That night, during her shift at Budget Mart, Wanda Nell tried very hard to keep her mind focused on her work. The story of Bobby Ray Culpepper’s murder had spread all over Tullahoma by evening, and Wanda Nell had to spend the first few minutes of her shift answering ghoulish questions from her coworkers. Finally one of them, a large black man named KeShawn, told the others to leave her alone. Wanda Nell flashed him a grateful glance. As big as he was, nobody would bother her after he told them to shut up. KeShawn just grinned at her when she tried to thank him.
“Ain’t none of their bidness,” he said. “And you don’t need all of them butting their heads in, just ’cause they’s curious. If any of ’em pester you, you just tell me.”
“I will,” Wanda Nell promised, relieved that she had at least one ally at work.
That brought Ricky Ratliff to mind. She hadn’t seen him when she’d clocked in, well on time tonight. She hoped he’d stay skulking upstairs in the office and leave her alone, but she wasn’t betting on it. Before the night was over, he was bound to call her up there. Maybe she’d take KeShawn up there with her. The thought made her grin.
The familiarity of her job soothed her as she worked steadily, restocking the various kinds of soaps and detergents Budget Mart sold. Her mind was able to wander as her hands did what they had done hundreds of times before. So much had happened this day, it was going to take her a long time to sort it all out.
After she and Mayrene straightened up her bedroom and Juliet’s, Wanda Nell had left Mayrene working in the living room and gone to talk to Miranda. She was sure her older daughter was hiding something, and she did her best to stay patient and try to get it out of her.
But Miranda played innocent, no matter what Wanda Nell said, and finally she gave up trying to get the girl to come clean. She wouldn’t admit that her daddy had come back last night after Wanda Nell had gone to work. The more she played innocent, the more her mother knew she was lying. By now, Wanda Nell was convinced Bobby Ray had returned, and she suspected he’d left his wad of cash with Miranda. He thought it would be temporary, of course. Bobby Ray never thought he’d get caught, but of course he always did.
Only this time, he paid with his life.
Wanda Nell shook her head at the waste of it all. Bobby Ray had been pretty sharp, at least about some things. He was a good-looking man, he could charm the hind legs off a billy goat, and he could make a woman feel like she was the most wonderful person on the face of this earth. Wanda Nell remembered those times with regret.
The problem was, there was something bent in Bobby Ray. He just couldn’t take to holding down a regular, respectable job. His daddy would have sent him to college, would have done just about anything for his only son, but Bobby Ray simply couldn’t keep to a straight line to save his life.
Wanda Nell had tried to save it for him, but she soon learned that no matter what she did, it wouldn’t be enough. Bobby Ray was hell-bent on his own way, and finally she just had to walk away, to try to save herself and her children. That hadn’t done her son, T.J., much good, and she wasn’t sure it had done much for Miranda, either. Both of them took after their father, always looking for the easy way out of something.
Thinking of T.J. made her heart ache all over again. Where was that boy? Probably in jail somewhere, she figured. She had to find out, though. He needed to know about his daddy. Maybe that lawyer Mayrene’s cousin worked for could help her find him. Or, if worse came to worst, she’d just have to ask the sheriff’s department to track him down.
She’d been surprised when Deputy Taylor returned to her trailer about eight-thirty. The young woman, who looked barely old enough to be out of high school, had come bringing Wanda Nell her purse. That saved her from having to ask Mayrene to take her to work at Budget Mart, and then begging a ride home from one of her coworkers.
“If you wouldn’t mind, Miz Culpepper,” the deputy said, “I need you to check through your purse to make sure everything’s there.”
“Sure,” Wanda Nell said, taking the purse. She sat down on the couch in the living room and began pulling things out of it. After a minute of searching through it, she glanced up at the deputy. “Looks like it’s all here.”
“Good,” the deputy said. “Deputy Johnson wanted you to know he made a special effort to make sure you got this back today.”
Wanda Nell eyed the young woman, trying to figure out if she was being sarcastic. “Oh, he did, did he? Well, I guess I’ll just have to give him a big ol’ ‘thank you’, won’t I? I’m sure that’ll make him real happy.”
