Dead to Rights

“No one else?” Joa

Joa

No, he didn’t, Joa

And Bebe Noonan did.

FOURTEEN

In the course of the next hour and a half, as Joa

Her tidy little camper was totally at odds with the rest of the Noonan place. The trailer may have been small and cramped and hot, but it was also spotlessly clean. The chrome faucet gleamed. Covers on the neatly made bed were absolutely straight. No hint of dust or dirt marred the cracked linoleum floor. The room’s sole decoration was a hand-painted ceramic wall plaque that a

Bebe’s trailer constituted a small, pitiful piece of order bravely wrested from the utter chaos around her. Listening lo Bebe talk, Joa

Bianca Noonan lived on her parents’ place, but she lived separate from them as well. As she told her story, it was plain to see that she lived there out of necessity rather than choice or out of some sense of warmth and family togetherness. As Ja

No wonder Bucky had hired Bebe to work for him. No wonder she had been so susceptible to his charms and empty promises. No wonder, either, that she so desperately wanted keep Bucky Buckwalter’s baby. With or without the presence of a father, Bebe wanted this child. A baby would give her someone to love. Someone who, unlike her own family, might love her in return.

The more Joa

“How old are you?” Joa

“Twenty-three,” Bebe sniffed.

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“Tell your parents?”

“I can’t,” Bebe whispered.

“You’ll have to tell them sooner or Liter,” Joa

“My dad’ll kill me when he finds out.”

Joa

“But he’ll say I’m no good,” Bebe continued. “He’ll throw me out. I’ll have to find someplace else to live.”

“Then you’ll find an apartment of your own,” Joa

Bebe’s eyes filled with tears once more. “How? I’ve been living here for free. Even so, I can barely afford my car payments. That’s why I went to see Terry. I wanted to ask her for help with the baby. And she told me to… to…”

“I heard what she told you,” Joa

“No,” Bebe said. “I suppose not, but I thought maybe…”

“You thought what?”

Bebe shrugged. “That since it’s Bucky’s baby, that maybe she’d give me something. You know, that she’d offer to help out with money. She’ll have insurance and stuff. She’ll be able to afford it.”

Joa

“I lave you seen a lawyer?” she asked.

“No,” Bebe said. “I haven’t even seen the doctor yet. Why would I need a lawyer?”

“Because if you’re expecting to collect money from Bucky’s estate or from his Social Security account, you’ll have to file a paternity suit. You’ll have to prove Bucky is the baby’s father. In order to do that, you’ll need a lawyer. It’s not all that hard to establish paternity these days, but you’ll need to collect some DNA evidence. The only way to do that is with court order. You’ll be better off doing it before Bucky is buried rather than afterward.”

“But do I have to?” Bebe asked miserably. “Do I have to go through all that-get a lawyer and go to court and all like that? If I do, my parents will know, and so will everybody else.”

“I told you before, Bebe. People-your parents included-are bound to find out eventually,” Joa

“Is that why you came to see me?” Bebe asked. “To tell me that?”

“No,” Joa

“He wasn’t with me,” Bebe said. “I only wish he had been. The last time I saw him was that afternoon. The day before he died. At work.”

“Do you have any idea where he might have been that evening, then?”

Bebe shrugged. “Probably playing poker. He did that a lot.”

“With whom?” Joa

“I don’t know. He never really told me. And I didn’t ask. I didn’t think it was any of my business. That’s what love is all about,” she added. “Learning to trust.”

Joa

Exasperated beyond bearing, Joa

Bebe followed her out the door to the car. “Do you know which lawyer I should talk to?” Bebe was asking. “About the DNA thing, I mean.”

Joa

It’s part of being a grown-up, she wanted to say. Part of being a parent. But Joa

Belle’s face dissolved into a watery smile. “Thank you,” she said. “I’ll go to work on that right away.”

Feeling a little like King Solomon offering to carve up the baby, Joa