Snoop to Nuts by Elizabeth Lee Page B

plate. Why don’t you change your questions, Sheriff? Ask them if they killed Millroy, then ask them what they’ve got against my grandmother.”
    The sheriff took too long to think. Miss Amelia lifted her head toward the door. She wanted out of there.
    To our backs, the sheriff called out, “And about the Nut House, Miss Amelia. You’d better stay away from there for a while. Not that I’m scared you’d do something, mind you. Just that we don’t know what’s going on around here yet. I been kind of thinkin’, maybe you’re the target. Somebody doing this to scare folks away from your store and your baked goods. Seen worse things done when people got to be rivals.”
    She turned slowly, at her most regal now. “Just who do you imagine has got a store to rival the Nut House? I, for one, can’t think of a single place.” Miss Amelia moved out through the door. “You think of one, Sheriff?” she asked over her shoulder. “How about you, Hunter?”
    Hunter, framed in the doorway behind us, shook his head.
    “You’re not thinking of Ethelred, are you? Woman’s not as bad as people think. Just wanting a little glory. That’s all.” Out on the porch, she put a hand up, shielding her eyes from the sun.
    “Hunter, you call Lindy you got any news, you hear me? Sooner rather than later. I get the feeling you two aren’t talking much and that’s just plain stupid at a time like this.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” was all he said.
    Since I was mad at her for interfering, I got a rough grip on Meemaw’s arm, then let up as I felt a tremor go through her body. She promised Ben she’d be home that night if he wanted to come over and talk. I led her carefully down to the truck parked at the curb, and said nothing more until we were on our way out of town.

Chapter Thirteen

    “Call that boy back,” Miss Amelia said after a long and very quiet five minutes on the road.
    “Which boy?” I had my eye on a white car traveling too close behind me. I tapped my brakes, warning him off my rear end. I took another look but couldn’t see who was behind the wheel.
    “Hunter.”
    “Huh? What do you mean ‘Hunter’?”
    “Just what I said. I want you to call him.”
    “And tell him what?”
    “Tell him we’re not going home yet. I want to see him over at The Squirrel. We’ve gotta talk. I’m starting to get the feeling he’s the only one’s able to help.”
    “I’m taking you home, Meemaw. Mama said to get you back to the ranch as soon as possible.”
    She sighed. “First we’re going to The Squirrel. I didn’t get any breakfast and I’m hungry. Then I’ll go home. I’m going to Columbus with Ethelred this afternoon. Ben’s coming over tonight. Got a full day ahead of me.”
    “For heaven’s sakes, why are you going to Columbus with Ethelred?”
    “Because I said I would.”
    “What? You going shopping at this particular moment in your life? Wait ’til I tell Mama.”
    She sat back and drew in one long, angry breath. “I guess you and Emma see me as nothing but a sad old lady who doesn’t know what she’s doing. I’ve been kind of feelin’ like that lately. But not anymore. Looks to me like somebody set me up to take the blame for the man’s death all along. I take that personally, Lindy. Very, very personally. Now, you call that boy. Tell him to meet us at The Squirrel soon as he can get there.”
    I sputtered for only a minute before swallowing my pride and calling Hunter.
    *   *   *
    The white car stayed behind me right up until I made my turn on to Carya Street. It hung back, even let a couple of cars pass, then it disappeared. No use saying anything to Meemaw. She would only turn around, gawk at him, and embarrass me.
    What I was worrying about was the press. They’d be flooding into town soon enough, I figured. A poisoned pastor was great fodder for sales. Add to that a seventy-seven-year-old grandmother as the major suspect, and before we knew it, a wind of words would be blowing