Caught off guard, the deputy grinned slightly. After what Wanda Nell had witnessed earlier in the day, this young woman certainly had no cause to love Elmer Lee any more than she did herself. “I guess you can pass that message along for me, Deputy. Seeing as I don’t really have the urge to call up Elmer Lee myself anytime soon.”
“I’ll surely do that,” Deputy Taylor responded, keeping a straight face. She paused for a moment, then reached into her front uniform pocket and pulled out a card. She took a pen from another pocket, scribbled something on the card, then handed it to Wanda Nell. “If you think of anything, Miz Culpepper, anything you think might help, you can call me. That’s my cell number, and I have it on most of the time, even when I’m not on duty.”
“Thank you, Deputy,” Wanda Nell said, fingering the card. What was this young woman trying to tell her? That she had an ally in the sheriff’s department? Or maybe she was just ambitious, wanting to pull one over on Elmer Lee if she got the chance. Either way, it was fine with Wanda Nell. She wouldn’t mind seeing Elmer Lee eat a big helping of crow sometime. “I’ll call you if anything comes up.”
“Yes’m,” the deputy said. “Deputy Johnson also told me the department is gonna keep a man on duty outside until we run down those guys that broke in here. Something happens, you just stick your head out the door and yell.”
“That’s fine with me,” Wanda Nell said fervently. Having a guard on call was the only way she’d feel like she could sleep in her own home.
“Good night, ma’am,” Deputy Taylor said, tipping her hat.
Having grown a bit careless while her thoughts wandered, Wanda Nell nearly dropped a heavy box of washing powder on her toe. She caught in just in time and got it on the shelf, fussing at herself for not paying better attention to what she was doing. She yawned, then checked her watch. Almost three A.M. Lord, but she was tired. Time for a break.
She let one of the others know where she was going, then headed for the bathroom. After that, she settled down in the break room with a cold Coke and some Nabs, and tried to ignore her craving for a cigarette.
She sure wanted one. What she had been through today was enough to make anybody fall off the wagon, Wanda Nell reasoned. But she had fought hard to quit, and she damn sure wasn’t going to let Bobby Ray be the cause of her breaking down and lighting up again.
She had just thrown away her empty can and wrapper, preparing to head back down to the floor, when Ricky Ratliff appeared in the break room.
“Here you are, Wanda Nell,” he said. He stopped awkwardly inside the door and just stood there, staring at her.
“Yeah, here I am, Ricky,” she replied. “Was there something you wanted?” She was surprised he wasn’t already ripping into her about Bobby Ray’s death.
“Um, yeah,” Ricky said. “Um, why don’t you come on back to the office with me?”
“My break is over,” she said pointedly. “I got to get back to work.”
“And I’m telling you I want to see you in the office,” Ricky said, his face flushing in anger. He whirled around and stomped off, and Wanda Nell followed slowly.
By the time she got to the office, Ricky was already sitting in his chair. He scowled at her when she came in, but at first he didn’t say anything.
Wanda Nell stood there for a moment, wondering if he was ever going to get to the point. Then she figured, What the hell. “What did you want to see me for, Ricky?” She sat down in the chair acr
oss the desk from him and tried to look relaxed. “What you got on your mind?”
“What the hell do you think, Wanda Nell?”
She shrugged. The office was small and dark, and all of a sudden, she was aware that Ricky was sweating. The room stank. Wanda Nell wondered what Ricky was so scared of. Surely it couldn’t be her.
“What did Bobby Ray say to you?” Ricky demanded.
“About what?” Wanda Nell asked, puzzled.
“I don’t know, Wanda Nell, anything.”
“I don’t see what business it is of yours, Ricky.” She shrugged again. “But if you must know, we didn’t talk all that long. I didn’t have much to say to him, and he didn’t have much to say to me.”
Ricky was fishing for something, but what it was, Wanda Nell wasn’t sure. Maybe he knew something about what deal Bobby Ray had been running, where all that money came from. She might as well play him along, see what he could tell her.
“You musta talked about something,” Ricky said, desperation in his voice. “Surely Bobby Ray told you what he’d been up to lately.”
“Nope,” Wanda Nell replied. “He didn’t say a dadgum thing to me, and frankly, I didn’t want to know. Whatever it was, I doubt it was anything honest.”
