“When did you hear Violet was gone?”

“Sunday morning. I didn’t know she was gone gone, but I knew she hadn’t come home. Mr. Padgett came over for lunch after church and he was the one who told my mom.”

“How’d he hear about it?”

“Town the size of Serena Station, everybody knows everything. Maybe someone noticed the car wasn’t parked out front. That would’ve set tongues to wagging.”

“Was there any gossip about who Violet was seeing? Someone must have come under suspicion.”

“Not necessarily. Violet was a tramp, so it could have been anyone. Some guy she picked up in a bar.”

“I gather it didn’t surprise you to think she’d run off.”

“Oh, heck no. Not her.”

“Even though it meant leaving Daisy behind?”

Kathy made a face. “Daisy was a whiny little brat in those days. And look how they lived. The Sullivans were dirt poor, their house was disgusting, and Foley beat Violet up every chance he could. The better question is why she waited as long as she did.”

I drove from Kathy Cramer’s subdivision into Santa Maria proper, where I found a phone booth in the parking lot of a strip mall. I dialed the work number I’d been given for Violet’s brother, and the woman who picked up on the other end said, “Wilcox Construction.”

“Hi. My name’s Kinsey Millhone. I’m trying to reach Calvin Wilcox.”

“May I ask what this is in reference to?”

“His sister.”

A pause. “Mr. Wilcox doesn’t have a sister.”

“Maybe not now, but he did. Would you ask him if he can spare a few minutes? I’d like to talk to him.”

“Hang on and I’ll see if he’s in.”

I figured she was saying that so she could comfortably claim he was “away from his desk,” but the next thing I knew, the man himself picked up the call. “Wilcox.”

I went through my spiel again, trying to be succinct since he sounded like a man who liked to get right to the point.

“If you can make it over here in the next half hour, fine. Otherwise, I can’t do it until early next week.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Wilcox Construction was located out on Highway 166, housed in a prefabricated steel building on a narrow lot surrounded by a chain-link fence. Both exterior and interior were utilitarian. At a desk just inside the door, there was a secretary-receptionist whose responsibilities probably included typing, filing, coffee making, and walking the sleeping German shepherd beside her desk. “He’s the yard dog,” she said, giving him a fond glance. “May look like he’s sleeping on the job, but he’s called into service once the sun goes down. I’m Babs, by the way. Mr. Wilcox is on a call, but he’ll be right out. You want coffee? It’s already made.”

“I better not, but thanks.”

“Well, have a seat in that case.”

She filled her mug from a stainless steel urn, and once she sat down again, her phone gave a chirp. “That’s him. You can go on in.”

Calvin Wilcox was in his early sixties, wearing a short-sleeve denim work shirt and jeans belted under a modest swell of abdomen. I could see the outline of a hard-pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket. He had thinning red hair and ginger freckles on his arms. His cheeks were wind-burned, which made his green eyes look electrified in the ruddy gl ow of his face. I knew I was looking at a male variation of Violet’s green eyes and her faux red hair.

We leaned toward each other across the desk to shake hands. He was a big guy, not tall, but solid. He waited until I sat down and then settled in his swivel chair. He tipped it back in what was probably a typical move, one work boot propped on the edge of his desk. He lifted his arms and laced his fingers above his head, which gave him an air of relaxation and openness I doubted was there. Behind him, on the wall, was a black-and-white photograph of him at a construction site. His hard hat shaded his eyes, while the businessmen on each side were bareheaded and squinting. One held a shovel and I assumed the occasion was a ground-breaking ceremony.

He smiled, watching me with a certain shrewdness evident in his eyes. “My sister, Violet. Here she comes again.”

“Sorry about that. I know the subject comes up every couple of years.”

“I should be used to it by now. What’s that old saying? ‘Nature abhors a vacuum.’ People want closure. Otherwise you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop. How long have you worked for Daisy?”