General Lee's Jacket: From the Case Files of Oatmeal and Grits Page 3
Gladys entered the room and spent ten minutes before she exited. She huffed and hurried down the stairs with her treasure tucked away in her suitcase. At the bottom of the stairs, I heard her laugh.
Sheriff Tovey opened the door for Annabelle. I spied through the open door three jackets still hanging on the rack.
“I’m sorry Annabelle,” said the sheriff. “I know going last seems terribly unfair but maybe the other two made a mistake.”
Annabelle smiled at the sheriff and patted him on the cheek. Tovey blushed from his neck up. She turned and went into the room and was out in the shortest time of all. She gave the sheriff a kiss on the cheek and said, “Yes, they made a mistake.”
Sheriff Tovey turned to Jim and me and said, “You boys clean up here and lock up. I am taking Annabelle and Marla back to their room and then we are going to grab a bite of dinner. See you both tomorrow.”
“Yes sir,” I said.
I waited until I heard the sheriff’s car leave before speaking.
“I wonder if she got it right,” I said, opening the door to the sewing room. I glanced inside and said, “Oh no. She left one here.” There was one coat remaining on the rack. Jim walked in behind me, laughing.
“What’s so funny, Professor?”
“It’s just as Freda wanted. Annabelle picked the correct one.”
“But how?” I asked. “Before she went in there were three jackets on the rack, one of them is still there.”
“That’s true, but the real coat was never hanging on the rack,” said Jim. “It was always over there.” He pointed to the sideboard of the sewing machine. “Remember, there was one jacket over on the sewing machine. Freda put it there to protect it and to remember where it was because of her dementia. She had to do something to make it stand out. The old trick of hiding things in plain sight. I guess it was that spool of green thread on the sewing machine that made me first consider it. The green spool of thread was totally out of place with the gray coats in the room. It looks like Annabelle did know her mother better than the other two. Maybe it was all those years sewing with her mother and helping her with the house. I bet Freda and old Pete are laughing it up right now.”
“So what are we going to do with this extra jacket?” I asked.
“Wrap it up and take it the office. Let the sheriff worry about it. Maybe he will wear it to his wedding.”
“Wedding?”
“Yep.”
“How do you know?”
“Not sure. But you wanna make a bet.”
“With you? No thanks,” I said. “Breakfast tomorrow?”
“Yep, Beulah’s at seven. I may even try grits again, but I wouldn’t bet on it,” Jim said.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Spearman grew up in Hahira, Georgia, fifteen miles north of Valdosta. He attended Lowndes High School in Valdosta and Georgia Christian School in Dasher, Georgia. He has lived the past ten years in China and southeast Asia and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
He is currently working on his second novel entitled Obadiah-A Ghost’s Story, which will be released later in 2016 and a sequel to Carnies and Wildcats entitled Escape from Oddities due to be released in the first half of 2017.
Other books available by Robert Spearman:
Carnies and Wildcats: Ulciscor
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Robert Spearman, General Lee's Jacket: From the Case Files of Oatmeal and Grits
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