“She think I don’t know, but I heard about Darryl Tyree. I tole her he weren’t no fit company, tole her he weren’t to be comin’ round here no more.”
“Is that when she moved out?” I asked.
Banks nodded.
“When did that happen?”
“Roun’ Easter time. ’Bout four months back.”
Banks’s eyes glistened.
“I knew she had somethin’ on her mine. I thought it was jus’ Tyree. Sweet Jesus, I din’t know she was with child.”
“Did you know she was living with Mr. Tyree?”
“I didn’t axe, Lord forgive me. But I figured she’d went over to his place.”
“Do you have any idea why your daughter might have wanted to harm her baby?”
“No, ma’am. Tamela a good girl.”
“Might Mr. Tyree have placed pressure on your daughter because he didn’t want the child?”
“Weren’t like that.”
We al turned at the sound of Geneva’s voice.
She gazed at us dul y, in her shapeless blouse and terrible shorts.
“What do you mean?”
“Tamela tel s me things, you know what I’m sayin’?”
“She confides in you?” I said.
“Yeah. Confides in me. Tel s me things she can’t tel Daddy.”
“What she can’t tel me?” Banks’s voice sounded high and wheedly.
“Lots of stuff, Daddy. She couldn’t talk to you about Darryl. You shouting at her, tryin’ to get her to pray al the time.”
“I got to be thinkin’ ’bout her sou—”
“Did Tamela discuss her relationship with Darryl Tyree?”Slidel cut Banks off.
“Some.”
“Did she tel you she was pregnant?”
“Yeah.”
“When was that?”
Genevashrugged. “Last winter.”
Banks’s shoulders slumped visibly.
“Do you know where your sister is?”
GenevaignoredSlidel ’s question.
“What d’you find in Darryl’s woodstove?”
“Charred fragments of bone,” I replied.
“You sure they from a baby?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe that baby was born dead.”
“There is always that possibility.” I doubted the words even as I spoke them, but couldn’t bear the look of sadness inGeneva ’s eyes. “That’s why we have to locate Tamela and find out what real y happened. Something other than murder could explain the baby’s death. I very much hope that turns out to be true.”
“Maybe the baby come too early.”
“I’m an expert on bones,Geneva . I can recognize changes that take place in the skeleton of a developing fetus.” I reminded myself of the KISS principle. Keep It Simple, Stupid.
“Tamela’s baby was ful -term.”
“What’s that mean?”
“The pregnancy lasted the ful thirty-seven weeks, or very close to it. Long enough that the baby should have survived.”
“There could have been problems.”
“There could have been.”
“How d’you know that was Tamela’s baby?”
Slidel jumped in, ticking off points on his sausage fingers.