When she set it in front of me, a wave of coffee slopped over the rim. She handed me a paper napkin. “Did you want something in particular? We haven’t eaten lunch. I need to go to the market to pick up some bread.”

“This shouldn’t take long,” I said, busy cleaning the spill. I decided to take an indirect route getting to the subject of Adrianne and Charisse. “Did you have a chance to talk to Cornell?”

“About what?”

“You were worried he’d get mad at you if you talked to me.”

“He got over that. He said he saw you at his dad’s so I guess all’s forgiven. Lucky you,” she said. She brought sugar and half-and-half to the table and then sat down, tucking her hands under her thighs.

“That’s because Detective Oliphant was there. He and Ruel seemed to hit it off. Did you meet Stacey?”

She shook her head. “I heard there was a second detective in town, but I haven’t met him yet. They must be going all-out.”

“They are. They’re very serious about this.”

“Well, good, though I don’t get why it matters after all these years.”

“Cops are funny that way. They never really give up. They just wait.”

“Look, I don’t mean to be rude about it, but I really have to scoot. The kids’ll get cranky.”

“Sorry. I’ll get down to it,” I said. “This morning, when Stacey spoke to Cornell, he mentioned a high school class-mate of yours named George Baum.”

“Sure, I know George. Why was he talking about him?”

“Cornell seemed to think he was involved with Charisse.”

“Involved?”

“That’s a dainty way of saying he screwed her.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake. He did not. George had a girlfriend, a cheerleader named Swoozie Franks. They went together for years, since junior high at least. They got married a month after graduation.”

“Swoozie?”

“It’s a nickname. I forget her real one.”

“Maybe Swoozie wouldn’t put out so George got relief from Charisse instead.”

Justine made a face. “That’s a tacky idea.”

“Why? You’ve all been saying what a slut she was.”

“Well, yes, but I can’t believe George would do something like that. Did he admit it?”

“Not as far as I know, but he did tell Stacey that Charisse and Adrianne were close. I was curious why no one mentioned that to us.”

“That’s not true at all. Why would he say that? He’s crazy.”

Dubiously, I said, “I don’t know, Justine. He says Charisse had a crush on Cornell and hung out with Adrianne to have access to him. You’d think Adrianne would’ve volunteered the information as soon as she heard Charisse was dead.”

“You said you weren’t even sure it was her.”

“Well, the ID isn’t positive, but now we have her dental records so we’re getting close. I would have mentioned it this morning, but it didn’t seem appropriate in front of Edna’s church group. Besides, that was the first time I realized who Adrianne was. You can imagine my surprise. I see her at Quorum High. I find out she’s Cornell’s sister, and then I hear she and Charisse were such good pals.”

“They weren’t pals. George doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Charisse’s so-called pals were a bunch of losers from Lockaby. They were more her speed.”

“Really. Your mother said she made a real pest of herself, wanting to hang out with the two of you.”

“We took her with us sometimes, but she was an embarrassment.”

“Did you know Charisse was so smitten with him?”

“Oh, please.”

“Why would George lie to us?”

“I didn’t say he lied. I said he got it wrong. The guy’s a dimwit. Besides, even if she had a crush on Cornell, what differencedid that make? A lot of girls had crushes. He was the most popular guy in our high school class.”

“But how’d you feel about it? Didn’t it bother you?”

“I knew we’d end up together, so who cared about them?”

“I mean Charisse in particular.”

“She was nothing. A pig. I couldn’t have cared less about her.”

“Geez, that’s amazing. When I was in high school, I was insecure. You must have had a lot more self-confidence.”

“I wouldn’t say that. It just seemed like fate. The minute I saw Cornell, that was it for me. That was grade school. We went to different junior high schools and reconnected in high school in our senior year.”