Moonlight, Murder, and Small Town Secrets

by K C Hart

  “I will. Don’t worry. I have to admit that I’ve had a tough time picturing Joe killing somebody. I’ll go talk to the Holmes woman tomorrow.” He paused and looked down at the notebook in Katy’s hands. “Now, is that all you know?”

  “Well, yeah I guess, except maybe you might just want to talk to Tubby Robinson.” She looked down at her notes then back up. “Joe said Tubby saw the fight Friday night and was always keeping up with band gossip. I don’t know if he knows anything, but he might since he spent a fair amount of time with Jessa between the band practices and gigs and all.”

  “I’ll look him up tomorrow. He’s usually at the Wacky Pack every morning getting a coke and cigarettes. I go in there after all the morning school traffic.” Todd looked at Katy with a gleam in his eye. “Guess what kind of smokes he’s always buying?”

  Katy’s eyes opened wide. “Not Marlboro Lights?”

  Todd nodded slowly. “Aunt Katy you may have stumbled onto something. After all, he lives in the same trailer park as Joe.” He suddenly jumped up from his chair. “Thank you for the tea and cookies. I’ll clear out my stuff tomorrow. I need to go home and think about all of this.” His eyes crinkled in the corners as he looked down at Katy. “Now I don’t mean to sound disrespectful, but please let me handle all of this. From now on if you think of something or notice something, just call me and I’ll come a running. You’ve got some good ideas and I appreciate the insight and your thoughts on this stuff, but things could get dangerous.”

  Katy started to protest, but before she could say anything John answered. “Don’t worry Todd, from now on Katy’s going to leave all the snooping to you. If she accidentally hears or sees anything, she’ll just keep her mouth shut until she contacts you.” He looked pointedly at Katy. “And I do mean accidentally.”

  “I guess you have your answer, Todd.” Katy stood and closed her notebook. “I obviously don’t need to add anything to that.” She glanced at her husband, fire snapping from her eyes. “Yaw forget that I’ve been going into strangers’ homes all over this town seeing patients for years. I’ve been in all kinds of houses in all areas of this town, the good side and the not so good side, so I’m not an idiot. I don’t go looking for danger and I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing just fine for years.”

  “I know Aunt Katy, but you have to admit that having a murderer running around loose kind of ups the ante a little bit.”

  “You bet it does.” John put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “Katy knows it too. Now you don’t worry about her and just look out for yourself.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m pretty cautious,” Todd grinned. “I think I can outrun ole Tubby even on a bad day.”

  John walked Todd to his truck and Katy began turning off lights and preparing for bed. So Tubby Robinson smokes the same kind of cigarettes as the bloody pack found at the crime scene and he lives close enough to put the monkey wrench in the back of Joe Phobs’ truck without much trouble, Katy thought. That certainly was unexpected news. She sat on the edge of her bed and jotted everything down. One thing is certain. The make-up party on Friday should be interesting if Todd talks to Tubby tomorrow. Emma Robinson hopefully won’t cancel it if they arrest Tubby or bring him in for questioning. Maybe she will still want to make the money from the sales.

  John walked in as she was finishing her notes. “I need you to think about something for me,” she said.

  “What is it?” John asked leaning against the door frame.

  “When I got through talking with Joe Phobs, I asked him if I could pray for him and he said that would be good and he would be praying himself.”

  “I’ll pray for him too.” He walked over and took Katy’s hand. “You know I will.”

  “Thank you. Do you think maybe you could go by and talk to him?” She looked up at John’s face. “Not about the murder, but just to let him know that we’re praying for him and want him to know that God hasn’t forgotten about him. He needs some friends right now.”

  “I guess I can do that. Maybe he’ll let me pray with him.”

  “I’m so glad you said that,” Katy smiled. “He needs that.”

  She climbed into bed with a lot of questions and confusion about Jessa’s murder. The flowers without a tag probably don’t mean anything, she thought. How many people in this town smoke Marlboro Lights? Probably a lot more than just Tubby Robinson. Do either one of these things mean anything? Somewhere there’s a clue about who killed that girl. Somebody knows something. How can I continue to investigate this without being on Todd’s snoop radar? I’ll figure this out, I have to.

