Moonlight, Murder, and Small Town Secrets

by K C Hart

  Trudy Mae hopped out of her vehicle and waved at Katy to come on over. She disappeared around the other side of the SUV to help her elderly mother out of the car. Katy wasn’t sure what she expected Trudy Mae’s mother to look like, but it was not the petite, well-groomed woman she saw slowly stepping from the passenger’s side of the Tahoe. While Trudy Mae was around five foot ten and what people politely called pleasingly plump, her mother was about five foot two and looked like she could use a biscuit or two.

  “Yes girl, this is my mother, and no I’m not adopted,” Trudy Mae laughed.

  Katy quickly closed her mouth and tried to put on a polite smile. “Uhh, I’m sorry Trudy Mae. I guess I was expecting you two to, uhh, favor a little more.”

  “Honey don’t worry about it,” she said, waving her hand in the air swatting away Katy’s apology. She grabbed her mother’s walker from the back seat and placed it in front of the elderly lady to support her as she guided her to the front steps. “I look like my daddy’s people. I passed Momma up when I was twelve years old.”

  “Now honey don’t you let True mess with you none,” Mrs. Simmons said, looking over her shoulder at Katy. “She might have gotten taller and a little plumper than me, but I spanked that young’ uns behind until she was eighteen.” She looked at her daughter and grinned. “I guess I could still give her a lick or two if she needed it.”

  Trudy Mae smiled down lovingly at her petite little mother. “You sure could Momma if I was a mind to show out.”

  Katy watched from behind as Trudy Mae slowly helped her mother up each of the three steps leading to the covered deck connected to the front of her trailer. They made it as far as one of the four rocking chairs that were lined up across the front before Mrs. Simmons refused to go any further.

  “I think I want to just sit out here a while. I haven’t been able to sit outside in over a month and it’ll be too hot in a couple of hours to stand it out here, even in the shade.” She eased herself into the rocker and waited for the other two ladies to follow suit.

  “Will it be okay if we do her signing up out here?” Trudy Mae looked at Katy apologetically. “She’s been cooped up in that nursing home for quite a while.”

  “Of course it’s okay.” Katy smiled and sat in the chair next to her patient. “I have everything I need with me to assess you. I’ll have to look at your bathroom and stuff before I leave, but I have at least an hour’s worth of paperwork that we can go over right here to get us started.”

  Trudy Mae sat down on the other side of her mother and patted her hand. “See Momma, I told you Katy was easy to deal with.” She leaned over in front of her mother toward Katy. “She’s been worried sick that she was going to get some hardnosed nurse that would give her a rough time in her own home. I promised her I would make sure that she liked you before she signed any papers.”

  “Well did I pass inspection?” Katy laughed. She watched as the little woman tried without success to place a hand over her daughter’s mouth as she was speaking.

  “Yes honey,” Mrs. Simmons answered sheepishly, “you passed.” She quickly placed her hands back in her lap. “I’m fixing to find a belt just as soon as you’re gone though and tear that girl’s tail up. I ain’t had a secret to myself since she was four years old.”

  Trudy Mae leaned in and bear-hugged her mother and kissed her on the cheek. “Aww Momma, you know you love me too much for all that child abuse.”

  “You might as well get started honey,” Mrs. Simmons smiled. “This one will keep you talking nonsense all day long.”

  About an hour later Katy wrote down the ninth and final medication Trudy Mae retrieved from the suitcase. “It’s so nice when a family member is a medical person who is familiar with home health,’ She said smiling. “It keeps me from worrying whether my patient is being taken care of between visits when I know her caregiver is competent and reliable.”

  Mrs. Simmons reached her softly wrinkled hand up and patted her daughter’s cheek. “She may dress like somebody that ain’t got good sense, but she knows how to take care of her momma.”

  “Gee, thanks, Mom. I love you too.” Trudy Mae stood up and reached under her mother’s elbow to help her stand. “Alright young lady. It’s getting close to ninety degrees in the shade. I believe it’s time we take this party inside.”

