Anywhere You Run: a Novel by Wanda M. Morris

Author:Wanda M. Morris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

27

Mercer

MERCER BUGGS WAS smart enough to realize the stupidity of his mistake. He’d followed Marigold right up to her back door. Idiot. He should have driven off as soon as she stepped outside the library. But what choice did he have once she spotted him in the alley behind her house? Twice she’d seen him now. That meant she was likely to tip off her sister if she hadn’t done it already. Since he was no closer to finding Violet than he had been when he was back in Mississippi, Mercer was starting to doubt that Violet Richards was here in Ohio. But she had to be somewhere on the face of the earth. And someone had to know where she was.

Back in his hotel room, he lifted the picture of Violet from the bedside table and studied it. Violet and Marigold were sisters. They looked alike but different. Marigold was heavier, with a plain sort of appearance. All colored women looked plain to Mercer. All except Violet. She was softer looking. For a minute he almost understood why Dewey was sweet on this girl. Had she really killed Huxley Broadus? And what had she taken from Dewey to make him want to pay a king’s ransom to find her?

Mercer got up from the bed, got dressed, and headed downstairs to the pay phone on the street corner.

* * *

“DEWEY, IT’S ME, MERCER.”

“Yeah, you find her?” If Mercer wasn’t mistaken, he could hear a twinge of anxiety in Dewey’s voice. What the hell did he have to be nervous about?

“I think I’m close. I got a tail on the sister up here. I should have something soon.”

“Soon?! Bugsy, you gotta find her right away.”

“Don’t call me that!” Mercer’s disgust for this guy was starting to overtake him.

“I’m paying you a lot of money!”

“Unless you forgot, she’s hiding out from the police, not just you. She’s not the easiest person to find.”

Dewey blew a deep breath in the phone. “You read the newspaper lately?”

“Yeah, I just told you, the police think she might be involved with that Huxley murder. Which makes me wonder why you’re so anxious to find her.”

“No! They found them boys up in Neshoba County. Dug ’em up out at Old Jolly Farm. The FBI is sniffing around, rounding up everybody that was there that night.”

“Wait a minute. I didn’t kill them boys. They were already dead when we got there.”

“Are you listening to me? The FBI is involved. This is bigger than Bickford and those idiots that work for him. Nobody’s sweeping this under the rug this time. Not with the government and Hoover’s boys involved.”

“I just drove the car for your daddy. I didn’t have nothing to do with whoever killed those boys.”

“That’s fine, Bugsy-boy. You hang on to that excuse and let’s see if it’ll keep you out of the electric chair. I need you to put a fast foot on this and find Violet now!”

“Why? What does she have to do with this?”

There was a long pause.

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