I try not to be too predictable. When you have a job like mine, it's best not to have a pattern. But I do manage to stop in at the Drug Store most days for coffee and to catch up on what is going on. Joyce always knows all the gossip in town. Joyce has been running the lunch counter here for 30 years. Try the tuna salad sandwich with a cup of tomato soup for lunch. The milk shakes are good too.
As soon as I sit down at my usual table by the front window, Joyce places a coffee cup in front of me, and fills it from the pot in her hand.
"Good morning Sheriff. Isn't it a lovely day?"
"Yes, Joyce. I think it's going to be another beautiful day. But the farmers are going to need some rain pretty soon."
I see Jack walk through the door and head my way. The Chief of Police and I usually meet for coffee here every morning, and keep each other up to date on things going on in Rosedale and Bolivar County. We don't have the type of crime problems you would see in Memphis or Jackson, but we have our own homegrown lowlifes to contend with. We try to keep up with the marijuana fields and meth labs. Usually they are harmless, but we're always on the lookout for organized crime coming into our county.
We were on our second cup when I saw Judge Robinson and his daughter, Dawn, across the street. She is wearing a knee length floral print dress that was probably in style twenty years ago. Joyce told me once that Dawn had bought that dress in Memphis twenty years ago when she was shopping for her honeymoon.
On her left shoulder is a large silk rose, a faded red. She has a large shoulder bag and a small suitcase in her hand. It looks like it was new twenty years ago.
The Judge makes sure she is seated on her bench before he leaves her there and goes into the courthouse to begin his day. No one ever sits on this bench but Dawn, and no one ever approaches her while she is there. We do have a few vagrants and homeless men that hangout around the courthouse square, but no one ever bothers Dawn while she is sitting on her park bench. She feeds peanuts or pecans to the squirrels, and looks around as if she is expecting someone.
Jack finishes his cup, and signals to Joyce for a refill.
"What is the story about the Judge's daughter? Everyone just says she is the crazy lady and leaves her alone."
"That's right," I said as Joyce refilled my cup. "Sometimes, I forget that you've only lived here 10 years. Dawn's story goes back 15 years ago."
"Dawn was born and raised here in Rosedale. Her momma was a beautiful woman, from New Orleans. The Judge met her when he was going to law school at Tulane. He was totally devoted to that woman and would do anything for her. When Dawn was born, the Judge was totally devoted to the child as well."
"Dawn was six years old when her momma disappeared. The story was that she had a lover, and she was going to take Dawn and run away with her lover. Then one night, she disappeared. No one ever knew what happened to her and her lover. There were rumors that the Judge arranged for their bodies to be dumped in the swamps down by the River. Those swamps are full of alligators and snapping turtles. A body would never be found there."
"Here's a tip for you. Don't go fishing with somebody who carries cinder blocks and chain in the bottom of the boat, even if they say that's the anchor."
"Dawn grew up to be the prettiest girl in the county. Someone once said she was as pretty as a new dawn coming up over the delta. Ever since, she has been called Delta Dawn."
"She had everything she ever wanted. She was the head cheerleader and Homecoming Queen. She had no shortage of boys wanting to take her out. The fact that her daddy was the District Attorney, and then the Judge, made sure that those boys were always perfect gentlemen."
"But the only boy that ever caught her eye was Bobby Jackson, Pete Jackson's boy."
Pete Jackson came home from the Navy in 1946. Pete had been a sailor on an LST in the Pacific since 1943, and had seen his share of action. His ship landed soldiers and marines and their equipment in New Guinea, the Philippines, and Okinawa. His ship managed to evade the kamikaze attacks.
Beau Regarde Plantation had been in Pete's family since 1867 when Belle Antonia de Regarde married Hiram Jackson. Belle was the last heir of Juan Felipe de Regarde after his two sons were killed in the Civil War, one at Vicksburg and the other at Shiloh. The family holdings extended over a thousand acres of rich Mississippi River delta, producing cotton, soy beans, and corn.
After thirty years, Pete's parents, John and Norma, retired and turned over operation of the farm to Pete and his bride Jean. John and Norma moved to Tampa, and Pete and Jean lived in the big house on the plantation. The big antebellum house was rebuilt in 1895 after the fire, and was surrounded by magnificent landscaped grounds, shaded by 100 year old mossy oaks and cypress trees, perfumed by the fragrant magnolias.
"Bobby was two years ahead of Dawn in school, and went to Tulane Law School after graduation. Six years later, having passed the bar exam, Bobby came back to Rosedale to practice law. The Judge arranged for Bobby to get on the staff of the District Attorney, and Bobby proposed to Dawn."
"The wedding was the social event of the year. It was outside, in the park at Beau Regarde. Bobby and Dawn said their vows under a 100 year old rose arbor, and the reception looked like a scene from Gone with the Wind."
"Bobby and Dawn moved into the big house across the street from the Judge. She had a housekeeper and a gardener, so Dawn didn't ever have to dirty her lovely hands with any housework. She spent her time with her girlfriends she had grown up with. These were the socially acceptable young women of Rosedale, married to the socially acceptable young men. And Dawn learned that some of her friends had socially unacceptable lovers to occupy their afternoons."
"Every Spring, Jean and Dawn would sponsor the Spring Gala at Beau Regarde Plantation. A large tent would be set up on the grounds with a dance floor and band stand. The festivities would start in the afternoon, and proceed on through the night. This was a combination of Mardi Gras and a debutante ball. It was also the unofficial kickoff of the Judge's reelection campaign, as he would make sure to work the crowd and shake everyone's hand."
"I was still a deputy then, but I remember when James Francisco moved to town. He was a tall, dark haired smooth talker. He had a job at the bank as an investment broker. He could sell ice to Eskimos, and he had an eye for the ladies. He wore expensive suits and drove a new foreign car."
"At the Spring Gala, he was seen dancing with Dawn Jackson quite a bit. At one point they stepped out on the veranda for some fresh air. It seems the air was not all that was fresh. Jimmy was seen to have his hand on Dawn's ass, and some say they saw them sharing a passionate kiss."
"As a member of the Judge's security detail, I was asked to run a background check on Mr. Francisco. It seems our Jimbo was not everything he said he was. He was not an investment banker from Memphis. He did not have a college degree from Northwestern University. Even the car was a lease."
"Jimmy 'the Horse' Francisco was from Chicago, from where he had to leave in a hurry. There were various police agencies interested in his whereabouts that would like to talk to him. He seemed to specialize in sweet talking old ladies to give him all their money, and then he would disappear."
