The worn, frightened look had left his face, and this morning he appeared more his usual self, I was glad to see.

“Good morning.” I smiled. “Azalea’s downstairs making hotcakes for breakfast.”

Justin’s face lit up. “I sure am hungry.” His head ducked down for a moment. “Uh, about yesterday . . .”

“Yes,” I said when he paused.

“Thank you,” Justin said, raising his head to look at me. “I’m glad you were there, sir.”

“You’re welcome.” He seemed younger than eighteen right then. He’d had more than one deep shock yesterday, and the Lord only knew how it would all affect him in the long run. “Come on downstairs when you’re ready. Breakfast will be on the table soon.”

“Yes, sir. I will.” Justin rubbed Diesel’s head, and the cat chirped happily.

I reached the kitchen in time to answer the phone. The appetizing smells emanating from the stove made my stomach rumble. Justin wasn’t the only hungry one.

“Hello.”

“Good morning, Mr. Harris. This is Ray Appleby from the Athena Daily Register. I’d like to talk to you about the murder of Godfrey Priest.”

I glanced at the clock. It was only seven-fifteen.

“You’re calling pretty early, Mr. Appleby. I haven’t had my breakfast yet.” My tone was sharp, but I didn’t care.

“I apologize if I woke you,” Appleby said. He didn’t sound apologetic. “But I really need to talk to you as soon as possible. According to my sources you found the body.”

“If you want to call back at a more civilized hour, I might be willing to talk to you. Until then, I have nothing more to say.” I hung up the phone.

I turned to find Azalea regarding me, her expression inquisitive.

“Somebody from the paper, wanting to talk to me about yesterday.” I sat down at the table.

“That’s mighty rude, calling somebody this early.” She turned back to the stove. “People just ain’t raised right these days.”

“It’s only going to get worse,” I said. I picked up my coffee cup and, seeing that it was empty, got up to refill it.

“I guess he was pretty big news.” Azalea expertly flipped a couple of hotcakes as I poured the coffee.

“He was, and there’ll probably be news crews from all over the country here.” I stirred some sugar substitute into the coffee. “And it looks like your daughter may be center stage, since she’s in charge of the investigation.”

Azalea made a noise that sounded like hmmph.

“It’s a big chance for her.” I sat down at the table again and drank some coffee.

“That girl wanna be on TV, she should’ve been an actress.” Azalea set a plate with three hotcakes and three sausages on the table in front of me.

“Thank you,” I said, reaching for the syrup she had placed on the table, along with a napkin and cutlery.