’s possible, and…oh, my heavens!” I almost reached out to support myself on his arm, but decided against it.
    â€œAre you all right?” The touch of concern in his voice moved me since I’d never known him to be all that sensitive to human feelings. “You look a little peaked. Maybe you better go inside and rest.”
    â€œI don’t need to rest,” I snapped. “I just thought of something else.” I swayed just a little, trying to think of something else I’d just thought of. “I’m