Katie Ann had a mole on her right cheek.
Mrs. Vance had also said the social worker was dressed pretty casually: blue jeans, sneakers, and a jacket over a blouse.
That sounded like what Katie Ann might have worn, if she was pretending to be a social worker.
Katie Arm’s hair wasn’t long and black, but she could have worn a wig.
“I went by to see Miz Vance this morning,” Wanda Nell said slowly. “I just wanted to check and make sure she and the kids were doing okay.”
“That was mighty nice of you,” Katie Ann said. “I wouldn’t go near that old witch if it was me.” She turned away from Wanda Nell and started working at the next table.
“At first Miz Vance was kinda mad at me,” Wanda Nell said.
“Why would she be mad at you?” Katie Ann still had her back to Wanda Nell.
“She thought I called the welfare department on her,” Wanda Nell said. She laughed. “Can you beat that? Why she thought I’d do such a thing, I don’t know. But she said some social worker showed up at her house yesterday around lunchtime, asking all kinds of personal questions.”
She waited a moment, but Katie Ann didn’t say anything. “I don’t even know anybody in Tullahoma who’s a social worker,” Wanda Nell said. “Do you? Now, what was the woman’s name? I know Miz Vance told me.”
Wanda Nell was watching Katie Ann’s back closely. She thought it tensed up once or twice, but she wasn’t sure.
“I know. Hallie Cates. That was it. You know anybody by that name?”
Katie Ann finally turned around. She laughed. “Now why should I know any social worker? What call would I have for a social worker?” She laughed again.
Wanda Nell knew she was lying. Katie Ann was trying too hard to sound casual.
“Just thought I’d ask,” Wanda Nell said. “You never know.” She was convinced that Katie Ann had pretended to be a social worker in order to question Agnes Vance. But what exactly was she trying to find out?
She probably just wanted to know how much Mrs. Vance knew about Fayetta’s extra job. It was a good thing Mrs. Vance had claimed not to know anything, otherwise she could be in danger.
If Mrs. Vance wasn’t the killer, that is.
Wanda Nell’s head whirled with all the possibilities and all the unanswered questions. What was Katie Ann’s role in all this? By now Wanda Nell was pretty sure that someone had planted Katie Ann here so she could report anything that happened. And Wanda Nell had given her a job because she was desperate for help.
Katie Ann had probably worked at that club with Fayetta, and that meant she knew the members as well as Fayetta had. The members were trying to protect themselves, and Katie Ann was just one of their tools. Cynically, Wanda Nell wondered how much they were paying her. She also wondered why they weren’t worried Katie Ann would blackmail them, too, just like Fayetta had.
Who were they protecting? Had one of the members snapped and killed Fayetta, refusing to be blackmailed any longer?
Or had Tommy Eccles taken care of the problem for them? Her blood ran cold as Wanda Nell thought about her encounter with him that afternoon. He was rumored to be a killer, but his brother had always protected him. Pretty useful to have a brother who’s not afraid to kill.
That seemed the most likely answer, Wanda Nell reasoned, but how the heck would anybody be able to prove it?
The door opened and three customers came in. Wanda Nell took their orders and went to get their drinks.
In the next half hour, several more customers trickled in, and Wanda Nell and Katie Ann took turns waiting on them. Wanda Nell was at the cash register, making change for one of the customers, when Melvin Arbuckle walked in.
Wanda Nell hastily finished making change, then walked around the counter to greet Melvin. She threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug. “I’m so glad to see you,” she said.
She stood back and took a good look at him. Physically he looked fine, but Wanda Nell could see in his eyes that he was worried.
“Thanks, Wanda Nell,” Melvin said, his voice gruff with emotion. “I appreciate you taking care of the restaurant for me. I don’t know what I’d’ve done without you.”
“You’re my friend,” Wanda Nell said simply. “You’ve done the same for me, remember?”
Melvin smiled. He really was a good-looking man, Wanda Nell drought, not for the first time.
“Who’s that?” Melvin said, suddenly noticing Katie Ann.
“Your new waitress,” Wanda Nell said. “Katie Ann Hale. She showed up here Monday morning looking for a job, and I hired her. She’s a good worker.”
