“So you’re famous,” she said. “My opponent, Horace, was interviewed for the local paper saying I’ve brought you on as a ringer to get a conviction against two innocent young boys.”

“Innocent? Really? I thought the town is calling for their blood?”

“I said half the town is, and if we lose this case they’ll eviscerate me. And now if we win, I’ll be accused of railroading innocent boys and leaving the real killer on the loose. Horace just found a way to put me between a rock and a hard place. Anderson’s father is one of the wealthiest men here, and I’m sure Horace is getting some nice little donations from him, because I certainly am not.”

“Aren’t you curious how much Horace is getting from him?”

“I could find out. Wouldn’t be too hard. Maybe I’ll poke around a little. Hope you like chili.”

“Sure. You know I haven’t had a home-cooked meal in . . . man, I can’t even guess. Almost twenty years, probably. Since I left.”

“No girlfriends cooked for you in Miami?”

“Not really how it works over there. At least not in the circles I ran in.”

“Well, never too late to start over.”

“Is that what you think I’m doing? Starting over?”

She looked to me. “Isn’t it?”

“Maybe I’m just passing through. One last goodbye to the old haunts.”

She grinned. “You never were very good at having insight into yourself. You could read other people better than anyone I’ve ever met, but it could never be focused inward.”

“Man, you sound like some yogic guru.”

She chuckled. “No, just an observation.”

“Can I ask you something? Why’d you never get married?”

She hesitated. “Just never met the right person, I guess. And when my dad got sick, there wasn’t much time for dating. I had to take care of him. I got close once, though. Food’s ready.”

I went over to the dinner table, a table I remembered her father carving from a tree he’d cut down himself because it had gotten crown rot and was withering away. “Who was it?”

“You wouldn’t know him. He was only here a couple of years. A doctor from up north.”

“Wow, Gates Barnes, I had no idea you were into doctors.”

The table was already set, and she brought over the pot and spooned chili into the two bowls. As she sprinkled in a few garnishes and cheese, she said, “I couldn’t have cared less what he did. He was nice, treated me well. He proposed to me.”

“What’d you say?”

She sat down across from me. “I said no.”

“How come?”

She stared at me a second. “Just wasn’t the right person.”

We watched each other a moment, and then I looked down at the chili. “Smells good.”

“My dad’s recipe. Would you like to say the blessing?”

“No.”