Wanda Nell floored the accelerator, and her little car shuddered as it picked up speed. In a few seconds she was doing nearly eighty, and the Mercedes was quickly receding in her view. Wanda Nell focused her attention on the road ahead of her.
The next time she checked the rearview mirror, the Mercedes had closed the gap. The black car still hung back about four or five car lengths, and Wanda Nell figured she was probably right. Bert wasn’t intending to try to run her off the road, but he sure wanted her to know he was there.
She eased off the accelerator slightly, bringing her speed down to about seventy. Then she had to bring it down even more, because there were two vehicles on the road a little way ahead of her.
Breathing more easily, Wanda Nell hoped that the trucks ahead of her were going all the way into Tullahoma. She drew close to the truck immediately in front of her and maintained a distance of about two car lengths between her car and the truck.
In a few minutes they reached the outskirts of Tullahoma, and Wanda Nell began to breathe more easily. Bert’s car was still there behind her, but he had never made a move to come any closer. As Wanda Nell reached the intersection where the Kountry Kitchen was located, she pulled into the turn lane and waited for the signal to change. Turning her head, she looked to her right. A couple of lanes over, Bert Vines also sat, waiting for the light.
He saw her looking at him, raised a hand in a quick wave, and smiled at her. Then the light changed and he drove off.
Suddenly almost shaking with rage, Wanda Nell was tempted to tear out after him and let him have it. How dare he follow her around like that?
The honk of a horn from a truck behind her brought Wanda Nell back to her senses. She glanced up at the light, saw the turn signal glowing green, and made her turn. She pulled her car into the parking lot at the Kountry Kitchen and turned off the ignition.
Still angry, Wanda Nell picked up her phone. “T.J., honey, I’m here. I made it to work just fine.”
“What about the car following you?”
“He stayed behind me the whole way,” Wanda Nell said, doing her best to calm down, “and he never tried anything. I think he was just letting me know they’re watching me.”
“What for, do you think?”
“I think it’s one of two things, probably,” Wanda Nell said slowly, thinking aloud as she tried to work it out. “I think it may mean that nobody kidnapped Rusty, that he’s hiding out somewhere on his own, and they think maybe I’ll lead them to him before the sheriff’s department finds him. That’s one reason.”
“I can see that,” T.J. said, “though don’t you think it’s kind of strange that Uncle Rusty hasn’t tried to get in touch with you? Seems to me he might want some help from his family if he’s in real trouble.”
Wanda Nell sighed. “Well, honey, that’s the problem. I’m the last person Rusty might call on for help. He’s real bitter towards me, and he didn’t seem to want me to know what’s going on.”
“What happened between you two to cause all this?” Wanda Nell could hear some kind of clicking sound while T.J. talked. He must be working on the computer and talking to her at the same time.
“That’s a long story, honey, and I don’t have time to go into it right now,” Wanda Nell said, “but if we ever find your uncle alive and all right, I’ll tell you all about it. First we’ve got to find him.”
“Okay,” T.J. said. “But what about the other reason they’re following you? Nobody’s tried to get into the trailer again, have they?”
“No, thank the Lord, I don’t think they have,” Wanda Nell said, “but I know they’re looking for something. I don’t know what it is, but it’s something to do with Rusty. And if they can’t find him, I guess they’re trying to find whatever it is, in case Rusty doesn’t have it with him. Covering all their bases, maybe.”
“Why isn’t Elmer Lee doing something about all this?”
“I honestly think he’s doing his best,” Wanda Nell said, “but I think Elmer Lee may be in kind of a delicate situation here.”
“How do you mean?” T.J. must have stopped what he was doing on the computer, because Wanda Nell couldn’t hear any tapping now.
“Because of the sheriff,” Wanda Nell said. “I think his son Marty is involved.”
“That’s not good,” T.J. said.
“No, it’s sure not,” Wanda Nell agreed. “That makes everything harder, but I may just have to go to the sheriff myself and try to talk to him. We’ll see.” She paused for a moment. “Honey, will you make sure you tell Tuck about all this and bring him up to date? I haven’t had a chance to talk to him.”
