Dub Truesdale would have to remove all of the soaked and burned inventory from the premises, then tear down that side of the building before it could be rebuilt.
It was a hard hit to take at the beginning of a new year, but he was insured. The hardest part was losing Arnold. Dub dreaded talking to Arnold’s wife, but it was a phone call he had to make.
Finally, everyone was gone, and he went to the privacy of his pickup and called her number. The phone rang and rang, and he didn’t think she was going to answer. Then he heard a shaky voice.
“Hello?”
“Mrs. Hollis, it’s me, Dub. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that this happened. We still don’t know what caused the fire. Only that he was unloading sacks in the area where it broke out.”
“Thank you for calling,” Donna said.
“Of course, but that’s not all. I want you to know that I’m covering the funeral expenses, and it is part of my policy to have a hundred thousand dollars of life insurance on every employee, if their death happened on the job. I don’t know how long it will take the insurance company to pay up, but that money will be yours. I wanted you to know this now for your peace of mind. I’d give anything for this not to have happened, but it did. I’ve never understood the workings of God’s ways, only that we have to find a way to deal with them.”
Donna was crying openly now. The relief of knowing she could bury Arnold in dignity—and she wasn’t going to be destitute and trying to live on widow’s benefits—was huge.
“Thank you, Mr. Truesdale. God bless you,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am. If there’s anything I can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask. I’m serious. If you’re planning on moving and need help getting furniture out of the house, all you have to do is call. Oh…do you have extra keys to your car?”
“Yes, here at the house.”
“We’ll be needing those to get the car back to you. If I come by your house to pick them up, then I’ll get someone to help me get your car back to you, okay?”
Donna sighed. “Yes, I sure would appreciate that. I’ll have them ready,” she said.
“I’ll be right there,” Dub said, then he hung up, put the phone down in the seat beside him, and covered his face. He didn’t want anyone driving by to see him cry.
But his news had drastically changed Donna Hollis’s needs. Chief Pittman had been talking about helping her out, and she wanted him to know that wouldn’t be necessary now, so she called the police station and asked to speak to the chief.
“Hold a moment, please,” Avery said, and put the call through to Lon’s office.
Lon was typing up the last bits of the case, mentioning the arrival of the coroner and the time of the removal of the body, when the phone on his desk rang. He swiveled his chair around and answered.
“Chief Pittman.”
“Chief, this is Donna Hollis. Do you have a minute?”
“Yes, ma’am. What do you need?” Lon asked.
“The reason I’m calling is because of what I no longer need,” she said, and then relayed the information Dub Truesdale had given her.
“Under the circumstances, that’s good news,” Lon said. “I thought that might be the case. Dub’s a good man. But that money won’t last you forever. We’re still going to help you. Don’t think for a minute that you’re going to have to deal with all of this on your own, okay?”
Donna was in tears again. “Yes, okay. Blessings has such good people in it. It’s why we moved here. But I want to go home now, and as soon as I can make it happen, I’ll be leaving.”
“Just so you know, your sons were transferred to county today. They’ve both pled guilty and will be sentenced whenever their court date is set.”
“That’s all on them,” Donna said. “I have no intention of being ‘that mother’ sitting in the courtroom bemoaning their fate. Whatever sentence they get is what they deserve. They shamed themselves, and they shamed their father and me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Lon said. “In the meantime, don’t worry. We’re still going to be doing what we do to make your transition home a little easier.”
“All right then,” Donna said, and hung up.
She sat there in the silence of the house with the phone in her lap, wondering about the hand of fate. It had certainly given her a slap-down she didn’t deserve. But like Dub said, she would just have to make the best of it. Then she thought of the car keys and ran to get them before Dub showed up. Solving one small problem at a time was how she was going to get through this.
* * *
Knowing what he did now, Lon called Ruby and updated her on Arnold Hollis’s funeral expenses being covered, so the immediate need to pay for that had been alleviated, and there was life insurance money coming to Donna as well.
“That’s good to know,” Ruby said. “But there’s no telling how long it will take for all of that to happen. Donna wants to go home, and we need to help her make that happen. I think our best bet is a notice in the paper about some money-raising event that will get everyone out. I’m still working on it. Don’t worry. We’ll get Donna some cash to get a moving van and get her on home.”
“Thanks, Ruby. You’re the best,” Lon said.
“Peanut thinks so,” Ruby said, and then giggled and disconnected.
She grabbed her purse and locked up the shop on her way out. It was time to pay Donna a visit. She’d already called Dan Amos for an address, so instead of crossing Main to go home, she came out of the alley behind her salon and headed north into the residential area there.
* * *
Dub Truesdale and one of his employees had just delivered the car to Donna’s house. She thanked them for their trouble, and then after they left she dropped the car keys in her purse and sat down, unable to think what to do next.
There was no funeral to plan. The coroner would have Arnold’s body for autopsy. And since she was moving back to West Virginia, she didn’t want to leave Arnold here. It made her feel better to think about taking his ashes back with her and scattering them there.
She was just now realizing how insulated her little world here had been. With only the one car, she’d never had outside interests beyond home and family. Wherever they had gone, they’d gone together. She had friends at church, but not close ones. Not the kind she would have gone to lunch with because their budget did not accommodate lunches with friends.
Her sister still had not returned the call, and so she sat, uncertain what, if anything, she needed to do next. Weary and heartsick to the bone, Donna leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes.