Mayrene tapped her teaspoon on the side of her glass. “Now I know where I seen him before. It was in Tunica a couple months ago.” She grinned. “You remember I went up there one weekend to the casinos with a couple of the girls from the beauty shop?”
Wanda Nell nodded.
“Well, that’s where I seen him,” Mayrene said, “except that he looked a little different. He had a moustache and some glasses, but I know it was him.”
“So he was in one of the casinos?”
“Yeah,” Mayrene said. “And he wasn’t really happy either. From what I could see, he’d been losing a lot of money, and he looked about ready to kill somebody.”
Nineteen
Wanda Nell stared at Mayrene for a moment, trying to figure out whether what she had just heard could have any bearing on the murder of Travis Blakeley. At the moment she couldn’t see any connection between the two, but if Mayrene was really sure about seeing Bill losing money at a casino, she sure would tell Elmer Lee about it.
“Are you sure it’s the same man?” Wanda Nell said, glancing toward the back room of the restaurant. “If you were right about here when you saw him”—Mayrene nodded—“you were kinda far away to get a real close look.”
Mayrene laughed. “Honey, when it comes to a good-looking man, you know I can see pretty darn good.”
Wanda Nell shook her head. “Seriously, Mayrene, are you sure? This could be important.”
“Who was it you was talking to?” Mayrene asked, sobering.
“Bill Warren. He’s the state policeman who’s investigating the murder,” Wanda Nell said. She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I’ve got some stuff to tell you about him, but I can’t do it here.”
Mayrene nodded. “Okay. But you know I’m going to be about dying of curiosity until you do.”
“Can’t help that,” Wanda Nell said, grinning. “But, tell me, are you really sure he’s the same guy you saw in Tunica?”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Mayrene said, beginning to sound impatient. “I could see him pretty clearly from here. I recognized his hair first.”
Wanda Nell rolled her eyes. This wasn’t the first time Mayrene had told her she could recognize hair without seeing the face it was attached to. “How? What’s so special about his hair?”
“For one thing, I don’t see that shade of blond in men his age that often,” Mayrene said with some asperity. “Either he’s putting some kind of rinse on it, or it runs in the family. The other thing is he has a funny little cowlick at the front of his hairline, right where he parts his hair. Didn’t you notice it?”
Shrugging, Wanda Nell said, “Now that you mention it, I remember it. But I knew him back when we were in high school. I guess knowing him all those years ago, I didn’t even think about the cowlick.”
“Anyhow, that’s how I’m sure he’s the same guy I saw at the casino,” Mayrene said. “Just for that, you can pay for my tea.”
Wanda Nell resisted the urge to stick out her tongue at her friend. “Okay, that’s fair, I guess. Back to Bill and the casino. You said he was real mad and had lost a lot of money?”
“Yeah,” Mayrene said. “I happened to be passing his table, and he was arguing with somebody. That made me kinda curious, and I kept an eye out for him the rest of the night. He kept on losing and kept on losing, but he just came back for more. I don’t know how much money he lost, but it looked like pretty serious bucks the way he was acting.”
“Sounds like he could have a real bad gambling problem,” Wanda Nell said.
“Maybe,” Mayrene replied. “But what the heck does that have to do with the murder?”
“I don’t know,” Wanda Nell said, “but I bet it does somehow. We’ve just got to figure out how.” She sighed. “I’ll call Tuck and tell him, see if he knows anything. Maybe he’s heard something. And he can also let Elmer Lee know about it.” She remembered something.
“I seem to recall you went to Tunica two weekends in a row,” Wanda Nell said.
Mayrene nodded.
“Can you be sure which weekend it was, just in case it’s important?” Mayrene wasn’t always good with dates, and Wanda Nell wanted to be sure of her facts.
Mayrene thought for a minute, frowning. Then her face cleared. “Yeah, I know. It was the first weekend. I remember because my friend Teresa was with me that weekend, and she couldn’t go the second one. You don’t know Teresa, do you?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Wanda Nell said.
“Well, Teresa—Teresa Taylor, she’s a great girl, I know you’d like her. Anyway, the reason I remember is because while we were there and I saw your guy, guess who Teresa saw?” Mayrene was practically crowing, so Wanda Nell knew whatever it was, it must be good.
“Who?”
“Her boss,” Mayrene said. “He had his hands all over this woman who was with him, and according to Teresa, she wasn’t his wife,” Mayrene said.
“Did he see Teresa?”
“No,” Mayrene said. “We made sure we stayed out of his way. Teresa’s got a real good job in the office at the factory this guy owns, and she don’t want to lose it. She makes good money, and she’s got good benefits, too.”
“Good for her,” Wanda Nell said, feeling envious.
“Anyway, that’s why I’m so sure of which weekend it was. And Teresa saw this guy, too, so she could be a witness, probably.”
“I don’t know if it’s important,” Wanda Nell said, “but it’s good to know about your friend, just in case.”
Mayrene slapped a palm down lightly on the counter. “I almost forgot why I stopped by here in the first place,” she said, frowning at Wanda Nell.
“Why did you?” Wanda Nell said.
“I talked to Dixon late this afternoon,” Mayrene said. “He called me to tell me what he found out from talking to the police over in Meridian.”
“Okay, tell me,” Wanda Nell said. “I’m all ears.”
“According to the guy Dixon talked to, they don’t have any records of Lisa ever talking to them about a stalker,” Mayrene said.
“That’s not good,” Wanda Nell said.
“No, it sure ain’t,” Mayrene replied. “But it gets worse. You remember the other night, Lisa mentioned a name? Lester Biggs.”
Wanda Nell nodded.
“Well, no such person works for the Meridian PD and never has,” Mayrene said. “Sounds to me like she just made up a name.”
“This is bad,” Wanda Nell said. “How am I going to break this to Jack? He’s going to be real upset.”
“I know, honey,” Mayrene said. “But just to be sure about this, Lisa really did tell y’all she called the cops in Meridian about her stalker?”
“She sure did,” Wanda Nell said. “She told us she called them a couple of times before she found out he was a cop himself. That was about when she decided to move to Tullahoma.”
“What makes a woman lie about something like that?” Mayrene said. “I just don’t get it.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Wanda Nell said. “What I figure is that she’s real lonely. You’ve seen how shy she is around people a lot of the time. And she doesn’t have any family to speak of, except Jack. Her parents died several years ago, and she don’t have any brothers or sisters. Heck, I don’t think she and Jack even have any other cousins, at least not close ones.”
“So she kinda depends on Jack for male attention,” Mayrene said.
“Exactly,” Wanda Nell said. “And maybe if I wasn’t in the picture, she might have been okay once she moved here. But now, well, she can’t have Jack to herself.”
“That’s pretty sad,” Mayrene said.
“It is,” Wanda Nell replied. “And I bet it’s going to get worse. Jack will take it hard.”
“You got to tell him.”
“I know. That don’t make it any easier though.”
“You want me to be with you when you do it?” Mayrene asked.
“Thanks, honey,” Wanda Nell said. “But this is so
mething I better do just him and me. You know how men are. If somebody else is there, no telling how he’ll take it.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Mayrene said, shaking her head. She drained her glass and set it down. Rising from her stool, she said, “I better be getting on home. I gave Lisa a key, but I don’t know if she’ll be there or not.”
“I asked Tuck this morning if she had called him or come by, and she hadn’t. I doubt she made it by this afternoon either, or even called him,” Wanda Nell said.
“I bet you she won’t,” Mayrene said, “unless she’s getting so far into this game she really has lost touch with reality.” She opened her purse and started rummaging around.
“No, it’s on me, remember?” Wanda Nell said with a smile.
“That’s right, it sure is.” Mayrene laughed. “Give me a call when you can, or if you need me for anything. I’ll keep an eye out on the girls, too.”
“Thanks,” Wanda Nell said.
Once Mayrene was gone, Wanda Nell focused on actually doing her job. Ever since she had come in tonight she had been standing around talking to people and not getting anything done. Customers were beginning to trickle in for dinner, and soon she and Ruby were constantly on the move.
