The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose

“I wasn’t watching, exactly,” Lizzy replied evenly. It sounded like Coretta was accusing her. “But I will admit to wondering why you were having breakfast with the county treasurer and the chairman of the county board of commissioners.” She frowned. “Doesn’t that strike you as a fair question?”


“It was just supposed to be Mr. Scroggins,” Coretta said, her voice defensive. “He was going to tell me some things I needed to know about the office. Mr. Tombull happened to come in to get his breakfast, so Mr. Scroggins didn’t have any choice but to invite him to sit down with us. It definitely wasn’t my idea. And Mr. Scroggins never did get around to telling me what I was supposed to know, so I’ve been flying blind all day. The other two women in the office—well, they don’t know beans about anything. You ask one of them a question and she just stares at you with a blank face. I mean, I know they probably don’t like me very much, given the situation, but that’s not my fault.” She stuck out her lower lip. “Between them and my shoes killing me, it’s been just awful, all day long.”

“Wasn’t such a good day for me, either,” Lizzy remarked, thinking about Verna and Alice Ann Walker and the sheriff and Mrs. Biggs.

Coretta rushed on, gathering steam. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to Verna, so I was planning to go over to her house after work. I didn’t want to because I knew it would be awkward, but I thought I’d better do it anyway. Then I got the word that she had gone to Nashville.” She gave Lizzy a sideways glance. “So I decided to come over here and talk to you. I said to myself, Liz Lacy is Verna Tidwell’s best friend. They’re thick as thieves. Liz will know what’s what. And why.”

Lizzy was surprised. “Who told you about Verna going to Nashville?”

“The sheriff came into the office this afternoon. I heard him and Mr. Scroggins talking about it. But then I—” She stopped as though she might be going to say something else and decided not to. She took a breath and began again.

“Look here, Liz. I reckon I should start from the beginning. When Mr. Scroggins called to tell me I could start working full time again, he said it was because Verna is in some kind of trouble. Money trouble. He said he had to put new locks on the office doors to keep her from using her key to get in.” She raised an inquiring eyebrow. “Do you know about this?”

“I know that it happened,” Lizzy said cautiously, not wanting to give too much away. “But I have no idea why.”

“It’s got to do with the state audit. And the report.” Coretta was perspiring. She opened her leather handbag, took out a hanky, and delicately patted her forehead and cheeks. “Verna tell you about that?”

Lizzy hesitated. “Um, she told me that a couple of auditors came into the office a while ago. She didn’t mention a report.” That was true. It was Myra May who had told her—and Verna—about the report.

“Well, the report came in today’s mail.” She paused, her face becoming serious. “And all I’ve got to say is, it’s a good thing Verna is in Nashville.” She looked over her shoulder as if she was afraid that somebody might be lurking on the other side of the privet hedge. “And for pity’s sake, don’t tell anybody—especially Mr. Scroggins—that I’ve been here and talked to you. I am taking a big chance, Liz. A lollapalooza of a chance. I could lose my job—or worse.”

Lizzy narrowed her eyes. “Are you trying to scare me, Coretta? What do you mean, or worse?” She was thinking that Coretta hadn’t changed much since high school after all. She had always loved to dramatize herself.

“I’m not trying to scare you, honest I’m not.” Coretta sounded earnest. “I just want to be clear. This isn’t a little Sunday School party. It’s serious business.” She rolled her eyes. “To tell the truth, I wish I’d told Mr. Scroggins to go jump in the river when he told me come back to work—and if I’d’ve known then what I know now, maybe I would’ve. But I need the dough real bad. And I can’t back out now. I’ve got to do things the way Mr. Scroggins and Mr. Tombull want me to or they might think I had something to do with it.”

That was the last straw. Lizzy stood up and put her hands on her hips. “Coretta Cole, you are talking like a character in a Hollywood movie. You can stop beating around the bush and come straight out with what you know, or you can march out of that gate and straight on home. What’s it going to be?”

Coretta squared her shoulders defiantly and Lizzy thought for a minute that she was going to get up and leave. Then she slumped. “Sorry,” she muttered. “Okay, here’s what I know, so far, anyway. There’s fifteen thousand dollars missing from the county treasury.”