Free Redemption by H. M. Mann

maybe twenty years ago that would have worked. But we live in a TV generation, and Jimmy Lee hasn’t even begun airing ads.”
    “ It’s only July.”
    “ Connor Bowles has already run several thirty-second spots on all the TV stations and runs a couple full-minute spots on most of the radio stations. Jimmy Lee’s fallen way behind. And then there’s this auction all of a sudden. Makes a person think, huh?”
    It does. “How much does a TV ad cost?”
    “ Depends on a lot of things. Which station, what time it airs, how long it is, who makes it. A half million can’t hurt, though.”
    No it couldn’t . “Uh, thanks, Miss Harper. See you tomorrow.”
    “ At Annie’s?”
    “ Uh, sure. That’s where I’ll be. Have the list with you.”
    “ Good-bye, Sheriff. And if Callie calls, say hello for me.”
    Overton added to his list:
     
    16 Jimmy Lee is in debt, needs cash quickly.
     
    But as a landlord, couldn’t he just evict them? And if he couldn’t evict them, why? Why go through all the trouble of killing them? And how did such a wealthy man get into so much debt? His daddy was loaded!
    Overton decided to sleep on the couch next to the phone in case Callie called, and a little after midnight, the phone rang.
    “ Hello?”
    “ Have you thought it all the way through from the beginning?” a gravelly voice whispered.
    “ Mrs. Williams?”
    “ No,” the voice whispered. “No. But you’re getting warmer.”
    Click.
    What the hell is going on?
     

Wednesday, July 7, 1999
     
    13
     
    Jimmy Lee Sellers, Junior, was more nervous than he’d ever been because of the voice on the other end.
    “ What are you gonna do, Jimmy Lee?”
    “ I don’t know.”
    “ I got needs, Jimmy Lee.”
    “ I know, I know.” Too fuckin’ many. “That’s what the auction’s for.”
    “ How you gonna auction off anythin’ with all that police tape up?”
    “ I’ll figure something out. Just relax, okay?”
    “ Easy for you to say. I don’t have the luxury of relaxin’. You fix this, and fix it now.”
    “ I’ll try.”
    “ Don’t try, Jimmy Lee. Succeed . Remember?”
    “ I remember.”
    But I wish to God I could forget.

14
     
    Overton looked at the list of tenants on Sellers land while Autumn rummaged through the piles upstairs and Ramsey boxed the stacks in the basement of Annie’s house. He knew most of these folks from birth, but three names jumped out at him: Michael Lavender, Sharese White Lavender, and Margaret Ledbetter.
    He read the names aloud to Autumn. “What do these names have in common?”
    “ You caught that, too? Pine County High, class of eighty-four, same as J. Sharese used to go with J, Michael was the fullback who blocked for J and later married Sharese, Jimmy Lee was the quarterback, and Margaret wrote all about J and Jimmy Lee in the school paper. Quite a quintet.”
    Two blacks, two whites, and one in between. “What was Darcy’s class?”
    Autumn closed her eyes and turned her head to the side. “Eighty-five, I think. A year before me.”
    “ But you said earlier—”
    Her eyes popped open. “That’s right! She got sick during her senior year and spent a lot of time in a hospital in Calhoun.”
    “ What for?”
    Autumn pushed her hair behind her ears. “We all thought it was for mental reasons, you know, her so-called boyfriend getting killed and all. But another rumor had her pregnant.” She took a deep breath. “By J.”
    Another piece of the puzzle? “How hard is that to check out?”
    “ Easy. Check the Times for birth announcements or give a call to the Bureau of Vital Statistics.”
    “ Well, if we knew the hospital she was in—”"
    “ That’s next to impossible unless you’re family. I bet Creed could do it.”
    “ He’s in jail.”
    “ Drunk in public?”
    “ Parking tickets.”
    “ Creed Rydell owned a car?”
    Now that is really strange. The man barely owned the clothes on his back. The only thing he ever owned was a case of bad breath. “Guess he