Dead to Rights

Joa

Terry Buckwalter, however, pushed her empty glass across the bar. “I’ll take another,” she said.

The bartender disappeared, returning a moment later with a tall drink that looked like nothing more serious than a glass of iced tea. Without a word, Terry tore open two packets of artificial sweetener and stirred them into the glass. Only then, as she stirred the dark brown liquid, did Joa

Glancing at her own left hand, Joa

“So what do you want?” Terry asked, as her eyes met Joa

“I just wanted to talk to you,” Joa

“To talk or to lecture?” Terry Buckwalter demanded. “You disapprove, don’t you-of my new haircut, of my playing golf, of everything about me.”

“Terry, I certainly didn’t mean-”

“Didn’t you?” Terry Buckwalter interjected, her whole body radiating hostility. “That’s why you didn’t leave when all those other women did. You wanted to have a private word with me. You wanted the opportunity to give me the benefit of all your vast experience as a recent widow. You wanted to let me know what’s appropriate and what isn’t. Well, Sheriff Brady, here’s some news from the front. I’m not nearly as good as you are at playing that role. The part suits you to a T. On me, it sucks.”

As Terry’s voice rose, heads turned in their direction as other people in the bar-mostly male foursomes-glanced their way.

“Please, Terry,” Joa

“Yes, I do understand,” ‘Terry returned. “I understand perfectly. So you and Andy had a fairy-tale marriage. Lucky for you. Bucky and I didn’t. I made the best of a bad bargain, and maybe so did he. But all that’s over now. Your Andy’s dead, Joa

“Yes,” Joa

“No, you don’t,” Terry Buckwalter returned coldly. “I don’t think you do at all.”

With that, she slammed a five-dollar bill down on the counter. “Keep the change, Nate,” she called to the bartender then she stood up and stalked out the room.

Left behind with the men in the room still staring at her Joa

Maybe she’s right, Joa

EIGHT

Feeling frustrated, Joa

That heartfelt warning had gone unsaid in the face of Terry’s seemingly unprovoked anger. What was going on? Prior to Joa

Maybe that was it in a nutshell. Maybe, with Bucky Buckwalter dead, that was absolutely true. If Peter Wilkes and Terry Buckwalter had something going, then Joa

Small towns have certain expectations of what’s appropriate and what isn’t after the death of one of their own. Bisbee, Arizona was no different. Joa

Other people might disapprove-quietly or otherwise-of Terry’s actions: of her peeling off her wedding ring less than twenty-four hours after her husband’s death or of her possibly carrying on with Peter Wilkes. As for Joa

Joa

Is that what’s going on here? Joa

It was generally assumed that Peter Wilkes was involved in a devoted, long-term relationship with his partner-thy guy named Myron who ran the restaurant. But just because that was common gossip around town didn’t necessarily make it true. Maybe Peter Wilkes was a switch-hitter-AC/DC, as Andy used to say.

Clearly Peter Wilkes and Terry Buckwalter were up to something that went beyond a simple above-the-board pro/golfer relationship. Whatever it was, neither of them had been willing to discuss specific details in front of Joa

Suppose, Joa

Unbidden, Joa