I had cried so much by now, my eyes were red and swollen. Mama hugged me and we eased down on the couch. Daddy started pacing back and forth, mumbling under his breath. After only a few minutes, he stopped pacing and marched up to the couch with a scared expression on his face. “Joyce, don’t you hold back nothing! I know a couple of real good lawyers!” he boomed. “We’ll get all the help you need.” I was confused for a few seconds until I realized he was accusing me of killing Odell.

My mouth dropped open and I gave him the most incredulous look I could manage. “Daddy, you know I’d never hurt Odell, or anybody else. Like I already told y’all, I slept through the whole thing.”

“Mac, don’t you never say nothing like that again. Can’t you see how upset Joyce is? She and Odell was the perfect couple. Everybody knows that!” Mama yelled.

“Well, I can’t leave no stone unturned. Married couples have violent disputes all the time,” Daddy said in a softer tone.

“If you don’t come to your senses and stop upsetting this girl, the next married couple in a violent dispute will be me and you,” Mama threatened.

I cried some more. Daddy hung his head and slunk into the kitchen. He made coffee and Mama and I stayed on the couch with our arms around each other. She was crying as hard as I was.

Three hours later, the sheriff showed up with a bored expression on his long, homely face. After I let him in, I glanced over his shoulder and saw two of his deputies standing on our front porch, looking like they were mad at the world. Mama was standing in the middle of the floor wringing her hands. Daddy was slumped on the couch. “Mac, Millie, Joyce. What’s going on here?” Sheriff Potts growled as he crouched down on his lanky legs and lifted the sheet off Odell. “Woo-wee. Looks like a hog butchering. Smells like one, too.” He let the sheet go, rubbed his beaky nose, and stood back up. “Now tell me, who done it?” I told him the same thing I’d told him when I called. He pulled a notepad out of his shirt pocket and scribbled on it for about ten seconds. After squinting at the blood trail on the floor, he opened the door. “I’ll be back directly.” When he left, I ran to the window and watched him and his deputies go into Yvonne and Milton’s house.