Death Books a Return by Marion Moore Hill

Author:Marion Moore Hill [Hill, Marion Moore]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
Publisher: Belgrave House
Published: 2008-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Over the next few days, Juanita thought about what Garvin McCoy had said about a white witness. She knew she should tell Wayne, but his tepid responses to her earlier confidences left her reluctant. If she could find out who the witness was—

She decided to hold off telling him, hoping she’d soon have a real bombshell to reveal. One thing deeply troubled her, the fact that Davis had given information to the Wyndham Police soon after Dunlap’s death, yet nothing of that interview appeared in the official file she had copied.

* * * *

One day while both assistants were manning the circulation desk, Juanita sat in her office thinking about the music that had so enthralled Samuel Davis. Idly she typed the name “Del-Vikings” into an online search engine and clicked on a few of the 160,000 sites that came up.

She learned that the doo-wop singers’ complex history had included personnel changes, contract disputes, and internal strife. Over the years, some version of the name—Del Vikings, Del-Vikings, Dell-Vikings—had been used by various groups, and sometimes more than one of these had recorded for different record labels at the same time. First tenor Corinthian “Kripp” Johnson had been a member of the original quintet, formed in 1955 when five black enlisted men at Pittsburgh Air Force Base began singing together in the camp hall. He’d also been a part of some later incarnations as groups formed, disbanded, and re-formed.

“Come Go With Me” had been an early and enduring hit for the singers. Juanita wondered if young Samuel Davis had been attracted merely to the piece’s catchy rhythm and the group’s harmonic blend, or if the lyrics had also held special significance. Had Davis loved a girl and longed to go away with her? The mother of his son Bill, perhaps? Or had he loved another in 1959?

Maybe there’d been no specific person at that time. Like many adolescents, Davis might have simply been in love with the idea of love. Juanita wished again that she could’ve met and talked with him before his death.

* * * *

Thursday arrived, and Martha declined to accompany Juanita and Wayne to the fair, saying she had letters to write.

“Do come,” Juanita begged that day at breakfast. “You never go out, and this’ll be a nice change for you.”

“I don’t like crowds, or midway rides. I’m a homebody.”

“A world traveler like you?”

“Maybe that’s why I like to stay home—I’ve been away so much.”

* * * *

That evening Wayne picked Juanita up at the library in his late-model Wyndham Police car. The new chief believed that having cops drive cruisers while off duty made the police’s presence in the community more visible, and hence helped deter crime. They drove to the fairgrounds at the edge of Wyndham, paid for parking at the gate, and followed a man’s arm-wave to a spot in a long line of cars. Juanita nodded to the attendant as she got out. He didn’t return the greeting, his close-set eyes darting from Wayne to his official car.

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