Down Home and Deadly

Jolene. Sorry if it sounded that way.” She looked menacing when she was angry, though. I could imagine that snake tattoo shooting its fangs out at me. I hurried to soothe her. “I just thought you might give me some insight into J.D.’s character. But you don’t have to.”
    “That’s okay. I fly off the handle a little fast sometimes. Jumpin’ to conclusions and missin’ as my old gramma used to say.” She sent me a forgiving grin. She mused for a minute then continued, “Wonder when Jimmy took to callin’ hisself ‘ J.D. ’ Sounds right fancy, don’t it?”
    “I guess.”
    She ignored my answer. “Now that I think about it, he did make a few folks mad. You know, my best girlfriend back then — Melody was her name — she married herself a rich old man . T ook her forever to find one , but she did.” She shook her head in wonder. “He was an old coot —bald-headed and didn’t have his own teeth. But he was loaded. That’s the best kind of m a n, you know.” Wink, wink.
    “Well, I—”
    She cut off any Dear Pru advice I might impart with a wave of her hand. “So, one night Melody and me have a girls’ night out , and we meet this guy, a real hunk. I don’t know how she does it, but before the night’s over, she gets him to give her his number. The rest of the night, she’s all braggin’, you know, how she could pick up men without even tryin’. I kinda lost my cool and blubbered to Jimmy, wantin’ him to tell me I was prettier’n Melody—which I was—but the next thing I know , he’s callin’ her and threatening to blab to her husband if she don’t let him borrow her fancy car.”
    “So she was mad at him?”
    “I’ll say she was. Mad at both of us. Even though I was innocent as a newborn baby. She wouldn’t speak to me for a long time. In fact, as long as Jimmy and me was together. She come around after I showed him the door, though. Should we put an obituary in the paper? Sort of let folks hereabouts know when the funeral is?” she asked without ever taking an audible breath.
    “I’ll take care of it. The editor and I are friends,” I answered.
    “I knew you was the right gal to take up with soon as I laid eyes on you.” She slapped me on the back. Not lightly. She dropped me off at the diner , and I left her to her Mustang and musings and went home to get ready for work at the health club. On the way, I called Marge at the Monitor , and together we came up with an obituary for Jimmy Dean Finley.
    *****
    I stuck my head into Bob’s office. “If it’s okay with you , I’m going to come by tomorrow night for a couple of hours and see what all needs to be done.” I thought it might be easier if I had some time by myself to get reacquainted with the running of a health club.
    “Sounds good. Let me get you a key.” He motioned me to come inside. “Got a minute?” He made a pushing motion toward the door, so I shut it.
    Poor Bob. He’d aged so much in the last few days. “Of course.” I sat down. And tried not to think of how often I had dreamed of owning this place. And how aggravated I’d been at Bob and Lisa when I quit. Time to put those thoughts behind me.
    He pushed the key across the desk toward me. “I guess you heard that they may arrest Lisa any minute now. I know it’s the talk of the town.” His shoulders slumped as if the weight of the world rested on them.
    I nodded.
    Bob leaned forward. “I think she’s being framed, Jenna.” He lowered his voice. “Some stuff happened a long time ago. And ever since, Harvey has hated me. Remember how he and Hank Templeton teamed up on the zoning board to keep my business outside of town? I think he did this just to get back at me.”
    “Killed an innocent person just to get revenge on you, Bob?” I wondered if self-centeredness was an inherited trait.
    “No . . . ” Bob suddenly looked very uncomfortable, as if he hadn’t thought this far ahead.
    I considered telling him I already knew, but I couldn’t think of a tactful way.
    “The thing is . . . J.D. was involved back then, too. In the stuff that happened. So Harvey hated us both. This way he killed two birds with one stone.” He studied the framed picture of Lisa and Fluffy. “Killing J.D. and setting Lisa up for it settles the score with both of us.”
    I nodded. In some twisted way, I could see his logic. If Lisa were found guilty , it would be worse for Bob than if he, himself, were sent to prison.
    “You know, don’t you?”
    I looked