She inhaled deep, seeming to give herself a mental shake. “Anyway, Hank tried workin’ for the lumber mill and a few businesses in town. We had a lot of tourism back then. People loved takin’ road trips to small towns near state parks. But Hank wasn’t so good with customer service, and he got fired from the lumber mill once Bart’s father caught wind that Hank was interested in Mary. As for how he started his pot business, well, he grew it for himself and Mary, although he smoked it more than she did. Then he started sharing it with friends and realized he could make money from it.”
“Did Mary help him?”
She chuckled. “She organized the whole thing. Hank was a mighty fine-lookin’ man, but he wasn’t much with organization and follow-through. At least not back then. It all changed after the business started takin’ off. Mary was tryin’ to get pregnant, and she didn’t think it would be fittin’ for a mother to be managing a pot empire. Hank had grown up by then, and under his direction it grew into something even bigger than Mary had considered possible. Still, while she was proud of Hank and their enterprise, part of her was ashamed. Her parents had both cut her off. She tried to hide it from Barbara, but there was no hidin’ it. Not really. Not when the entire town knew.”
“So Mary didn’t have anything to do with the business after Hank took over?”
She frowned. “After Barbara was born, Mary never talked about the business. For all I know, she could have gotten involved again, but I doubt it. In the end, she hated it.”
“Did they have any trouble affording Mary’s medical bills?” I asked.
“Cancer treatments aren’t cheap, but they had private insurance. I never heard her complain about not bein’ able to afford it.”
“Would she have complained?” I asked.
“No. She wasn’t the complainin’ type.”
“What do you remember about Barbara?” I knew I was pushing my luck, but I might as well try.
To my surprise, Georgia answered. “She was always a happy child. She had a run-in with drugs in her teens, but she cleaned up. She tried goin’ to college, then came home pregnant. She didn’t graduate.” She hung her head. “Such a waste. She lived with her parents, but she and Hank butted heads at times. Then she lived with one man after the other, draggin’ poor Seth around with her. She started doin’ drugs again after Mary died, and she and the boy moved back in with Hank.”
A wave of grief swept through me. “That’s sad. She lived thirty-some years, and that’s what she’s remembered for. At least Seth was known for his politeness and his determination. His talent in drawing and his devotion to finding the person responsible for his mother’s death.”
She pushed out a sigh. “People are born and then they die. It’s the way of life. No matter how hard you try to remember them, give it another generation, and they’ll be long forgotten.”
“Miss Georgia, can I ask you something else?”
“You can ask,” she said with a grin belied by the sadness still lurking in her eyes, “but I might not answer.”
“What do you know about Bruce Abernathy?”
She pressed a hand to her chest. “God rest his soul.”
“I heard he was arrested after he and Joe got into a fight with Todd Bingham. Do you know what it was about?”
“I don’t have a clue.”
She seemed restless and I knew I was on borrowed time. “Do you think Cassie would be willing to talk to me?”
“Whatever for?”
“I’d love to talk to her about Barb.”
She gave me a tight smile, then walked around the table, stopping next to me.
“You just leave that table be,” she said, then tossed her paper towels in the trash can and headed for the door. “This is Penelope’s mess. She should be cleanin’ it.”
I guessed that was a no.
As she left the room, I couldn’t help thinking that her comment applied to the situation I was in now. Someone else should be cleaning up Louise’s mess.
Yet here I was, smack in the middle of it, with little more than paper towels to clean up after her.
Chapter Fourteen
When I walked outside, Ricky was standing in the shade of the building with his friends, drinking from a can of Coke. He glanced up, giving a tentative smile in response to my wave. “Hey, Miss Carly.”
The other boys oohed around him, but he ignored them and walked over to me.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” I said softly when he reached me, out of earshot of the others.
He made a face. “Yeah, well my dad . . .”
I nodded. His father considered himself devout and sent his kids to church whenever the doors were open, which seemed ironic since he was an abusive asshole. I couldn’t help thinking how hard it had to be for Ricky to come here when it had been the site of his younger brother’s sexual abuse.
“What are you doin’ here?” he asked, glancing over to my car.
“I came to see Miss Georgia. I heard she was friends with Seth’s grandmother, and I wanted to talk to her.” I felt guilty for lying, but I couldn’t tell him the truth.
“Oh,” he said, looking confused. “Still tryin’ to find out more about Seth?”
I’d only recently discovered Ricky had been Seth’s best friend. At our first meeting, I’d told him I would love to hear stories about Seth. He’d seemed disinterested, to say the least. Then, to my surprise, Ricky had shown up at the tavern after Jerry’s funeral, ready to tell me everything I wanted to know. We’d sat on a bench outside, staring at the parking lot across the street where Seth had died. I told Ricky what I remembered about that night and what I’d learned about Seth’s plot to bring down the men who’d killed his mother with tainted drugs, and he shared stories about the boy he’d grown up with.
“Yeah,” I said, then put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’m so grateful for everything you told me about him. Miss Georgia was telling me a bit about Mary and Barb. It’s nice to hear more about Hank’s family.” That much was true, plus Ricky had been through enough. I didn’t want him getting wrapped up in this mess.
He made a face. “Miss Georgia couldn’t stand Seth’s momma. So Seth couldn’t stand her.”
“Really?” I peered back at the church as I dropped my hand, trying to reconcile the woman I’d just talked to with the picture Ricky was painting. “She seemed so nice.”
“She can be as sweet as sugar. Then she goes and talks about you behind your back. She’s probably in there gossipin’ about you right now.”
I frowned. I supposed she probably would talk about me to someone—I’d definitely be telling Marco if someone started asking questions about my past—but I hoped she wasn’t as two-faced as Seth claimed.
“There’s nothing I can do about that,” I said with a shrug. “You know, I’m still available to talk anytime you want. But I’m not staying with Hank right now. If you need me for the next few weeks, I’ll be at Marco’s.”
He nodded.
I started to walk to my car, but he called after me, “If you want to find out more about Seth’s mom, you should talk to Michelle Abernathy. They were good friends.”