This time T.J. looked at her. “Me and Jackie hung around for a little while, but I stayed out of Daddy’s way. He just kept drinking, and pretty soon he passed out. Ricky was there, but he didn’t show his face until Daddy was out on the floor. Me and Jackie got Daddy up and out to Ricky’s truck. That’s when I would’ve touched some place inside his truck, I guess.”
Wanda Nell nodded. “I don’t think they got much to go on, T.J. I bet Mr. Tucker’s going to have you out of here real soon.”
“I sure hope so, Mama,” T.J. said. “But that lawyer seems mighty casual about the whole thing.” He paused a moment, then leaned forward. His voice had dropped to almost a whisper. “How’re we gonna be able to pay him, Mama? Is Grandmama gonna help?”
“Don’t worry about that, honey,” Wanda Nell said. The dreadful scene in the lawyer’s office replayed itself in her mind, and she squirmed a little in her chair. She was appalled at her own behavior, and she wondered what the lawyer must have thought of her. She forced herself to forget that for the moment and focus on her son. “We’ll manage somehow, even if your grandmama is being difficult. Not that she is,” she added hastily. She didn’t want to have to tell T.J. the whole tacky story.
T.J. relaxed a bit in his chair, but he still eyed her suspiciously. “If you say so, Mama. But you can tell Grandmama for me that I’ll pay her back every penny if she’ll help out. As soon as I’m outta here I’ll find a job.”
“You mean you’re going to be staying in Tullahoma for a while?” Wanda Nell tried not to get too hopeful.
“Yeah, Mama, I am,” he said. “If that’s okay with you.” Wanda Nell had to work to hold back the tears. He sounded so much like a lost little boy who wasn’t sure he would be welcome at home.
“Of course it’s okay with me, honey.” She swallowed hard. “I’ve missed you so much, I just can’t tell you.”
The guard cleared his throat to signal that their time was up, and T.J. looked grateful. “I guess I gotta go, Mama.” He stood up as the guard approached.
“I’ll come again as soon as they’ll let me, T.J.,” Wanda Nell promised. She watched as the guard led him away. T.J. looked back once and offered her a slow smile. For a moment Wanda Nell saw Bobby Ray standing there, a younger and happier Bobby Ray, holding the promise of the world in his eyes. She blinked, and T.J. was gone.
Shaken, Wanda Nell found her way out of the county jail and to her car. The afternoon sun welcomed her with its warmth, after the chill inside. She breathed deeply of the humid air and felt herself becoming calmer.
Inside the car she let it run for a couple of minutes, until the air-conditioning had time to cool things. She debated whether she should approach Miz Culpepper again and try to patch things up, for T.J.’s sake. But she dismissed that thought after a moment. The old woman might be in a better frame of mind if she waited a day or two to talk to her again.
Hell, she might not even remember any of what had happened this afternoon, depending on how much she’d had to drink.
Wanda Nell put the car into gear and drove away from the jail. She hated having to leave T.J. there. It hadn’t gotten any easier over the years, but she vowed this would be the last time. Once they got this mess figured out and got ahold of the person who was really responsible, she would make sure that T.J. lived up to his promise that he really had changed.
The lawyer seemed awfully sure of himself, and Wanda Nell reckoned he is pretty smart. So he must know what he is doing. She just wished that they could speed things up a little. She didn’t want T.J. to spend any more time in that jail than he had to. But the lawyer seemed content to let things run their course.
Wanda Nell wasn’t content to sit by and watch. She wanted to do something, but what? If what she feared was true, then somebody in the sheriff’s department was involved up to their eyeballs in the murders. It had to be Elmer Lee, she didn’t see any way around that. He and Bobby Ray had always been buddies, with Ricky Ratliff hitching along for the ride. Chances were, if Bobby Ray had been up to something, Elmer Lee knew about it. And he either connived at it, or turned a blind eye to it, because it was Bobby Ray.
But would he have killed Bobby Ray and Ricky over the money? That was the part that Wanda Nell had a hard time buying. Bobby Ray and Elmer Lee had been like brothers, and, sure, brothers killed each other. But what could Bobby Ray have done that made Elmer Lee angry enough to kill him?
