When I got home, I paced back and forth in my living room like a caged tiger, trying to decide if the fishing plan was a smart one or not. If I got them out to one of the isolated lakes where very few folks fished, I’d ply them with the tainted beer right away. Once they got weak enough, I’d drag them back to the car and drive further into the woods to the nearest pool of quicksand and dump them in. When they didn’t come home, Willie Frank would no doubt come to my house and ask where they was. I’d tell him that they had decided not to go fishing with me when they ran into a old friend from the neighborhood they used to live in, and had gone off somewhere with him. I’d also tell Willie Frank that I’d tried to talk them out of going because the man was one of the bootleggers who was still pissed off about losing business to them. I wasn’t concerned about nobody stumbling across their bodies because everything that went into quicksand and sunk to the bottom, stayed there. If Willie Frank didn’t bring up calling the police to report them missing, I would. Sheriff Potts wouldn’t spend too much time trying to locate them, though.

CHAPTER 33 - YVONNE

CHAPTER 33

YVONNE

RIGHT AFTER ODELL LEFT, MILTON HEADED TOWARD OUR BED room. Just as I was about to follow him, a guest asked for another drink, so I had to tend to him before I went to see what Milton was up to.

Before I could get out of the living room, Sweet Sue came up to me. “Girl, everybody is raving about them fried chicken wings. I just ate the last one,” she said. “Can you go cook some more?”

“Um, you know where everything is at. Can you do it for me?”

“I guess I could. You know, I do so much when I come over here, I feel like the help,” she grumbled.

“You can drink for free the rest of the night,” I assured her.

“That suits me just fine.” As soon as Sweet Sue headed toward the kitchen, I whirled around and took off before anybody else could hem me up.

Milton had locked our bedroom door. That didn’t sit too well with me. I pounded on it with my fist, and he opened it right away. “Why did you lock the door?” I asked, wagging my finger in his face.

“I didn’t want to be disturbed,” he muttered, blinking like he was nervous.

“Milton, I live here. And ain’t nobody else got no business coming in this bedroom unless we ask them.”

“I know, baby. But you can’t predict what drunk folks will do. The bathroom is right across the hall and somebody might make a wrong turn.”