Free A Perfect Square by Vannetta Chapman Page B

began telling them what had happened since sunrise, she drank more of the tea, and her shaking eased.
    “Martha, bring me one of the muffins for Esther.”
    “Yes,
Mamm
.”
    “He said that Shane Black—” Esther closed her eyes, then began again. “That Black arrested Reuben last night. That the girl in the pond — the dead girl — had been living in the house.”
    “Their
grossdaddi
’s house? No one’s lived there for years.”
    “
Ya
. I know.”
    “This makes no sense.” Jonas stood and crossed his arms. “Black can be insensitive, but he always does what’s within
Englisch
laws. He must have had a reason for arresting Reuben, though he also must be wrong. Maybe he received some incorrect information. Maybe it’s all a misunderstanding.”
    Esther pushed away the muffin Deborah offered and stared down into what remained of her tea. “Tobias told the boy at the shop Black had accused Reuben of having intimate relations with the girl. Black suggested that Reuben fought with her, shoved her maybe, causing her to fall — “
    “Which would explain the injury to the back of her head,” Deborah murmured.
    “Reuben couldn’t have done that though.” Esther looked up, her face completely drained of color. “He would never have carriedon with a girl we didn’t even know, never have carried on in an improper way. And Reuben isn’t a violent man. Can you imagine him shoving anyone? Hurting anyone? But Reuben didn’t say a word to defend himself. He allowed them to handcuff him and then was driven away in their vehicle.”
    “What evidence did Shane have?” Deborah asked.
    “I’m not sure.”
    “He must have had something.” Jonas didn’t pace, but the muscles in his neck tightened.
    Deborah pulled in a deep breath, her eyes again brimming with tears as she looked up at them both. “He only said that he had enough evidence to hold him … hold him until the forensics team had completed their work.”
    “And then?”
    “And then he could be charged with manslaughter.”
    Callie snapped on Max’s leash, though she could have sworn his brown eyes looked a bit reproachful when she did.
    “I trust you not to run off, Max. You’ve never run off. It’s just a habit from when I lived in the city.”
    Max’s tail thumped on the hardwood floors of the hall. She reached forward and adjusted the deep purple bandana he wore. “Obviously I’m taking this bandana thing too far, but that color does look nice on you. And it matches the fall flowers in my skirt.”
    Max cocked his head.
    “A cat would never put up with this, and we both know I’m not having a baby anytime soon. There’s a bigger chance of a snowball falling out of the October sky than there is of me having a baby.” Opening the door to the shop, she peered up at the blue morning sky, just to be sure she hadn’t tempted God into making a fool of her, then walked Max the short distance to the side yard. “The good Lord knows there’s not even a man in my life, which iswhy I’m having my morning conversation with a dog — no insult intended.”
    Max didn’t look offended. At this point, he was more focused on the activity going on in his yard than he was on the words coming out of his mistress’ mouth. Callie didn’t blame him. She enjoyed prattling on sometimes, especially when she was in a good mood, and for some reason she’d awakened in a very good one — despite all that had happened the day before.
    Something told her today was going to be special.
    Though it was a tad cool, her tan sweater provided the right amount of warmth. As Max took care of his business, she puttered around her little garden admiring the corner bed, breathing in the scent of herbs, flowers, and fall leaves. Esther had been helping her restore things to order. When she’d moved in earlier this year, the garden had been one of the last things she’d tackled — weeds had nearly overtaken the broken pots and little brick path.
    This morning she could