Ricky, she discounted, because he probably irritated Elmer Lee as much he irritated everybody else that spent ten minutes around him. It would’ve been just like Ricky to try to blackmail Elmer Lee with what he knew, and Elmer Lee would’ve squashed Ricky like the big bug he was. That she didn’t have any trouble buying.
It always came back to Bobby Ray and Elmer Lee. Maybe that was why, though, Elmer Lee had been riding her so hard. He was trying to shift the blame to her, and now, to T.J. He must think he had it made, because T.J. made such a good scapegoat. If T.J. hadn’t turned up, he would’ve found some way to get her in jail. She was just lucky the sheriff and her daddy had been good friends, or she would’ve been in jail before T.J. showed up.
Wanda Nell drove, completely immersed in her thoughts. By the time she reached the turnoff for the lake, she had no idea how she’d gotten there without hitting someone.
She scolded herself for driving like that, but she couldn’t keep her mind off the situation. Tuck Tucker was going to have to do some mighty fancy lawyering to get the goods on Elmer Lee, because Elmer Lee sure wasn’t going to go down without a big fight.
But what could she do, she wondered as she pulled her car into its parking place and shut off the engine. There had to be something. There had to be some way to find the proof they needed to link Elmer Lee to Bobby Ray and whatever scam he’d been running.
She’d discuss it with Mayrene, she decided as she got out of the car and locked it. Together they ought to be able to come up with some kind of plan.
The trailer door was locked, she noted approvingly. She unlocked it and stepped inside. Mayrene was sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper.
“I’m glad you’re here, Mayrene,” Wanda Nell said, dropping her purse on the coffee table. She sat down beside Mayrene on the couch. “And I appreciate you keeping an eye on the girls and the baby like this.”
“I’m glad to do it, honey, you know that,” Mayrene said, her eyes still focused on the paper.
Wanda Nell was about to ask Mayrene for advice, when Mayrene interrupted her.
“Wanda Nell, just look at this.” Mayrene brandished the paper in front of her.
“What is it?” Wanda Nell took the paper from Mayrene and tried to find what Mayrene had been pointing to, but she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be reading.
“Right here.” Mayrene stuck a stubby finger on an article.
“Greenville police search for missing dispatcher,” Wanda Nell read aloud. She glanced at Mayrene, who nodded.
“Yeah, they think he was helping somebody rip off one of the casinos,” Mayrene explained.
Wanda Nell read more, this time silently. “Oh, my Lord,” she said, when she came to the name of the man the police were looking for. His name was David McKenna. “The man who tried to take the money away from us.”
Chapter 15
Wanda Nell read further while Mayrene patted her foot up and down on the floor, waiting. According to the paper, McKenna was alleged to have ignored a call to the sheriff’s department from the casinos reporting a robbery. Casino operators, seeing a robbery in progress, had activated a silent alarm that went straight to the sheriff’s department. That call had never been answered, and the thief made off with over a hundred thousand dollars. Now McKenna was wanted for questioning.
Wanda Nell let the paper fall into her lap as she turned to Mayrene. “Bobby Ray must’ve had something to do with this,” she said. “You reckon he actually robbed the casino?”
“He was sure dumb enough to try it and think he was gonna get away with it,” Mayr
ene said. “But it don’t sound like something he’d do. From what you told me, he’d rather sell snake oil than do something that dangerous.”
“Yeah, he wasn’t too anxious to risk a bullet hole in that handsome skin of his,” Wanda Nell said. “I can see him cheating some old widow woman out of her husband’s insurance money, or running some kind of scam, but as far as I know, he never pulled something like this.”
Mayrene shrugged. “If he thought he could get away with it, he might’ve tried it.”
“Maybe,” Wanda Nell said, staring down at the paper. “If this guy and Bobby Ray was in it together, then he could be the one that killed Bobby Ray.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Wanda Nell stood up, letting the paper fall to the floor. “I’m gonna to call the lawyer and see if he knows about this.” She strode off for the kitchen as Mayrene leaned forward to retrieve the paper.
Digging in her purse for the lawyer’s card, Wanda Nell tried not to get her hopes up. She wanted her son out of jail, and if they could prove this McKenna guy had done it, then T.J. would be free. She found the card and punched in Tuck Tucker’s cell phone number.
