“It sure would, D’Vora.’’ I felt like kissing her.

“And there’s more; about Emma Jean and the wedding.’’ Her eyes darted around the shop, as if she expected Emma Jean to jump out from behind a chair. “She came in a few days ago while Betty was out to lunch. She sat right in that chair and told me she was having second thoughts about going through with it.’’

I jumped at that. “Did she say why? What else did she say?’’

D’Vora turned her head toward Wanda. Still drying.

She leaned in close, cupping a hand around her mouth as she broke Emma Jean’s confidence. “She’d found out Jim was cheating,’’ D’Vora whispered. “She was so mad, she said she didn’t know whether she wanted to marry him or murder him.’’

Maddie was pacing outside her Volvo by the dumpster at the Booze ‘n’ Breeze when I arrived.

It was the first time in history my teetotaler sister and the drive-thru liquor store had been forced into such close proximity. When I called Maddie to tell her I found out some things that could help cut Mama loose from jail, she insisted upon meeting me at the Booze ‘n’ Breeze. It was her maiden trip to Jim Albert’s store, a den of sin in my sister’s mind.

The store’s about two miles east of the courthouse square in downtown Himmarshee. That’s far enough not to offend the good citizens who gather in the square for lunch, eating out of paper bags on benches under oaks strung with Spanish moss. But it’s also close enough so those same citizens can swing by for a nip on their way home from work.

In her black pantsuit, serious pumps, and reading glasses on a silver chain, Maddie looked every inch the school principal. Frown-ing, she glanced at her watch as she saw me drive up.

I parked on the weedy shoulder along Highway 98, and waited as a truck loaded with Brangus and Charolais cattle roared past. Then a battered pickup, its gate held shut with a length of rusty chain, clattered by. Six Latino farm workers in the back clamped their hands over their baseball caps, guarding them from the wind.

When I crossed the road and met Maddie by the dumpster, she stared at me so long I started to get nervous.

“What?’’ I asked her. “Do I still have sleep crud in my eyes? I know there’s nothing stuck in my teeth, because I haven’t had a bite to eat all day.’’

“What’d you do to your hair, Mace?’’

I put up a hand self-consciously, and felt nothing but smooth where there had been snarls that morning. Maddie grabbed my chin and turned my head this way and that.

“It looks good,’’ she finally said. “It really does.’’ She sounded shocked.

“D’Vora cut it,’’ I mumbled.

“My sister at a beauty parlor?’’ Maddie took a step back. “So that explains this awful foreboding I’ve had ever since Mama was arrested. The world really is coming to an end.’’

“Very funny, Maddie.’’ I snapped at her, but secretly I was pleased. A compliment from Maddie is rarer than a three-legged cat.

I told her all about Jim Albert, including his mob ties and the fact that Emma Jean had been furious after she’d found out he was running around with another woman.

“Jimmy the Weasel, huh? That cheating lowlife was an insult to the weasel,’’ Maddie said.

“Let’s go on in,’’ I told her, “and see what else we can learn about him.’’

There was no wall in front, since the whole idea of the Booze ‘n’ Breeze is to let shoppers motor past and get a good look at the libations. The business’s motto is, you never have to leave the driver’s seat to tank up.

The clerk looked at us in alarm as we stepped into the store from the drive-thru lane. She’d probably never seen a customer before from the waist down.

I smiled, harmless-like.

Maddie ratcheted up her customary frown. “Linda-Ann, tell me that’s not you underneath those stupid dreadlocks! And selling liquor, too?’’

So much for building rapport.

“I’m nine years out of middle school, Ms. Wilson,’’ the clerk said to my sister. “I’m old enough to work here, you know.’’

I could have told Linda-Ann not to sound so apologetic. The only defense against Maddie is a strong offense.

“I happen to like your hair, Linda-Ann.’’ I aimed a pointed look at my sister. “It’s a perfect style for you, especially with those cargo pants and that peace-sign T-shirt. So few young people these days show any individuality at all when it comes to fashion.’’

I was afraid I’d poured it on too thick, but Linda-Ann beamed beneath her blonde dreadlocks. “Thanks,’’ she said, smiling at me. “I like your hair, too.’’

“I thought you were going to college, Linda-Ann.’’ Maddie was judgmental.

“College isn’t for everyone.’’ I was understanding.

It was becoming clear who was the good cop and who was the bad in our interrogation tag team.

We waited while a car pulled in. The driver wanted a six-pack of Old Milwaukee and five Slim Jims. Dinner. It took Linda-Ann two tries to count out the change from his twenty.

Bad cop: “Didn’t you pay any attention at all in Mrs. Dutton’s math class?’’

Good cop: “You must be creative, Linda-Ann. Arty types are never good at arithmetic.’’

Maddie lost interest in creating rapport and asked Linda-Ann flat out what she knew about her late boss, Jim Albert. The clerk clammed up.

“Nothing really.’’ She twirled a dreadlock. “My manager told me the owner got killed, but I barely knew him. I’ve only worked here a few months.’’

Linda-Ann got busy rearranging a rack of pork rinds on the counter, even though they looked fine the way they were. Appetizing, actually. She straightened a hand-lettered sign that said Boiled P’nuts/Cappuccino, which I took as clear evidence that the yuppies were colonizing Himmarshee. She was doing everything she could in such close quarters to avoid us.

I knew we wouldn’t get anything from her—not with Maddie standing there radiating disapproval like musk during mating season. Linda-Ann was out to show my sister she wasn’t a little girl anymore, quaking on a hard bench outside the principal’s office at the middle school.

I dug into my purse, piling stuff onto the counter, until I found a pen and some paper. “Listen, our mother was tossed in jail because she can’t explain how come your boss’s body was found in her trunk.’’

Linda-Ann’s eyes widened.