Carnal Innocence

You wait and see.’”
    “Did she happen to tell you how she was going to make him eat them?”
    “She was going to get him alone somewhere and let nature take its course.” Darleen sent Burns a coy wink. “She took real good care of herself, Edda Lou did. Keptherself up and knew how to dress so men would look twice.”
    “Any men in particular?”
    “Before Tucker? She kinda played the field. Had John Thomas Bonny stuck on her last winter, and before that Judson O’Hara and Will Shiver. And there was Ben Koons, too. Though he was a married man and she never took him seriously.”
    Burns noted down the names in meticulous block printing. “With a woman as attractive as Edda Lou, there might have been a man who remained … stuck on her after she’d committed herself to Mr. Longstreet.”
    “Oh, Edda Lou liked to brag that men didn’t get over her in the wink of an eye. She could’ve had any of them.”
    “I see. What about Toby March?”
    “Oh.” Darleen picked up the paper cup and drank the rest of the water. “Well.” “Yes?”
    “There is nothing to that, Mr. Burns. No indeed. Edda Lou like to tease some. That was just her way.”
    “She teased Mr. March?”
    “It was just a little game.” Darleen brought her thumb to her mouth and began to gnaw on the nail. “Edda Lou wouldn’t be interested in a black man. Curious maybe.”
    “And she was curious about Mr. March?”
    “It was just to hit back at her daddy. He’d walloped Toby some years ago. Gave him that scar. And Edda Lou’s brother, Cy, he was friends with Toby’s boy. Austin Hatinger raised holy hell about that. So Edda Lou just liked to flirt with Toby because he’d get all stiff and flustered.”
    “Did she have an affair with him?”
    “I can’t say.” Darleen chewed the nail down to the nub. “It wasn’t nothing serious. She was just teasing.”
    But it might have been serious for a black man, Burns thought. A married black in a small southern town where some lines were deadly to cross.
    “When did she tease him, Darleen?”
    “Oh, mostly after Tucker cut her off. That’s whenToby was doing work at the boardinghouse. But she wouldn’t have done anything, really. Why, her daddy would have killed her. He’d have strung Toby up, and he’d have skinned Edda Lou alive. If he didn’t get to it himself, Vernon would have done it for him. Edda Lou and Vernon didn’t have any use for each other, but Vernon couldn’t have held his head up if it got around that Edda Lou’d—you know—with one of Toby’s kind.”
    Burns smiled. That gave him three more suspects. Three more motives. “Thank you, Darleen. You’ve been a big help.”
    While Toby and young Jim hammered away at the braces on her back porch, Caroline took aim at a chicken-and-rice soup can. And missed.
    “Sight a little more to the right,” Susie advised. “You jerk toward the left whenever you pull the trigger.”
    “I don’t know why I’m doing this.”
    “It’s comforting. Hold your breath this time. Right before you nudge the trigger.” Susie pursed her lips when Caroline fired again, missed again. “You’ll do better once you learn to keep both eyes open. But I’d give this year’s Fourth of July contest a pass.”
    “I’m going to hit one, just one, before I move from this spot.”
    “Maybe it’d help if you thought of that Luis again.”
    “Nope. I’ve just about gotten that out of my system.”
    “Well, hell, here I’ve been hoping you’d have a weak moment and tell me all the gory details.”
    “More clichéd than gory. I caught him with another woman.”
    “Oh.” Susie pursed her lips and thought about it. “Do you mean caught him with, or
caught
him with?”
    “Capital-C caught.” She steadied her hand and took aim. “I walked in on him while a big-busted flute player was giving him an oil change.”
    “My, my. Did you cut off his dipstick?”
    The gun wavered as Caroline laughed. “No. I’m afraid this took place during my wimp period.”
    “You seem to be over it now.”
    “The wimp period or Luis? I am. Pretty much.” She missed again, swore, and buckled down. “Dammit, I’m going to hit one. It’s just a matter of practice. Nobody knows more about practice than a musician.” She lifted the gun, sighted in. “I’m going to make that goddamn can sing.”
    She clipped the side, and while it didn’t precisely sing, the quick bang was enough to satisfy her.
    “Nice going, Dead-eye.” Susie gave her a