Her heart beat faster as she waited for Tucker to answer. “Hamilton Tucker.” His voice came through strongly. ‘Tuck, this is Wanda Nell Culpepper,” she said, the words coming out in a rush. “Have you seen the Memphis paper today? Where it tells about this guy they caught here at my place? They say he’s wanted for questioning in a casino robbery, and I bet him and Bobby Ray was in it together, and he killed Bobby Ray over the money.”
Almost breathless at this point, she paused.
“I did see that article, just a few minutes ago,” Tucker responded. “And it certainly does open up some interesting possibilities. I’ll be looking at every angle, I assure you, Wanda Nell. But we can’t jump to conclusions. Even if this David McKenna turns out to be guilty, it’s still going to take a little time to get T.J. released.”
Deflated, Wanda Nell sighed into the phone. “I guess so. I just want my son out of jail so much I was jumping ahead.” Tucker chuckled. “Perfectly understandable, Wanda Nell. I won’t let T.J. sit in that jail cell a moment longer than he has to, I promise you. Now you just relax, and let me handle this.”
Wanda Nell wasn’t sure she liked the way he said that, but she didn’t feel like she could argue with him. He was the one who was the expert, after all:
“Okay, Tuck, I will,” she said, then said good-bye. She stared at the wall for a minute or so after she had hung up the phone.
When Mayrene tapped her on the shoulder, Wanda Nell was so lost in thought that she jerked and almost banged into the counter.
“Sorry, honey,” Mayrene said as Wanda Nell turned to face her. “What did the lawyer say?”
Wanda Nell frowned. “He said not to get too excited and to let him handle it.” She shook her head. “I guess he’s right, but I just can’t stand this sitting around and not doing anything.”
“What else can you do?” Mayrene asked practically. After a moment, Wanda Nell said, “I’m gonna call Elmer Lee. I don’t see where it can hurt anything.”
“Call him for what?”
“I’m gonna ask him about this guy McKenna.”
“What good’s that gonna do?”
“I don’t know,” Wanda Nell snapped. Mayrene frowned at her tone, and Wanda Nell could’ve slapped herself. “I’m sorry, Mayrene.” She held out her hand, and Mayrene took it, smiling.
“It’s okay, honey, I know you’re under a lot of stress right now,” Mayrene said, “and if you wanna call Elmer Lee, you go right ahead.”
Wanda Nell turned back to the phone. By now she knew the sheriff’s department number by heart. She punched it in. After a couple of rings, the dispatcher answered.
“Hi, I need to speak to Elmer Lee Johnson. Tell him it’s Wanda Nell Culpepper, and it’s real important I talk to him right away.”
Wanda Nell covered the mouthpiece with her hand as she spoke to Mayrene. “She says he’s there, and she’s gonna transfer me.” She took her hand away from the mouthpiece. “Elmer Lee, it’s me, Wanda Nell.”
“What is it, Wanda Nell? I ain’t got time for any more foolishness from you.”
Elmer Lee sounded so bone-weary Wanda Nell almost felt sorry for him. If it wasn’t for that condescending tone in his voice, she would be.
“Now you listen here, Elmer Lee, as long as you got my son in that jail, and him being innocent and all, you better pay attention to what I’ve got to say.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Elmer Lee drawled, his tone even more offensive. He started to say something else, but Wanda Nell cut him off.
“I was reading in the Memphis paper about how this guy you arrested at my house was wanted by the sheriff’s department over in Greenville. About how they think he might be involved in a robbery at the casino.”
“Yes, Wanda Nell, we know all that,” Elmer Lee said, “and we don’t need the Memphis paper telling us anything about it. Stop wasting my time.”
“Hold on just a gosh-danged minute, Elmer Lee,” Wanda Nell said. “You stop getting snippy with me and listen. It seems to me that this guy and Bobby Ray was probably in on that robbery together, and knowing Bobby Ray, he probably suckered that guy over the money. And,” she finished triumphantly, “he’s the one that killed Bobby Ray.”
“Well, thank you, Miz Sherlock Holmes,” Elmer Lee said. “I reckon I’ll just put in for early retirement, and you can come on over here to the sheriff’s department and take my place.”
Wanda Nell’s hand tightened on the phone. It was all she could do not to scream at Elmer Lee.
“Well, Mr. Blind-as-a-Bat, I may not be some high-and-mighty deputy,” Wanda Nell responded, as cuttingly as she could, “but I can for damn sure see what’s right under my nose. It’s obvious to me this guy is the one. T.J. didn’t kill his daddy, or that fool Ricky, either. Stop sitting on your lardass, and prove it.”
