Elise’s smile reminded Hattie of a crocodile’s. “After that, Davis started going out there on Friday nights, after the games were over. That’s when the two of them met up, at the dock house, because the Creedmores figured out that all the football players were using their house to hook up with their girlfriends, and they changed the locks. He got off on watching them. He wanted me to go too, but even dumb as I was back then, I thought it was pervy.”
“You knew Holland was sleeping with Lanier Ragan, and you never said anything after she went missing? All these years you just kept quiet?”
Elise clasped her hands on the top of her handbag. Hattie realized she was staring down at that diamond solitaire on her left-hand ring finger.
“My parents would have killed me, and his would have gone ballistic if they knew what we were up to out there. Anyway, everyone said that she’d run off with some other dude.”
“And you believed that?”
“I did, right up until I saw on the news that they’d found her body this week. At Holland’s house.”
“Listen to me, Elise,” Hattie said. “You need to talk to Detective Makarowicz, and tell him what you know. This proves it. Holland Creedmore killed Lanier Ragan.”
“But what if it wasn’t Holland?” Elise’s pointed chin quivered, but her pale blue eyes stared directly into Hattie’s.
“I don’t understand.”
“We were there that night,” Elise said. “At Granny Hoffman’s beach house. We stole a bottle of vodka from my dad’s liquor cabinet and drove my Toyota out to Tybee. Davis wanted to fuck, but I wouldn’t, because he didn’t have a condom or anything. We had a huge fight. He called me a tease and all kinds of nasty names. I was so mad, I jumped in my car and left.”
“This was the night of the Super Bowl?” Hattie asked. “The night she disappeared?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive. We started watching the game, and drinking, and fooling around. I didn’t know anything about football, but he was a big Patriots fan. We even had matching jerseys.”
“Did you see Lanier Ragan that night? Or Holland?”
“I didn’t see anyone. I went home right after the game started.”
“What happened after you left? How did he get home?”
“He said he rode his bike back home that night. To Wilmington Island. He did that a lot in the summertime.”
Hattie pulled her phone from her purse.
“Wait. Who are you calling?” Elise asked, suddenly sounding panicky.
“I’m calling Makarowicz. So you can tell him what you just told me.”
“No way,” Elise said, standing abruptly.
“If you won’t tell him, I will,” Hattie said.
Elise stepped over the wadded-up engagement ring receipt. “You repeat one word of what I just told you, and I’ll tell everyone in town that you’re a fucking liar. I’ll make it my business to ruin you and your shitty business. And don’t think I won’t sell that alleged engagement ring of yours.” She turned and walked out the door.
57
A Moment of Zen
“Who was that skinny-ass bitch?”
Hattie looked up to see Zenobia standing in the doorway.
“Remember Hank’s friend Davis Hoffman?”
“The one whose family owns that jewelry store downtown? I remember him. That boy was kind of sweet on you way back in the day, wasn’t he?”
“Way, way back. That was his ex-wife, Elise. She’s under the mistaken impression that Davis and I have a thing.”
Zenobia’s braying laugh somehow cheered Hattie. “Haaaaah. He wishes.” She took the chair Elise had just vacated.
“Something else is bugging you. You know I still need to mother my girls, even if you and Cass are grown and gone. What’s going on out at that job site that’s got you all twisted up—I mean, aside from finding a dead body buried in the backyard?”
“Oh, Zen,” Hattie said with a weak smile. “I’m beginning to think Tug was right and that maybe the Creedmores’ house really does have bad juju.”
“And what’s an old cracker like Tug Kavanaugh know about juju?”
“Okay, whatever you wanna call it. It seems like nothing is going right. First the code cops, then the fire, then the body—and not just any body. My favorite high school teacher.”
“Well, yeah, that’s real sad. Especially her poor little girl, wondering all these years what happened to her mama.”