  “Tru,” Mrs. Simmons said, refusing to budge, “you take Katy and go on in. Yaw look at my bathroom and all that stuff then come back and get me. I just want a few more minutes before I go in. I know once I get inside, I won’t be able to come back out until you get off this evening.”

  “Is that okay with you Katy? I should be able to answer any questions you have.”

  “That should be fine. I watched her walk and climb the stairs, but if I need to ask her anything about the living quarters, I can just run back out here.”

  “Everything should be spruced up and ready to go.” Trudy Mae began unlocking the front door. “I had Laney come over a couple of days ago and change the sheets and clean out the frig so it would be ready for her.”

  “Is Laney Finch the person that cleans your mother’s trailer?” Katy asked, her tone suddenly serious.

  “Yeah, that’s right.” Trudy Mae turned to look at Katy. “She’s been cleaning Momma’s house for about six months. She always does a nice job. Why, is something wrong?”

  “Trudy Mae, Laney Finch has been missing for two days. When did you talk to her?”

  “Well, I called her Tuesday night to let her know that I needed her to come to check out Momma’s trailer on Wednesday when she got off her day job. I left the key at the front desk at work and she picked it up early that morning.” She stuck the key in the door lock and shook her head. “I sure didn’t know the woman was missing.”

  “My word Momma,” Trudy Mae said, opening the front door of the trailer, “your light bill’s gonna be three hundred dollars if the air has been running this cold the whole time you’ve been gone. What’s it set on, fifty?”

  “Tru, you know I’m cold natured.” Mrs. Simmons gawked from her rocker a few feet away. “I keep the air on about eighty. The only one who turns it down is you when you come over for a visit. The first thing I do after you leave is go turn my air back up. You know good and well I haven’t turned that thermostat down.”

  “Well, you could hang meat in here. Must have been Laney. Come on in Katy and have a look around.” As Katy walked past, Trudy Mae whispered, “and tell me about Laney Finch missing. What in the world is going on in this town? People getting killed and other folks missing. My word.”

  “Momma’s room is at the end of the hall there Katy,” Trudy Mae said in a normal tone, as she flipped on the light switch. “You go on to her room and start looking around while I find that thermostat. We’re gonna have to leave the doors open and let it warm up about twenty degrees before I’ll be able to coax Momma in. Ain’t nobody got time for all this nonsense today. I got to get to work after lunch.”

  Trudy Mae continued to grumble to herself as she went to the left through the living room and kitchen while Katy went the opposite direction down the hall to Mrs. Simmons’ bedroom and connecting bathroom. The hall and doors seemed to be wide enough for the patient to get her walker through without increasing her risk of falling, so that was good.

  She opened the door to the bedroom and received another blast of cold air while feeling along the inside wall for the light switch. The dark room had one window which was covered with a mini blind and a pale-yellow curtain. The scant amount of sunlight coming through the window drew her eye as she flipped the switch causing a sudden flood of bright, white light. The hallway was dark, so it took Katy’s eyes a couple of seconds to adjust to the sudden change. She glanced around the room which looked clean and orderly until she turned her gaze to the floor. It was covered with short beige carpet and a small green throw rug lay beside the bed. Laney Finch’s body was sprawled out across the floor with her head and shoulders on the rug.

  Chapter Twenty
-Three

  Laney’s face was turned away from view. Katy called her name but did not get an answer. She immediately dropped to her knees and rolled the woman on her back to check for a pulse. There was none.

  “Trudy Mae, call nine-one-one!” She removed her face shield from her bag and gave a couple of rescue breaths. “Trudy Mae get in here!” Katy was positive the woman had been dead a while; she felt stiff. She tilted her head back with a lot of difficulty to give rescue breathing. “Trudy Mae!”

  “I’m coming girl, what the…” Trudy Mae stopped in the doorway and put her hand over her mouth. She had dialed nine-one-one while running down the hall. When she reached the doorway and saw why Katy was screaming, she immediately requested an ambulance and the police.

  “Look, lady, I got to get off the phone and help with this CPR. Yes mam, I’ll just lay the phone down, but I gotta go.” She dropped to her knees beside Katy and began to assist with two-man CPR. “Lord girl, this is Laney.” She gave two rescue breaths as Katy pumped on the young woman’s chest. “Look at that girl’s eyes. They’re fixed. She’s either with Jesus or the devil, but we ain’t gonna bring her back. She’s been gone a while.”

  Katy kept pumping. “I know, but I didn’t know what else to do. I’m sure she’s a full code and we’re nurses. I had to do something.”

  Trudy Mae gave more rescue breaths. “I know, I know. Well keep pumping one more round and then we’ll switch. That ambulance will be here in a minute.”

  They continued working on the ice-cold body for what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes. They traded positions and Trudy Mae was doing compressions when the ambulance finally arrived.

  The younger paramedic placed leads on Laney’s chest while the older man asked questions and examined her pupils. The defibrillator showed no rhythm and the code was called immediately. “Have the police and coroner been notified?” he asked.

  Katy looked at Trudy Mae who remembered she still had nine-one-one on her cell phone. “Oh yeah, I asked them to send the police when I told them I needed an ambulance. I guess they’re on their way.” She picked up her phone and talked to the dispatcher then continued. “They should be here any second.”

  The paramedics disconnected the leads from the electrodes on Laney’s chest and began gathering up their equipment. “Ladies, if you don’t mind, the older paramedic said, taking out his clipboard, “we’re going to step into the other room to write all this down. There’s nothing more we can do here except turn this over to the coroner.”

  “I hate to leave you in here by yourself,” Trudy Mae said, looking at Katy, “but I need to check on Momma. I’ve got to call Helen and have her come take her to my house. Thank you, Lord, that she decided to stay on the front porch. God was sure looking out for her this morning.”

  When Trudy Mae left, Katy decided to look around. If things worked the same way they did with Jenna she would be asked to leave as soon as the sheriff and the coroner arrived. Of course, they had rolled Laney’s body over for CPR and probably messed up some evidence, but that couldn’t be helped.

  She stood directly over Laney’s body and began assessing her just as she would a patient. Laney was wearing make-up, and nothing was smeared. She didn’t see any bruises on her head or face. She leaned in and looked closer at her neck. When she had tilted her chin into position to initiate CPR, she noticed that Laney’s neck was swollen and discolored. There was dark purple bruising on either side of her trachea and the very front of her neck was black with bruises. She’d never seen a strangulation victim before. She placed her hands in the air as if grabbing someone around the neck. Yep, the thumbs would crush the windpipe if the person had adequate hand strength and grabbed you from the front. Katy dropped her hands to her side as she thought about what a horrible thing had probably happened to the young woman lying in front of her.

  She continued the assessment moving to the arms and chest. They had cracked ribs while attempting to perform life-sustaining measures, so there was no way to tell whether the woman had received any injuries from her attacker in this area. There was no bruising or discoloration on her chest. The CPR had been hard to do, but Katy thought that was probably because rigor mortis was already setting up. It was possible that Laney had been laying on Mrs. Simmons’s bedroom floor for two days. How awful.

  She continued downward examining one hand and then the other not finding anything unusual. The only other thing she could see that was the least bit odd was that Laney was barefoot. She looked under the bed and around the room and bathroom but didn’t see any shoes that would fit her. Mrs. Simmons had a closet full of size fives, but Laney looked to be at least a seven. Where were her shoes?

  She stepped into the hall and let the paramedics know that she was stepping outside. The sweltering heat of the front porch was a welcomed reminder of how a normal Mississippi day was supposed to feel. Trudy Mae’s elderly mother was still sitting in her rocker patiently waiting for more details about what was going on inside her home. Katy walked over and sat back in the rocking chair she had occupied just a few minutes before. Mrs. Simmons placed a frail arm around Katy’s shoulder and gave her a much-needed hug.

  “Honey, you’re as pale as a ghost and cold as a frog.”

  “Oh, I’m alright Mrs. Simmons,” Katy said, smiling weakly, embarrassed that the shock of what she had just witnessed was so obvious to her supposedly feeble patient. “I just need to sit a minute to collect my thoughts.”

  “Tru said that sweet young girl is dead in my bedroom. Is that so?”

