Goodbye Earl(81)

And Trey was dead.

Trey is dead.

Trey was dead?

“What?” Caro asked them.

“Trey’s dead,” Rosemarie said, holding her hand.

“Soon, people will start looking for him, saying he’s missing, but he’s not. He’s dead,” Ada said.

“Wh— What? What happened?”

“Goodbye Earl,” Kasey whispered.

Trey’s dead. Goodbye Earl. Trey’s dead.

Trey’s Earl. Goodbye Trey. Earl’s dead. Trey’s dead.

The sentences rearranged themselves repeatedly in Caro’s mind. Each letter was a block, stacking; the words smashed together and broke apart.

Trey’s dead. Goodbye Earl. Trey’s dead.

When it sank in as much as it could, Caro gasped.

“Y’all…y’all will have to go to prison and you did this for me and I won’t be able to live knowing that. I won’t. Me and the baby will die too,” Caroline said, sobbing.

“Caroline, we won’t! You won’t! Stop. Listen. It’ll look like an accident. That piece of shit killed my mom and made it look like an accident and we’re righting the world with this one,” Kasey said. She was crying too.

“What? Roy really did kill…your mom? But you said—” Caro said.

Kasey filled her in as quickly as she could.

“Obviously, we weren’t going to let anything like that happen again. Ever,” Rosemarie said when Kasey was finished.

“For right now, the less you know, the better. Whenever they come around asking questions, tell them the truth. That Trey came up here to see you and that’s the last time you saw him. Tell them again how he said he’d kill you. He never knew about the baby, right?” Ada said in between nervous glances at the door.

Caroline shook her head even though it ached. She’d been so scared a nurse would come in and blurt it out when Trey was there to visit her, but it hadn’t happened. She cried in relief when he was gone. We’ll get you back home and get you the help you need, he’d said, and she said, No, Trey, you’re the one who needs help. He was quiet, touched her arm. That was when she scratched him. He told Mimi she was acting out of her mind again and it was probably the medicine. Or maybe she was having a total mental breakdown. He said he’d ask for a psychological evaluation. Grandma Mimi couldn’t stop him from coming up there, but she told him to leave because Caroline needed to get her rest.

“So, the Foxberrys will never know the baby is Trey’s. Beau’s here. Say it’s Beau’s. You aren’t obligated to have anything to do with that family ever again,” Rosemarie said.

“Say it’s Beau’s baby?” Caroline coughed out. Her mouth was dry. Rosemarie poured her a cup of water and held the straw to her lips; Caroline drank and thanked her.

“Say it’s Beau’s baby,” Kasey repeated. “Tell Beau to go along with it. He’ll do it. He’ll do anything for you.”

“That baby will look just like you, so it won’t matter anyway. You know she’s gonna have your hair, Caro,” Rosemarie said. “Her name’s gonna be Rosy Magnolia, so you know she’s gonna be a Reds.”

“Her name is Rosy Magnolia?” Ada cooed.

“Rosy Magnolia. Oh God, I love it,” Kasey said.

“Rosy Magnolia,” Caroline said with her hand on her stomach.

“She’ll be here when the early spring magnolias bloom again,” Rosemarie said, putting her hand on Caroline’s.

“Did he hurt you?” Caroline asked Kasey. They didn’t have to tell her that Kasey had been the one to get close to Trey. The one to do what needed to be done. Caroline knew it’d been her. The thought of what Trey could’ve or might’ve done to Kasey sent ice-cold needles down her back. Her arms, her legs.

“No,” Kasey said, shaking her head. “I promise.”

“How did you—” Caro stopped when Rosemarie looked at her.

“We can’t tell you now. Not until we get past this part. We’re almost past this part,” Rosemarie said.

“Are you hungry? These are vanilla orange cream. They’re not as good as yours, but I tried,” Ada said, reaching for a cupcake to hand to her.

*



Beau came to visit Caroline right as Mimi and Myrtle were walking out. She’d gotten a little sleep after Rosemarie, Ada, and Kasey left, and she thought maybe she’d want to get some more until she saw Beau standing there holding a big bouquet of daisies wrapped in Plum Florals paper.

He asked her if Trey had been there again and Caroline told him no. She told him what Mimi told her, that there was a cop in the parking lot keeping an eye out for him.

Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead.

After they chatted a bit and watched the TV together, Caroline turned it off.

Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead, Trey’s dead.

Kasey’s words were on a loop in Caro’s head, and there was a heavy weight inside of her—a hot, glowing orb of worry and anxiety she couldn’t sort out, because she didn’t know anything. Grandma Mimi and Myrtle hadn’t mentioned Trey being missing, and the girls had told her no one else knew about their plan. But everyone always found out about everything in Goldie, didn’t they? When would she find out what happened to Trey?