"Why not?"

"They said it wasn't necessary."

"Trinity says Meg wanted to be cremated," I said. "Sprinkled on Mobile Bay. I think that's nice, Sister, don't you? To be sprinkled on Mobile Bay?"

"Very nice," Sister agreed.

Trinity stood up. Huge against the windows. Huge looking down at Sister. "Why don't I have to identify the body?"

"It's already taken care of," Sister said.

"By whom?"

"Well, I think they gave me the wrong name."

Trinity sat down heavily in the poppy chair. "Bobby Haskins. That bastard Bobby Haskins. Right?"

Mary Alice nodded. "I'm sure they're wrong."

Trinity closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair. Sister and I looked at each other nervously.

"Is she all right?" I mouthed.

Mary Alice shrugged. We sat for what seemed like several minutes in silence.

"Trinity?" Mary Alice finally said. "You okay?"

"Of course I'm all right. I'm thinking."

"Well, while you're thinking, Patricia Anne and I are going to go fix some sandwiches. Chicken salad suit you? Low fat mayonnaise. Or cream cheese with olives. The cream cheese is low fat; I don't think they've done anything about olives yet, but there aren't many of them in it. Or how about we fix some of each? How does that sound?"

"Peanut butter and banana," Trinity said, not opening her eyes.

"That's fine." Mary Alice headed for the kitchen. I followed and shut the door. "Peanut butter's loaded with fat," she mumbled.

I was right on her heels. "You said Judge Haskins identified the body? I can't believe that."

Mary Alice opened the cabinet and took out a jar of peanut butter. "God," she read the label. "Fifteen grams." She came back to the counter and reached in the bread box for a loaf of bread. "It gets weirder, Mouse. The woman I talked to said Meg's husband, Judge Robert Haskins, identified the body and claimed it. The body's been moved."

"Meg was married to Judge Haskins?" I pulled a stool over to the counter beside Bubba's heating pad and watched Sister slather peanut butter on Merita white. "Are you sure?"

"I'm not sure about anything except my new son-in-law has strange relatives." Mary Alice reached for a banana. "Get the cream cheese, Mouse."

I got down and went to the refrigerator. "Judge Haskins was Meg's husband? They sure didn't act married." I checked the date on the cream cheese. I've gotten some unfortunate culinary surprises out of Sister's refrigerator. "Besides," I said, coming back to the counter, "that man looks like a weasel. Remember I told you that? How much he looks like a weasel?''

"So did my darling Will Alec. I remember on our wedding day Grandmama Alice pulled me aside and said, 'Honey, that man's just downright feral-looking.' I didn't know what she was talking about, so I said, 'Thank-you.' I think it was the whiskers, though, don't you?"

"Well, he grew the whiskers because he didn't have a chin."