Free May Cooler Heads Prevail by T. L. Dunnegan Page A

We weren’t interested in that kind of stuff. We just wanted to catch some fish, fry ‘em up, and have a good time.”
    “Simmer down, Uncle Rudd, you’re going to wake up Aunt Nissa. I was doing a little fishing myself, only for information. However, that brings me to the next question.
    Can you remember who all was at the bachelor party?”
    “Well, if I can’t, I’ll wake Nissa up. Her memory is a sight better than mine. Let’s see, I’ve already mentioned Latham Sheffield, Otis Beecher, and Dennis Reager. ‘Course, there’s me and Aaron.” He hesitated a little before he said, “Oh yeah, it’s coming back to me now. Truman Spencer was there. And Mitch Barker, Earl Standings, Daniel Martin, and Ed Baringer. I’m pretty sure that’s it. I can check with Nissa in the morning.”
    “So there were ten of you there. No one acted funny. No hesitation from Aaron about the wedding?”
    “No. Why? What’s going on in that head of yours, Dixie-gal?”
    “Well, since Aaron didn’t seem to have any reservations about the wedding at the bachelor party, and nothing strange happened at the party, then that means something happened after the party and before the wedding.”
    Even though we were on the phone, I could almost feel the light dawning in Uncle Rudd’s head. “Why, that’s right smart thinking! That means not counting me and Aaron, we now have us eight suspects.”
    “I don’t know about having any suspects, as you call them. You said everything was fine at the bachelor party.”
    “It was, as long as I was there.”
    “You mean you didn’t stay the whole time?” That certainly put a whole new light on this suspect business. “When did you leave?”
    “Whew, I haven’t thought this closely about that bachelor party for years.” I could hear him take a deep breath and let it out. “I think it was maybe ten, no later than eleven o’clock, when I headed out. I was the first one to leave, so I don’t know how long the party went on.”
    “Didn’t anyone say anything the next day about how you missed a good party and when it ended?”
    “Dixie-gal, that next day all any of us had on our minds was that Aaron Scott left my baby sister standing at the altar all dressed in her fancy white wedding gown. No one cared about the bachelor party.”
    It was my turn to take a deep breath and let it out. “Okay, I’m convinced. Not including you and Aaron Scott, we have eight suspects.” I turned to Aunt Connie and asked for a pen and some paper then said to Uncle Rudd, “Give me their names again. I’m going to write them down.”
    Once I had pen and paper, I wrote the names down and looked at them. “Uncle Rudd, I know everyone on this list except for this Earl Standings. Who is he?”
    “He’s a distant cousin of Aaron’s. I know they grew up together. Come to think of it, he was the one who delivered the note and flowers. He said he found them in his car when he got in it to come to the church. Think that means anything?”
    “Not that I know of. Listen, it’s late, and all of us need some sleep. Tell you what, tomorrow I’ll run over to the library and check the back issues of the newspaper around that time period. It’s a long shot, but there might be anarticle that could throw some light on this. Maybe there was some mysterious happening that no one in the family caught because everyone was focused on Aunt Connie at the time.”
    “Now you’re thinking like a real Tanner,” Uncle Rudd gushed.
    That struck me as a thoroughly frightening thought.
    Just as soon as I put the phone down and started to get up off the couch, the phone rang again. Aunt Connie and I looked at each other. I reached over with a bit of trepidation and picked it up. “Hello?”
    “Dixie-gal, I got one other thing to tell ya,” Uncle Rudd informed me. “Before you go to the library, you need to go with Freedom to help him out with Scott’s body. I’d do it, but I planned on taking apart that CJ-7 of yours to