Then she left Panama City Beach and headed to Miami. She’d never been there but she heard it was a fun place to be and was going to check it out. The last word I had from her (which was yesterday) was that she liked it, wanted to give it a shot and was currently looking for a job.

I had mixed feelings about this. Dallas was a one day, very long haul from Carnal. Miami was a lot f**king further. But she’d been in a shit situation and unhappy almost as long as I had been with Ronnie. It was good she was making this change and if she liked Miami then I would like Miami for her.

And anyway, it would be fun when Ty and I could visit her there.

Things had changed for Ty and I and when I say that I mean for the better. There was nothing between us now, it was out there, open, talked about. He shared more, I got to listen more. Day to day, he relaxed more, he smiled more, he laughed more and my man was f**king funny so I laughed more too. We’d weathered one hell of a storm but we did not come out with nicks and dents. We came out tougher, stronger, closer.

But even though home life was good, great, the best, the sun shining all the time not only because it was August in Colorado but because there were no clouds over our life, Carnal was different.

There were clouds over Carnal, big, black, threatening thunderclouds. Everyone felt them, everyone was being cautious, quiet, braced and waiting for that first crack of thunder and bolt of lightning, hoping they weren’t too close when it struck.

Although the news travelled slow, the murder of Misty Keaton, allegedly by Officer Rowdy Crabtree, sent low, buzzing shockwaves through the town.

I thought Ty would at least receive suspicious glances but this did not happen. Ty had been gone awhile but Ty was well-known, well-known enough that folks knew that was not his style.

But the town was humming with gossip and at the salon, as it had a tendency to be at salons, that hum was fast, furious and prolific.

Therefore I learned, not surprisingly, that Misty was not well-liked. No one had much against her five plus years ago, though she was known as a gold-digger intent on making a good marriage. But public opinion of her plummeted when she lied about Ty’s alibi then took another significant drop when she married Chace Keaton. This was because many guessed the connection and, to my surprise, I learned that many liked Chace and didn’t like him saddled with the likes of Misty. When she married a town cop who happened to be in line for a large inheritance, she instantly decided her shit didn’t stink and let everyone know she felt that way and they should too. This behavior was further frowned upon. After that, what was left of her popularity took a nosedive but she didn’t care much seeing as she had a hot guy in her bed, his ring on her finger and his Daddy’s fortune on the way, all she had to do was wait for the old man to die.

Through salon gossip, I also learned that this didn’t work out for her as she had planned. From the beginning, Chace made it blindingly and publicly apparent that he was not blissfully married. He put up with her. He went through the motions. But he didn’t like either. And because he could barely stomach the sight of his wife, when he needed to get him a little somethin’ somethin’, he went elsewhere and did this openly.

By the time Misty Keaton had walked into Carnal Spa that day I met her, she’d spent five years living with a man who could barely stand the sight of her, didn’t hide that and cheated on her repeatedly and blatantly. Salon buzz said that, as year slid into year and Chace didn’t come to heel, Misty became more and more beaten. Salon buzz said that, even though she was what she was and did what she did, she actually loved her husband and his continued hatred of her was wearing her down. Salon buzz said that even before Ty was released, Misty was rethinking her actions. Salon buzz said that Misty was coming to the conclusion that Chace’s Daddy’s millions weren’t worth that. And salon buzz said that Misty bought it because the authority knew this and needed to assure she didn’t do something they wouldn’t like much.

And salon buzz said that Rowdy was set up to take the fall mostly because he was an ass**le. In a long line of local cops that people did not like or trust, Rowdy stood out prominent because he was not only the dick I knew him to be but a serious dick. He used the authority his position provided him as a weapon, his badge and uniform as a shield. He regularly and randomly f**ked with citizens of Carnal and he did this for shits and giggles.

Although no one believed Rowdy took Misty Keaton to Harker’s Wood, shot her and left his weapon, primarily because he had no motive to do this and wasn’t stupid enough to leave that kind of evidence seeing as he was a cop, just a dirty one, still, no one really cared if he went down for it.

“What comes around, goes around,” Avril stated, smiling gleefully and leaning against the high front of my reception desk, in for a mani/pedi and also gossip.

But underneath all this gossip and speculation, there was fear. A woman was dead. No one liked her much but that was pretty extreme. Whoever was spooked was seriously spooked and the citizens of Carnal were worried about what was next.

As for me, it was difficult to admit, but I felt a sense of calm settle over me as all this gossip filtered into my brain.

While my husband was serving a sentence for a crime he didn’t commit and, to that day, after I went to sleep, he got up and jacked up the AC so high I woke up with a frozen nose every morning and he did this because the heat, stench and feel of that place had beat into his bones and he needed that cool, clean air to beat it back, I liked knowing that Misty wasn’t living the dream she’d lied her way into.

Sure, I couldn’t say I wanted her dead. But I could say I felt that maybe there was justice at work out there in the universe knowing she’d lived her own version of five years of hell.

And it made me feel better that, if she’d lived, she wouldn’t have what Ty and I had.

So she’d betrayed him and used him and when he was down, she stepped right on him to haul herself up to what she thought was the next level of life and bought herself misery, heartbreak and, eventually, being dragged to a wood in the middle of the night and shot to death.

She definitely deserved misery and heartbreak, if not being murdered, so I felt that yes, maybe there was justice at work out there.

And I just hoped it kept working so my man could eventually really breathe free and live with a clear name.

I left the tees where they lay and headed out to the mailbox thinking about what I was going to do the rest of my day. It was late morning and considering I got up at an ungodly hour to shower with Ty, after he left, I’d cleaned the house and done the laundry. Then I’d gussied up to go into town. We needed some groceries. I wanted to stop by La-La Land to get a latte and maybe something for dessert because Shambles made the best of everything sweet, Ty had a sweet tooth and he’d told me the day before that he’d been home now for months but had yet to wander into La-La Land and I felt it a moral imperative to introduce him to their goods which were good. I was also thinking of going to the mall and getting some fabric to make curtains for the guest bedroom. There were horizontal blinds in there but the room needed color, the walls were an eggshell white but it was utilitarian. Maybe I’d head to the hardware store and get some paint chips. In fact, Ty and my room could use some work. I’d get some paint chips for that room too.