Mayrene stared at her, aghast. Wanda Nell just rolled her eyes at her friend. She was so mad at Elmer Lee now, she didn’t care what she said to him. Mayrene tried to take the phone from her, but Wanda Nell pushed her away.
Elmer Lee was laughing so hard, Wanda Nell wished she could reach through the line and slap him upside the head.
“What the hell is so damn funny, Elmer Lee?”
It took Elmer Lee a moment to stop laughing long enough to answer her.
“You are, Wanda Nell. I just think it’s real funny how you know everything.” He laughed a little more, then suddenly his voice hardened. “Now you listen here, Wanda Nell. I don’t need you telling me how to do my job. For your information, the suspect in question has a pretty solid alibi for both murders. And I reckon that leaves T.J. right where he belongs. He’s still my best suspect.”
Wanda Nell started to protest, but Elmer Lee had slammed the phone down. Her ear rang slightly as she replaced the receiver on the cradle.
“Well?” Mayrene asked. “What did he say to you?”
Wanda Nell could feel the tears forming in her eyes. “He said the guy has a pretty solid alibi for both murders, and T.J. is still his best suspect.”
“Oh, honey,” Mayrene said, holding out her arms. Wanda Nell leaned into her, and Mayrene hugged her close, rocking her a little. Wanda Nell cried on Mayrene’s shoulder for a moment, then she pulled away. Wiping her face, she stared at Mayrene.
“You reckon he’s lying to me?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, about this guy having an alibi,” Wanda Nell said. “What if he’s just telling me that out of pure meanness?”
“I sure as heck wouldn’t put it past him,” Mayrene said, after a moment’s thought. “He seems to hate you enough to wanna upset you and get back at you for what you said to him.”
“Yeah,” Wanda Nell said. “But, I don’t know, there was just something about his voice when he said it. Even though he was real mad at me, he sounded like he really meant it.”
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p; “If that’s the case,” Mayrene replied, “then I guess there ain’t much you can do about it.”
Wanda Nell walked over to the kitchen table and slumped into a chair. “No, I guess not.”
Mayrene came over and sat down catty-corner from her. She patted Wanda Nell’s hand. “You’re just gonna have to have some faith in that lawyer, Wanda Nell. He seems like he’s real sharp, and Blanche swears by him. I think you need to let him handle this. Let him earn his money.” Wanda Nell got up and went to the cabinet. Grabbing a couple of glasses, she asked, “Want something to drink? Maybe some caffeine’ll help me think better.”
“Sure,” Mayrene said, “I could do with something cold right about now. But you got any beer?”
“No, sorry,” Wanda Nell said. “Just milk and Coke.”
Mayrene laughed. “I don’t even know why I asked, honey. I know you don’t drink. Let me have some Coke, then.”
Wanda Nell poured out the Coke and set the glasses down on the table. She searched in another cabinet and pulled out a large, unopened bag of corn chips. “I never did have any lunch, but I don’t feel like fixing anything.” She opened the bag as she sat down. Scooping out a handful, she then pushed the bag toward Mayrene. “Help yourself.” Mayrene shook her head.
“Honey, if I have just one of those, I’ll eat the whole bag.”
Wanda Nell smiled as she crunched on some chips. After taking a long drink, she munched some more. Mayrene sat quietly, occasionally sipping at her Coke and watching Wanda Nell eat.
After she’d worked her way through about a third of the bag of chips, Wanda Nell pushed them away. “I’ve got to do something, Mayrene.”
“Like what?”
“I was just thinking, if Elmer Lee was telling me the truth, and this McKenna guy really didn’t kill Bobby Ray or Ricky, then I’ve just got to look somewhere else. Like those men that broke in here. Nobody’s ever figured out who they were, but you know what? I bet they’re from the casino.”
Mayrene pondered that for a moment. “That makes sense. They sure wouldn’t sit idly by and let somebody rip ’em off like that, without doing something about it.” She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “But, honey, you know they say the people that run those casinos are pretty rough. Don’t nobody cross ’em and get away with it. What if it was some kinda professional hit job?”
Flamingo Fatale (A Trailer Park Mystery Book 1) Page 20