Smarty Bones: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery by Carolyn Haines

Author:Carolyn Haines
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
ISBN: 9780312641887
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2013-05-21T00:00:00+00:00

10

We hit a hot trail on Jimmy Boswell. Internet research led us to an unexpected revelation. And Tinkie’s phone work yielded even more strange fruit. The shadowy Boswell we uncovered was as different from Olive’s subservient research assistant as Jekyll was from Hyde.

And it all went back to the War Between the States.

The Boswell family history held every dark secret. “Some of his Boswell ancestors died during the siege of Vicksburg,” I told Tinkie, scanning a document I’d stumbled on. “Adrian Boswell was a prominent merchant in Vicksburg, Mississippi, who imported antiques and fine china from Europe through the port of New Orleans and up the Mississippi River.” I read aloud.

“Union gunboats closed off the river, stopping all supplies, and Union forces surrounded the city, closing overland supply routes, so the residents of Vicksburg dug caves in the bluffs and moved furniture there to escape the constant shelling. Horses, dogs, and cats disappeared, and finally residents were forced to eat rats and boiled shoe leather.”

Tinkie sat on the edge of my desk. “I hope we never have to endure anything like that, Sarah Booth. I don’t think I’m tough enough to last.”

“I know.” Talk of war always depressed me. Jitty didn’t often tell about the difficult times she’d been through—she was much more focused on the here and now and how she could torment me. The stories she’d recounted, though, were a testament to the strength of spirit of the survivors, on both sides.

Of all the Civil War battles, Vicksburg headed the list of horrific. A city under siege creates a lot of suffering. Vicksburg’s citizens held out under extreme conditions, and all told, some twenty thousand people from both sides died.

“Can the history lesson,” Tinkie said. “What happened to Adrian Boswell?”

“This is unauthenticated information.” I wanted to be clear the tidbits I’d uncovered could have been posted by anyone, including Jimmy Boswell.

“Stop acting like you’re on a witness stand. All I’m asking is what you found.” Tinkie was easily exasperated today, a sure sign of stress in her marriage.

“Adrian Boswell was allegedly hanged by Union soldiers after the city surrendered. The Union soldiers were court-martialed, but it didn’t undo the lynching.”

A furrow appeared between her eyebrows. “That’s disgusting. Does it say why he was hanged?”

“He called the Union soldiers cowards, and he slapped one. Adrian was weakened from hunger and crazy with grief. His wife and daughter died of dysentery during the siege. He couldn’t find adequate food for them and they died in his arms.” It was a bleak bit of history. “The soldiers he accosted found a rope and hanged him from an oak tree near the riverfront.”

“So why would Boswell work for Twist, especially on this project where he would be confronted with the war and all the sadness involved?”

I put my hands on my hips and waited for her to arrive at the same place I stood.

She jumped to her feet and mimicked my pose. “Because he intended all along to thwart her research?”

“It’s possible.

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