“You have no idea. I’m not sure when she’ll ever be allowed back. You might just get out of your promise.” She turned to me with a grin. “No wonder I like you so much. You’re just like my granny.”

I laughed. “I’m gonna take that as a compliment.” I cast a glance at her. “So what’s the deal with you and Tabitha?”

She tried to look innocent. “Nothing.”

“It can’t be nothing if she won’t even talk to you.”

“I’m just takin’ precautions is all.”

“Huh.”

She quickly changed the subject, talking about some new recipes she’d found the night before. “Ronnie refuses to eat them.” She crossed her arms in a huff.

I wanted to tell her that I understood why, but I didn’t have the heart. “Well . . . it does take a more refined palate than most people around here have.”

She waved her hand. “And that’s exactly why I want Mason to try my food. He lived up in Little Rock. He’s more continental than Fenton County folk.”

“You know who you should try?” I said, trying to keep a straight face. “Joe. He lived up in Little Rock for years. He even went to law school there.” I gave a half-shrug. “I bet he’d love it.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I kind of regretted it. Joe showed every intention of staying in Fenton County, and Neely Kate was bound to run into him. She still held a grudge against him for walking out on me back in September. I should have been encouraging her to mend fences with him rather than stirring up more trouble.

“Yeah . . .”

When Neely Kate realized we were close to Big Thief Hollow, she started coaching me on what to say. “Tell her that you know Dolly Parton from school and you’re looking for her because you want help planning your class reunion.”

“Maybe I’ll just wing it. Especially since I thought Dolly Parton was younger than us.”

“So? You have one of those timeless faces.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad one.”

“Oh definitely good,” she assured me, patting my arm. “You use a great moisturizer.”

“Okaaay . . . Anything else?”

“Find out the last time she talked to her, along with anything else that will help us find her now.”

“Got it.”

She gave me directions to a group of duplexes set off a county road. A beat-up car sat in front of the pale blue eyesore on the end; a tree made from blue wine bottles was the only landscaping in the grass-spotted yard. The other duplexes, painted in varying shades of pastel, looked just as neglected. A handful of cars were parked in various driveways.

“Pull in behind the Buick,” Neely Kate said.

I did as she instructed and put the truck in park, turning off the engine. “Are you sure she’s here?”

“That’s her car right there.” She shrunk down in the seat. “I think it’ll be better if I wait here in the truck.”

I opened the door and looked over my shoulder. “Okay.”

I walked onto the front porch and rang the doorbell. After visiting Billy Jack the day before, I half expected to hear a pack of yipping dogs, but was met with blissful silence instead. After ten seconds, I rang the bell again, getting antsy.

A guy in his twenties opened the door, wearing a stained T-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts. He had a serious case of bed head, his dark blond hair going every which direction. “What the hell do you want?”

I took a step back. “I’m looking for Tabitha.”

He yawned and lost some of his irritation. “I thought you was one of them Baptists trying to save me again. I keep tellin’ ’em that the best way they can save me is to bring a cold six-pack, but they don’t seem to get the hint.”

I almost laughed, but he was dead serious. “Those Baptists never are any fun.”

He leaned into the door frame, scratching his crotch. “You got that right.”

I tried to look away. “About Tabitha . . .”

“Oh yeah.” His hand left his nether-region, and he started scratching his cheek. “She’s down at the community center.”

“Oh.” I tried not to cringe as I thought about where his hand had just been. “And where is that?”

“Head down to Orchard, take a right, and it’s a quarter of a mile down.”

“Thanks.”

I turned to leave, and he called after me. “If you don’t know where the community center is, how do you know Tabitha?”

“Uh . . . I’m friends with Dolly Parton.”

“The singer?” he asked, his eyes flying open. “No shit?”

I could have corrected him, but decided not to bother. “You have a good day.”

I hopped in the truck and started to back up, shaking my head at the sight of Neely Kate still crouched down in the passenger seat.

“Well?” she asked, lifting her head to look over the dashboard. Tabitha’s gentleman friend had already shut the front door.

“She wasn’t there.”

“Who were you talkin’ to? I heard you talkin’.”

“I was talking to the half-naked guy who answered her front door, but he didn’t know a thing about Dolly. I thought you said she and Tabitha are best friends? How is it that he doesn’t know about his girlfriend’s best friend?”

Neely Kate’s face scrunched in disgust. “Everybody knows that Tabitha sleeps around.”