“I’ve heard that name before,” Melvin said. “And she looks kinda familiar.”
“She and Fayetta were friends,” Wanda Nell told him. Melvin’s lips tightened at the sound of Fayetta’s name. “Is she a whore, too?” He said it softly, but viciously.
Wanda Nell’s heart ached for him. He had cared more about Fayetta than he’d let on, and Fayetta had treated him like dirt a lot of the time. Even so, she didn’t think Melvin was a killer.
“Don’t think about it,” Wanda Nell said. “Why don’t you come on back to the office with me for a few minutes and let me show you what I’ve done with the orders and all that stuff. I’ll introduce you later.”
Melvin nodded and followed her. He raised a hand to the customers, and they all acknowledged him. Wanda Nell breathed a sigh of relief.
In the kitchen, Margaret the cook and Elray the dishwasher greeted him warmly, telling him they were glad to see him. He thanked them and told them how much he appreciated their support Wanda Nell was surprised to see him get a little teary-eyed. Normally he didn’t let his emotions show much, but he’d been through some pretty traumatic experiences in the last few days.
Wanda Nell explained what she’d done with the paperwork, and he thanked her again. “If you have any questions, just ask. I talked to the produce company and the other suppliers, and they said they’d wait until next week. But all the invoices are there.”
Leaving him to take care of the paperwork, Wanda Nell headed back out front with a lighter heart. She was happy to see him back where he belonged, plus she no longer had to be responsible for running the place. That was one less headache for her.
Katie Ann was talking to a couple sitting at the front table. They hadn’t been there when she and Melvin had gone back to the office. Wanda Nell couldn’t see them clearly, but something about the man’s shoulder looked familiar.
Then Katie Ann moved, and Wanda Nell had a clear view. She felt her stomach knot up. Jack Pemberton and some woman she’d never seen before were sitting at the table.
Chapter 23
Wanda Nell stood there for a moment, uncertainty rooting her to the spot Then she scolded herself for acting foolish. She started forward.
Jack turned and, seeing her, got up from the table. “There you are,” he said, smiling. “I’ve got somebody I want you to meet and she wants to meet you.” He held out a hand to her.
Two more steps, and she was able to grasp Jack’s hand. “This is a nice surprise,” she said, smiling back at him. Then she turned to look at the woman Jack had brought with him.
“Wanda Nell, this is my cousin, Lisa Pemberton. Lisa, this is Wanda Nell Culpepper.”
Lisa extended a hand and Wanda Nell, loosing her hand from Jack’s, took it. “Nice to meet you,” she said, feeling relieved.
“Nice to meet you, too,” Lisa Pemberton said with a shy glance. “Jack’s been telling me all about you.” Wanda Nell figured she was about thirty. She had a cap of blonde curls, like Shirley Temple, and a dusting of freckles across her face. A bit on the plain side, Wanda Nell thought, but she looked friendly.
“Sorry I missed your call earlier,” Jack said. “I checked the caller ID, and I knew it must have been you. I was planning to bring Lisa by tonight to meet you anyway, and I figured we might as well come on by now.”
“Would y’all like something to drink?” Wanda Nell asked.
> “I took care of that already,” Katie Ann announced from behind her. She was carrying a cup of coffee and a glass of iced tea. She set the tea down in front of Lisa and the coffee in front of Jack.
“Thanks,” Jack said. “Do you have time to talk for a few minutes?”
“Sure, it’s pretty quiet now,” Wanda Nell said. Jack pulled out a chair for her, and she sat. He resumed his seat as Katie Ann walked off.
“Have you ever been to Tullahoma before, Lisa?” Wanda Nell asked.
“A couple of times since Jack moved here,” Lisa said. “I live in Meridian now, but I grew up in Cleveland.”
“Lisa’s a nurse,” Jack said, “and she was here for an interview at the hospital. She’s been thinking about moving back closer to home, and the job here is a really good one.”
“We always need good nurses, and I’m sure Jack would be happy to have some family here,” Wanda Nell said. “When will you find out about the job?”
