The maid stared down at the card, which had his picture on it. “Wait here,” she said coolly.

She returned in five minutes, and said, “Mrs. King said to tell you she has nothing to say that hasn’t already been said.”

“That sounds evasive to me. I guess I can quote you on that, right?”

“On what?” the maid said, clearly flustered.

“That she’s evasive and has nothing to say that hasn’t already been said. I would think a mother would always have something to say about her child’s death no matter how many years have gone by, don’t you agree?”

“Well, yes, but I’m not…”

“Can I quote you on agreeing with me?”

The door suddenly jerked backward and Mrs. King appeared. “Why are you harassing my maid, Mr. Denville?”

“I wasn’t harassing her. I simply asked her a few questions. She was agreeing with me, and I just wanted to make sure I got it straight. You have to do that when you write for a newspaper. It’s a rule. Did you change your mind about talking to me, Mrs. King?”

“This is all because that girl has come back to town. I knew this would happen. Don’t the dead deserve to rest in peace?”

Denville knew what the word haughty meant. However, he’d never come across anyone to whom he could apply it. Until now. Maxine King was haughty from the top of her well-coiffed head to the tips of her pointy-toed shoes. She was pencil-thin, with stringy arms and skinny legs. Her waist, he surmised, was probably eighteen inches, not a tad more. Her eyes were so green he knew their color had to be artificial. No one had eyes as green as the grass on a golf course unless they wore tinted contact lenses. And he surmised that that must be collagen in her lips. They were way too puffy for her skinny face. The word ghoul came to his mind.

“Well?”

“Well what, Mrs. King?”

“I asked you if the dead didn’t deserve to rest in peace.”

“I agree with you that the dead should rest in peace. However, think about how much more peaceful your son will rest if we mange to right an old wrong. Back then you and your husband made some very strong statements about Cady Jordan. Since Cady herself was badly injured, as I’m sure you know, and she temporarily lost her memory, and there were no witnesses to the accident, there are grounds for slander. Now, I’m not saying Cady Jordan is going to up and sue you and Mr. King, but she might. I, for one, certainly wouldn’t want to go up against the battery of lawyers her grandmother will bring in. I’m going to talk to everyone in this town until we get it right. Now, I’d like a comment from you, Mrs. King.”

Maxine King’s gaze swept past the chubby reporter to her husband, who was coming up the walkway. Her green eyes turned to hard polished glass as she stared at her handsome husband.