“No,” Tuck said. “It sure won’t. And in order to help him, Wanda Nell, I’m going to need to know everything I can about the victim. If Mrs. Sutton had the kind of character I’m being told she had, then I’m going to have to know about it.”
“I’ll tell you what I know, things she did to me or that I saw her do at the Kountry Kitchen,” Wanda Nell said slowly, “and then I’ll tell you what I heard.” Her mouth twisted in a bitter grin. “The men at the Kountry Kitchen are bigger gossips than any woman ever dared to be.”
“Let’s just start with things you know,” Tuck said. He pulled a small notebook and a pen from his inside jacket pocket Poised to take notes, he watched Wanda Nell.
Turning her eyes away from that notebook, Wanda Nell thought about Fayetta. “It was about four years ago, around the time Fayetta started working at the Kountry Kitchen. I started missing money from my purse. It was never very much, two or three dollars now and then, sometimes five. And at first it was real occasional, but then it started happening more regularly.” Wanda Nell shrugged. “At first I didn’t think much about it. It’s easy to lose track of a few dollars here and there. But when it started happening more and more, I knew it wasn’t me spending it and forgetting about it.”
“I thought maybe Miranda was taking it. It would’ve been like her to help herself without asking me first.” Wanda Nell grimaced. “I almost called her on it, but I realized something else was going on at the same time. I realized my tips at the Kountry Kitchen had gone down. I couldn’t understand it. I’ve always gotten real good tips, and all my regulars were still wanting me to wait on em.”
“So Miz Sutton was stealing your tips and money out of your purse?” TJ. asked.
Wanda Nell nodded. “Didn’t take me long to catch her lifting some of my tips off my tables. But I had to set a trap for her with my purse. I marked some dollar bills and a coupla fives and left them in my purse. Didn’t take her a day or two to get into my purse and take three dollars out of it. Now, she’d always take the ones she got for tips and exchange them in the cash register. Melvin didn’t mind, and we all do it. So I waited that day till I saw her doing that, and then I got Melvin and asked him to look in the register.”
“What happened?” Tuck prompted when she fell silent
“It was real unpleasant.” Wanda Nell continued after a sigh. “He found the marked ones, just like I told him he would, but Fayetta swore up and down she hadn’t put them in there. I could see Melvin wanted to believe me, but I couldn’t really prove I hadn’t put them in there myself.”
“Melvin oughta’ve known you don’t lie or cheat, Mama,” T.J. said hotly.
“He knew,” Wanda Nell said. “But without better proof he couldn’t do much. He did tell Fayetta he’d known me a long time and I’d never lied to him before. He was going to give her the benefit of the doubt this time, but if anything like this happened again, he’d have to reconsider.” She paused. “That was before he started sleeping with her.”
“Did she stop stealing from you?” Tuck asked.
“Yeah, she sure did,” Wanda Nell answered. “Soon as Melvin walked off, I got up in her face and told her that if I found any more money missing from my purse or from one of my tables, I was calling in the sheriff. And since he and my daddy had been real good friends, I’d see him haul her sorry rear end off to jail where it belonged.”
T.J. snorted, then tried to turn it into a cough.
“From that point on, Fayetta tried to do me dirty any way she could,” Wanda Nell said. “She didn’t steal from me anymore, but she talked about me behind my back like you wouldn’t believe. And the next time Bobby Ray showed up in town, she made sure she got him into bed, and then told me all about it.”
“That was pretty foul,” Tuck commented. “Even if he was your ex-husband.”
“That was the way she was,” Wanda Nell said. “She hated it because Melvin and the customers respected me, and nobody in her whole life ever respected her. She never did nothing to earn it, and it galled her that men in the restaurant treated me different.” She shook her head. “Pretty pitiful, when you get right down to it.”
“What else can you tell me about her?’ Tuck asked.
“Well, she had four kids,” Wanda Nell said, after thinking a moment. “Each one of them had a different daddy, from what I heard. The oldest one’s about ten, and the youngest one’s about four. She had it right before she started working at the Kountry Kitchen.”
“Is there someone to look after them? Their fathers?”
