[...]... looked back at Bubba and stated, Bubba, that woman is as dead as road kill.” ~~~ Chapter Two Bubba and the Sheriff Friday While Bubba Snoddy was standing wordlessly over the dead woman, Neal Ledbetter extracted a compact, cellular phone, and made a call to 911 Bubba barely heard the real estate agent saying to the emergency operator, “Yep, Mary Lou, this is Neal Ledbetter down at the Snoddy’s place... crooked The book that Bubba had been reading had been dropped carelessly to the floor, bending some pages in the process, and left that way He picked it up and straightened the folded pages, then replaced the book on the coffee table They were looking for the gun, thought Bubba The gun that killed Melissa There was a little desk in the corner It was called a lady’s desk because it was about the quarter... Melissa out of the way And looky here, here was Bubba to take the rap All he had to do was to get Melissa out here and then shoot her dead on the Snoddy property Then he would wait for the bad news and let the insurance money flow into his bank account Sighing, Bubba scratched that theory out with a savage pen stroke But how would Major Michael Dearman know about the missing 45 caliber handgun? He wouldn’t... recognized the tone of voice that her master had and wasn’t about to disobey She scampered up to Bubba and placed herself accordingly, just behind his feet Neal watched as Bubba and dog tromped off in the direction of the caretaker’s house Bubba entered the house and slammed the door with a resounding bang The realtor looked around, surprised to be by himself Well, he amended to himself, me and a dead woman. .. Sheriff John regarded him as if Bubba had just crawled out from underneath a rock Neal was malingering in the shadows of the big house because he was wondering if Sheriff John could protect him from Miz Demetrice once she realized that the realtor was once again on her property And lastly, there was the dead woman lying only feet from them Bubba gestured at the dead woman under the snow white sheet that... with the other man shrieking beside him, and Melissa wrapped around his neck, screaming into his ear, Bubba! Don’t hurt him! Don’t hurt him! Please, Bubba! ” Bubba had been standing there holding the broken arm of his commanding officer with his fiancée on his back, pounding on him with her fists, and had a vision of his own father beating his mother Elgin Snoddy had been a handsome dickens with the. .. general discharge and married Captain Michael Dearman A spiteful part of Bubba had wondered if it were in order to avoid charges pressed against the officer and Melissa herself After all, Michael Dearman had been Melissa’s commanding officer, as well as Bubba s And Bubba had found the two of them in bed together, obviously fraternizing with each other On another level, the captain and Melissa had been... a torso And the torso was attached to a A man appeared beside Bubba and looked down at what had Bubba dumbstruck Precious barked at the man and backed off a ways, variously baying and barking as she saw fit Bubba glanced up and saw Neal Ledbetter, the real estate agent who had been pestering Miz Demetrice for months about selling the Snoddy lands, or at least what was left of the Snoddy lands Neal... the pistol in his gun belt Bubba watched the movement and stepped back with a calm and calculating look on his face His large hands wrapped around the coffee for the other man to clearly see Sheriff John returned his hand to the wallet and flipped it shut, replacing it into the purse with a smooth movement “You know her, Bubba? ” he asked “Yes,” Bubba answered He took another long drink of his steaming... really snookered There was also the moral issue that was tearing Bubba apart He desperately wanted it to be the husband who had done this terrible thing to Melissa Then there wouldn’t be a moral issue to deal with Because if Bubba found out that his mother or Adelia had slipped out during the poker game to get something from the house, for example, then what could he do? And if Bubba found the gun hidden . that the realtor was once again on her property. And lastly, there was the dead woman lying only feet from them. Bubba gestured at the dead woman under the. smokes and slide out the door before Bubba even said goodbye. Bubba watched as the woman approached Lloyd on the far side of the asphalt, and they talked