Mama Stalks the Past Read Online Free Page A

threadbare suit, but the ruby still gleamed in his nostril. “If that’s all you got to tell me, can I go now?” he asked us all, nastily.
    Calvin spoke. “You can do whatever you want with everything else Hannah left.”
    Nat glanced at Mama, nodded, then slammed out the door. Calvin cupped his chin in his hand. He sighed. “Now that he’s gone, Grace, I have to say that Hannah was not herself when she made this will.”
    “What do you mean?” Mama asked.
    Calvin frowned. “Let’s just say I wasn’t surprised when Abe told me she had been murdered.”
    We stared at him in astonished silence. Whaton earth could he mean? From everything we’d heard and seen, Hannah Mixon had been a sour, unfriendly woman, but who would have wanted to kill her? Things like that just don’t happen in Otis.
    “There was something else,” Calvin continued. “Hannah told me that she wanted you to look in the house for an envelope, Grace.”
    “An envelope?” Daddy asked. “What’s in it?”
    “Hannah wouldn’t say,” Calvin replied.
    “Why didn’t she just give it to you or to Abe?” Daddy asked.
    “When Hannah came to my office that day and told me what was on her mind about the will, I tried to talk her out of it. But my reluctance just seemed to make her more determined. Maybe she didn’t trust me with whatever’s in that envelope. Or Abe, either. But whatever it is, it seemed very important to her that you look for it, Grace.” He shook his head and sighed again.
    “The whole thing is so secretive, just like something crabby old Hannah would concoct,” Daddy said.
    “Hannah had an edginess about her,” Calvin agreed. Because Sidney has more than one crazy client, I knew Calvin’s words hid a lot more than they betrayed.
    “I don’t know why we’ve got to get mixed up with this mess,” Daddy objected. “Let Abe findwho killed her. You just figure out a way for Candi to give Nat back his land so well be out of this thing.”
    Calvin sighed. “As I said, I’ll talk to Judge Thompson about breaking the will, but frankly I can’t promise you much of anything. The judge doesn’t like making exceptions. Says once he starts there will be no end to how far he’ll have to go to satisfy hungry relatives.”
    Mama spoke as if she were totally unaware of the conversation that had just taken place between my father and the lawyer. “There is one person in this town who’s a killer. And it seems that spiteful Hannah has put me to work finding him!” she murmured.

CHAPTER
THREE
    M ama is a case manager at the Otis County Department of Social Services. She worked toward a degree through the University of New York External Degree program, which allowed her to take her required courses at whatever accredited college she could attend as my father was transferred from Air Force base to Air Force base across the country. Seven years and as many universities later, she obtained her bachelor’s degree with a major in sociology.
    Although Mama loves helping people, I know that her real passion is digging up bits and pieces until she’s solved a mystery, and there’s nobody better at doing that. Long ago, I don’tremember when, Mama decided that if we could get at the truth of a problem, we would have made a contribution to humankind. Most of the time I agree with Mama. This time, however, finding the truth about Hannah Mixon’s murder almost cost Mama her life.

    It was eleven o’clock when we left Calvin’s office. We drove to the West End, filled my tank with gas, then stopped at Echerd’s, where Mama picked up a couple of get-well cards and chatted with the girl at the cash register.
    When we got back to the house, Daddy went straight into his room, Mama headed for her kitchen, and I curled up in my bedroom to call Cliff in New York. “How are things going?” I asked him. My voice sounded as dark as my mood.
    “Not good,” he answered. His voice had an edge to it, a tone I notice whenever he’s under