  Chapter Twelve

  “The admission is a ninety-two-year-old woman that fell during the night,” the nurse on the other end of the phone explained. “She has this nasty skin tear on her leg from a fall. The family took her to the emergency room in McComb and it turns out she had a low blood sugar.”

  Katy looked at the clock on the stove. “It’s seven now. I’ll get ready and run out and get it done before lunch.” She got up and walked to the sink with her empty coffee cup. “Just have the orders and supplies ready for me to grab when I get to the office in a bit.”

  Katy placed her brain on autopilot as she drove to the patient’s home, following the directions given by the GPS with the voice of a cultured British woman. Do people in England have women with American accents guiding them through their country with these devices? It would be nice if a GPS had a southern girl telling her where to turn, Katy mused. Honey you just missed your turn! Now if you don’t want to be late, just take the next left on Albritton road and I will figure out how to get you there on time darlin. Dolly Parton could voice a GPS and make another million.

  She looked at the familiar antebellum homes and manicured lawns as the Brown’s long paved drive came into view. She checked the address on the home health folder against the GPS address to make sure she had put it in correctly. Yep, this was the place. The patient’s name was Rita Tellman. Maybe that had been the voice of the lady from the other room during her visit to the Browns earlier in the week.

  She hoped the Browns wouldn’t think she was stalking them when she showed up as the nurse this morning. She hadn’t seen Mrs. Brown since their kids were in high school years ago and didn’t really know her at all. Now she had seen her three times in three days. If Evelyn Brown gave off an uncomfortable vibe, she would explain that another nurse would be seeing the patient after this visit.

  She pulled up the long curving drive adorned with the maroon and white daylilies and parked her little car out of the way. Rob Clay, the local radio personality, said the temperature would get into the nineties again today. It was still early enough for the air to not be the choking, wet heat that would arrive by mid-morning. Carrying the nursing bag, the wound care supplies, and the computer bag made her feel like she was bringing in groceries or luggage or something when she first came to a new patient’s home. She balanced her computer bag on her foot and rang the doorbell.

  “Hello dear,” said the neat lady in scrubs. “We’ve been waiting for you to come.”

  “Hello,” Katy shifted the nursing bag on her shoulder. “I didn’t realize I’d be coming back to the Brown residence when I talked to you this morning on the phone. It’s nice to see you again.”

  The lady, who introduced herself as Nelda, brought them in through the sitting room with the cheerful yellow chair, and silver tea service to the back of the house near the kitchen. “Mrs. Rita’s rooms are here in the back,” Nelda said. “The family moved her downstairs years ago when she first started getting a little unsteady on her feet.”

  Nelda led Katy into a large bedroom with soft white walls and thick pale green carpet. The wall that faced the back yard was a ceiling to floor window with French doors in the center leading to a covered patio. The drapes which were a deep purple were pulled to both sides of the windows letting in the warm morning sun. The room had a beautiful cherry wood queen sized sleigh bed along with matc
hing furniture arranged in one section of the spacious room.

  Above the bed hung a large black and white photo of a man, woman, and little girl dressed in their Sunday best. The woman sat in a wingback chair while the child sat on the ground at her feet. The man stood beside the chair with his hand casually lying on the woman’s shoulder. The woman’s hairstyle and the clothing had Katy guessing that the photo was taken during the early sixties or maybe late fifties. The woman in the photo was stunning and the man was very handsome. Katy wondered if this was Mrs. Tellman and her family.

  Across the room from the bed was a sitting area with a television, a small couch and a couple of dainty chairs arranged around a coffee table along with a sturdy recliner. Katy noted more family photos of different sizes scattered along the other walls. Some of the pictures were of the Browns taken over the years, but some were older, probably other family members of earlier generations. She glanced around at the photos and realized there was not a single picture of Jessa Williams among all the photos even though some were of large groups that looked like family gatherings.

