“So, why am I sitting in police custody if I'm not under suspicion?”
“I apologize for the inconvenience. We needed to pick you up so that the person who really is under suspicion will confirm or deny the fact in about two hours. Obviously we have no authority to hold you, but I thought I might tempt you with some refreshments.”
“Child, I thought for a second that somehow Robert E. Lee had come back with an apology for EVERYTHING,” Mrs. Rosie Lewis was telling her friend later on the phone. “I mean, we have no love for the Big Loft Police Department, but if Capt. H.F. Lee has you picked up and you're not guilty or nothing, his lieutenants are real polite and gentle and hold your head to make sure you don't hit when you get into one of their unmarked cars so you don't get your head hurt … and child, this man had a tea and cookies spread that probably hasn't been served since his aunt and uncle had Arlington!”
“Really, Rosie?”
“Child, I told them I needed some to-go boxes for my trouble, and those young lieutenants packed up everything I wanted the way I wanted it – y'all get on over here and get some!”
“I guess BLPD is tired of getting sued.”
“I guess so and Amen and pass the macaroons, Thelma.”
“Did they get the person they were really looking for?”
“Two hours on the dot – the person decided it was cool to move the murder weapon and the old bones now that I got picked up – and you know I could have killed old Framington for he did to our neighborhood after centuries of his family holding mine as enslaved, but the Lord had something different in mind for him.”
“What happened, Rosie?”
“He didn't pay the pool guy one too many times. Lot of things you can do with chlorine.”
“Oh … a lot of ouch possibilities there.”
“I didn't even want the details. I wanted more praline cookies – call the girls and y'all get on over here and let's continue this tea party, courtesy of the best Lee that ever came out of that family. It ain't making up for nothing, but, the man's manners are angelic and his taste in sweets is impeccable – oh, and I got all his loose-leaf tea sachets, too!”
