Page 27 of Hello, Summer
Conley rolled her eyes but kept quiet.
“I almost called the sheriff’s office last night to ask them to put out an APB on you,” Lorraine said. “But then I finally fell asleep. What time did you actually come dragging home?”
“It was after three,” Conley admitted.
“Three o’clock in the morning? No wonder you’re a mess. Like I always used to tell your mother, nothing good happens after midnight. What kind of foolishness were you up to?”
“I went to the American Legion. You’ll never guess who I ran into there.”
“Nobody decent, I bet.”
“Skelly was there,” Conley said. “It’s all his fault. We got to talking and catching up.”
Lorraine’s face softened at the mention of Sean Kelly’s name. “I always did like that boy. Such a shame about Doc, and of course, now June.”
“What’s wrong with Skelly’s mother?” Conley said, alarmed. “Don’t tell me she died too. G’mama, you never said anything about Miss June dying.”
“Be better if she had passed,” Winnie put in. “Poor woman has dementia. I heard she thinks young Sean is her husband. You know he moved back home after that wife took off and left. He’s got a lady comes in and stays with Miss June, but still, that’s a boy loves his mama.”
“He didn’t mention anything about his mom,” Conley said sadly.
“Did he tell you he’s single again?” Lorraine asked eagerly.
“He mentioned it.”
“I never liked that girl,” Lorraine said. “She put Sean through helland back, and then she up and leaves him again. He deserves better.” She gave her granddaughter a meaningful sidelong glance.
“Forget it, G’mama,” Conley said flatly. “Skelly’s like a brother to me. And I am definitely not interested in romance.”
“We’ll see about that,” Lorraine said. “But you still haven’t said what kept you out so late. I didn’t know there were any bars in town that stayed open ’til three.”
Conley exhaled slowly. They were approaching the turn onto the beach road. The memory of the previous night’s inferno came rushing back, and her stomach churned.
“There was a terrible one-car wreck on the county road, about fifteen miles out of town,” she said. “It must have happened right before we got there. An SUV had flipped completely upside down. As soon as we saw it, Skelly called 911, and we ran over and tried to get the driver out, but…” She shuddered at the memory. “We were too late. The engine was already smoking and the doors were locked, so we were trying to break one of the windows, but then flames were coming from under the hood, and the heat and smoke were so intense we had to back away.”
“Oh my Lord,” G’mama said. “How awful.”
“It really was,” Conley agreed. “There was nothing anybody could do. The firefighters got there as quickly as they could, but really, we knew it was too late.”
“Any idea who it was?” Lorraine asked. “Nobody we know, I hope.”
“Not sure. The car did have Griffin County tags, and there was also a country club parking decal on the windshield.”
Lorraine looked shocked. “What kind of car did you say it was?”
“A black Escalade. It looked pretty new.”
“I don’t really know one car from another these days,” G’mama admitted.
“An Escalade is a kind of Cadillac,” Winnie said.
“Did you call Grayson and let her know about the wreck?” G’mama asked.
“I didn’t get a moment’s peace this morning, becausesomebodywas in such a hurry to leave for the beach, it was all I could do to swallowsome coffee and strap my suitcase to the roof of the car,” Conley said. “Besides, I’m not sure Grayson wants to hear anything from me. We kinda had words yesterday when I went by the paper to tell her I was moving you out here today.”
“I’ll call her myself when we get to the Dunes.”
“Be my guest,” Conley said, adding as an afterthought, “I guess you could tell her I took some photos and some video of the wreck with my phone. Just in case she’s interested.”
