Chapter 28

Jay Bird Thomas.

The town was so small they didn’t have a local diner. We had to go toward a slightly larger town to find a diner called The Crossroads Diner. This one happened to be owned and operated by a black man named Joshua who learned to cook during his time in the jail down the road. Like most men who did time in jail, he swore he would never pick up a ladle again, and most didn’t. However Josh didn’t hate cooking, as much as he hated the whole jail experience. His mother helped him get started, and five years after he got out, the Crossroad Diner came alive. It had once been a country store on the intersection of two county roads.

People got a lot more mobile since the building was built. By the year two thousand there were few cars passing through to buy gasoline. Even fewer buying the other items stocked by the store. So the owner was happy to rent the building to Joshua. No one thought that people would show up to buy food in a country diner? But they did.

By the time I stopped in with Joan in tow, the diner had changed very little. It still specialized in high fat foods and sold Tums and Rolaids at the register.

The waitress was a young black woman with the warmest smile and most cheerful voice I had seen in weeks. Seems to me that there were two kinds of young black women. The ones who had the ‘I’ll kick you ass honky’ attitude or the Tia Martin’s all smiles and a cheerful disposition. I was sure there were many other types of black women. Those were the too types that stood out to us crackers.

I told Tia that I was looking for a Motel where we could get a couple of clean rooms near the county jail.

“If you don’t mind the smell of Curry, the one run by the Indian family is the best one around. Well, the best one that ain’t the holiday inn type.” she said. She obviously knew what I was looking to check into for the night.

The Americanized Denis’something or other’, was the manager and she checked me into two of her best rooms. The two rooms had a total of four beds. We were in our rooms by 6PM.

I missed my afternoon walk which meant my hip would be stiff the next day, unless I found something else to do. I went back to the office where I asked Denis about a place where I could walk. She suggested the county high school campus. It was off the same county road where the motel stood. Denis told me it would be best to drive to the school, and walk around the parking lot and buildings.

“Joan you are going to have to loan me the car for a couple of hours, or drive me to the county high school down the road a ways,” I said while standing outside her door. “You decide, I’m going to dress a little warmer for my walk. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

I noted that she was still in her power suit. What a tight ass, I thought. Once I had exchanged my work clothes for my slightly thermal garb, I returned to Joan’s door. When she opened the door I noticed she had not only changed her clothes, but she had changed her whole look. She wore a track suit with reflective strips sewn on to the arms and legs. She wanted to be visible, where as I didn’t want to be seen as I slipped through the night. She also had her hair pulled up into a short pony tail.

Joan programmed the county high school’s address into the Ford’s 2nd rate on-board computer. The generic female voice led us right to the high school.

We started out walking at the far end of the parking lot. The new high top light weight walking shoes were excellent. They walked like a five year old pair of boots. They had cost Thia way too much money, but I had to admit they were very comfortable.

My pedometer showed that the distance to the building was much less than a mile, so we started around the outside of the building as well. After a mile and a half I started looking for a quick way back to the car.

We were walking across the dark campus when I saw the Sheriff’s car pull into the parking lot. I set a course straight for their car.

“Allow me to do the talking,” I said to Joan. I didn’t expect her to keep quiet, but it was worth a try, I thought.

“Good evening,” I said to the deputy as I handed him a card. “Is there a problem?”

“Depends on what you are doing at the high school in the middle of the night?” he made it a question.

Before I could answer Joan spoke up. “9PM is hardly the middle of the night.” I turned and gave her a truly nasty look.

“I’ve got a bad hip. If I don’t get enough exercise, it gets really stiff and painful. Denis down at the motel told me I could walk here without any problem,”I explained.

“If you stay in the parking lot you should be alright. We get nervous when strangers start checking out the schools. You understand I’m sure,” he explained.

“Sure,” I said. “Tell me something. Who killed Jay Bird Thomas.”

“Don’t have no idea,” he said as he drove away.

“Does this mean we can walk here,” Joan asked.

“No it means we have to walk here now. By tomorrow every sheriff’s deputy will know who we are and where to find us. If they have something to say, they will be here morning and night. By the end of the day the killer will also know.”

“That’s not good,” Joan said.

“It could be,” I replied. “The killing looks like a revenge killing, so he or she probably doesn’t want to kill again. The killer might want to talk to someone, and we are not cops.”

“Are you willing to bet your life on that stupid theory,” she said.

“It isn’t even a theory, it’s just a possibility,” I suggested. “But sure nobody get out of life alive.”

A couple of minutes later we were sitting in the SUV. “Tell me something what happened to Tonya?” I asked.

“She began thinking that she couldn’t be replaced,” Joan explained.