“Listen, Lil,” Quinn said. “Ronnie Pratt just left my office. He said a few months back, Chester needed him to partner up on that new liquor store. But then all of the sudden Chester told Ronnie he didn’t need his money. Ronnie says he has no idea where his brother came up with that kind of cash.”

“How do I ever get by without knowing that good ole cornpone gossip?” Lillie asked. “I wonder if Li’l Abner’s still poking Daisy Mae behind the woodshed.”

“These kids ran because they’re scared,” Quinn said. “Not because they’re guilty.”

“I know ninety-nine damn percent of the time when a woman gets killed it’s the boyfriend or the husband or Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with his dick in his hand,” Lillie said. “But then there is the unlucky fucking one percent who give birth to an evil little shit like TJ Byrd. Who just happens to want to knock boots with a crook like Ladarius McCade.”

“Hear me out, Lil.”

“I appreciate you hopping on the due diligence trail,” Lillie said. “I really do. But seriously, who cares about Chester Pratt’s business? I doubt he’d let Gina Byrd anywhere near his till. A blind man would’ve made better change.”

“What if I told you that the Byrds recently came into a nice insurance settlement,” Quinn said. “And might’ve been flush for the first time in their lives?”

“If Gina Byrd found twenty dollars on the street, it would be up her goddamn nose in ten minutes.”

“Not this kind of money,” Quinn said. “Ronnie Pratt says he’d planned to go in with Chester for about twenty-five grand. At the last minute, Chester didn’t need it.”

“Where’d you hear Gina Byrd got that kind of money?”

“Gina had been saying the settlement was big enough to change their lives,” Quinn said. “According to Miss Donna Grace at the flower shop yesterday.”

“Let me get this shit straight,” Lillie said. “Miss Donna Grace, the fucking florist, has the hotline on the junkie who made door hangings out of old rope and rusted tin cans? Well, let me call up my supervisor and let him know that fucking Petticoat Junction PD has solved the case. We can all stand down.”

There was a long silence. Lillie thinking maybe she’d pushed Quinn too damn far this time. He could get real sensitive about his investigations and being a relative newcomer to police work after ten years in the Army kicking in doors over in the Jihad Jungle. But she was tired and worn out and just wanted a few hours with Rose and her new dog. Was that too much to ask?