Free Redemption by H. M. Mann Page B

Crazy Annie will walk right up to it.”
    That makes too much sense not to be true, but I held the boy’s body. “Explain Lester then.”
    “ Wasn’t he the last person to see J alive?”
    Overton searched his memory. “He might have been. I don’t remember.”
    “ And Darcy must have had a baby, what, around March?”
    “ Thereabouts. If she had a baby at all.”
    “ Annie’s star child. The ‘Miracle Baby’ of Calhoun. I’m willing to bet that baby was J’s and Darcy’s.”
    Overton shook his head. This is coming together way too fast! “No way. She was hospitalized or visiting Calhoun City Hospital for nearly her entire pregnancy—”
    “ Calhoun City is best known for its neonatal care.”
    “ Its what kind of care?”
    “ Neonatal. Premature babies. Darcy’s baby must have been born prematurely.” She paced between the stacks. “It’s her first pregnancy, she’s only sixteen, maybe seventeen. She has complications. They make her rest in bed until the baby’s born, and it comes early.” She turned to face Overton. “Creed visited at first, and then he brings Annie and Darcy to visit the baby until—when was his last ticket?”
    “ Sometime in March.”
    “ March what?”
    “ I didn’t ask.”
    She hit re-dial. “Hello, Wendy? This is Deputy Harper down in Pine County.” She raised her eyebrows. “Sheriff Overton wants me to ask you the date of Creed Rydell’s last parking ticket ... March fourteenth? Thank you.” She pressed the off button.
    “ Impersonating an officer is a serious—”
    “ They found the ‘Miracle Baby’ in that cemetery on March fifteenth .”
    Overton was silent for a long time. Another coincidence? “That has to be a coincidence. I don’t believe that Darcy and Annie and even Creed would devote all that time and effort to be with that baby then leave it at a cemetery. That makes no sense at all. Annie may have been crazy, and Creed wasn’t all there either, but there is no way that they left a defenseless baby—”
    “ Unless the baby was defective in some way.”
    “ But the hospital wouldn’t have released—”
    “ Think about it. It’s J’s baby.”
    “ So?”
    “ So it had to have been a black baby.”
    “ It didn’t have to be,” Overton said. “Jeremiah was half white, and Darcy was white.”
    “ The child is still mixed, Miles,” Autumn said. “How many mixed kids you know of in Pine County even today being raised by white girls?”
    None. “But the baby would have only been a quarter black. The paper even listed it—”
    “ I know, I know. As a white baby. But it could have been light-skinned, right?”
    It could have been. “Maybe. But where is Darcy’s baby now?”
    “ If she even had one, right? Hell, she might have been at the hospital for any number of reasons.” She threw up her hands. “And it’s not like we can get to her records.”
    “ No, but we can get to her daddy. He isn’t going anywhere, and I bet he’d like some company. I have to go to Calhoun anyway.”
    “ What for?”
    “ Gonna stop by a junkyard. Want to tag along?”
    “ Is this a date?” Autumn batted her eyelashes.
    “ No.”
    “ Why don’t you take Ramsey?”
    “ Well, I was, uh, hoping to use your car. The, uh, AC’s acting up again in my car.”
    Autumn rolled her eyes. “Ah. As long as you buy me lunch.”
    “ Deal.”
    Overton called down the stairs. “Ramsey?”
    Ramsey came to the bottom of the stairs. “Yes, Sheriff?”
    “ I’m going to Calhoun with Miss Harper to visit Creed Rydell. You’re in charge of Snow.”
    “ I am?”
    “ Yes. After you’ve loaded what you can in the car, unload it at Lester’s.” He winced. It may never be called Lester’s again. “At the garage. Then hang by the phone, okay?”
    “ Yes sir!”
    Overton left the house and saw Autumn, notepad out, interviewing none other than Jimmy Lee Sellers, Junior. He couldn’t help comparing Jimmy Lee to J. Same height, build, smile, but Jimmy