Wanda Nell halfway expected Jack to turn up that evening, because he so often did. When eight o’clock came and he still hadn’t appeared, she stopped looking for him. He might have had a lot of papers to grade tonight, and when that was the case, he usually ate at home. That was the bad thing about being an English teacher, he had told her several times. English teachers always had more papers to deal with than teachers in other subjects.
For a moment Wanda Nell enjoyed thinking about her and Jack together, him grading papers and her reading a book. Just being able to be together, even if they were doing different things, would be wonderful.
Around nine business began slowing down, and Wanda Nell had a few minutes to take a break. She called Tuck on his cell phone, and he answered on the second ring.
“Tuck, it’s me,” she said.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“I don’t have very long, but I’ve got some things to tell you,” she said. As succinctly as possible, she recounted the conversations she had had with Tiffany Farwell, Bill Warren, and Mayrene.
Tuck didn’t interrupt her. When she was done, he said, “Now at least we have clearer motives for someone beside Gerald to kill Travis. Not to mention some other lines of inquiry that occur to me.”
“Good,” Wanda Nell said. “Before I forget, did Lisa ever call you, or come by?”
“No, neither one,” Tuck said. “Frankly I find that a bit strange.”
Wanda Nell didn’t want to get into any explanations for Lisa’s behavior, not until she had talked to Jack first. “Look, I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Thanks for your help, Wanda Nell,” Tuck said before ringing off.
The last customer was gone by nine-forty-five, and by then Wanda Nell and Ruby had finished their side work. Melvin let them leave early, but Wanda Nell stayed long enough to make herself a sandwich to eat on the way to Budget Mart. She needed an energy boost for her overnight shift, and she wouldn’t be able to take a break for a snack until around two a.m.
As she restocked shelves that night, Wanda Nell found her mind flitting back and forth between the murder and the problem of Lisa. She went over and over different ways of breaking the news to Jack, but none of them seemed quite right. Then she would start thinking about the murder, wondering how they would ever figure out who was really guilty. Maybe it was Gerald Blakeley, after all, and they were just spinning their wheels trying to prove someone else had done it.
Wanda Nell had to ask herself whether she would have made such an effort on Gerald’s behalf if Bill Warren hadn’t been involved in the case. Bill had turned out to be such a colossal jerk, and he had made her so mad, she was bound to act contrary in response. She hated to think Bill was right, that Gerald really was the murderer.
By the time her shift ended at six a.m., Wanda Nell was worn out mentally and physically. All she could think about was getting home and climbing into bed. After checking on Juliet first, of course. She hadn’t forgotten about her daughter during all that back-and-forth musing on murder and fraud.
Everything was quiet at home when she let herself into the trailer. She dropped her purse on the counter in the kitchen before heading back to Juliet’s room.
Juliet was sound asleep, and Wanda Nell gently placed a hand against her forehead. To her relief, it was cool and dry. As she pulled her hand away, one of Juliet’s eyes opened, quickly followed by the other one. Yawning, Juliet pushed herself up into a sitting position.
“Good morning, Mama,” she said. “Did you just get home?”
“Yes,” Wanda Nell said. “I’m sorry, honey, I didn’t mean to wake you up. You go back to sleep.”
Juliet shook her head. “No, I’ve had enough sleep, I think. I feel a lot better. My throat isn’t hurting much at all this morning.” She reached for the pitcher of water on her bedside table. Wanda Nell took it from her and poured water into her glass for her.
“Thank you,” Juliet said. She drained the glass and set it back on the table. “Can I go back to school today, Mama? I really do feel a lot better.”
Wanda Nell frowned. Juliet was such an eager student, this wouldn’t be the first time she had overestimated how well she was because she wanted to be at school.
“I’m not sure, honey,” Wanda Nell said. “I think you need to stay home another day, just to be safe. You need to keep taking those pills the doctor gave you, too.”
Juliet’s face fell. “Okay, Mama, if that’s what you think.”
