Death in the Absence of Rain: Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles: Book 15 by Caleb Pirtle III

Author:Caleb Pirtle III [Pirtle III, Caleb]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-19T23:00:00+00:00

Tuesday

11:24 p.m.

I HAVEN’T HAD much luck falling asleep. I’ve tried four jiggers of Blue Corn Bourbon, one jigger at a time. Nothing. Brain’s numb. Mind’s still turning over like a car engine that won’t start when the temperature has topped a hundred degrees, the switch is broken, and the air conditioner is on the blink. I catch the last forty-six minutes of Casablanca. Bogart still doesn’t get the girl, but he keeps trying. That’s the difference between Bogie and me. I’ve quit trying. I loved two women in my life. One died while I was away at war. Cancer. It’s an ugly beast. The other one’s in prison. Revenge is just as ugly. She’ll probably get out in twenty-five years. I won’t be waiting for her. Doubt if she wants to see me anyway. She’s a lovely lady. I’ll be an old man. I have this image in my head that lovely ladies never change.

I’ve spent most of my life alone. Didn’t mean to. Just chalk it up to the roads I’ve taken or didn’t take. My mother died a year after I was born. My father got in a fight in a pool hall. Head was busted in. Pieces of his brain were rearranged inside his skull. He lived in the same house with my grandmother and me, but the only thing I ever remember hearing him say was, “What do you mean Christmas comes in December?” It certainly didn’t come anywhere near our December. Worked my way through high school. Drove a forklift in a warehouse. Worked my way through college. Night shift at the funeral home. Didn’t make many friends. Didn’t particularly want any friends. Just wanted to be left alone to wallow in my own misery.

Joined the Army. I always figured I’d be dead by the time I was thirty years old, so I signed up for Special Forces. Had one friend. Lost him on a trail in the Afghan mountains. I’ve always believed the bullet was meant for me. He just got in the way. So now I’m in Magnolia Bluff, and everybody in town knows me and expects me to know them, and all I know is their name and unsavory habits. I’m everybody’s friend until it’s time to go home, and they all have places to go, and I don’t and probably wouldn’t go if I did.

I’m still alone.

Not lonely.

Just alone.

I’d get a dog.

He’d probably bite.

Night came and didn’t bring sleep with it. I’m lying in bed with a major decision to make.

One more jigger of bourbon.

Or two.

I decide to drink one and think hard about the other one.

I hear an expected knock on the door.

It’s not loud.

It’s gentle as if someone’s afraid they might wake me up.

Don’t have to dress.

Still wearing jeans.

Still wearing my chambray shirt.

Still barefoot.

I open the door and see Magnolia Nadine standing beneath the porchlight. White sundress. Deep tan. Wind ruffling her dark hair as it cascades down her back. Fresh lipstick. Too red. But what’s color to a lonely man?

She takes my hands in hers.

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