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asked.
    “Well, at the moment, none of this is gonna make any sense till
we talk to Miss Vivi. Maybe she saw something out of the ordinary, or maybe we
can jog her memory when we talk to her.”
    “Do you need me to question her or do you wanna do those
honors?” she asked sarcastically. It was clear Bonita would rather hear any story other than the one Vivi would be
telling.
    “No, you go on. I’ll talk to her. I’ve known her a long time
and she can be, shall we say, difficult. She enjoys being difficult. I’ll handle
her.” Sonny kept thinking and talking. “I think you ought to check the usual
spots—the hospitals, coroner’s office. Maybe someone already moved the body and
this is all just a problem of miscommunication. But just in case, maybe get
together a list of Lewis’s coworkers at the university that we can talk to.
Somebody’s bound to know somethin’.”
    “No problem, Sonny. I swear, this may be the craziest case I’ve
ever worked on and we’re just getting started. That Vivi, she is sure somethin’
else. I don’t believe I’ve ever bagged evidence quite like that little blue
friend I found.” They both laughed and shook their heads.
    “Okay, I’ll keep ya posted. Have fun talkin’ to Vivi. Almost
wish I could be a fly on the wall for that one, but I’m already gonna have
nightmares after meeting the little blue man in there.” She laughed.
    Bonita was a good soul, even if she did talk too much. She did
one last mirror check of her lipstick, then hugged me and Vivi and headed
outside. I heard her car start and drive away.
    “Vivi, do you have any ideas at all about where Lewis could
be?” I looked at her as I took the cloth from her and wiped her cheeks.
    She began to tear up. “I swear, Blake. With God as my witness,
I do not know where he is or where he went. He was laying right there on this
bed, dead and stiff and naked. He was stiff and naked before, but I swear…” She
paused and looked at me in the eyes. “You believe me, don’t you?”
    “Of course I do. Of course.” I pulled her frizzy red head under
my chin and held her. “You know you will have to go into all the details with
Sonny? He’s the chief investigator for the police department. You need to tell
him everything. I still can’t believe Sonny married Laura Logan.” I couldn’t
help it from blurting out. I knew now was not the time to be gossiping, but
seeing Sonny again had stirred something up inside me.
    “Oh, my God! Laura Plain and Tall?” Vivi recalled Laura’s
elementary school moniker. “I haven’t thought about her in ten years. I guess
the whole convent thing really didn’t pan out for her.”
    We both let out a laugh. It relieved the heaviness of the
situation. It felt good to almost forget where we were, even for just a
moment.
    Harry pushed back through the little room and touched me on the
shoulder.
    “Blake, is Vivi able to talk to Officer Bartholomew?”
    “Yes, she’s much better. Let’s go outside.”
    We stepped out into the warm afternoon air. The police inside
kept up their search for anything that might lead us to Lewis, and the evidence
was stored in plastic bags—including the big blue rubber penis. I saw the
wrecker pull out from behind the motel with Lewis’s red Corvette attached. They
would take it to the police station and hold it until it had been fully searched
and swiped for evidence.
    I hesitated on the sidewalk as Harry, Vivi and Sonny walked
through the dusty parking lot over to Sonny’s truck. I knew every hair, fiber
and drop of semen could be used against Vivi if they ever found Lewis’s body.
For a moment my eyes began to fill with tears, but then anger took over and I
thought, No! Over my dead body. Then I thought, There is no dead
body. And with no dead body, there was no murder. Only a missing
person. I sniffed and wiped my eyes, then put my lawyer face on. I felt
transformed into a heroine for all Southern women: Scarlett O’Hara and a Steel
Magnolia