I hope Nevada is good to you.
Everybody/everything should be good to you. Always.
Love,
Muffin Mix
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Friends
Muffin Mix,
Anytime, anywhere you are, no matter what, you just say the word and I’m there. I mean it.
If that ol’ boy Samuel （or any boy） don’t treat you right even for one second, you’ll let me know? Promise?
Damn straight we’ll be friends. Forever.
Love,
BB
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Friends
PROMISE! Xoxo
2019
47
Cherry Nichols
Officer Stewart: Miss Cherry, you’re down here to talk about Trey Foxberry?
Cherry Nichols: Yes. How did you know that?
OS: Because everyone’s coming down here to talk about Trey Foxberry.
CN: They are?
OS: Yes, ma’am.
CN: Well, I figured some people were talking about him, but I didn’t know all those women out there— OS: I can only assume.
CN: Every last one of them?
OS: Just about.
CN: Does it even matter if we tell you this stuff, though? I mean, if someone killed him and there’s a trial, this isn’t the kind of thing they could even use in a trial, right? You know I was raised in the funeral home business, so I don’t know a lick about the legal stuff, although you’d be surprised how hand in hand our businesses do go along sometimes…well you wouldn’t be surprised, I guess. You see a little bit of everything every day, don’t you, Wyatt? I mean, Officer Stewart?
OS: You can call me Wyatt.
CN: Okay, let’s do that.
OS: What did you want to say about Trey Foxberry, Miss Cherry?
CN: There’s always been a lot of gossip about how Roy Dupont killed Angie Fritz fifteen years ago, and you know Duke and Angie used to work at the grocery store together before he opened up the bar. Here lately, people are saying the Foxberrys knew all about what Roy did to Angie and helped him get away with it, and that crushed my soul because I loved Angie so much. She was a special friend to Duke and me. Kasey was left alone—that little girl disappeared and only popped up again a couple weeks ago. It was so nice to see her. She came over for cherry pie. I would’ve brought you some pie, Wyatt, but we’ve been so busy at the funeral home the past week. Robert Birdwell fell off that horse and I know you heard Elliott Maplethorpe finally died. He was one hundred and eleven, and did you know last week he told me he was starting to get his feelings hurt since he felt like God must not want him in heaven? It made me laugh out loud. He was such a kind old man. Oh and! That poor young girl who overdosed in that god-awful boutique hotel…she was from Adora Springs, but her family wanted us to handle the arrangements. See, I heard the Foxberrys have something to do with those opioids running through Goldie now, and it was probably some of those opioids that killed that poor young girl. Anyway, Trey Foxberry used to knock the headstones over in the cemetery on a regular basis when he was a kid, and I know kids do dumb things, but he was the only one of those boys who didn’t apologize to my family for it. His parents never punished him for anything. They let him run amok, and that’s what made him grow up to be a man who thought he could get away with anything. So, if somebody killed him for what he did to Caroline, it wouldn’t surprise me. Or maybe he started taking those opioids too and fell into the water. Like I said, I know you might not be able to use this, but I figured I’d tell it anyway.
OS: Thanks for coming down, Cherry.
CN: I’ll be back tomorrow to bring y’all some pie.
*
Holly Plum
Officer Stewart: Hi, Mrs. Plum. You— Holly Plum: Want to talk about the Foxberrys? Yes. How are you, Wyatt? How’s your grandmother? I saw your parents at the farmers market and I meant to ask about her then. She’s still causing a ruckus down in the Keys?
OS: She is. She’s happy down there. Like a fancy lizard soaking up the sun.
HP: That’s the dream. That’s what I need to do. Someday soon, right? I don’t have all that much to say about Trey Foxberry, and I certainly don’t have anything nice to say. I dated his dad when we were in high school. Caroline is like a daughter to me and has been her whole life. She and Ada and Rosemarie and Kasey…I helped raise them all. Barely a day went by without having those girls in my house when they were growing up. Caro’s mama didn’t raise that girl and Mimi did an amazing job with her. I understand why Caro thought marrying Trey could give her the life she’d always dreamed of, and well…have you seen her? Have you seen what Trey did to her face?
OS: Allegedly did—
HP: Cut the bullshit, Wyatt. You and I both know he did it. Tell me. Have you seen her face?
OS: I have.
HP: Do you think a man who does something like that deserves to stay alive?
OS: I don’t know how to answer that— HP: Lemme just say this. Angie Fritz was my friend and I loved her. I came down here right after her body was found and told the police they needed to look closer at Roy Dupont and ask him some more questions. I wasn’t the only one who did that, but no one would listen. No one would listen because the Foxberrys—that family…that family is the kind of family that wants to look good on the outside…one of those families that pretends to be one thing, but the inside is rotten. Now, I’ll be honest with you and say that my husband’s family obviously had to exploit good, hardworking people to get all the money they were able to pass down to him. Slaves…tobacco farming…coal mining…the Plum family was into a little bit of everything. Railroads too. Same stuff the Foxberrys did, but the Plum family has never run drugs and that’s what the Foxberrys do. Why didn’t anyone do anything about Roy killing Angie? Why can’t anyone in this town do anything about the Foxberrys? And I know it’s too late to fix what happened to my friend, but maybe if y’all let this whole Trey thing go away, the Foxberrys will move their shit out of this town and leave for good. Don’t you think that’d be the best thing?
OS: It’s a murder investigation now, so we’re obligated to investigate it, Mrs. Plum.
HP: Sure, but if someone killed him…no telling who it was. All those drugs and all that money? Sometimes those kinds of things never get solved, because no one wants to say anything about them. Look, all I’m saying is that Trey Foxberry did a terrible, awful thing when he beat Caroline to a pulp, and that was the cherry on top of what he’s done in this town…what his family has done all through these hills. I wouldn’t sleep with his daddy in high school, and do you know he told everybody I did anyway? My husband knows all about it and that was a long time ago, but that’s who Max Foxberry is and that’s how he raised his son to be. I know some people may think I’m no better, because I do love my wine and I’m not perfect. I can see how somebody could get addicted to those pills they sell, because it starts with pain. Opioids are prescribed for pain. If you’ve been in enough pain in either your body or your soul, you’ll do anything to stop it. Anything.
*
Dahlia and Verity Bell
Officer Stewart: Both of y’all want to come in here together?