"Wasn't that I didn't want him, but my husband didn't. I thought he'd get used to him, but Ricky was always gettin into Burt's things, y'know? So I couldn't keep him."
"I understand, Mrs. Teal."
"There ain't gonna be any trouble, is there? I mean, the cops..."
"No, ma'am. Just tell me what happened."
"Well, me and Burt were gettin ready to move further north. He had a job offer up there. And this lady next door, she'd just lost her boy to the county. But she wasn't unfit, really. Just a little odd. I thought she'd take care of Ricky. Learned her lesson, y'see?"
"What was her name? Your neighbor?"
"I don't really remember now. I just called her Lizzie."
Hannibal walked slowly to the car where his friends waited, thinking of a frightened little boy and a woman who was "a little odd", and silently cursing A. J. Bancroft.