“Will do, Mama,” T.J. said. “I know he wants to do what he can to help.”
“Thanks, honey,” Wanda Nell said. “I’d better go before I use up all my minutes this month.”
She clicked her phone off and dropped it into her purse. She checked her watch and was pleased to see that it was only five-fifteen. After all that had happened this afternoon, she thought being only fifteen minutes late to work wasn’t too bad.
She had barely walked in the front door, however, before Melvin started waving at her from the kitchen door. Hurrying, she went around the counter and down the aisle to where he waited.
“Something wrong?” she asked, alarmed.
“There’s somebody in my office wants to talk to you,” Melvin said in an undertone. “You go on back and I’ll stay out front.”
Wanda Nell didn’t stop to ask who it was. She hurried through the kitchen and down the hall to Melvin’s tiny office near the back door.
She stepped into the room, then stopped, puzzled. There was no one in the office. She moved back into the hall and looked out the back door. No one there either.
Alarmed and annoyed at the same time, she went back out front to find Melvin.
Melvin was chatting with a customer at the cash register when Wanda Nell came through the kitchen door. She waited until Melvin had finished giving the man his change before approaching him and tapping him on the shoulder.
“What do you need, Wanda Nell?” Melvin said, frowning slightly.
“I need whoever it was supposed to be back there in your office waiting for me,” she said, keeping her voice low.
Melvin’s astonishment was plain on his face. “You mean she’s not there?”
Wanda Nell shook her head. “Uh-uh, she’s not. Who was it?”
“Some girl said she had a message for you. Showed up here about twenty minutes ago, and when I told her you weren’t here, she looked upset. I told her she could wait for you, but she didn’t want to wait out front here. Seemed kind of like she didn’t want nobody to see her.”
“You ever seen her before?”
“Naw, not that I can remember,” Melvin said, “but she was real pretty, kinda Mexican-looking. You know, light brown skin, like coffee with a lot of milk in it. Dark, silky hair. She was real pretty, like I said.”
“How old?” Wanda Nell was trying hard to remember ever meeting a girl like Melvin described. So far she was coming up blank.
“Maybe twenty or twenty-five,” Melvin said after a moment’s thought. “Hard to tell.” He frowned. “One more thing, though. I said she was pretty, but she was way too thin. Didn’t look or act like she felt too good.”
“I have no idea who she is,” Wanda Nell said. “She didn’t give you a name or anything?”
“Nope,” Melvin said. “It was all I could do to get her to wait for you back in my office. I swear I hadn’t left her back there more than ten minutes before you got here. I never figured she’d just run off.”
“Well, if it’s important enough,” Wanda Nell said, shrugging, “maybe she’ll come back. In the meantime, guess I’d better get to work.”
“If I see her, I’ll let you know,” Melvin said.
Wanda Nell realized she was still holding her purse, so she went back through the kitchen and down the hall to the cubbyhole that doubled as a storeroom and locker room for the employees. She
stuck her purse on her shelf, and as she did, she had an idea.
She walked a little farther back to Melvin’s office and stood inside the door, looking around.
If the girl had been too impatient, or too nervous, to wait, Wanda Nell reckoned, maybe she had left some kind of note.
She stepped into the office and moved toward Melvin’s desk. Without disturbing any of the small piles of paper on the surface, she examined what was there.
Nothing that looked like a note for her, not anywhere in the office. She huffed in annoyance.
Why hadn’t the girl waited? Was she frightened? Maybe that was it.
She had to be connected to the murders somehow, but what was the connection?
Was she a friend of Rusty’s? Or was she connected to one of the other men?
Wanda Nell wanted to howl in frustration. She was sick of pedaling hard and not getting anywhere.
She uttered a loud groan, venting her feelings. Then she marched back down the hall, out through the kitchen doors, and to work.
She chatted a bit with Ruby Garner and Gladys Gordon in between waiting on the few tables she had. It looked to be a slow night, and Wanda Nell was trying her best to keep her mind off the mysterious girl.