“God, what a little goody two-shoes you are, Wanda Nell,” Ricky sneered. “Acting like your shit don’t stink, just like the rest of us. I bet you didn’t turn down the money Bobby Ray offered.”
“How do you know he offered me any money?” Wanda Nell asked, trying to remain cool and casual.
“Bobby Ray and me was always tight,” Ricky boasted. “He always talked to me.”
“So I guess he told you how much money he was gonna give me?”
Ricky’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Didn’t he give you any?”
Wanda Nell cussed herself mentally for underestimating Ricky. Time to shift gears a little.
“He may have,” she said, grinning. “Then again, he may not have. I still don’t see what business it is of yours, Ricky.”
“Come on, now, Wanda Nell,” Ricky said, half-rising out of his chair. “Don’t play no games with me. You don’t know what you’re messing with, girl.”
“You?” Wanda Nell invested that word with as much sarcasm as she could manage, and Ricky’s face turned deep red, he was so mad. Wanda Nell began to think maybe she had pushed him just a little too far.
“I ain’t talking about me, you dumbass,” Ricky said, making an obvious effort to get hold of his temper.
Wanda Nell decided to gamble a little. “Tell me, Ricky, who were those guys that broke into my trailer last night after I came to work? Surely you heard about that. The guys that tied up my girls and turned my home upside down. You know who they were?”
Ricky paled. He didn’t say anything.
“Come on, Ricky,” Wanda Nell said, taunting him. “Mr. Bigshot. Who were those guys?”
“I don’t know, Wanda Nell. I don’t know nothing about anybody breaking into your trailer,” Ricky said, twisting in his chair like his bottom was itchy. “Are your girls okay?”
“Yeah, they were just scared to death, that’s all,” Wanda Nell said, not holding back on the sarcasm.
“What were they after?” Ricky asked.
“Now, Ricky,” Wanda Nell laughed. “And here I was, figuring you were gonna tell me. You and Bobby Ray being so tight, that is.”
“I know plenty, Wanda Nell,” Ricky said hotly. “More’n you do, anyways.”
“Then I expect you better get on that phone and start talking to the sheriff’s department, Ricky. I bet it’s those guys that killed Bobby Ray, and they don’t mess around.”
“Maybe,” Ricky said. He looked away for a moment, seemed to come to some sort of decision. “You sure Bobby Ray didn’t give you anything?”
Wanda Nell shook her head.
“Damn!” Ricky said. “Well, you better get on back to work, Wanda Nell, and you just forget about this little conversation. You hear?”
Getting to her feet, Wanda Nell looked at Ricky. “I don’t know what the hell you’re playing at, Ricky. But you damn sure better leave me out of it.”
Ricky didn’t respond to that, so Wanda Nell left the office. She took one last look from the doorway, and Ricky had reached for the phone. His fingers trembled as he punched in a number.
Glancing up, Ricky caught sight of Wanda Nell lurking, and he slammed the phone down. “Get back to work!”
It wouldn’t do her any good to try to eavesdrop after that, Wanda Nell reckoned, so she scooted on down the stairs and back to work.
What was Ricky up to? She kept coining back to that question, no matter how hard she concentrated on her job. What did he know about Bobby Ray? Did he know who killed his buddy? And what was it he thought Bobby Ray had given her, or told her? He sure as hell was scared to death about something.
Frustrated with not being able to come up with a satisfactory answer, Wanda Nell worked on.
Just how deep was Ricky involved in whatever Bobby Ray had been up to? He always claimed to be in on Bobby Ray’s plans, but she knew for a fact that Bobby Ray didn’t trust him all that much. Ricky wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, and Bobby Ray had known that as well as she did.
But maybe this time he had trusted Ricky, and now Ricky was in over his head in something way too dangerous, without Bobby Ray there to ride herd on him.
These questions and more kept Wanda Nell preoccupied through the rest of her shift, and she was still in a fog when she left the store at six A.M. The dimly lit parking lot was almost deserted by the time she went out to her car, and she paid no attention to an old Cadillac parked a few spaces away from her Cavalier.
She was fumbling in her purse for her keys, and the next thing she knew, something whomped her upside the head.
Chapter 7
Wanda Nell dropped her purse and went down on her knees. She cried out as her kneecaps came into contact with the hard surface of the parking lot.
More blows came at her, and as she threw up her hands to ward them off, she heard a voice screaming at her.
“You murdering bitch! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”
The voice went on and on, repeating the same words, even as the blows continued. Wanda Nell staggered to her feet, then thrust out her arms, pushing Lucretia Culpepper away from her as hard as she could.
Though she really couldn’t see where she was aiming, trying to keep her face protected from the heavy handbag striking at her, Wanda Nell somehow connected with the older woman’s chest. One strong push sent Mrs. Culpepper teetering a few steps backward. She lost her balance and sat down hard on her skinny rear end.
Panting hard, Wanda Nell stared down in horror at her former mother-in-law. The old biddy was close to foaming at the mouth, and she had a wild look in her eyes that scared Wanda Nell. Her hair hadn’t been brushed properly, and she was wearing a wrinkled, stained housecoat. She stank of whisky.
Mrs. Culpepper struggled to get to her feet, and the whole time she kept cussing at Wanda Nell, calling her all kinds of ugly names. Wildly, Wanda Nell looked around for her purse. Finding it, she scooped it up, hoping to find her keys and get in her car before Mrs. Culpepper came after her again. Lord, please don’t let her have a gun, Wanda Nell prayed.
“Hey! What’s going on here?”
Wanda Nell was so happy to see KeShawn she could have kissed him. He came striding toward her, covering the ground very quickly with his long legs.
Mrs. Culpepper was on her feet again now, and she scowled at KeShawn, standing next to Wanda Nell.
“Boy, this isn’t any of your business.” Spittle dribbled out of Mrs. Culpepper’s mouth, but she paid it no mind.
“Ma’am,” KeShawn said, “I seen you hitting at Wanda Nell here. You was sneaking up behind her, and she never seen you coming. That don’t seem right to me.”
“She killed my son!” Mrs. Culpepper screamed the words, then all of a sudden she broke into loud, wailing sobs. Her pur
se slipped out of her hands and dropped to the pavement.
Wanda Nell almost felt sorry for her, though she was sure angry over the way Mrs. Culpepper had attacked her. “I did not kill Bobby Ray.” She almost had to shout to make herself heard over the noise Mrs. Culpepper was making.
Wanda Nell kept repeating the words until finally Lucretia Culpepper started to calm down. KeShawn stood there, his brawny arms folded over his broad chest, and Wanda Nell felt much safer for his presence.
“Look, Mrs. Culpepper,” Wanda Nell said, “I know you’re upset. I’m sorry about what happened to Bobby Ray, but you got to understand, I did not kill him. No matter what you think, it wasn’t me.”
Lucretia Culpepper’s eyes narrowed, and if she could have struck Wanda Nell dead right then and there, she would have. Wanda Nell’s words did nothing to soften the hatred in that face.
“My husband’s name still stands for something in this town,” Mrs. Culpepper announced, “and I’m going to see you rot in jail for what you’ve done.”
“Listen, lady,” KeShawn said, stooping to pick up Mrs. Culpepper’s purse. “Why don’t you go back on home now, and leave Wanda Nell alone. She didn’t have nothing to do with any murder. She was here all night long, working. And she’s got plenty of witnesses.”
Mrs. Culpepper snatched her purse away from him. “Boy, you’re just plain stupid. I wouldn’t put anything past this piece of trailer trash, and you better watch out you don’t end up in jail for lying.”
Wanda Nell watched uneasily as Mrs. Culpepper turned and stomped off to her big old Cadillac. The engine roared to life, and with a jerk, the car started forward. For a moment, Wanda Nell feared the old witch was going to try to run her and KeShawn down, but the car turned away from them and sped off through the parking lot, narrowly missing a shopping-cart rack.
“Wanda Nell, you okay?” KeShawn asked. “That sure is some crazy old woman.”
“Thank the Lord you were here,” Wanda Nell said with a shaky smile. “I don’t know what the old biddy might’ve done if you hadn’t’a been here. She is crazy, and she hates me so bad she can’t see straight.”
Flamingo Fatale (A Trailer Park Mystery Book 1) Page 7