Mama Cracks a Mask of Innocence Read Online Free PDF

that I’ve given it some thought, I’m inclined to agree that he knows exactly the way not only to find who killed Brenda Long but also get to the bottom of who’s dealing drugs in town!”

CHAPTER
FOUR
    I felt sorry for Mama. For the rest of the morning, she looked like she’d just lost her best friend. When Abe told her she wouldn’t be in on this investigation, it took her by surprise and hit her hard. Later, as if she’d given it enough thought, her expression changed. It was after we’d eaten dinner and cleaned the kitchen. The look told me that something else was going on in her head. She made a phone call, then told me to get ready to go out for the balance of the day.
    Our first stop was on Elm Street. I parked the Honda under the canopy of an old oak tree. This wasn’t the first time we’d visited this place. Nothing had changed. The wood-framed, four-room house was still painted red and it was still the third of six lined side by side on the street.
    We’d visited Sabrina Miley before, who is reputed to provide nighttime comfort to married men at an affordable price. I’d met Sabrina when Mama was looking into the death of another free-spirited young woman named Cricket Childs. This time, when we knocked, Sabrina opened the door and invited us right in. I took a good look at her. She didn’t look more than twenty-two and there wasn’t an ounce of fat on her. She had large breasts, absolutely no stomach, and full hips. She took herself seriously, like she knew her body was an investment.
    The living room was cluttered, disorganized. There was a crumpled cellophane packet on the arm of the easy chair that looked like an empty cigarette pack.
    While I sat looking around, Mama said, “I appreciate you talking to us, Sabrina.”
    “I ain’t got no problem talking with you, Miss Candi. It’s those old hens who can’t keep their husbands in their own beds that I ain’t got time for.”
    Mama smiled but she didn’t respond to that comment. “Did you know Brenda Long?”
    “Yeah, I’ve heard about her,” Sabrina answered. “The talk is that Brenda got what she deserved because she was a self-righteous prick.”
    “You have any idea who might have killed Brenda or why?”
    Sabrina sat down on the sofa and threw her leg across its arm. “What I heard was that some friendof Brenda was in trouble and she didn’t have the sense to help him.”
    “Do you remember who told you that?”
    “Not really. It was something I heard from somebody who was talking wherever I happened to be at the time.”
    Now, that’s a soft-shoe around a question if I ever heard one
, I thought. Sabrina was smart; she knew how not to say anything that might come back to haunt her.
    “Does the name Clyde Hicks mean anything to you?” Mama asked.
    Sabrina hesitated. “I’ve heard of him, but what I heard wasn’t anything worth repeating.”
    “Did you hear of anybody else who may have been hanging around Brenda? Say, a friend?”
    “Try a kid named Stella Hope. Maybe she’ll know something that will help you.”
    The name Stella Hope jarred the memory of Hattie’s account of how Brenda had instigated an investigation into her being raped by her stepfather. At the moment, I couldn’t understand how this girl could have also been Brenda’s best friend. “What about a boyfriend?” I asked, deciding that the more I learned about Brenda, the less I understood. “Did you hear whether or not Brenda had one?”
    Sabrina shook her head. “I ain’t heard no talk about a boyfriend, but a friend let it slip that Tootsie keeps big money in her house,” she told us, pulling her leg from across the arm of the couch andstanding. “I guess when her husband died he left her pretty well off.”

    When we got into the Honda after leaving Sabrina’s house, Mama asked for the notebook. I handed it to her, then sat quietly as she jotted down several notes. When she closed the book and put it back in her purse, I asked, “Where to