Milton took his time answering this time. He crossed his legs and leaned back in his seat. The suspense was killing me. “Didn’t you hear what Willie Frank asked you? You the one deaf now?” I hollered.

“I heard him,” Milton replied, speaking real calm. Then he blurted out in a loud, cold tone, “Odell told her!”

I was too shocked to do anything other than just stand there as stiff as a pine tree. Willie Frank gasped and done a double take. “Milton, you sure that’s what Joyce said?” he asked.

“I know what she said,” Milton shot back. He wobbled up off the couch and put his hands on Willie Frank’s shoulders. “Now think hard. I know your uncle and Sheriff Potts both shop at MacPherson’s. Odell is one of the few colored men they respect. Is there a chance one of them let that piece of information slip out while they was over there?”

Willie Frank looked puzzled. Then he shook his head. “Well, I don’t follow them around so I wouldn’t know. I do know that Uncle Lamar couldn’t have told him. Right after he left the jailhouse on Thursday, he drove to Huntsville to visit his girlfriend. That’s where he’s been ever since. And even if Sheriff Potts went in the store and got to talking to Odell, that don’t sound like a subject they’d discuss. I can ask him if you want me to. That way, we could clear this up. Odell is the last person I’d suspect of making such a deadly telephone call.”

“Look, my man. If you, your uncle, and the sheriff didn’t tell Odell, he had to find out another way!” Milton blasted. “And I can’t think of but one other way: He made that call.”

“Milton, hush up and bite your tongue!” I screamed. “Do you know what you just said?” My whole body was shaking. The thought of us being betrayed in such a deadly way by somebody we thought was our friend was almost too much for me to stand. I was surprised I hadn’t fainted by now.

“Hell yeah, I know what I just said,” Milton snarled. “I wouldn’t say nothing this crazy unless I knew what I was talking about.”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Willie Frank muttered, slapping the side of his head.