BooksBarbecue
Back The Heathens
Chapters (33)
  1. ALSO BY ACE ATKINS
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  33. What’s next onyour reading list?

“Come on, now,” Ladarius said. “Let’s see what these rich folks got to eat.”

TWELVE

Insurance settlement?” Maggie asked.

“There’d been something in the news about it,” Quinn said. “Remember last year all those stories about that nursing home in Corinth? Seems that TJ’s grandmother, Jerry Jeff Valentine’s momma, died in their care. I don’t know how much money they got or when, or if, they got it yet.”

It was the next morning, cold and rainy, Quinn in the kitchen with Maggie, relaying every step he’d made after leaving Donna Grace’s flower shop on the Square. He’d stopped by the Southern Star again and spent an hour speaking with the bartender, Coonie the Cajun, about the last time he’d seen Gina Byrd. It had been about ten days ago, and he’d had to get her into a taxi, one of only three taxis in Tibbehah County. Coonie said Gina had been a regular most nights, although he’d been off for the last week, down on the coast deep-sea fishing for drum and redfish.

“You think maybe she and TJ were fighting over the split?” Maggie said. “Seeing as how it was TJ’s grandmother. Not Gina’s blood relative.”

“It’s a possibility,” Quinn said. “I didn’t have any choice but to join Sheriff Lovemaiden to file those charges. The mess we found in the old shed didn’t help her any.”

Maggie refilled his coffee mug and joined him at their old pecan wood table, an original piece that had belonged to his Uncle Hamp and before that his grandfather. The damn thing must’ve weighed six hundred pounds.

“You look tired,” Quinn said. “Sure you don’t need some help?”

“Your momma is coming over later,” Maggie said. “I can sleep then. Halley slept good last night. I’m hoping she’ll get easier than Brandon. I promise you this is a lot better than when Brandon was born. Rick was on his third deployment in Afghanistan and we’d just gotten to Camp Pendleton two months before. I barely knew anyone. The other wives helped some. But it wasn’t like being at home.”

“Well, you’re home now,” Quinn said. “And I promise you that my mother will give you more assistance than you can ever need. Or might want.”

“She misses Little Jason.”

“I know.”

“And Caddy.”

“Just make sure to keep her busy,” Quinn said. “If you like.”

“I know she drove your sister crazy,” Maggie said. “But I appreciate her. My momma wasn’t like Jean at all. I have to be honest, my mother was a hell of a lot more like Gina Byrd.”

“Don’t say that.”