Lisa’s face turned slightly pink. “Actually, they offered me the job at the interview.”
“That’s great,” Wanda Nell said, impressed. “Are you going to take it?”
Lisa nodded. “I think so. Like Jack said, it’s a really good job. My parents died a few years ago, and Jack’s the only other family I have.” She smiled at her cousin. “And it sure would be nice to be able to see him more often.”
“I’ve been trying to talk her into it for months,” Jack said, frowning. “She needs to get away from Meridian anyway. It’s not a good place for her.”
That made Wanda Nell curious, but she was too polite to come right out and ask.
Lisa, her head down, said, “It’s okay. You can tell her.” Jack reached over and patted her hand. “It’s going to be okay,” he said firmly. He turned to Wanda Nell. “Some guy’s been stalking her, and we think he might leave her alone if she leaves Meridian.”
“That’s awful,” Wanda Nell said. No wonder the girl acted like a scared rabbit. “You poor thing. Has he tried to hurt you?”
Lisa shook her head. “No, but he calls me all the time, even though I’ve got an unlisted number. I’ve changed it three times, but somehow he manages to find out what it is. And he drives by my house all the time. He just won’t leave me alone.” She wiped away several tears.
“Can’t the police do anything about it?” Wanda Nell asked.
“He’s a cop,” Jack said bitterly. “So they don’t take her seriously when she complains. They dated for a couple months, then Lisa broke it off. Since then, he’s made her life hell.”
“Then you definitely need to move,” Wanda Nell said. “And you’ll be far enough away he’ll have to stop.”
“I hope,” Lisa said, sounding very depressed. “He probably won’t stop calling me, but at least he won’t be able to follow me around.”
“If he comes here and tries that crap,” Wanda Nell said fiercely, “then we’ll fix his little red wagon, believe you me.” “That sounds good to me,” Lisa said, almost smiling again. “I just want it to be over.”
“It will,” Jack said firmly. ‘We’d better get going, though. We’re going to look for a place for Lisa to live this afternoon. The sooner she can move here the better.” He stood up and reached for his wallet
“This one’s on me,” Wanda Nell said as she got up. Impulsively, she leaned down and gave Lisa a hug. “You just hang in there, sweetie.”
Lisa smiled up at her through tears. She reached for a napkin to wipe her face. “Thanks.”
“Why don’t y’all come back tonight and have dinner here?” Wanda Nell said, escorting them to the door.
“We will,” Jack said. He held Wanda Nell’s hand for a moment and squeezed it. “Thanks.”
Wanda Nell gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Good luck house-hunting,” she said as they went out the door.
Wanda Nell’s heart went out to Lisa. She’d had to put up with a lot of crap from her ex-husband, Bobby Ray, but she’d never had to deal with a stalker. She hoped Jack was right, that once Lisa moved to Tullahoma the stalker might leave her alone.
There would be time to think about all that later, she decided. Right now she needed to get back to work, and to think about keeping Melvin from going back to jail.
Since business was still pretty slow at the moment, Wanda Nell headed back to the office to talk to Melvin again. He’d had a little time to settle in, and maybe now he’d feel like talking about Fayetta. Earlier she hadn’t wanted to press him, but she had to know what he knew about Fayetta and her blackmail scheme.
She figured she’d better be a bit cagey about it If Melvin didn’t know about some of what Fayetta was up to, it was better he didn’t find out from her. Then, if he got put on the witness stand, he could say truthfully he didn’t know about it She should have talked to Tuck about this, asked him what he’d told Melvin, but there was no time for that now.
Melvin was standing at the back door, smoking. Wanda Nell had often found him this way in the past and the normality of the scene comforted her. They had to keep him from going back to jail again.
“Hey, there,” she said, coming to stand behind him.
He turned slightly. “Hey. You need me for something?” He exhaled a cloud of smoke, and Wanda Nell sniffed at it appreciatively.
“No, just to talk a minute,” she said.
“You want one?” Melvin held his pack of cigarettes out to her.
“Yeah, I do,” Wanda Nell said, “but I’m not gonna have one. I’m not falling off the wagon now.”
