The woman looked at her daughter. ‘You stay in the front yard with the man, here,’ she said. ‘I’ll go fix supper.’
The girl did not let go of her mother’s fingers.
‘It’s all right, Ramona,’ the woman assured her. ‘I’ll be right inside here.’ She tugged her fingers free of the little girl’s grasp. ‘You holler if you need anything,’ she added as she headed up the walkway toward the house.
The little girl’s eyes shifted over to Ben.
‘Hi,’ Ben said softly.
‘Hey.’
Ben sat down on the grass just inside the fence. ‘I know you probably want to go play,’ he said. ‘I won’t keep you too long.’
The girl shifted nervously on her feet.
‘I hear you played with Doreen from time to time,’ Ben said.
Ramona nodded.
‘Did you play with her last Sunday afternoon?’
The little girl stared at him blankly.
‘I’ll bet you go to church on Sunday night, don’t you?’ Ben asked.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Just before you went last time, did you see Doreen?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Where’d you see her?’
Ramona pointed to the field. ‘Over there, behind them trees.’
Ben looked in the direction she indicated. There were three large trees in the far corner of the field, a rope swing had been hung from one of them, and it swayed very slowly in the early evening breeze.
‘I was swinging,’ Ramona said. ‘That’s when she come up.’
‘About what time was that, you got any idea?’
The little girl shrugged gently.
‘Was it close to suppertime?’
‘Right before.’
‘So that would have been around five, something like that?’ Ben asked.
‘Right before supper,’ Ramona repeated. ‘My mama come to call me.’
‘Was Doreen with you when your mama called?’
‘No, sir.’
‘Where was she?’
‘She done left for home.’
‘How long did she play with you?’
‘Not long.’
‘An hour, something like that?’
‘She come across the field,’ Ramona said, this time pointing to the right, toward the opposite end of the ballfield.
‘She came from that direction?’ Ben asked.
‘Yes, sir,’ Ramona said. ‘I seen the light flashing, and I looked, and then I seen Doreen.’
‘Flashing? A light?’
‘From the police car.’
‘You saw a police car?’
‘Yes, sir. It done stopped somebody.’
‘Another car?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘What did the police car look like?’
‘It was the Black Cat car.’
‘Why was it stopped?’
‘They was writing a ticket to somebody.’
‘They’d stopped a car?’
‘Yes, sir, they had,’ Ramona said. ‘And they was over leaning in the window, writing him a ticket.’
‘Both of them?’
‘They calls them the Black Cat boys,’ Ramona said, ‘them two brothers. Ever-body in Bearmatch knows who they is.’
Ben leaned toward her slightly. ‘What about the other car? Do you remember what kind it was?’
‘No, sir.’
‘What’d it look like?’
Ramona shook her head. ‘Just black, or blue or something like that.’
‘And that’s when you saw Doreen?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Where was she?’
‘She was walking across the field right toward me.’
‘Was she alone?’
‘She was by herself, yes, sir,’ Ramona told him. ‘She didn’t have nobody with her.’ She smiled tentatively. ‘She looked real happy. She was sniggering to herself. She always sniggering. She can’t talk, you know.’
Ben nodded.
‘But she sure do snigger a lot,’ Ramona added with a smile.
‘And so she came across the field, and you two played for about an hour, is that right?’ Ben asked.
‘Played till she left.’
‘Which direction did she go in when she left?’
‘Right toward her house,’ Ramona said, once again pointing toward the opposite end of the field. ‘Right down that way.’
Ben nodded slowly. ‘Now this may seem like a funny question, but do you know where the rubber plant is?’
‘Yes, sir,’ the little girl answered immediately. ‘My daddy work there.’
‘It’s over there, isn’t it?’ Ben asked as he pointed in the opposite direction. ‘Are you sure Doreen didn’t walk toward the plant?’
‘Oh, no, sir,’ Ramona said loudly. ‘She walk toward her house.’ Again, she pointed in the direction opposite to the plant. ‘That way, just like always.’
Ben smiled quietly. ‘You didn’t happen to see anybody else around the ballfield that afternoon, did you?’
‘People was walking through it, like they always is.’
‘You ever heard of a man named Bluto?’
‘No, sir.’
‘He’s very big.’
‘Never heard of him.’
Ben took out the morgue photo and showed it to her. Ramona studied the picture carefully. ‘He asleep?’ she asked finally.
‘Yes, he is.’
Ramona’s eyes dropped back toward the picture. ‘He look like he sick or something.’
‘Have you ever seen him?’
‘No, sir, I ain’t seen him,’ Ramona said, her eyes still staring curiously at the photograph. ‘He kin to Doreen?’
‘No,’ Ben said. He slipped the picture from her fingers.
Ramona looked at him quizzically. ‘Who he is?’
‘Just a man,’ Ben said as he tucked the photograph back into his pocket.
‘He hurt Doreen?’
‘He might have,’ Ben said. He got to his feet, then stood a moment, poking the tip of his shoe into a ridge of dusty earth. ‘You got any idea if somebody else might have seen Doreen after you did?’
Ramona shook her head. ‘None as I know of.’ Her eyes drifted over to the far edge of the field. ‘’Cept maybe for them police boys and that fellow they was writing a ticket to.’
TWENTY-EIGHT