breaker switch. Most likely one of those gals playing a stunt. Hey, what's the matter with everybody?"
Grace pointed toward the closed door. "It's Stacie. She's locked herself in with Laura. Hurry! She's got a gun."
In unison, Abner and Rosebud approached the door. Abner knocked and called out, "Open up, Stacie. Now, I mean it!"
Silence.
"We've got to break it down," Rosebud said.
Abner nodded and together they prepared to ram the door with their shoulders. But at that moment, the door opened and Laura stood there holding the gun. Behind her, we could see Stacie crumpled on the floor.
"Oh, my God! Is she shot?" Grace tried to push past Laura.
"No, of course not. Nobody's shot." Laura turned back and knelt beside the girl. "She's just upset. Come on, honey, stand up now."
I stood in the doorway and watched the scene. The lamp on the desk made a splash of yellow on the polished wood. The walls were lined from floor to ceiling with bookcases all holding big, dull-looking books. A huge dictionary stand stood in one corner with an open book on it. The heavy brocade curtains moved slightly from the breeze outside. Stacie began to stir.
Between them, Laura and Grace got Stacie to her feet and brought her, sobbing, to the sofa.
"Somebody get her a glass of water," Grace ordered. "And get Laura something stronger."
Babe turned toward the drinks table but stopped when Jeremy Polk came in from the hall, his hands and face covered with blood.
"Call the police. Somebody killed Rex."
13
The doctor came and pronounced Rex dead from a slug through the heart. He was tending to Jeremy, whose ear had been nicked, when the Texas Ranger, Red Upchurch, came to the door.
Biggie met him and filled him in on what had happened. They were old friends. Biggie'd helped him solve a few cases in the past, and the ranger knew he could rely on her. I guess that's why he asked her to assist him in questioning the witnesses. He told everybody to wait in the great room, and he turned the dining room into an interrogation room. I followed them in.
"Hey, what's the kid going for?" Babe seemed to be pretty drunk by now.
"Shut up, Babe." I thought for a minute that Rob was going to hit her.
Ranger Upchurch opened his briefcase and took out a small tape recorder. He placed that on the table along with a yellow legal pad and a black pen. He pulled out a chair at the head of the table and motioned for Biggie to sit at his right. I sat in a chair against the wall, intending to be as inconspicuous as possible so they wouldn't send me away. Now the ranger went to the door.
"Mrs. Barnwell, will you come in?"
Laura sat down and crossed her hands in front of her to stop the shaking. Her face was blotchy, and her eyes red and teary. Ranger Upchurch turned on his tape recorder. After getting her to state her name and relation to the deceased, he started questioning her.
"Now then, Mrs. Barnwell, just relax and tell me what happened here tonight."
She blotted her eyes with a wadded-up tissue, then spoke in a small voice. "Well, we had planned a quiet dinner with our friends from town." She nodded toward Biggie. "Rex was eager to see them. You see, he had just found out he had a grandson he never knew he had— young J.R. here." She half-smiled at me then went on. "It seems that years ago, he and Mrs. Weatherford were…"
"You can skip over that part," the ranger said. "I have already taken a statement from Biggie."
"Oh, well…"Laura cleared her throat. "Mrs. Weatherford— Biggie— and J.R. visited with Rex for a short while. Then we all gathered in the great room for drinks before dinner. Soon after they rejoined us, Stacie came in. She's just naturally excitable, and tonight she was especially upset."
"Can you tell us what it was about?"
"Uh… no, I don't think I can. She's a troubled child. Sometimes I don't think she, herself, knows what she is upset about. If you knew anything about her background, you'd understand."
"Maybe you'd better tell us a little…."
"Maybe I'd better. You see, Stacie spent most of her life in the care of Child Protective Services. She was abandoned as an infant, and they never found her parents. Somehow Stacie slipped through the cracks."
"In what way?"
"Well, you see, she might have been adopted except that the agency never took legal action to have