“Suit yourself,” Melvin said, stuffing the pack into his shirt pocket. He flicked his butt toward the dumpster, but it fell short landing on the pavement a few feet from its target. Melvin walked back to his office, Wanda Nell right behind. He sat down at his desk, and Wanda Nell perched on the corner.
“So what you wanna talk about?”
Wanda Nell studied his face for a moment. Some of the strain had left him, now that he was back on familiar ground, but there was still something in his eyes that haunted her. She wanted to hug him again, to comfort him, but she was afraid he might misinterpret the gesture. Instead, she crossed her hands and let them rest on her lap.
“I don’t want you to have to go back to jail,” she began, and he laughed, a short, bitter bark. “I know, you don’t wanna go back either, and I aim to see that you don’t. I believe you didn’t kill her.”
He nodded, and she went on. “But somebody did. And if it wasn’t you, then who was it? The best way to keep you out of jail is to prove somebody else did it.”
“Yeah,” he said. “You got any ideas about who?”
“You know much about Miz Vance?’
Melvin frowned. “More’n I wanna know, I reckon. She was always riding Fayetta about something, and she sure as hell don’t like me. She’s something else."
“You think she could have done it?”
Melvin’s shock registered in his face. “Her mama? You gotta be kidding. Why would her mama want to kill her?”
“Didn’t Miz Vance wanna take those kids away from Fayetta?”
“Yeah, but what’s that...” Melvin paused, considering. “That’s still crazy, though. Killing her daughter, so she could raise her grandchildren.”
“I admit it sounds a bit crazy,” Wanda Nell said, “but just think about it a minute. I only talked to her two or three times, but she made it real clear what she thought about the way Fayetta was raising those kids. She didn’t like it one bit. And somebody told me she was gonna try to get Fayetta declared an unfit mother so she could get custody.”
“Fayetta said something about that,” Melvin said, frowning, “but she just kinda laughed about it. She didn’t really think her mama could do it.”
“I don’t know if she could,” Wanda Nell said. “Maybe she found out she couldn’t or something, and that pushed her over the edge. Then she decided the only way she could get hold of those kids was to get rid of Fayetta.”
Melvin shrugged. “I guess it’s pos
sible, but it still sounds pretty damn crazy to me.”
“Depends on how crazy Miz Vance is,” Wanda Nell said.
“I don’t think she’s crazy,” Melvin said after a moment. “Just because she quotes the Bible a lot and talks about the wages of sin being death and all that it don’t mean she’s crazy. She has her beliefs, and she sticks to ’em.” He shook his head. “She’s real religious, but just because you and me ain’t that religious, it don’t mean she’s crazy.”
“No,” Wanda Nell said, “I know that. She’s got a right to believe the way she wants to, and I can’t argue with her about the way Fayetta was raising those kids. She wasn’t setting much of an example for them.”
“No, she wasn’t,” Melvin said, his face darkening. “And that’s one of the things we was arguing about that night. She was getting worse and worse about running around. She always made sure somebody was watching the kids, but she should’ve been spending more time with ’em herself. They’re getting old enough to start figuring out what was going on, and that ain’t good for kids, to know their mama’s behaving like that.”
Wanda Nell looked down at her hands. “What all was she doing?”
“Well, first it was just going out with married men,’’ Melvin said. “And she made sure any man she went out with had some money. They’d give her things, either stuff she could sell, or sometimes they’d just give her money. She liked that, used to flaunt it, tell me she could make a lot more money than I ever paid her.”
Wanda Nell almost flinched at the bitter anger in his voice. “Why’d you put up with it? And her?”
Melvin wouldn’t meet her eyes, and Wanda Nell understood something for the first time.
“You really loved her,” she said slowly. She couldn’t quite keep the surprise out of her voice. She wanted to ask him why, but she knew she couldn’t.
“Yeah,” he admitted, his voice low. “I loved her. I don’t know why the hell I did, but I did.” Tears trickled down his face. He rubbed them away wearily with his right hand. “Shows you what a damn fool I am.”
“I never realized you cared about her that much,” Wanda Nell said, trying to choose her words with care.
Murder Over Easy (A Trailer Park Mystery Book 2) Page 21
