Please don’t say anything mean about smoking, I sent a silent plea to Maddie.

Marty jumped in, “You sound like you don’t believe what everybody says.’’

Audrey took a big drag and then lifted her face to exhale, aiming the smoke to the sky. Maddie coughed and waved her arm. I gave her a warning glance.

Audrey examined the glowing tip of her cigarette. “I don’t like to speak ill of the dead.’’

“Lawton or Barbara?’’ I asked.

She was silent, staring at the ground.

“Audrey?’’ Marty prodded, a gentle hand on her wrist.

“Honey, neither one of them is around to protest,’’ Maddie whispered, “and you can talk to us in confidence. I’m a school principal. That’s almost like being a priest.’’

Giving a short nod, Audrey started to speak. “I guess it depends on what you think is a worse sin: committing suicide, or pushing someone to it.’’

I tried to mask my shock. So did Maddie. But Marty’s face was troubled.

“Johnny told me Lawton was just awful to Barb. He cheated. He cut her down. He may have even hit her a time or two. She was miserable in that marriage. She’d get drunk, call Johnny on the phone, and cry. Toward the end, Lawton had just about forgotten those two little kids.’’

Audrey tapped the cigarette ash, watching it fall. How hard things at home must have been for Trey and Belle.

“When Lawton went on that business trip to Tallahassee, he didn’t even bother hiding the fact he was taking his girlfriend. Just about shoved it in Barb’s face, Johnny said. That was when Barb had ‘the accident,’ as everyone calls it. But Johnny never believed it. Neither did her sister. Barb had told both of them many times how she hated her life, hated what she’d become. She told them she was going to end the misery for herself and everyone else.’’

She took a long drag. The smoke escaped in a cloud.

“That night, she finally did. She threw herself down those steps on purpose. And Lawton, may he burn in hell, pushed her to it.’’

Audrey dropped her cigarette and ground it into the dirt with her boot.

“Johnny’s hated Lawton ever since. And he’s hated himself, too. He’s always felt like he should have won Barb back. If he had, she’d still be alive.’’

“And Johnny would be happily married,’’ Maddie pointed out helpfully.

“Yes.’’ Audrey nodded. “I guess he would.’’

“What I can’t figure out,’’ I said, “is if Johnny disliked Lawton so much, why’d he go into business with him?’’

“I think Johnny loved his restaurant more than he hated Lawton. He was about to lose it. He needed to pay off his loan. And Lawton had more money than God. Johnny should have known better, of course. You lie down with dogs, you’re gonna get fleas. Financially, Lawton took advantage of him. Just like he had when he stole Barb.’’

My sisters and I were quiet, mulling over what Audrey said. We could hear voices from the food line, growing impatient. Somebody cracked a whip to pass the time. Audrey stooped to pick up her cigarette butt, and then froze at a bellow from the other side of the trailer.

“Audrey! Where you at, woman? These people are going to start eatin’ the plastic plates if we don’t get this food out soon.’’

Her smile was apologetic. “Looks like I’m being paged.’’

I thought of one last thing we needed to know: “Hey, thanks for lunch yesterday, Audrey. Those sausage sandwiches were great,’’ I said. “But I never saw Johnny. Did you put on the whole spread yourself?’’

“Hell, no. Johnny calls himself the Sausage Sultan. He’d never trust me to grill. He did disappear for a while, though. I remember, because that fellow with diabetes needed his artificial sugar to make sweet tea. We couldn’t find the packages, and we couldn’t find Johnny. Poor guy had to drink his iced tea unsweetened.’’

“Audrey!’’ Johnny yelled again. “I better not find you sucking on a cancer stick!’’

She took a breath mint from her apron and popped it in her mouth.

“I’m coming, you old crab!’’ she shouted. “Besides, the way these folks have been shovelin’ it in, it won’t hurt ’em a bit to wait.’’

The morning air smelled of coffee perking and bacon frying. Mules brayed, one answering the other, as the wagons gathered. Frank Sinatra crooned “The Best Is Yet to Come” as Sal’s Caddy rolled into view.

Mama sat in the back seat like the golden car was her personal chariot. Pillows propped up her ankle. Her lemon-hued cowgirl hat outshone the fogged-over sun.

“Mornin’ girls,’’ she called from the window. “Hope I’m not too late for pancakes.’’

The car kept coming, rocking its way across the pasture. People and horses darted out of the way. Maybe Sal mistook the meal trailer for a fast-food drive-thru. I waved my arms at him to stop.

“Stay right there,’’ I yelled. “We’ll get your coffees.’’

Johnny had put out the big serving urns. He knew the campers would wait for food, but they’d storm the trailer if deprived of caffeine. After we got cups for everyone, we joined Mama and Sal.

“We’re still waiting for breakfast, Mama,’’ Marty said.

“This fog has set the whole morning schedule back,’’ Maddie added.

Mama sipped her coffee. “Ooooh, Sal, they gave me yours!’’ She puckered her lips. “There’s hardly any sugar in here at all.’’

He took a swallow from the cup in his hand. “You’re right, Rosie. This one could rot false teeth.’’

They traded cups. Then, Sal lifted camp chairs for us from the Caddy’s big trunk. We set in to wait, and he went off to find a fellow New Yorker he’d met at last night’s campfire. No doubt they’d discuss how we poor, dumb Southerners couldn’t do anything right.

My sisters and I filled in Mama on what we’d learned from Audrey.

“I guess Johnny really did hate Lawton,’’ Mama said after we finished. “I found out what Trey meant, yelling about that fight they’d had. Seems Lawton threatened to call in his loan, which would have put Johnny out of business. That was two days before Lawton died. Everything between them just came to a head.’’

“How’d you find out?’’ Maddie asked.

“Well, Trey told Belle about how they’d rolled around in the dirt, fighting. She told Carlos, and he told Sal, who told me.’’ Mama shook her head. “Imagine, girls! At their age.’’

Marty lowered her voice to a whisper. “Johnny must have been awful mad.’’

I glanced over my shoulder for eavesdroppers. “Mad enough to commit murder?’’

I didn’t get an answer. We all just looked at each other over the tops of our coffee cups.

Maddie finally broke the silence. “Well, if Johnny didn’t kill Lawton, there’s no shortage of other suspects.’’

I nodded. “Starting with Trey. He wouldn’t be the first son who couldn’t bear living in his father’s long shadow.’’

“No way.’’ Mama’s voice was full of conviction. “That boy loved his daddy. You can see it in his eyes.’’

Maddie said, “The young widow looks most promising to me. Money’s a strong motive, and she probably stands to inherit a lot.’’

Marty cleared her throat, like an apology. “I’m not so sure, Maddie. People with as much money as the Brambles usually have wills and trusts and limited partnerships. They have all kinds of ways to squirrel it away. It’s not like Lawton would have had everything in a joint savings account with his and Wynonna’s name on it.’’

We thought on that for a while.

“I wouldn’t put anything past that Austin.’’ Mama sipped, looking thoughtful. “She set her cap for Trey and the Bramble family fortune. Maybe she didn’t want to wait for nature to take its course with Lawton.’’