  “Where does Mrs. Tellman like to sit?” Katy asked as she followed Nelda to the couch and chairs. “I usually like to sit across from the patient if that’s possible, so she can see what I’m doing while I’m gathering her information.”

  “This is her spot here in the recliner. You just sit anywhere you want.” Nelda waved her hand toward the furniture. “We got this TV tray out for you to use as a little table, so you wouldn’t have to try to reach across to the coffee table with your stuff.”

  “That was so thoughtful of you,” Katy said. She glanced around the room wondering where her patient was. As if on cue she heard a flush coming from behind a door off to the left of the bed on the other side of the room. Shortly afterwards the door opened, and a very petite elderly lady stepped through followed by Evelyn Brown.

  The older lady was still in her nightgown and robe, both a light powdery pink satin with lots of lace around the collar and sleeves. She already had on her makeup and her short silver hair was neatly brushed so that the loose curls charmingly framed her face. She stopped in the doorway holding onto the door frame as her daughter gave her instructions from behind.

  “Mother, your cane, you forgot your cane. That doctor said you should be using it whenever you get up.”

  The little woman paused and looked over her shoulder at her daughter then turned back to Katy and smiled. “Don’t get old dear, it’s the pits. You have one little spill and they start trailing you around like a bloodhound. Even have to watch you go to the bathroom.” She shook her head as if aggravated even though her smile told Katy she was thankful for the care her daughter was giving. She took the silver cane with the large rubber tip from her daughter and shook her head again.

  “Well, Cane, if you’re going to be my new sidekick, I guess I’d better quit leaving you lying around all over the place.” She leaned on the silver stick and started walking to her chair. “But I’m going to give you a new name. Since Cane killed Able, I don’t like having a partner named Cane. I think I’ll call you Sam, short for Samson, since I’ll be leaning on you and expecting you to carry my weight.” She patted the cane on its silver head and continued across the bedroom to her chair.

  Katy smiled. Rita Tellman might be ninety-two and unsteady on her feet, but she seemed to be pretty sharp. She waited until the patient was settled in her recliner with her feet elevated and Sam at her side before she sat down to begin her usual admission procedure.

  “Mrs. Tellman, the doctor called and ordered our home health to come out and teach your caregiver how to dress the wound on your leg and about dealing with low blood sugars. Is this something you think will help you?”

  “Well sure honey, if the doctor thinks I need it,” Mrs. Tellman said then hastily added, “but only if Medicare pays for it.”

  “Yes mam, it does.” Katy pulled out the papers and showed the patient where to sign.

  “Evelyn is my official power of attorney dear, but I want to do as much for myself for as long as I can,” Mrs. Tellman said as she signed her name multiple times on the forms. “You can’t ever tell; I might outlive her and then Tripp will ship me off to the nursing home for sure.”

  “Please don’t take everything my mother says to heart Katy,” Edna said, shaking her head. “She loves to pick and cut up.” She reached over and patted the elderly lady’s hand. “Mother, you know that nobody is ever going to send you to the nursing home. Tripp wants you around just as much as the rest of us do.”

  Mrs. Tellman handed back the signed papers. “Well if that’s true Evelyn, I’ve certainly misjudged things. But I know I’m going to kick the bucket way before anybody else in this room, so I’ll just let you believe what you want and keep my mouth shut for appearance's sake.”

  “Would you like a glass of tea or coffee or maybe a coke?” Mrs. Brown said as she stood up, her smile forced. “Mother has a little kitchenette right next door to her bedroom, and I would love to get you something.”

  “No thank you, but I do need to look at all of Mrs. Tellman’s medications if you would get them for me.” Katy could see that the patient was embarrassing her daughter and tried to get the conversation back on a neutral topic. This kind of thing happened all the time in her line of work. Once the elderly reached a certain age, most of them tended to speak their mind whenever they pleased, often making the ones closest to them uncomfortable.

  Mrs. Brown stepped into the bathroom adjoining the bedroom and quickly returned with three bottles. Katy took the bottles and typed in the prescriptions, a blood pressure pill, a fluid pill, and an antibiotic. “Okay, I have these. If you’ll just show me where the rest are, I’ll put them in the computer.”