“Fayetta’s mama probably has them,” Wanda Nell said. “None of their daddies ever paid much attention to them. Far as I know, they’re probably all married men, because that’s mostly what Fayetta went after.”
“Sounds like a soap opera,” TJ. commented. “Those poor kids.”
“Those poor kids is right,” Wanda Nell said, heat coloring her voice. “Fayetta for a mama was bad enough and then not having no daddy around, but Fayetta’s mama is...” Words failed her.
“What?” Tuck asked.
Wanda Nell shrugged. “Her name is Agnes Vance, and she belongs to one of them real strict churches. No dancing, no playing cards, no drinking, all that kind of thing. And her and Fayetta didn’t get along, not by a long shot. She’ll be the one to look after Fayetta’s kids, and if they don’t turn out like their mama. I’ll be surprised.” She sighed. “You can’t raise kids like that, never letting them have any fun, and expect them not to run wild when they get old enough.”
“And sometimes they run wild even if you do let ’em have fun growing up,” TJ. said wryly.
Wanda Nell nodded. “Yeah, ain’t that the truth! But at least you saw the error of your ways, honey. And look at you now.”
TJ. smiled, blushing a little. “Thank you, Mama.”
Tuck patted him on the knee. “He’s turned himself around, no doubt about that.” He and TJ. exchanged grins. Then Tuck turned back to Wanda Nell.
“What about Mrs. Sutton and Melvin Arbuckle?” He regarded Wanda Nell intently.
Wanda Nell took her time before answering. “I’ve known Melvin a long time,” she finally said. “He was three years ahead of me in school, and he asked me out once when he was a senior and I was a freshman. I wanted to go, because a lot of the girls would’ve given anything to be asked out by him. But my mama and daddy said I was too young to be going out with a senior.” She broke off for a moment, lost in the memories of twenty-six years earlier.
“Anyway,” she went on, “I’ve known Melvin a long time. He’s always had women after him, but he never got married. Don’t know why. Maybe he liked playing around too much.” She shrugged. “Fayetta made it clear from the get-go that she was available. She was always brushing up against him, that kind of dung. Melvin ignored her for a long time, but about a year ago, I could tell they were, well, involved I guess.”
“Was it a serious relationship?” Tuck asked.
Again Wanda Nell shrugged. “I think maybe Fayetta might’ve wanted it to be, but Melvin didn’t act like he wanted anything permanent. I think he had enough sense not to marry her, and her with those kids. So one week they’d be going hot and heavy, and the next week Fayetta would hardly talk to him.”
“That might not look good for Melvin,” TJ. said.
“Maybe not,” Wanda Nell said, “if he was the only man Fayetta’d been involved with the last coupla years.”
“Do you know for a fact that she was seeing another man, or other men?” Tuck had his pen ready to write down names.
Wanda Nell hesitated. She wanted to help Melvin, but she didn’t want to drag someone else into the mess, someone who might be innocent too.
“If it can help Melvin, Wanda Nell, I need to know,”
Tuck prodded, his voice gentle. “I know it’s distasteful to talk about these things, but in a situation like this, it’s unavoidable.”
“You’re right, I know,” Wanda Nell said, sighing and leaning back in her chair. TJ. watche
d her, his face expressing his sympathy.
“Tuck’s got to be able to come up with reasonable doubt, Mama,” TJ. said when his mother failed to continue. “If he can show that someone else had a motive, then it’ll help Melvin.”
“Yeah,” Wanda Nell said, rubbing a hand tiredly across her face. “Well, here goes. A coupla times I overheard Melvin and Fayetta arguing about her seeing other men. Fayetta wasn’t real shy about naming names, and I couldn’t help but hear a couple of them.”
“Who were they?’ Tuck asked.
“Deke Campbell was one of them,” Wanda Nell said. “And the other was Billy Joe Eccles.”
Both Tuck and TJ. whistled at the same time. Deke Campbell was president of the bank in Tullahoma, married with several grown children, while Billy Joe Eccles was one of the leading businessmen. He owned the biggest grocery store in town, along with several gas stations and a clothing store on the town square. He had a finger in a lot of pies, as did Deke Campbell.
“Two prominent and powerful men in Tullahoma,” Tuck said, his voice slightly strained. “Both married and rich.”
