Four Blind Mice

cackled. She liked the sound of it so much that she cackled again.
    I went across the kitchen and picked her up in my arms. She was so light — less than a hundred pounds. “Put me down!” she said. “Gently, Alex. I might break.”
    “So tell me about yesterday. You going to make an appointment with Dr. Rodman? Of course you are.”
    “I must have needed a little extra sleep, that’s all it was. It happens to the best of us. I listened to my body. Do you?”
    “Yes, I do,” I said. “I’m listening to it now, and it’s voicing some serious concern about you. Will you make an appointment with John Rodman, or do I have to make it for you?”
    “Put me down, Alex. I’m already seeing the doctor later this week.
Regular
visit, no big thing. Now. How do you want your eggs this morning?”
    As if to show me how fine she was, Nana said that I should go back to Fort Bragg with Sampson and finish up my business there. She insisted. I did need to go to Bragg at least once more, but not before I got Aunt Tia to come and stay with Nana and the kids. Only after I was sure that everything was under control did I set out for North Carolina.
    On the ride, I told Sampson what had happened with Nana, and also a blow-by-blow of my day with the kids.
    “She’s eighty-two, Alex,” he said, then added, “she’ll probably only be with us for another twenty years or so.” We both laughed, but I could tell that John was worried about Nana too. By his own admission, she’s been like a mother to him.
    We finally arrived at Fayetteville, North Carolina, about five in the afternoon. We had to see a woman about an alibi that maybe could save Sergeant Cooper.

Chapter 24
    WE DROVE TO the Bragg Boulevard Estates, which was less than half a mile from Fort Bragg. The jets were still flying nonstop overhead, and the artillery kept pounding away.
    Just about everyone at Boulevard Estates worked on the base and lived in what is known as basic allowance housing. BAH is based on rank and pay grade, the size and quality of the residence improving dramatically with rank. Most of the places we saw were small ranch houses. Several of them looked to need serious maintenance work. I had read somewhere that over 60 percent of the current army was married and had children. It seemed that statistic was about right.
    Sampson and I walked up to one of the brick ranch houses, and I knocked on the battered and bent aluminum front door. A woman in a black silk kimono appeared. She was heavyset, attractive. I already knew that her name was Tori Sanders. I could see four small children behind her, checking out who was at the door.
    “Yes? What is it?” she asked. “We’re busy. It’s feeding time at the zoo.”
    “I’m Detective Cross and this is Detective Sampson,” I told her. “Captain Jacobs told us you’re a friend of Ellis Cooper’s.”
    She didn’t respond. Didn’t even blink.
    “Mrs. Sanders, you called me at my hotel two days ago. I figured your house had to be within walking distance of the base if Sergeant Cooper stopped here on the night of the murder. I did a little checking. Found out he was here that night. Can we come in? You don’t want us standing out here where all your neighbors can see.”
    Tori Sanders decided to let us in. She opened the door for Sampson and me and ushered us into a small dining area. Then she shooed her kids away.
    “I don’t know why you’re here, or what you’re talking about,” she said. Her arms were crossed tightly in front of her body. She was probably in her late thirties.
    “We have other options. I’ll tell you what we can do, Mrs. Sanders,” Sampson spoke up. “We can go out and ask around the neighborhood about you and Sergeant Cooper. We can also involve CID. Or you can answer our questions here in the privacy of your home. You do understand that Cooper is going to be executed in a few days?”
    “God damn you. Both of you!” she said, suddenly raising her voice. “You got this all wrong. As usual, the police have it wrong.”
    “Why don’t you straighten us out, then,” Sampson said, softening his tone some. “We’re here to listen. That’s the truth, Mrs. Sanders.”
    “You want to be straightened out, well then here it is. You want it real? I
did
call you, Detective Cross. That was me.
    “Now here’s what I didn’t say on the phone. I wasn’t cheating on my husband with Sergeant Cooper. My husband asked me to make the call. He’s a friend of Ellis’s. He