Jack Pemberton turned up at seven, and Wanda Nell escorted him to a table in the back dining room. The rest of the room was vacant, and Jack pulled Wanda Nell into a corner, screened from the sight of anyone in the front dining area.
After a long and satisfying kiss, Wanda Nell reluctantly pulled away from him. “It sure is good to see you,” she said, her voice husky.
“You, too,” Jack said, smiling as he removed his steamed-up glasses and cleaned them with a handkerchief from his jeans pocket. “I’ve been missing you.”
“I know,” Wanda Nell said, “I’ve been missing you, too. All this craziness, not to mention work. I’m about sick to death of all of it.”
“Poor baby,” Jack said, putting his glasses back on. He pulled out a chair for Wanda Nell, then waited until she was sitting before he seated himself.
Wanda Nell smiled at his courtly manners. He treated her like a lady and made her feel cherished.
“I could just about wring your brother’s neck,” Jack said, keeping his tone light, though Wanda Nell could see he was worried. “I hate it that he’s got you involved in all this.”
“What else is a family for?” Wanda Nell spoke lightly, too, but Jack knew her well enough by now to understand how she really felt.
“So what’s been going on?” Jack asked. “We haven’t had much time to talk.”
“Hang on a second,” Wanda Nell said, “I’ll be right back, and I’ll bring you some tea.” She got up from the table and walked back into the front dining room.
She poured a glass of tea for Jack and one for herself. Telling Ruby she was going to take a short break, she asked if Ruby would look after her two tables for a little while. Ruby simply smiled and said, “You don’t worry about a thing, Wanda Nell. I’ll give a holler if we need you.”
Ruby is such a good girl, Wanda Nell thought, not for the first time. Sure wish I could trade Miranda for her, she said to herself, then was ashamed.
She gave Jack his tea before sitting down with her own. “Thanks,” he said and raised his glass to her in salute. Quickly she filled him in on all that had happened since they had last talked. He listened without comment, another quality that Wanda Nell appreciated deeply. Bobby Ray would have interrupted her every other sentence—one of the many reasons she had divorced him.
“One of these days I’d really like to meet Miss Carpenter,” Jack said when Wanda Nell finished. “She retired the year before I came to Tullahoma. I’ve heard all kinds of stories about her, but I’m not sure I believe most of them.”
“She’s pretty amazing,” Wanda Nell said, smiling. “I want you to meet her, too. I know you’ll like her, and she’ll like you.”
“I like her just for the help she’s given you,” Jack said. “She sounds like a good person to have in your corner.”
Wanda Nell nodded. “She sure is.” Sighing, she continued, “I’m going to need her when I go talk to the sheriff.”
“Are you really going to?”
“Yeah, I don’t see that I have much choice,” Wanda Nell said. “If Rusty doesn’t turn up before tomorrow afternoon, I’m going over to the sheriff’s department and insist on talking to him.”
“I’ll come with you,” Jack said. “I can get away from school at three.”
“Thank you, honey,” Wanda Nell said, reaching out to touch his hand. “I sure appreciate that, but I think it’s probably better for me to talk to him by myself.”
“If you won’t let me come with you,” Jack said with a tinge of mingled anxiety and exasperation in his voice, “what about Tuck? Don’t you think it would be a good idea to at least have a lawyer with you?”
“I don’t know,” Wanda Nell said. “I hadn’t really thought about that.” She paused for a moment. “I just don’t know. I feel like I’ve got a better chance of getting the sheriff to talk to me if I go by myself.”
“You always try to carry the burden alone,” Jack said. He had spoken in a neutral tone, and Wanda Nell wasn’t sure if he was criticizing her or simply stating a fact.
“I guess I just don’t know any other way of getting things done,” she said, deciding not to take it as criticism. “For a long time I haven’t had anybody else to lean on except Mayrene, and it’s hard learning to do anything else.”
“I know, love, I know,” Jack said, reaching out to take one of her hands. He cradled it in both of his. “You’re so strong and so capable. You know, sometimes you scare me a little. I don’t know if I can be strong enough for you.” He shrugged.