“Uh-huh,” Wanda Nell said, “and ain’t neither of them gonna take kindly to someone poking into their private business.”
“You could say that again,” Tuck said, his voice stronger. “And that means this case is going to take some delicate handling.” He slapped his notebook against his knee. “Mind you, I’m not afraid of rattling a few cages if I have to. But I don’t want to if I don’t have to.”
“I think that would be pretty smart,” Wanda Nell said. “I don’t know that much about Deke Campbell, but I heard that Billy Joe Eccles is pretty mean if you get crossways of him.”
“Then we just won’t get crossways of him,” TJ. said firmly. He turned to look at Tuck. “Will we?”
Tuck grinned. “Maybe not. But I can be pretty tough if someone gets crossways of me. You just remember that.”
TJ. stared at him. Wanda Nell watched them both, aware of some odd tension between them.
“I’m not aiming to get crossways of anybody,” she said firmly, ending the moment of uncomfortable silence. “But I’m going to do what I can to help Melvin.”
Tuck and TJ. focused their attention on her. “I won’t be able to do much until Melvin goes before the magistrate,” Tuck said, “when we hear the charges and the evidence against him. But I’m going to do some digging, and if you find out anything helpful, Wanda Nell, I’d appreciate knowing it I don’t want you to put yourself in danger, though.”
“I won’t,” Wanda Nell said. “And if I do. I’ll have backup.” She thought with a smile of Mayrene and her shotgun. Mayrene would face down anybody with that shotgun.
“There’s one other thing,” TJ. said. “What about the Kountry Kitchen?"
Wanda Nell stared at him, dismayed. She hadn’t thought about the restaurant even once. She’d been too focused on the murder itself and proving Melvin’s innocence.
“Well, shoot,” she said. “You’re right, TJ. Somebody’s got to keep the restaurant open. We can’t just close it down while Melvin’s in jail.”
“Can you run it, Wanda Nell?” Tuck asked.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Wanda Nell said slowly. She’d certainly worked there long enough to know all she needed to keep it running the way Melvin would. “But that’s not my only job. I can’t afford to miss my shift at Budget Mart, and I can’t be at the restaurant all day and then work at Budget Mart, too.”
“Could you take any time off from Budget Mart?” Tuck asked. “Say a couple of weeks? Do they give you any vacation time?”
“I got some hours built up,” Wanda Nell said. “I’ll talk to my supervisor and see if I can work something out.” She had been hoping to take a couple weeks off later in the summer, before Juliet had to go back to school, so they could go visit her cousin in Jackson for a few days. But this was more important.
“Would you have to be at the Kountry Kitchen all day long, Mama?” TJ. asked. “Couldn’t someone else open up, maybe, and you close up? Or vice versa?”
Wanda Nell thought for a moment. “We’re gonna be short-handed without Melvin and Fayetta both.” She shook her head. “You know, I can’t believe this is all happening. It’s just too weird. But I guess it is happening, and that means we have to deal with it. I know somebody I can call who’ll probably be willing to work. I can trust her to open up in the morning and work through lunch. Then I can come in at lunch and work through closing at night But we’re still gonna need at least one more waitress.”
“What about me, Mama?” TJ. asked. “Can I help somehow? I’ve got a little experience. I worked in a restaurant in Houston for a few months.”
“You hadn’t told me that” Wanda Nell said, surprised. TJ. had yet to tell her much about the time he had spent in Houston, just prior to returning to Tullahoma a few months ago. He hadn’t seemed to want to talk about it and she hadn’t pushed him.
TJ. shrugged. “Yeah, well, it wasn’t that exciting, but I can bus tables and do things like that, if you need me. I can probably even wait on tables, too.”
“Don’t forget I’m going to need you helping me on this case, and the other ones I’m working on right now.”
T.J. flushed slightly at Tuck’s words, which Wanda Nell thought were a mite sharp. “I reckon I can get by,” Wanda Nell said mildly into the awkward pause. “I don’t want to waste TJ.’s valuable time busing tables if he’s got something more important to do.”
