Turtle Town by Bill Lightle

Author:Bill Lightle [Lightle, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

We found Duval McCord talking with another reporter over coffee and cigarettes next to the teletype machine that was spitting out international and national news from the Associated Press. Duval saw us enter the Cordele Dispatch newsroom and walked toward us.

“You two looking for a job or you just like visiting me?”

“It’s the latter,” I said. “We like the jobs we have.”

“Thanks for all your help, Duval. We were over at the courthouse trying to turn up some information,” Abby said.

“Thought we’d stop by and say hello,” I said.

“You just did, now what else do you need from me? You didn’t come here just to say hello.”

“We were hoping you could put us in touch with Sidekick, so we could ask him a few questions about Cecil McGlamery and Delores Rickets and their two sons,” she said.

“Can’t do that, sorry.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Look, he just doesn’t want to talk about this to anyone else but me. I promised him that, that’s why. He’s got his ways, and I respect them.”

“Okay, so be it. Is there anything else you can tell us about Cecil McGlamery and Delores Rickets and their sons?” Abby asked.

“I can’t help you anymore than I have. If I could, I would’ve done so already.”

“Do you know how Delores Rickets died?” I asked. “Her death certificate says farm accident.”

“All I knew was her name, before Sidekick said she was the mother of two of Cecil McGlamery’s children. I don’t know the details of her death. Are those boys still alive?”

“We think so,” Abby said. “No death certificates on file with the state.”

“Are they living on the McGlamery plantation?” he asked.

“We’re not prepared to say that,” I said. “They could be.”

“I understand.”

“If Sidekick decides to tell you any more, just give us a call again,” I said.

“I plan to.”

*

On the way back to Albany, Abby said, “Are you now starting to think that Cecil McGlamery may’ve killed Delores Rickets?”

“No, not until you just mentioned it.”

“What year did Cecil McGlamery die?” she asked.

“I think Warren told us it was sometime in the early sixties. That won’t be hard to confirm. Probably an obituary on file.”

“Maybe he gave her money for his sons, and she kept quiet about it until she didn’t and wanted more money.”

“Maybe. All speculation. We don’t know about her husband. What he knew and didn’t know.”

“John, we don’t even know his name and if he’s still alive.”

“Or if she had other children besides the two we think were fathered by Cecil.”

“Every time we turn a corner on this thing, there’s more that we don’t know.”

“Like my dad used to say, ‘Time, patience, and perseverance.’”

Back at the newsroom we checked the files and learned that Cecil McGlamery had died of a heart attack in 1961 and his wife, Beatrice Jo, died of cancer three years later. He was alive when Delores Rickets died, which certainly didn’t prove he was involved in her death. Now we had a factual timeline for their deaths.

After we’d checked the files for the obituaries, we returned to Abby’s desk.

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