“Once in a while. I’m glad Mom never found out, or she’d have had a fit. She was a teetotaler who thought all the evil in the world came out of a bottle.”

“What was it about Foley that scared you?”

“What didn’t? His violence, his temper, the way he lashed out. With him, you never knew what was coming next. I figured if he was willing to hit Violet, why not Liza or me?”

“Did you ever see him hit Violet?”

“No, but I saw the evidence after the fact. That was good enough for me.”

“When did you hear Violet was gone?”

“Sunday morning. I didn’t know she was gone gone, but I knew she hadn’t come home. Mr. Padgett came over for lunch after church and he was the one who told my mom.”

“How’d he hear about it?”

“Town the size of Serena Station, everybody knows everything. Maybe someone noticed the car wasn’t parked out front. That would’ve set tongues to wagging.”

“Was there any gossip about who Violet was seeing? Someone must have come under suspicion.”

“Not necessarily. Violet was a tramp, so it could have been anyone. Some guy she picked up in a bar.”

“I gather it didn’t surprise you to think she’d run off.”

“Oh, heck no. Not her.”

“Even though it meant leaving Daisy behind?”

Kathy made a face. “Daisy was a whiny little brat in those days. And look how they lived. The Sullivans were dirt poor, their house was disgusting, and Foley beat Violet up every chance he could. The better question is why she waited as long as she did.”

I drove from Kathy Cramer’s subdivision into Santa Maria proper, where I found a phone booth in the parking lot of a strip mall. I dialed the work number I’d been given for Violet’s brother, and the woman who picked up on the other end said, “Wilcox Construction.”

“Hi. My name’s Kinsey Millhone. I’m trying to reach Calvin Wilcox.”

“May I ask what this is in reference to?”

“His sister.”

A pause. “Mr. Wilcox doesn’t have a sister.”

“Maybe not now, but he did. Would you ask him if he can spare a few minutes? I’d like to talk to him.”

“Hang on and I’ll see if he’s in.”

I figured she was saying that so she could comfortably claim he was “away from his desk,” but the next thing I knew, the man himself picked up the call. “Wilcox.”

I went through my spiel again, trying to be succinct since he sounded like a man who liked to get right to the point.

“If you can make it over here in the next half hour, fine. Otherwise, I can’t do it until early next week.”

“I’ll be right there.”