Now it was Tuck’s turn to flush slightly. “I’m sorry, Wanda Nell,” he said. “I didn’t mean it that way.” He smiled, fully aware of the effect of his charm when he did so. “It’s just that I’ve gotten to where I really count on T.J.’s help in the office. He’s the best assistant I ever had.”
“Then he’s better off working with you,” Wanda Nell said, accepting the apology with a smile of her own. “I doubt it’ll take me long to turn up some help. There’s always somebody wanting a job, and with the kids out of school for the summer, I can probably find one real quick.”
“Good. That’s settled,” Tuck said, getting up from the couch. “I’m heading back to the office. You coming, TJ.?”
“Yeah,” TJ. said. “I’ll be along in a few minutes.”
Tuck nodded, said good-bye to Wanda Nell, then disappeared out the door. Moments later they heard his car pulling out of the driveway.
TJ. sat on the couch, an odd look on his face.
Wanda Nell watched him for a moment, waiting for him to speak. When he didn’t, she said, “I’m not mad, honey. I’m really proud of you for working so hard at such a good job. The kind of training you’re getting, maybe you’ll want to go to college and law school yourself.”
TJ. drew a deep breath. “Actually, Mama, Tuck and I’ve been talking about that. Maybe one of these days, but not right now. But there’s something I need to talk to you about.” He stopped abruptly and looked away from his mother.
Wanda Nell had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. She almost jumped out of her chair when she heard the phone ring.
“Hang on a minute,” she said, gratefully heading into the kitchen to answer the phone.
Before she even had time to say hello, a voice barked in her ear. “Wanda Nell, is that you?”
Without waiting for a response, Lucretia Culpepper, Wanda Nell’s former mother-in-law, kept talking. “You tell TJ. I need him at home right this minute. I fell, and I need help.”
“It’s for you,” Wanda Nell said to TJ., who had followed her into the kitchen.
“Grandma?” TJ. asked.
Wanda Nell nodded.
“Yes, ma’am,” TJ. said into the phone. “Do you need something?” He listened for a moment. “I’ll be right home, Grandma. Don’t move.” He hung up the phone.
“You think she really fell?” Wanda Nell asked.
TJ. shrugged. “Probably not. She knew I was here, and I guess she thought I’d stayed long enough. So now I got to go back there.”
/> “Sorry, honey,” Wanda Nell said.
“I won’t have to stay long,” TJ. said with a slight grin. “Soon as I tell her I’m needed at work, she won’t mind. Tuck’s got her eating out of his hand like you wouldn’t believe.”
“I’ll just bet he does,” Wanda Nell muttered. And the old witch ain’t the only one, she added silently.
“We’ll talk later, Mama,” TJ. said, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. “Give Bug and Lavon a hug for me.” Then he was gone.
Wanda Nell stood staring at the closed door, deep in thought, until she could hear Lavon yelling “Gamma” from his and Miranda’s room.
Chapter 5
She was real curious to know what TJ. wanted to talk to her about, and half afraid she wouldn’t want to hear it when she did. Shrugging, she walked down the hall to take care of her grandson.
Wanda Nell got Lavon changed into a fresh diaper and brought him into the kitchen for an afternoon snack. While her grandson happily ate animal crackers and sipped his milk, she got on the phone and did some calling around, trying to arrange for help at the Kountry Kitchen.
Her first call was to Ovie Ashmore, a semi-retired waitress she knew would probably be willing to help out for a while.
“Why, sure, Wanda Nell,” Ovie said, her voice roughed by nearly fifty years of heavy smoking. “My daughter and her kids are down in Florida right now, visiting their other grandma and grandpa. So I’m getting a break from babysitting.” She chuckled. “And bored out of my skull just watching TV all day long. I sure wouldn’t mind earning a little extra money neither.”
Or keeping up with what’s going on, Wanda Nell thought, grinning. Ovie loved to talk and to know everybody’s business, but she was a dam good waitress, and reliable to boot Wanda Nell would need someone like Ovie until this whole mess was straightened out
“You don’t mind opening up in the morning?” Wanda Nell asked.
“Naw,” Ovie said. “I wake up early anyway. Might as well be working.”
Murder Over Easy (A Trailer Park Mystery Book 2) Page 4