Alafair Tucker 01 - The Old Buzzard Had It Coming

Blanche’s shoe and straightening out the stocking.
    “Hurry, Mama,” Blanche urged, as her siblings disappeared out the door.
    Alafair glanced up, but before she could say anything to Blanche, her attention was captured by a group of women standing in the foyer, visiting. She paused, and Blanche, whose foot was in Alafair’s hand, grasped her mother’s shoulder to steady herself.
    Alafair recognized the plump woman standing nearest the door. It was Mrs. Lang, Russell’s wife and Dan’s mother. She released Blanche’s foot and stood up with the shoe still in her hand, and took a few steps toward the women. Blanche hopped after her. “Ma!” she exclaimed, affronted.
    Alafair handed the girl her shoe. “Here,” she said, distracted. “Sit here and put your shoe on. I’ll be right back.”
    Blanche obeyed, grumbling. Alafair insinuated herself into the group of women and sidled up to Mrs. Lang. For a few seconds, she stood silently at the woman’s elbow, pretending to listen to the conversation, but as soon as a lull arose, Alafair touched Mrs. Lang’s arm to gain her attention.
    Mrs. Lang looked at Alafair blankly, then her eyes widened with alarm when recognition dawned. She mastered her expression quickly, and stepped back from the group, drawing Alafair with her.
    “Hello, Miz Tucker,” she said. “What can I do for you?”
    “I was just wondering,” she began gingerly, “if you had heard that Harley Day’s wife confessed to the murder of her husband?”
    “Yes, I heard,” Mrs. Lang said. “I’m sorry for Miz Day, but I’m glad the killer is caught. I didn’t like all the suspicions between folks.”
    Alafair felt her cheeks grow warm. Obviously, Mrs. Lang had been apprised of Alafair’s interactions with Russell and Dan. By this time, it was likely that everyone in town knew. Did Mrs. Lang think that Alafair suspected her menfolk of murder? Did she bear Alafair ill will for casting aspersions on her loved ones? Alafair would, if the situation was reversed. Nevertheless, she forged ahead. “John Lee thinks his mother confessed to protect…someone. He’s thinking the killer is still out there, and I’m wondering if he’s right.” Was that statement innocuous enough? Maybe not, since Mrs. Lang’s face reddened.
    “I mean,” she added hurriedly, “I know your son cared about Maggie Ellen Day and her family, at one time. I was thinking that he might be keeping his ear to the ground.”
    Mrs. Lang thawed a bit, and nodded. “Well, it’s true that Dan liked that Day girl for a while, but that situation was just too big a mess to turn out well. Mr. Day gave Dan a hard time from the minute he got involved with his daughter. Russell and me tried to warn him, but you know how young folks are. I don’t know what it was that made Dan and Mr. Day get into such a nasty fight in the end, but after that happened, Dan never went out to that place any more. Russell wanted to bring charges against Day after the scrap, but Dan wouldn’t hear of it. Said he could take care of himself. He don’t want to be treated like a child, I reckon.”
    “Did Dan and Maggie Ellen ever see each other again?” Alafair asked. Dan had told her that they did, but she wondered if his mother knew about it.
    “I think they did, now and then, though Dan never discussed it with me. I’m just his ma, after all. I was surprised as all get-out when I heard she married somebody else all of a sudden. I liked that girl, too, until she up and broke Dan’s heart. Dan blamed her father for the whole business, though. He still won’t hear a word against her.”
    “Your husband told me that he was on his way out to see John Lee the night Harley got killed. Did he see anything suspicious?”
    “Well, he said there wasn’t hardly anybody on the road. Just one of those Leonard boys is all he could call to mind. Russell never got to Day’s place, you know. His buggy slid off the road. It was a miserable night. He told me he’d just be gone a couple of hours, but after it got close to nine o’clock, I sent Dan out to look for him.”
    Surprised, Alafair opened her mouth to speak, but Mrs. Lang went on. “Russell had already got his buggy out of the ditch, though, and finally came back home not long after. Dan just missed him. Said he spent a cold and miserable hour searching, before Mr. Ross out there by the crossroads told him he had seen Russell riding back toward town a few minutes earlier.”
    “Dan went out to