Patricia Cornwell – Scarpetta11 – The Last Precinct

that a hunter was looking for a deer he shot earlier and found

her son’s body, and Benny couldn’t have been dead very long because he disappeared right after church, about twelve-thirty, and the police came by her house around five. They told her the hunter found Benny at around two. So at least he wasn’t out there all by himself for very long, she keeps say­ing. And it was a good thing he had his New Testament in his suit pocket because it had his name and address in it. That was how the police figured out who he was and located his family.

“Mrs. White,” I say, “was something going on with Benny of late? What about at church yesterday morning? Anything happen that you know about?”

“Well, he’s been moody.” She is steadier now. She is talk­ing about Benny as if he is sitting out in the reception area waiting for her. “He’ll be twelve next month, and you know how that goes.”

“What do you mean by ‘moody’?”

“He would go in his room a lot and shut the door. Stay in there listening to music with the headphones on. He gets a smart mouth now and again, and he didn’t used to be that way. I’ve been concerned.” Her voice catches. She blinks, suddenly remembering where she is and why. “I just don’t know why he had to do something like that!” Tears seem to spurt out of her eyes. “I know there’re some boys at church he’s been having a hard time with. They tease him a lot, calling him pretty boy”

“Did anyone tease him yesterday?” I ask.

“That very well could be. They’re all in Sunday School to­gether. And there’s been a lot of talk, you know, about those killings in the area.” She pauses again. She doesn’t want to continue down a path that leads to a subject both foreign and aberrant to her.

“The two men killed right before Christmas?”

“Uh huh. The ones they say were cursed, because that’s not how America started, you know. With people doing things like that.”

“Cursed? Who says they were cursed?”

“It’s the talk. A lot of talk,” she goes on, taking a deep breath. “With Jamestown being just down the road. There’s al­ways been stories about people seeing ghosts of John Smith and Pocahontas and all the rest of it. Then these men are murdered right near there, near Jamestown Island, and all this talk about them being, well, you know. Being unnatural, which is why someone killed them, I guess. Or at least that’s what I hear.”

“Did you and Benny talk about all this?” My heart is get­ting heavier by the moment.

“Some. I mean, everybody’s been talking about those men killed and burned and tortured. People’ve been locking their doors more than usual. It’s been spooky, I must admit. So Benny and I’ve discussed it, yes we have. To tell you the truth, he’s been a lot moodier since all that happened. So maybe that’s what had him upset.” Silence. She stares at the tabletop. She can’t decide which tense to use when she talks about her dead son. “That and the other boys calling him pretty. Benny hated that, and I don’t blame him. I’m always telling him, Just wait until you grow up and are handsomer than all the rest. And the girls are just lining up. That’ll teach ’em.” She smiles a little and starts crying again. “He’s real touchy about it. And you know how children can tease.”

“Possibly he got teased a lot yesterday at church?” I guide her along. “Do you think maybe the boys made comments about so-called hate crimes, about gays and maybe implied… ?”

“Well,” she blurts out. “Well, yes. About curses against people who are unnatural and wicked. The Bible makes itself very clear. ‘God gave them up to their own lust,’ ” she quotes.

“Any possibility Benny’s been worried about his sexuality, Mrs. White?” I am very gentle but firm. “That’s pretty normal for kids entering adolescence. A lot of sexual identity confu­sion, that sort of thing. Especially these days. The world’s a complicated place, much more complicated than it used to be.” The phone rings. “Excuse me a minute.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *