Flamingo Fatale (A Trailer Park Mystery Book 1)

by Jimmie Ruth Evans

  Wanda Nell stared at him. All the while her heart was racing. How on earth was she going to convince him? What would she do if he took her to jail?

  “Wanda Nell! Open the door, quick!”

  A loud voice from outside the trailer startled them all. Elmer Lee whirled around toward the door. He jerked his head at one of his deputies, who stepped forward to fling open the door.

  Wanda Nell stepped forward, pushing around Elmer Lee to find out what Mayrene had been hollering about. Her eyes widened in surprise.

  The hooded man stood at the foot of the steps, his hands up in a gesture of surrender. Mayrene, grinning widely, poked him in the back with her shotgun.

  Wanda Nell heard Elmer Lee mutter an obscenity. She glanced swiftly up at his face but could read only confusion there.

  “What the hell is going on here?” Elmer Lee demanded, pushing past his deputies to stand right in the doorway.

  “I caught this joker sneaking around in Janette’s trailer,” Mayrene answered. “And seeing as Janette left sometime yesterday to go spend a few days with her mama, I reckon the Lone Ranger here wasn’t up to no good.” She prodded him again with the shotgun. “Were ya?”

  “Tell her to get that damn gun outta my back!” His voice came out higher than Wanda Nell remembered. She almost giggled as she watched the man swallow convulsively several times.

  Wanda Nell poked Elmer Lee in the back. “That’s the guy that broke in here and took the money.”

  “No shit,” Elmer Lee said. He refused to look at Wanda Nell. He motioned for his deputies to take charge of Mayrene’s prisoner, and Mayrene stepped back, though she kept her shotgun ready, just in case. Elmer Lee climbed down the stoop to watch, and Wanda Nell took his place in the doorway.

  One of the deputies pushed the hooded man against the side of the trailer, arranged him in position, then began patting him down. He found a pistol tucked in the man’s left boot, and he retrieved it gingerly. He handed it to Elmer Lee, who examined it carefully.

  Elmer Lee threw back his head and guffawed. Startled, Wanda Nell almost fell out of the door.

  “What’s so damn funny?”

  Elmer Lee turned and pointed the gun up at her, and Wanda Nell stepped back in horror. Surely even he wasn’t going to be crazy enough to shoot her in front of Mayrene. From behind Elmer Lee, she could see Mayrene swing her shotgun into position. If Elmer Lee did shoot her, he’d be dead, too.

  “It’s a water pistol, Wanda Nell,” Elmer Lee said. He guffawed again. He squeezed the trigger, and water squirted out onto Wanda Nell’s chest.

  By now the deputies were laughing, too, and even Mayrene was snickering. Wanda Nell was relieved, but she sure didn’t appreciate Elmer Lee getting her wet like that.

  “Well, I’m glad y’all find this all so damn funny,” she said, “but how was I supposed to know he was pointing a toy at me?”

  Elmer Lee ignored her. He gestured at one of the deputies, who pulled the hood from the gunman’s face. Wanda Nell stared at him. Was he one of the men who had broken in and scared Miranda and Juliet?

  He was just an ordinary-looking guy, Wanda Nell thought. Didn’t look much like a criminal type. His face had blushed a deep crimson, and he turned his head away from her.

  “Let me get the girls,” Wanda Nell said, “and dry off this water you squirted on me.” Without waiting for an answer from Elmer Lee, she stomped down the hall to her bathroom. She patted her chest as dry as she could, then went to knock on Juliet’s door.

  Pushing open the door, she found Juliet sound asleep on her bed, the radio still baring away. Wanda Nell moved over to the bed and reached gently down to waken the girl.

  Juliet’s eyelids fluttered open, and Wanda Nell marveled at her daughter’s capacity to sleep through all the commotion.

  “What is it, Mama?” Juliet asked through a yawn.

  Wanda Nell quickly told her what had happened and warned her not to mention TJ.’s presence in the trailer. Juliet’s eyes widened as she sat up. “Gosh, Mama,” she said. “You think he’s one of the men who tied up me and Miranda?”

  “Could be, honey,” Wanda Nell said. “I want y’all both to come take a look at him and see if he is.”

  Juliet followed her down the hall. “You wait here,” Wanda Nell instructed, “and let me go get Miranda.”

  Wanda Nell pushed open Miranda’s bedroom door. T.J. was sprawled out on the bed with Lavon, playing tickle monster. Lavon giggled as his uncle goosed him, and T.J. grinned happily as he watched his nephew.

  Miranda sat on a chair nearby, watching the two of them. A nearby radio blasted out country music. “What is it, Mama?” Miranda asked as she reached to turn down the volume on the radio.

  “I swear, a tornado could come through here, and you’d never hear it the way you play that radio. It’s a wonder you and Lavon don’t go deaf.” Wanda Nell smiled to take the sting out her words.

  Once again she explained what had happened and that she wanted Miranda to come take a look at the man.

  “Don’t let on that I’m here,” T.J. admonished his sister. She just rolled her eyes at him before she followed her mother out of the room.

  In the living room, Wanda Nell crooked her finger at Juliet, and the two girls were right behind her as she stepped to the door. The deputies now had the man’s hands cuffed together behind him, and at Wanda Nell’s hailing them, they turned the man around to face her and her daughters.

  “What do you think, girls?” Wanda Nell asked, standing aside. “Could he be one of the men who broke in here?” Miranda and Juliet stood without speaking as they carefully examined the man from head to foot. Then each began to shake her head.

  “I don’t think so, Mama,” Juliet said. “He just doesn’t look right.”

  “Me, neither, Mama,” Miranda said.

  “He’s too tall to be the man who was in my room,” Juliet said. “And I don’t think he has a tattoo on his chest.” They all glanced at him and the dark shirt, the top three buttons undone. Bare white skin gleamed back at them.

  “And he don’t have a moustache,” Miranda said. “And I don’t think he’s maybe as tall as the man in my room.”

  “According to his driver’s license,” Elmer Lee announced, “his name is David McKenna, and he lives in Greenville. That ring a bell with any of y’all?”

  “Never heard of him,” Wanda Nell said, and Mayrene agreed. Both the girls shook their heads.

  “Well, Mr. David McKenna,” Elmer Lee said, “what you got to say for yourself ? Did you break in on these girls a coupla nights ago?”

  McKenna’s eyes widened in alarm. His Adam’s apple bobbled up and down as he attempted to speak. Finally he got the words out. “I ain’t never broke in on them. Except once, and that was today.”

  After that, he refused to say anything else. Elmer Lee finally gave up trying to question him and ordered his deputies to put him in the car.

  “Ain’t you forgetting about something?” Mayrene waved her shotgun in the air, and Elmer Lee ducked.

  “What are you talking about?” he demanded, his face slightly red as he resumed an upright position.

  “The money, you goober,” Mayrene answered, letting the shotgun rest at her side.

  “You mean there really is money?” Elmer Lee asked, one eyebrow arching.

  Wanda Nell wished she had something she could throw at his head, like a bucket of ice-cold water. Mayrene rolled her eyes at him.

  “Yeah, hotshot, there’s some money,” Mayrene said. “You get on over there to Janette’s trailer, and you’ll find it in the grass around back. Buddy here dropped it when I sneaked up on him with my shotgun.” She laughed.

  Elmer Lee stalked off. When he went around back of Janette’s trailer, Wanda Nell could no longer see him, but Mayrene moved to where she could keep an eye on him.

  About five minutes later he was back, holding a bag full of money gingerly with two fingers. Elmer Lee wiggled it in front of Wanda Nell.

  “Ye
ah, that’s it,” she said.

  “I’ll be damned,” Elmer Lee said, shaking his head. “I guess I was wrong, Wanda Nell.”

  Wanda Nell waited for him to apologize, but after a long moment’s silence, she reckoned that was all the apology she was going to get.

  “I guess you’ll work a little harder now,” she said, “to figure out who that money belongs to and who broke in here.”

  Elmer Lee wouldn’t meet her eyes.

  “Reckon so,” was his only response. He turned and marched to the car. The door slammed, the engine roared to life, and the car turned around in the road. Wanda Nell, Mayrene, and the two girls watched as the car disappeared down the road.

  “That’s a hell of a note.” Mayrene shook her head in dis-gust.

  “Y’all come on inside,” Wanda Nell said. “No point in standing out here. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m ready for something to drink.”

  The girls and Mayrene followed her inside the trailer, and after Mayrene shut the door, she propped her shotgun in a corner.

  In the kitchen, Mayrene gently pushed Wanda Nell into a chair. “You just sit there and relax a minute,” she said, and Wanda Nell smiled gratefully. Mayrene opened the refrigerator and pulled out a two-liter bottle of Coke. She set it on the table, then retrieved four glasses from the cabinet. They each took turns pouring for themselves.

  Mayrene raised her glass. “Here’s to us girls. If we don’t take care of things, it don’t get done.”

  Juliet and Miranda giggled as they raised their glasses and clinked them against Mayrene’s. Wanda Nell’s eyes misted as she raised her glass with a slightly trembling hand.

  “Thank the Lord for you, Mayrene,” Wanda Nell said, “and that shotgun of yours.” She drank from her glass. The cold liquid felt good going down. “How on earth did you find that guy?”

  Juliet and Miranda listened avidly as Mayrene told her story. “I was in the bathroom touching up my makeup,” she began, “and I thought I heard a bit of commotion over at your place, but when I came and looked out the window, I didn’t see a damn thing. Then I went into the front bedroom to look for some old pictures I want to send my cousin, and while I was rooting around in there, I heard Elmer Lee and them deputies drive up. I looked out the window on that side for a second, but it didn’t seem like nothing to worry about. I went on back to trying to find those pictures.”

  She paused for a drink. “I don’t rightly know what made me do it, but I happened to look out the window on the end, and I caught sight of somebody moving around in Janette’s trailer. I knew there wasn’t nobody supposed to be in there, and I got a bit suspicious. While I was watching, I saw that idiot’s head in the window. He still had on his mask, and I thought that was mighty peculiar.” She chuckled, a deep, comforting sound. “Then I thought I’d better just see what the heck was going on over there. I grabbed Ol’ Reliable, and we marched right on over there, just in time to see Bubba creeping around the side of the trailer with that bag of cash in his hand.”

  “Weren’t you worried he might shoot you?” Miranda asked.

  Mayrene laughed at that. “Honey, he was so busy trying to tiptoe around, he wasn’t paying no attention. It was real obvious to me that he wasn’t too bright in the first place. Otherwise, why would he be sneaking outta that trailer with the sheriff’s department right across the street?”

  They all laughed along with Mayrene this time.

  “I bet he about peed in his pants when you stuck that shotgun in his back.” Wanda Nell spoke between giggles.

  “I reckon those pants of his were a bit darker in one spot than they was before,” Mayrene said, wiggling her eyebrows at the girls. They giggled, right on cue.

  “Mayrene, you are something else,” Wanda Nell said. She reached out and clasped one of her friend’s hands. “I don’t know what we’d do without you next door.” She squeezed the hand, and Mayrene returned the pressure.

  “That’s all right, honey,” Mayrene said. “I know you’d help me out if I needed it.”

  “Is it safe to come out now?” T.J. asked from the doorway to the kitchen.

  “T.J.!” Mayrene almost knocked her chair over, she was in such a rush to get up and get to T.J. “I knew that was you I saw, boy! Come here and give me a hug, you rascal.” Laughing, T.J. complied. He clamped his arms around Mayrene and lifted her off her feet. That made her laugh, and T.J. set her down, finishing off with a big kiss on the cheek.

  “Where the heck’ve you been, T.J.?” Mayrene demanded. “And how come you just now put in an appearance?”

  Wanda Nell regarded her son curiously. That was a question she wanted to have answered herself. Her son had never lacked courage, so why was he hiding? She realized the answer might be something she didn’t want to hear, but she needed to know, just the same.

  T.J. shrugged. “No good reason, I guess. I’m just not looking for trouble these days.”

  “Elmer Lee took that guy off to jail,” Wanda Nell said, “and it ain’t gonna be long before he mentions you, I bet. So Elmer Lee’s gonna know pretty soon you’re hanging around.”

  “Then I reckon he’ll know,” T.J. said, his voice cool. He went to the cabinet to get himself a glass. Mayrene poured him some Coke, and he had a long sip.

  “Who was that guy?” T.J. asked. He leaned his long frame against the counter.

  “His name is David McKenna,” Juliet answered. “We never heard of him, and we don’t think he was one of the men who broke in and tied up me and Miranda.” Miranda shook her head in agreement.

  T.J. frowned. “Something about that name sounds familiar.”

  “Somebody you know?” Wanda Nell asked.

  “Uh-uh,” T.J. said. “But I think Daddy knew him.” Wanda Nell and Mayrene exchanged glances.

  “You think he was in on whatever scam Bobby Ray had going?” Mayrene asked.

  T.J. shrugged. “Maybe. Daddy didn’t do it by himself, probably. He had to have some help, if he was stealing money from the casino.” He snapped his fingers. “That’s it! That’s where I heard that guy’s name. Daddy mentioned him when I asked him about getting me a job at the casino.” Wanda Nell breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Then I guess that’s the end of it. This guy probably had a falling out with Bobby Ray, and Bobby Ray ran off with the money. He tracked Bobby Ray here and killed him, but Bobby Ray didn’t have the money on him.” Satisfied, she leaned back in her chair and drained the rest of the Coke from her glass.

  “If that’s so,” Mayrene said, “then how do you explain those goons that broke in here? Were they all working together?”

  Deflated, Wanda Nell sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe the casino sent them.”

  In the ensuing silence, they all heard car doors slamming right outside.

  “What on earth?” Wanda Nell said, rising from her chair. A knock sounded at the front door. Wanda Nell went to answer it.

  Deputy Tracy Taylor, with another deputy at her back, waited patiently on the stoop. Wanda Nell smiled a greeting. “Come on in, Deputy,” she invited. “I’m sure y’all have heard the good news.”

  “I know Deputy Johnson has a man in custody,” Deputy

  Taylor acknowledged, “but I’m afraid that’s not what I’m here about, Miz Culpepper.” She stared straight at Wanda Nell.

  “What is it?” Wanda Nell was frightened by the implaca-ble look on the deputy’s face.

  “I need to speak to your son, Miz Culpepper,” the deputy said. She raised a hand, as if Wanda Nell had offered a protest. “And don’t tell me he’s not here. We know he is, if he hasn’t run off in the last ten minutes.”

  “I’m here,” T.J. said as he came into the room from the kitchen. He halted beside his mother and slid a comforting arm around her. “What do you want?”

  “T.J. Culpepper,” the deputy said, “I’m arresting you for the murder of your father, Bobby Ray Culpepper.”

  Chapter 12

  “No,” Wanda Nell said. Too much was happening, and too fast. She
couldn’t take it all in. But one thing she knew, her son hadn’t killed his daddy. “No, you can’t do this!”

  “I’m sorry, Miz Culpepper,” Deputy Taylor said, stone-faced. “But I’ve got a warrant for your son’s arrest.”

  “I don’t care if you have a warrant,” Wanda Nell said. “My son didn’t do this. Y’all have a man already who probably did it. Why are you coming after T.J.? I don’t understand.” TJ.’s arm tightened around her, but he wasn’t saying anything.

  “I’m sorry, Miz Culpepper,” Deputy Taylor repeated. “But we have several witnesses who heard and saw a violent argument between your son and the deceased.” She hesitated a moment, as if trying to make a decision. “And we also have his fingerprints from inside the truck of the second murder victim, Ricky Ratliff.”

  TJ.’s arm dropped from his mother’s body. Wanda Nell could feel him go tense beside her. Hardly daring to breathe, she turned to stare up into his face. His features had hardened into an expression she knew only too well. Many a time she had confronted him over something bad he’d done, and he’d shown her this very same face.

  “Honey,” Wanda Nell whispered. “Tell them you didn’t kill your daddy, or Ricky Ratliff.”

  TJ.’s face softened for a moment as he gazed back down at her. “I didn’t do it, Mama, I swear.”

  Wanda Nell wanted desperately to believe him, but there was something in the way he held himself, a tension in him, that kept a bit of doubt in her mind. “Did you fight with your daddy, T.J.?”

  T.J. expelled a long breath. He looked away. “Daddy and I had an argument, Mama, that’s true. But I didn’t kill him.” Deputy Taylor cleared her throat, then began reading T.J. his rights. Wanda Nell stood numbly by her son, barely aware that Mayrene and the girls had sidled into the living room. The sound of Juliet’s weeping finally penetrated her fog, and Wanda Nell trembled. Her family was being torn apart, and she couldn’t do anything about it.