“I only got one response to the ad, but it was a doozy. Someone wanted me to kill Sam Miller. Offered me ten thousand dollars. I said I wouldn’t do it, wasn’t really my line, and they hung right up.”

“Who do you think it was? Was it a man or a woman?”

“It was a man, but I don’t have any idea who. I didn’t recognize the voice and there wasn’t time to trace the call. Then I didn’t know what to do. If I warned Sam, I’d have to explain about the ad, and I was embarrassed, I might even have lost my job—moonlighting’s against the regulations. So I just tried to keep an eye on him. Checked in on him every so often. That night I happened to see him on the road, heading toward the warehouse. Then I got a call to go to the Anchor Bar and give Bill Maloney a ride home. When I got back to the parking lot, Sam was already dead. I didn’t have any reason to be in the parking lot, so I left.”

“You’d really get in trouble if this got out?”

Culpepper nodded. “Probably get suspended without pay for a month, something like that. I can’t afford that.” He shook his head and then smiled. “Don’t look so worried, Lucy. I’ll think of something.” He indicated the anxious row of mothers peering into the cruiser and laughed. “I guess I’m not the only one with some explainin’ to do.”

“I didn’t feel well,” said Lucy to the small group of curious women. “Officer Culpepper gave me a ride down from Indian Rock.”

“These children have been unsupervised for at least fifteen minutes,” said Mrs. Phipps, the wattles under her chin shaking with indignation.

“I’m sorry. It couldn’t be avoided.” Lucy shrugged. Seeing their skeptical expressions, she didn’t think she’d convinced them.

“Don’t forget,” she added brightly, “there’s no meeting next week because of school vacation. C’mon, Toby, let’s go home.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE

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“I’m seriously thinking of committing suicide.”

“Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a tiny bit?” Sue’s crisp, rational voice came over the phone wire.

“Probably,” admitted Lucy. “But you should’ve seen the way they looked at me. I thought Stubby Phipps’s mother was going to lose her bridge. She just kept standing there with her mouth hanging open, looking at Culpepper and looking at me and trying to make one plus one equal something illicit.”