Sparring Partners(28)
“I remember it well. It was always too small for Lisa and I didn’t want to spend money on it. Didn’t have the money. And I wasn’t much of a handyman.”
“I want to get away, Mack. Away from here. Away from Mississippi. Away from the South.”
She stubbed out what was left of the cigarette in the ashtray.
“Got a place in mind?” he asked.
“Out west. California, maybe Colorado. I want to go to a little art school somewhere out there, far away. After Mom dies and after I’m forced to live with Hermie and Honey for a while, I’ll be ready to sprint out of Ford County and never come back. Poor Helen will get left behind, but then she’s not ready to run. I am.”
“Art school?”
“Yeah, art school. Something different, Mack, something really crazy. All the girls I know, and I don’t call them friends anymore, can’t wait to join the sororities and look for husbands. Then they can move back to Clanton or Tupelo, have some kids, hang out at the country club and live like their mothers. Not me, Mack. I’m outta here.”
Mack was moved by her rebellious attitude and couldn’t hide a smile. “I’ll make a deal. You pick an art school out west, get yourself admitted, and I’ll help with the tuition.”
She put her hands to her mouth and closed her eyes, as if she couldn’t believe that a dream might come true. When she opened them she spoke softly, “You would do that?”
“It’s the least I can do, Margot.”
She seemed to agree with this. “I’ve never seen the mountains.”
Another sad reminder, but how true. When the girls were little the family vacation was always a week in the family condo in Florida. Lisa dreamed of seeing the world like her sister, but the credit cards would never stretch that far.
At that moment, Mack vowed to show his girls the world.
He said, “Here’s a plan. Squeeze as much as you can out of Hermie. Take what you can from the sale of the house, and I’ll cover the gap to make it happen.”
“What if Hermie puts his foot down and says not a dime?”
“Margot, I said I’ll make it happen.”
The chip on her shoulder lifted a bit as she relaxed and smiled. It was beginning to dawn on her that ole Mack here might just be her ticket out of Clanton.
“I don’t know what to say,” she said.
“You don’t have to say anything. You’re my daughter and I owe you big-time.”
She flicked out another cigarette and looked at him as she lit it.
Mack said, “I have an idea. It’s summer and you’re supposed to be looking at colleges, right?”
“Yes.”
“So next Saturday, tell Lisa that you’re taking a day trip to Memphis to visit Rhodes College. It’s a beautiful little private school in the city. I’m staying not too far away. We’ll hang out and have lunch.”
“They’ll freak at the idea of me driving to Memphis alone.”
“You’re seventeen years old, Margot, almost a senior in high school. I was driving to Memphis when I was fifteen. Put your foot down and don’t take no for an answer.”
“I like it, but Hermie’ll go nuts at the mention of private tuition.”
“It’s just a ploy to get out of town. Who knows? You might like Rhodes.”
“It’s too close. I’m talking serious distance, Mack.”
“So it’s a lunch date?”
“I’ll try.” She glanced at her watch and reached for her purse. “Need to go. I’m running errands for Mom.”
“Is she suspicious?”
“I don’t think so. For a few days you were breaking news as they panicked, but things have died down. No one has seen you around here, Mack.”
“That’s good. And I’m tired of meeting here. This town gives me the creeps.”
“Makes two of us.”
(28)
The new district attorney for the Twenty-Second Judicial District was Lowell Dyer, of the small town of Gretna, in Tyler County. If the FBI had little interest in Ford County, it had even less in Tyler, and Dyer was rather excited to welcome the Feds into his office in the county courthouse. On the phone, Special Agent Nick Lenzini gave no clue as to the reason for his visit. He came alone and was welcomed in the conference room with pastries and coffee. Dyer and his assistant, D. R. Musgrove, were at his complete disposal.
Lenzini began by announcing that he was investigating the disappearance of Mack Stafford, and wanted to know how much Dyer knew about the case. They were surprised to learn that someone was looking for Mack. They had known him back in the day and assumed that he was gone for good. As far as they knew, there had never been an investigation. So, they had nothing.
Lenzini accepted this with an exaggerated smugness, as if they had sat idly by and missed obvious criminal wrongdoing. Now it was up to the FBI to ride in and get to the bottom of things. He began his narrative about the Tinzo chain saws, the four cases signed up by Mack, his pitiful neglect of them, and so on. He made much of the fact that he had flown to New York City and met with the FBI there, and together they had tracked down the source of the settlements and the paperwork. He began pulling files from his briefcase.
The first was the settlement agreement signed by Odell Grove. The signature was legit, the notarization was forged. The contract for legal services signed by Odell gave Mack 40 percent of any recovery. Instead of receiving $25,000, Odell was due $60,000.