Free A Grid For Murder by Casey Mayes Page A

when he asked the last question was too much to take.
    I was about to tell him the truth when Rob said bluntly, “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but she’s dead, Greg.” I studied the barber closely as he reacted to the news.
    “That’s not funny, Rob,” he said, clearly choosing to discount the news. “If you think you’re being amusing, you’re really not, and I’d appreciate it if you’d just drop it.”
    “Ask her. She was there when it happened,” he said as he pointed to me.
    That wasn’t exactly true, but it was close enough. “I’m terribly sorry,” I answered. “She died today in Asheville.”
    It was horrifying to see the transition in his face. The whisper of a smile had been replaced suddenly with open shock.
    “You should sit down,” I said.
    “Maybe you’re right.” Instead of taking one of the waiting seats, he slumped into his own barber chair. “It’s really true? When did it happen?”
    “This afternoon,” I said. “Have you been cutting hair all day?”
    It was almost as if he hadn’t heard me. “I just can’t believe it. Not Joanne. It’s not real.”
    “She asked you a question, Greg.” Rob had an edge of steel in his voice now; there was no disguising it. “Have you been here all day?”
    “Of course I have.”
    “Are you trying to tell me that you didn’t even take a lunch break?” Rob asked him.
    “Come on, Rob, you’ve sat in my chair long enough to know that I’ve shut down from eleven until noon every day the shop has been open since my dad started running the place.”
    I figured that would give him a decent alibi, if it were true. I’d once made it to Asheville from Parson’s Valley in twenty-eight minutes by hitting every green light between and pushing it a little too fast on the interstate, but it was certainly nothing that could be counted on. When the parking situation in Asheville was figured into the equation, even with a nearby open garage to tuck a car in, I didn’t see how he could have killed Joanne in the allotted time unless he’d been very, very lucky.
    “That’s good to know,” Rob said, his voice easing up a little.
    It was time for me to get involved in the conversation.“Greg, do you know of anyone in town who might have had a grudge against Joanne?”
    He looked down at his hands, and then asked me softly, “Do you mean besides you?”
    “Pardon me?”
    He looked at me critically as he said, “She showed me her puzzle, Savannah. Joanne told me that she was going to take every newspaper you were syndicated to away from you. We both know that she was doing her very best to ruin you, and Joanne just about always got what she set her mind to.”
    “She had one paper that doesn’t even count,” I said loudly. “It was no motive for murder.”
    Rob butted in and asked, “You’ve said your piece about Savannah. What we want to know is, was there anyone else?”
    Greg frowned for a few seconds, and then said, “I know she could be abrasive at times. Most people around Parson’s Valley didn’t see the softer side she had. Joanne had her share of enemies.”
    “Is there anybody in particular you might be thinking of?” I asked.
    He nodded. “Everyone knows about her public spats with Laura Moon and Sandra Oliver. Then there’s the fact that she had a fight going with Harry Pike a few days ago, and she wasn’t all that fond of Hannah Reed, either. I don’t know. I can’t think about it right now. It all makes me too sad.”
    “I’m so sorry about Joanne, for your sake,” I said. “I had no idea about the two of you.”
    He nodded sadly. “She didn’t want anyone around here to know about us. Joanne was afraid of the gossip mill in town, so we had to keep it quiet. There was somethingthere, though, you know? I don’t know if it was really love, but it might have developed into it, if we’d just had enough time.”
    I didn’t know how to begin to answer that. “You have my deepest sympathies.”
    “If