“I don’t have any complaints so far,” Wanda Nell said, smiling, “but I don’t think I can change a lot and suddenly turn into one of those women who can’t do a thing for herself.”
“Believe me, that’s not what I want,” Jack said. “I think you’re just about perfect, anyway.”
“ ‘Just about,’ huh?” Wanda Nell said teasingly. “And here I thought I was completely perfect.”
“Well,” Jack said, grinning.
Standing up, Wanda Nell said, “I think I better get you something to eat before we get any sillier. What are you in the mood for?”
“You mean something on the menu?” Jack was still grinning.
“Yes,” Wanda Nell said, trying to look stern.
Jack made a sad face. “Then I guess I’ll just have to settle for chicken-fried steak, as usual.”
“Coming right up, though you’re going to turn into chicken-fried steak one of these days, the way you eat it,” Wanda Nell said teasingly. She went to the kitchen and turned in his order.
After that she stayed pretty busy, and soon the back dining room started filling up. She didn’t have much time to chat with Jack, other than stopping by his table a couple of times to refill his tea.
When he was ready to go, he dropped a hefty tip on the table. Wanda Nell had fussed at him about that, but he smilingly refused to stop doing it. “Call me,” he said as he walked by her on the way to the cash register.
“I will,” Wanda Nell promised. She pocketed the tip, thinking she would use it to buy some nice, juicy steaks for next Sunday’s dinner. Jack loved steak and swore she cooked it to perfection.
Wanda Nell took advantage of a short break around nine o’clock to call home. Mayrene answered the phone.
“Oh, everything’s fine, honey,” she assured Wanda Nell.
“Juliet is in her room and Lavon is in bed. Tuck and T.J. are here, and them and me and Miranda are watching a movie. You want to talk to one of the boys or Miranda?”
“No,” Wanda Nell said, “I just wanted to check on y’all. Listen, Mayrene, some strange girl showed up here before I got to work this afternoon looking for me, but she ran off before I got here.” She repeated Melvin’s description of the girl. “She sound like anybody you know?
”
“No, don’t think so,” Mayrene said after a moment’s consideration. “Wonder what she wanted?”
“I was hoping she might turn up again tonight, but so far she hasn’t shown,” Wanda Nell said. “Sure is frustrating. Especially if it’s something important.”
“I reckon if it’s important enough, she’ll get in touch with you somehow,” Mayrene said. “In the meantime don’t you worry too much about it.”
They both laughed at that, knowing Wanda Nell wouldn’t do any such thing. Wanda Nell hung up the phone and went back to work. She kept worrying about who the girl was and what she wanted. This was going to drive her crazy until she could answer those questions.
At closing time, when the restaurant was finally clear of customers, Wanda Nell asked Ruby and Gladys to stay for a moment and talk to her. “I need to ask you both a question. I should have asked you before, but I didn’t really like to with a lot of people around.”
Ruby and Gladys looked at her questioningly.
“Y’all know I was running a little late this afternoon on getting to work,” Wanda Nell began, and they both nodded. “Well, some girl showed up here a little before five looking for me. Did either one of you happen to see her?” She offered a brief description.
Gladys shook her head. “No, I sure didn’t, Wanda Nell. Who was she?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Wanda Nell said. She turned to Ruby. “Did you see her?”
“I did, now that you mention it,” Ruby said, nodding. “I only saw her for a minute, because I was busy with a couple of tables. But I think I know her.”
“You do?” Wanda Nell almost shrieked in excitement.
Ruby nodded again. “I’m pretty sure. She was in one of my classes at the junior college last year.” She paused, thinking. “I’m pretty sure her name is Lily, but for the life of me, I can’t think of what her last name is.”
Wanda Nell tried hard to conceal her disappointment. “Please try to remember, Ruby. This could be real important. She ran off before I got here, and I don’t know what she wanted to talk to me about. I need to find her, just in case.”
“I’m sorry, Wanda Nell,” Ruby said, obviously distressed. “I just can’t think of it. I’m sure I know her name, and maybe I can remember it if I think hard enough.”
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