  “Well that’s all I take honey,” Mrs. Tellman said, her toothy smile showing a pearly white set of dentures. “And that big horse pill is new, but I only have to take it a week. The doctor said last night that I have a urinary tract infection. I’m not sure he’s right on that because I don’t feel like I have one.”

  “You mean this is all the medications you take? There’s no vitamins or sleeping pills or pain pills or anything else?” Katy asked.

  “No, that’s it.” Mrs. Tellman’s smile stretched even wider. “I take less medications than anybody under this roof. I don’t believe in taking medicine unless there’s just no other way around it, so if you plan on starting me on any, we’re going to butt heads.” She paused and turned to her daughter. “Speaking of butting heads, Evelyn, tell that little cleaning woman of yours that I don’t want her snooping around in my rooms. Nelda doesn’t mind picking up after me and you know I don’t like people going through my stuff.”

  “Now mother, I’ve told you before, Laney only comes in here to clean your bathtub and toilet. She’s not interested in anything else in here.” Evelyn smiled apologetically to Katy. “Besides, we can talk about that later. Right now, we just need to help Katy get everything she needs to know so she can take care of you.”

  “She thinks I’m going to tell you something that would embarrass her.” Mrs. Tellman snorted. “I’ll be good Evelyn, don’t worry.” She reached over and cupped her hand over her mouth pretending to whisper to Katy but talking loud enough to make sure her daughter could hear. “As long as you don’t try to make me take a bunch of dope, we’ll do just fine. I don’t believe in taking all that stuff.”

  “No mam,” Katy laughed, “you seem to be doing quite well with that philosophy. Most people your age have to take several medications, so you just caught me by surprise. It sure does make my job easier.” Katy finished up the visit, teaching Nelda and Evelyn how to do the daily wound care and blood sugar checks.

  “Another nurse will be by tomorrow to watch one of you perform the wound care.” She looked from Evelyn to Nelda. “We just have to make sure you’re doing everything correctly, but I don’t think you’ll have any problems.” Katy smiled and looked at the three women. “Mrs. Tellman won’t be needing home
health very long.”

  “Won’t you be the one coming?” Evelyn asked. “When I spoke to the nurse at the hospital last night, I told her to make sure that they sent you.”

  “I guess I can if that’s what you want, but usually I just do the admission.”

  “I’d really appreciate it if you could come to see mother,” Evelyn said, as she walked Katy back to her car. “We just never know what she’s going to say or do and with Jessa’s unusual death so recent, we would all be more comfortable with you seeing her. Sometimes she gets the craziest ideas and I’m afraid that she might, well…” Evelyn stopped and looked at Katy as tears began to well up in her eyes. “Oh dear, I’m sorry. It’s been a rather hard week.”

  Katy sat the computer bag on the back seat of her car and took Evelyn’s hand. “I don’t mind coming to see your mom at all. As a matter of fact, I think I’ll enjoy the visits.”

  “Thank you so much,” Evelyn smiled, wiping a tear away with the back of her hand. “That will give me much more peace of mind. I’m sure all of the nurses are very good at their jobs, but since I met you Monday I just feel that I can trust you to not, well, let’s just say I think you won’t take mother too seriously.” She stepped away from the car as Katy got in the front seat.

  “Evelyn,” Katy said before she closed the car door, “I plan on praying for you and your family tonight when I say my prayers.”

  “Thank you, dear.” Evelyn paused and stared at Katy. “That would be very much appreciated.”

  Katy thought about the visit as she drove toward her home. The elderly lady seemed to be completely oriented, just very outspoken. Evelyn had definitely been uncomfortable and seemed overly concerned about having other nurses in her home with her mother. She sighed as she turned the air conditioner on full blast. The day was heating up just like an oven. She turned the vent to blow the icy air directly into her face.

  Maybe Evelyn was just a little sensitive because of Jessa’s death. Having a family member murdered would probably make anybody cautious about having a bunch of strangers coming into their home. That made sense. Katy turned at the stop sign and headed toward the other side of town.