“I know you’re probably getting really bored here at home,” Wanda Nell said. “But I want to make sure you’re really over this before you get back. I promise you, though, if you feel good tomorrow, you can go to school then. Okay?”
“Okay,” Juliet said with a smile. “I’m going to have some breakfast, I think. Are you hungry?” She pushed the covers aside and got out of her bed, stretching.
“A little bit,” Wanda Nell said, “but mostly I’m tired, so I think I’ll wait till later to have something to eat.”
Juliet nodded. She followed her mother out the door, but she paused to use the bathroom before going to the kitchen.
Wanda Nell changed into a nightgown and was about to climb into bed when the phone rang. She answered it, sitting down on the bed as she did so. “Hello.”
“Morning, love,” Jack said. “Did I catch you before you got in bed?”
“You just barely did,” she said. “Good morning, honey. How are you?”
“I’m fine,” he said. “I bet you’re pretty tired.”
“Yeah,” she said, trying to suppress a yawn but failing. “Sorry.”
“That’s okay.”
“And I bet you were at home grading papers last night, weren’t you?” Wanda Nell asked.
“For a while, anyway,” Jack said. “But then Lisa called me and wanted to come over and talk to me. By the time she left it was pretty late, and I was too tired to finish grading. I guess I’ll just have to do it during my free period this afternoon.”
“Was Lisa okay?” Wanda Nell didn’t want to think about Lisa just now, but she couldn’t ignore the subject.
“About the same,” Jack said with a heavy sigh. “It was the same stuff, all over again. I did my best to keep her calm, but she just kept talking about how she was going to have to move to Alaska to get away from this guy.”
“Oh dear,” Wanda Nell said. She was going to have to tell him what was really going on, and soon. But this wasn’t the right time to do it. “I’m sorry, honey. I know that wore you out.”
“Yeah,” Jack said, “but I feel so sorry for her. And I feel helpless, too. There doesn’t seem to be much I can do for her.”
“Well, I’ve got some ideas about that,” Wanda Nell said. “We’ll ta
lk about it later, okay? And in the meantime, don’t let it get you down.”
“I’ll try.” Jack laughed, and Wanda Nell hated to hear the sound of defeat in his laughter. “You better get to bed and get some rest. I’ll come by the Kountry Kitchen tonight.”
“Good,” Wanda Nell said. “I want to see you.”
“And I want to see you,” he replied. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.” They said good-bye, and Wanda Nell hung up the phone. She sat for a moment, staring at her ring. She still couldn’t quite believe she was engaged now. But the ring was beautiful proof that she was. She smiled.
Once more she was about to get into bed, but she remembered something. She had better go remind Juliet to take her medicine this morning, and she really ought to check in on Lavon and Miranda. Lavon might be awake and need changing, plus Miranda had a shift at Budget Mart this morning.
Sighing, she left her bedroom. In the kitchen, Juliet was eating cereal. “Don’t forget to take a dose of your medicine, honey,” she told her daughter.
“Already did,” Juliet said.
“Good,” Wanda Nell said. “I’m going to make sure Miranda is up. She’s got to work today, and she needs to get Lavon ready to drop off at day care.”
“I think I heard her stirring around a few minutes ago,” Juliet said.
Wanda Nell nodded. She walked down the hallway toward Miranda’s bedroom. Sounds of retching coming from the bathroom halted her. Pushing open the bathroom door, she found Miranda down on her knees, clutching her stomach, and holding her head over the toilet.
All at once, Wanda Nell realized what was going on.
“Oh Lord, Miranda,” she said, her heart sinking. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
Twenty
Wanda Nell felt like she wanted to start throwing up, too. What would they do with another baby to take care of?
Miranda stared at her mother. When Wanda Nell stepped forward, Miranda drew back as if she expected her mother to strike her.
Instead, Wanda Nell reached for a washcloth, soaked it under the cold water tap, wrung it out, and knelt down to wipe Miranda’s face. Miranda held still while her mother cleaned around her mouth and bathed her forehead.
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