“I’ll be right there,” Dub said, then he hung up, put the phone down in the seat beside him, and covered his face. He didn’t want anyone driving by to see him cry.

But his news had drastically changed Donna Hollis’s needs. Chief Pittman had been talking about helping her out, and she wanted him to know that wouldn’t be necessary now, so she called the police station and asked to speak to the chief.

“Hold a moment, please,” Avery said, and put the call through to Lon’s office.

Lon was typing up the last bits of the case, mentioning the arrival of the coroner and the time of the removal of the body, when the phone on his desk rang. He swiveled his chair around and answered.

“Chief Pittman.”

“Chief, this is Donna Hollis. Do you have a minute?”

“Yes, ma’am. What do you need?” Lon asked.

“The reason I’m calling is because of what I no longer need,” she said, and then relayed the information Dub Truesdale had given her.

“Under the circumstances, that’s good news,” Lon said. “I thought that might be the case. Dub’s a good man. But that money won’t last you forever. We’re still going to help you. Don’t think for a minute that you’re going to have to deal with all of this on your own, okay?”

Donna was in tears again. “Yes, okay. Blessings has such good people in it. It’s why we moved here. But I want to go home now, and as soon as I can make it happen, I’ll be leaving.”

“Just so you know, your sons were transferred to county today. They’ve both pled guilty and will be sentenced whenever their court date is set.”

“That’s all on them,” Donna said. “I have no intention of being ‘that mother’ sitting in the courtroom bemoaning their fate. Whatever sentence they get is what they deserve. They shamed themselves, and they shamed their father and me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lon said. “In the meantime, don’t worry. We’re still going to be doing what we do to make your transition home a little easier.”

“All right then,” Donna said, and hung up.

She sat there in the silence of the house with the phone in her lap, wondering about the hand of fate. It had certainly given her a slap-down she didn’t deserve. But like Dub said, she would just have to make the best of it. Then she thought of the car keys and ran to get them before Dub showed up. Solving one small problem at a time was how she was going to get through this.

* * *

Knowing what he did now, Lon called Ruby and updated her on Arnold Hollis’s funeral expenses being covered, so the immediate need to pay for that had been alleviated, and there was life insurance money coming to Donna as well.