Part 14 (1/2)

She looked at me, bewildered that it could even be a question. ”Of course, I do. They took him from me. And I'll never get him back. I'll never love anyone like that ever again.”

”Then you need to tell me everything you can about George,” I said. ”And that means you might want to tell me about that conversation, too. What upset you so much that you would cry on your anniversary?”

She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip, thinking.

”I think you'd be upset with yourself if you had information that might help solve George's murder,” I said. ”I think you'd feel guilty forever. You might not think it's important, but it might help me figure out what happened to him.”

She finally opened her eyes. ”George had a secret.”

27.

Matilda pushed herself off the sofa, and peered through the blinds. ”I can't believe I'm going to tell you this.”

She let the blinds settle and returned to her seat. ”I swore to him I wouldn't tell anyone. Because I knew he was in danger. That's why I was crying, you see. I didn't want him to do anything.”

She wasn't making sense, but I didn't want to interrupt her.

”George was out here at the grounds one day, maybe a month or so ago,” she said. ”I don't remember the date. But it was early morning and he was coming to fix one of the sheds, I think he said. He liked to get up early and get here while it was quiet.”

I nodded.

”There was a truck here,” she said. ”And he thought that was odd, because no one was ever here that early, not even Mama.”

”Whose truck was it?”

”It belonged to some company,” she said. ”I don't remember the name. But no one was in it. So George took a walk around the grounds and found this guy out where the midway is.”

She was killing me with her lack of ability to get to the point, but she had momentum and I didn't want to get in the way, so I just nodded again.

”He was from a gas company,” she said. ”And he told George that he was doing some marking or something. For when they could start digging.”

”Digging? On the grounds?”

Matilda nodded. ”Yep. He was from a company that was going to dig for gas. Though I don't know how you dig for gas. There was a funny word for it.”

My mind flashed on the conversation I'd had with my dad and with my Wizard of Oz friends. ”Fracking?”

She snapped her fingers. ”Yeah, that's it. I made a joke about it, but George didn't think it was funny. Anyway, this guy said his company was going to dig on the fairgrounds. George, of course, didn't believe him.”

”So what did he do?”

”Well, the guy told him they were going to start digging in May,” Matilda said. ”As soon as fair week ends. George told him he was crazy, that he didn't have no right to do that, that it was private property. And the guy just laughed at him and told him to get lost.” She sat up straighter. ”But anyone who knew George knew you couldn't just talk to him like that. So he told the guy to get off the property, but the jerk said no.”

I waited.

”So George told him again to leave and the guy just walked off, still measuring or doing whatever he was doing,” Matilda said, anger in her eyes. ”George grabbed him and told him to leave. And the jerk punched him in the face.” Her eyes watered again. ”Knocked my George out.”

I was trying to put it together in my head, but was having trouble fitting the pieces together. ”So were you crying because he knocked George out? Because he hurt him? I'm still not clear on why you were upset that night.”

She shook her head. ”No. I mean, I did cry when he told me about getting punched. But not that night at the restaurant.” She wrung her hands like a wet washcloth. ”He woke up on the midway and the guy and his truck were gone. The guy left a business card on George's chest, like he was being funny or something. So George went to tell Mama about it. He called her, told her to come right over.”

”Did she?”

”Yeah,” she said, anxiety returning and her eyes flitting to the window. ”And he told her. And she told him it was none of his business, to forget he ever saw the guy and keep his mouth shut.”

I waited for her to continue.

”George was mad and confused,” she said. ”He didn't understand how she could tell him to forget it. It was like she didn't care.”

I thought it was more than that, but didn't say anything.

”And then he figured that maybe Mama was going to let him dig on the fairgrounds, but he didn't see how that was possible,” she said. ”I mean, it's the fairgrounds, not somebody's yard or something. He didn't know why, but he didn't like that at all. So he decided to do something about it.”

”What was he going to do?” I asked.

The tears came again. ”I begged him not to. I knew how angry Mama would be and I knew he'd probably lose his job if he went against her. But George was stubborn.” She smiled through the tears. ”My George was stubborn.”

”What was he going to do?” I asked again.

”He was going to tell everyone what happened with the gas guy and tell them that Mama knew,” she said. ”At the next fair board meeting.”

”Which was when?”

She wiped at her eyes. ”It would've been the one last night.”

28.

Matilda made me wait until the coast was clear before I could leave.

The early afternoon sun was in full effect, baking the entire fair and its inhabitants with more unseasonably warm weather. I shaded my eyes against the sun as it burned into my skull, which was trying to digest everything I'd just learned. Not an easy meal in any way.

My dad waved at me from a bench in the shade near the entertainment stage and I sat down next to him.

”I snuck away from your mother,” he said. ”And, you look confused.”

”I think I am.”

”Not the first time. Probably why I recognized it so fast.”

”Ha.”