Carolina Moon

was a sure bet he was married, else why had nobody known about him?
    This led to the theory that Sherry had threatened to go to his wife, and the ensuing argument had led to violence.
    The smart money picked up this theory and ran with it, putting every married man in the area between twenty and sixty on the list of suspects, with the odds favoring a teacher or administrator from Progress High.
    But Faith remembered what Tory had said while they’d sat on the grass outside Sherry’s apartment. And she remembered Hope.
    It wouldn’t hurt to stop by Southern Comfort and see what Tory had to say about things today.
    She stopped by the market first and soberly contemplated the bananas. A few feet away Maxine loaded a bag with apples and sniffled. Faith edged a little closer and picked a bunch of bananas at random.
    “Well, hi there, Maxine. You all right, honey?”
    Maxine shook her head, blinked back fresh tears that swam into her eyes. “I just can’t seem to function. Wade gave me the day off because I was feeling so sad, but I couldn’t stay home.”
    “Maxine, sweetie.”
    Faith cursed her faulty internal radar when Boots Mooney guided her shopping cart into produce. She wasn’t in the mood to tangle with Wade’s mother again.
    The three carts bumped each other, face-to-face. Boots made cooing noises and handed Maxine a hankie.
    “It just keeps hitting me, over and over.” Maxine dabbed at her eyes. “I told Ma I’d do the grocery shopping, and now I can’t think.”
    Boots nodded. “I guess we’re all upset about poor Sherry Bellows.”
    “I just don’t know how it could happen. I don’t understand it. It’s not supposed to happen here. “
    “I know. You shouldn’t be scared.” Sympathetic, Faith rubbed Maxine’s shoulder. “Most people think it was a boyfriend who went crazy.”
    “She didn’t have a boyfriend.” Maxine fumbled in her pocket, pulled out a tattered tissue. “She wasn’t seeing anybody at all, but she had a little thing for Wade.”
    “Wade?” Faith’s hand froze, as did die expression of compassion on her face. Over Maxine’s bent head her eyes locked with Boots’s.
    “She liked to come in and flirt with him. Started out pumping me for information about him. Not obnoxious like,” Maxine added with another sniffle. “But friendly. Interested. You know, was he married, was he seeing someone, that kind of thing.”
    Faith dropped her comforting hand. “I see.”
    “He’s so good-looking, you know. I had a crush on him myself a while back, so I couldn’t blame her.” Remembering herself, Maxine flushed and peeked above the hankie toward Boots. “Beg your pardon, Miss Boots. Wade, he never—”
    “Of course not.” Boots gave Maxine’s back a quick pat. “Why, I’d think there was something wrong with a young woman if she didn’t get herself a crush on my Wade.” Her gaze drifted to Faith again, narrowed. “He’s a wonderful man.”
    “Yes’m, he is, so you couldn’t blame Sherry for having an eye for him.”
    Really, Faith thought. Couldn’t you really?
    “And we got to be friends, Sherry and me,” Maxine went on, comforted by the two sympathetic pairs of ears. “She helped me study sometimes, and we were going to go out and celebrate when the semester was over. Drive down to Charleston, we thought, and go to some clubs. Said she was man-deprived just now. Didn’t mind so much while she’d been getting her degree and starting her career, but she was looking to start dating again.” Maxine wiped her eyes again. “She wanted to get married one day, have a family. We talked about it.”
    “I’m sorry,” Boots answered. “I didn’t know you were close.”
    “She was just so nice. And she was smart and we had a lot of things in common. She’d worked through college, just like I am. We could talk about clothes and guys and just anything. We both loved dogs. I don’t know what’s going to happen to her poor dog now. I’d take him, but I just can’t.”
    She began to weep then, as much for the dog as for her lost friend. “Don’t take on so, Maxine.” Faith’s radar was working now, well enough for her to sense the other shoppers nudging closer to try to catch a few words. “Wade’ll find him a good home. And the chief’ll figure all this out.”
    “I feel so sick inside. Just yesterday she was laughing and excited. We had lunch together in the park. She was going to work for Tory Bodeen at the new shop. Least she hoped to.