  “Yes mam,” Katy sighed, trying to hold back the tears. “I’m afraid so. It’s Laney Finch.”

  Mrs. Simmons leaned back in the rocker and starred at the pine trees in the field across the road from the trailer park. “Dear Lord, I hope nothing in my home caused her accident. If she tripped and fell over something I left on the floor and hit her head, I just wouldn’t be able to stand it.”

  Poor lady, Trudy Mae must have decided not to tell her mother that Laney had been strangled, if she had even noticed this herself. Well, Katy wasn’t going to let that cat out of the bag. Trudy Mae would tell her mother what she wanted her to know.

  “I don’t know exactly what went on in your bedroom,” Katy said, as she leaned over and squeezed her shoulder, “but I’m positive that you are not to blame in any way.”

  “I guess you would be able to tell,” Mrs. Simmons said, her voice dripping with sadness, “being a nurse and all.”

  “Yes mam, I can. I promise you that her death was not caused by anything in your home.” Both ladies turned their heads toward the road in unison as the distant sound of sirens grew louder and louder.

  “Mama, I called Helen,” Trudy Mae said as she stepped into view from around the corner of her SUV. “She’s coming to get you and take you out to the house. You’re going to stay with me and Hank for a while.”

  “Alright Tru. If you think that’s best.”

  Trudy Mae looked back at her mother with surprise. “What, no argument? This is a first.”

  Mrs. Simmons drew her boney shoulders back and narrowed her eyes. “Tru, I know you’re trying to use that smart mouth of yours to get my mind off what happened. You know I love you for that too. You also know good and well that your momma ain’t sleeping in the same room where you just found a dead body. I don’t care how sweet the person was while she was alive and breathing, I ain’t staying there tonight. I ain’t completely senile.”

  . “Now that’s the momma I know and love,” Trudy Mae chuckled, “not that woman who said whatever you think best. I don’t know who that woman is.”

  Two police cars with sirens blaring turned into the trailer park’s gravel drive. The ladies cringed as the car in the rear nearly clipped the corner of the fancy metal sign that the park owner was so proud of. They all coughed and began waving their arms around trying to clear the dust as the cars descended upon the previously peaceful scene.

  Mrs. Simmons coughed again and shouted over th
e siren that the rear car’s driver had failed to silence. “Well, if anybody wasn’t wondering what was going on before, I bet they’re about to bust a seam to find out now.”

  Katy and Trudy Mae both tried to keep from grinning at Mrs. Simmons’s logic. She was completely right, of course, but Katy doubted the sheriff or Todd would appreciate that observation.

  Trudy Mae took Todd and the sheriff into the trailer where the EMS workers were waiting with Laney Finch’s body. Katy decided to sit with Mrs. Simmons and wait for Helen, one of Trudy Mae’s younger sisters.

  “I sure have missed sitting on this porch every morning talking to the good Lord about all my business,” Mrs. Simmons said, as Katy sat down beside her. “Now don’t get me wrong. Those folks at the nursing home were good to me, but you know what Dorothy said.”

  Katy thought for a second. She knew Trudy Mae didn’t have a sister named Dorothy, but they were a big family. Dorothy could be a niece. “No mam, I don’t guess I’ve ever met Dorothy.”

  “Well,” Mrs. Simmons turned her head slowly from the tree line and winked at Katy. “Dorothy says there’s no place like home.”

  “Oh, that Dorothy.” Katy laughed and rolled her eyes. “Well, I guess I might have figured that out if I only had a brain.”

  “This has been a rough morning for you and my Tru.” Mrs. Simmons leaned her head back against her chair and closed her eyes. “I imagine you both need a little time to just sit and take everything in.”

  Katy followed Mrs. Simmons’s example and leaned back against her rocking chair relaxing as a small bead of sweat trickled between her shoulder blades and ran down her spine. “You’re a very wise woman. I know you’re laughing and joking to try to ease the tension, just like your daughter. You’re sharp as a tac.”

  Katy smiled as the elderly woman began to make soft snoring sounds through her thinly pursed lips. She had dozed off just that quickly.