Roses, you and Leo are obsessed with each other and always will be. It’s a lot for anyone to handle so yeah!! Buckle up, Annie!!
Also, MAKE UP YOU TWO. I cannot come back to Goldie right now or anytime soon to fix this. I NEED MORE TIME.
I LOVE YOU. RACK FOREVER.
Kase
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected], [email protected],
Subject: Re: [no subject]
Ada, OH MY GOD. Well now I’m only mad that you didn’t tell me this so I could cook and bake for you while you were at the lake house. What in the world did you eat? I love you so much and we’ll talk about everything in like a minute, because I’m coming straight to your house after I stop at the bakery for a pie.
TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE SO SOON, GIRLS. Rosemarie, your Leo…and Kasey, your bad dates!! Ahh!!
LOVE AND RACK FOREVER.
Caro
Act III
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, all losses are restored and sorrows end.
—William Shakespeare
2019
41
Cressida Bell
Officer Duncan: Mrs. Bell, why have you decided to come down to the station today?
Cressida Bell: Because I know y’all are trying to figure out what happened to that Foxberry boy. My son, Leo, was in the same graduating class. Is this a murder investigation?
OD: It’s simply a death investigation at this time.
CB: Okay, well I was curious because if it becomes a murder investigation, I think it’s best that y’all know Trey Foxberry could be a horrible person who said horrible things. I’m praying for his mother, I really am, but that boy had the devil in him when he wanted to.
OD: Could you elaborate for me?
CB: Once, when he was in high school, he and some of his friends were walking past when I was locking up the church for the night. Trey asked me if…
OD: Asked you if…
CB: He asked if me and my husband…ever had sex in the church. There’s a couch in the lobby outside the sanctuary…and he asked if we’d ever…done it…there. But that’s not exactly what he said.
OD: What did he say, exactly?
CB: He said…“Do you and Reverend Bell…f-u-c-k on the couch after service?”
OD: Well, that’s an awful, inappropriate thing for someone to say to you, Mrs. Bell, I agree.
CB: Let me tell you the worst part.
OD: Go ahead.
CB: His daddy heard him and didn’t say a word! I looked up and saw him. He didn’t correct the boys at all. He was sitting in his truck, watching it happen. I couldn’t believe it. That family gets away with everything big and small, and maybe if it was someone else, you could chalk it up to him being young and stupid, because Officer Duncan, I raised a teenage boy, so trust me—I know what they can be like. But Trey Foxberry has never been held accountable for anything in his life and neither has his daddy. Same probably goes for his grandfather too, if you ask around enough. I wish my mama was still on this earth to tell me some stories because she lived in Goldie her whole life and she used to go to school with Trey’s granddaddy. So, can you take my statement and keep it in a file somewhere in case anything comes up? Again, I’m sorry he’s dead. I don’t wish that on a mother, ever. I have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit won’t allow me in good conscience to wish that on anyone. But if somebody did hurt Trey Foxberry, maybe it was because no one had ever told him no, not once in his life. He thought he could do and say anything. And what he did to his poor wife— OD: What he allegedly did.
CB: What he allegedly did to his poor wife. Either way, Reverend Bell wouldn’t feel comfortable doing the funeral if the Foxberrys asked, although I doubt they would. And I heard Mr. Foxberry was raised Episcopalian, not Baptist. I figured they wouldn’t have a big funeral anyway, maybe just a little memorial service later…after this is settled. I won’t take up any more of your time, but all I’m saying is that God has His own way of making things right, even if we don’t like how He does it.
*
Naomi Brooks
Officer Duncan: Naomi, why have you decided to come down to the station today?
Naomi Brooks: Because I heard people were giving statements about Trey Foxberry. Is this a murder investigation?
OD: No, it’s not. It’s simply a death investigation at this point.
NB: Oh. So, can I tell you what he did to me when we were in college since he’s dead now? I never pressed charges back then because he said he’d ruin my life if I did. His mom and dad told me that too. Can you believe that? I was only nineteen and here were these…parents…these adults…with a lot of money telling me they’d take joy in ruining my life if I lied about their son, but I wouldn’t have had to lie. I would have been telling the truth. They gave me fifty thousand dollars to keep quiet, and I’m not really allowed to talk about that to anyone, but I can tell y’all, can’t I? You won’t tell?
OD: Correct. We won’t disclose that information to anyone.
NB: I was at a frat party with my friends and I know…I know how generic it is to start this story off at a frat party…but that’s where we were, and Trey was a big shot in the frat—I mean, of course he was. So, that night, I drank too much and my friend Sparrow was in town, and she took me upstairs to lie down and I fell asleep. When I woke up, Trey was on the bed with me and he was putting his hand up my skirt. I screamed because he scared me and…I’d never talked to him or anything…I went to South Goldie and he went to Goldie…I saw him around, but I didn’t know him. None of that has anything to do with what he did, but do you know what I mean?
OD: I understand, yes.
NB: So, when I screamed, he asked why I screamed…he asked what was wrong with me. He said he saw how I was looking at him downstairs, but I wasn’t looking at him in any way downstairs when I saw him…I was only looking around because it was so packed. Then, he told me he loved how short my skirt was…but it wasn’t that short and that’s not the point.
OD: It’s definitely not the point. He had no right to touch you without your consent.
NB: I pushed him off, but not before he kissed me and…touched me…he sexually assaulted me, and later when he was gone, Sparrow came back and she was drunk too, and I told her what happened, but I made her swear not to tell. I didn’t tell anyone else, but the next day, Trey found me and said he barely remembered what happened since he was pretty drunk, but I was a slut and that’s what he’d tell everyone. The day after that I saw his mom at the grocery store and she basically said the same thing to me. A week later, his dad came to my dorm and asked me to sign a form and said he’d get me fifty thousand dollars, so I did it because my parents barely had money to afford the books I needed, let alone the classes. I lied to my parents and told them I got a scholarship. I never told anyone but Sparrow until this morning when I told my parents and my great-aunt Myrtle.
OD: I’m sorry this happened to you. Please tell Miss Myrtle and your parents hello for me.
NB: Thank you, Officer Duncan. I will.
*
Sparrow Kim
Officer Duncan: Hey, Sparrow. I talked to your dad yesterday at the restaurant, by the way. Had to shake his hand. He made me the best spicy kimchi tofu stew I’ve ever had in my life. I had a dream about it last night—I’m serious.