Page 103 of The Secrets We Hide
“Neil Delano. He had a known history of breakins. Not very good at it, hence the history being known. Now, his mother was Betty Sue Collier. Hannah’s distant cousin on her daddy’s side. Poor thing fell off a ladder. Left her touched in the head. Died of Covid during the pandemic.”
Jude saw Emmy staring at the box as if she longed to snatch it away from Millie’s hands.
“Here we go.”
Millie finally spread a newspaper on the table. Jude put on her reading glasses. She stood beside Emmy and looked at the front page, half of which was taken up by a massive headline.
DELANO GETS LIFE FOR DEATH!
Millie tutted. “I never let the font go this big when I was editor. Looks gaudy.”
Emmy had already started scanning the story. “This wasn’t a death penalty case?”
“Prosecutor was worried the jury would flinch. Delano didn’t fit the type. He was a bit of a character.”
Jude recognized the code. “He was gay?”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” Millie said, but she clearly did. “My point is nobody thought Delano went there with murder in mind. I was at the trial every day. Listened to all the testimony. Lasted fifteen days. The theory was that the gun went off during a struggle. Evelyn was shot in the leg. Bullet nicked her femoral artery. That was the tragedy. She might’ve made it if there’d been a trauma surgeon around to fix it. Back then, the hospital sent all the difficult cases to Macon or Atlanta. They didn’t even have an MRI machine. You had to wait for the truck to come on Tuesdays.”
Emmy turned the page to read the rest of the article. Her finger traced down the text, stopping at a line in bold print—
A TRAGEDY WITHIN A TRAGEDY
She read aloud, “‘The trial was paused for three days out of respect for the family of juror Ruel Clifton.’”
Millie tutted again. “Taybee might not’ve been so high-strung if her daddy had been around to help her. Poor tiny baby. He treated her like a little doll. Her feet didn’t touch the ground until she was thirteen. He was always carrying her around.”
Jude cut to the chase. “A juror on a murder trial died in the middle of the trial?”
“Well, don’t make it sound suspicious. People die. These things happen.”
Emmy looked up from the paper. “What else can you tell us about the trial?”
“I recollect it was pretty straightforward. Nobody thought Delano would get away with it. No tensions or intrigue to report. That was how it went back then. It’s not like today where reporters find some mouthy jackass to give them a salacious quote, then worry about fact-checking later. We had to tell the truth, and the truth is that trials are boring. I dare say you gals have sat through your share. Lots of procedural wrangling. I’d tell you to talk to the lawyers, but both of ’em are dead. Al Hardage had the cancer, and Wade O’Rourke had a heart attack at a birthday party for his mistress’s sister.”
There was a reason Cole called MillieAunt Spoiler. She had lived long enough to know how everyone else had died. Jude asked, “Do you have any notes or transcripts?”
“I’d need another house if I’d kept all my notes. Your great uncle Toby was the judge. Poor man was killed in a car accident back in 2009. Wrapped his Buick around a tree.” Millie made a motion like she was drinking from a bottle. “The courthouse wouldn’t keep records from a trial that long ago, either. And there wasn’t an appeal. Delano went to jail and that was all we ever heard from him again.”
Emmy asked, “Who was on the jury other than Ruel?”
“Well, who knows?” Millie had suddenly turned cagey. She made quick work of folding the newspaper. “We weren’t allowed to print their names. None of them wanted to go on the record after the trial. Evelyn was a good woman. I think we all just wanted it over.”
Emmy tried again. “Do you remember any of the jurors’ names?”
“It was a long time ago. I can’t remember everything.”
Jude studied Millie as she carefully slotted the newspaper back into the box. “I’m sure you knew a few of them personally.”
“Don’t tell me what I do and do not remember.” Millie pushedthe lid back on the box. She went to the refrigerator and opened the freezer, which was packed tight with single-serve cups of Blue Bunny ice cream. “Y’all can each have one for the ride home. I need my rest.”
Emmy started to protest, but Jude nodded toward the door.
Emmy said, “Strawberry, please.”
Millie passed her a container. Emmy left.
Jude stayed.
