“That’s what he figured,” Jack replied. “He didn’t know that for sure.”
“The point is”—Wanda Nell was growing more concerned the more she thought about it—“trying to find out who killed that girl could be dangerous. It’s not like those other two cases you wrote about, where the killer was behind bars, or executed.”
“I know,” Jack said, “and it’s certainly a risk. I thought about all that on the way home, but I just can’t get the image of that girl, lying there dead and alone, out of my mind.”
Wanda Nell sighed. “And you’re the one always worried about me getting mixed up in murders.” She sighed again. “But you’re right, I don’t like the thought of that poor girl just lying there, either. It’s not right.” For a moment she saw that girl lying on the football field, and her face looked like Juliet’s. She suppressed a shudder.
Jack reached over and clasped one of her hands in his. “No, it’s not right. Maybe me poking into this will do some good. Who knows?” He squeezed her hand. “Will you help me?”
“Of course, but we’d better be mighty careful. This whole thing could get pretty ugly.”
Two
“Yoo-hoo! You two lovebirds up and out of bed? If you ain’t decent, let me know, and I’ll come back later.”
Wanda Nell and Jack started at the sound of Mayrene’s voice coming from the living room. They hadn’t heard the trailer door open.
“We’re in the kitchen,” Wanda Nell called out. “Come on in.” She and Jack exchanged amused glances. Mayrene had been carrying on like this ever since they got married.
The front door shut, and moments later Mayrene walked into the kitchen. She dropped a hand on Jack’s shoulder and squeezed, grinning down at his upturned face. “What’s up with you two?” She sat down. “As if I didn’t know.” She laughed.
Wanda Nell blushed. She couldn’t help it.
Seeing her friend’s face redden slightly, Mayrene laughed again. “Honey, I’m so happy for the two of you, I’m just about to bust. Every time I see the smiles on your faces, I say ‘thank you, Lord’ for getting you two together.”
“I’m pretty thankful myself,” Jack said. “Sometimes I still can’t quite believe it.”
“I’m just glad you two decided to stay here. I don’t know what I’d do if y’all had moved into Jack’s house instead.”
“We thought about it,” Wanda Nell said. “It was closer to the high school, but since Jack was only renting, and the trailer is close to being paid for, it seemed like more sense for him to move in here.”
“And it was a small house,” Jack added. “There’s actually more room here.” He winked at Wanda Nell. They also had a bedroom with more privacy here, since it was at one end of the trailer and Juliet’s bedroom was at the other. In the house he had been renting, there were two small bedrooms right next to each other.
Wanda Nell blushed again. Mayrene had never been in Jack’s house, but she was shrewd enough to figure it out. To distract her friend, Wanda Nell asked, “Guess what? Jack’s got an idea for a new book.”
“Really?” Mayrene turned eagerly toward Jack. “You know I loved both your books. What are you going to write about now?”
“Something that happened right here in Tullahoma about thirty-one years ago.” Jack paused, waiting to see if Mayrene would pick up on his cue.
Mayrene shook her head. “That long ago? I wasn’t here back then, and I don’t reckon I’ve heard tell of anything that you could make a book out of.” She grinned. “I hear stuff you wouldn’t believe down at the beauty shop, but most of it’s about who’s stepping out on a wife, or a husband who’s too blind to see what’s going on.”
“Well, they found a girl’s body on the football field,” Wanda Nell said. “Gus, the custodian at the high school, told Jack about it this morning.”
“I reckon Gus would know,” Mayrene said. “He knows about everything going on at that school, let me tell you.” She waggled her eyebrows. “His wife comes to the shop, and I do her hair. She’s told me some pretty juicy stuff.”
“Have you ever heard about this dead girl?” Jack asked.
Mayrene shook her head. “It’s news to me. How old was she?”
“Gus didn’t really say, but she couldn’t have been that old, or he would have said ‘woman’ instead.” Jack frowned. “That’s something I’ll have to check out.”
“Gus also said there was a fuss over it for about a week, and then it all just died down,” Wanda Nell added. “He reckoned some big shot in town got it hushed up.”
“So they never found out who killed her?” Mayrene shook her head knowingly. “If that’s the case, then somebody got paid off somewhere. You can bet on that.”
“You’re probably right,” Jack said. “And if I could find out who did that, then I’d probably be a lot closer to knowing who killed her, and why.”
“Yeah, and you may be stirring up a hornets’ nest if you start digging into this,” Mayrene said.
“He knows that,” Wanda Nell replied. “And so do I. But I don’t like the thought of that poor girl being killed, and nobody having to answer for it. She had to have some family somewhere, surely, and they at least deserve to know what happened.”
“Yeah, I see your point,” Mayrene said, “and I don’t think some bastard should get away with killing a girl, even if it was thirty-something years ago. I don’t know what I can do to help, but you know you both can count on me.”
“Thanks,” Jack said. “I’m going to be looking for leads anywhere I can find them.”
“I know what I can do.” Mayrene’s face took on a sly look.
“Start talking about it down at the beauty shop,” Wanda Nell said.
“Of course,” Mayrene responded. “I told you, all kinds of stuff gets talked about there. Ain’t no reason I can’t prod it in the direction I want, instead of just waiting to hear what somebody else wants to talk about.”
“I appreciate that,” Jack said. “But I want you to be careful. If word of this gets around too quickly, it might make things more difficult for me.”
“You don’t want to tip your hand too soon,” Mayrene agreed.
“Exactly.” Jack nodded, the light glinting off his glasses as his head moved.
“Good point.” Mayrene glanced back and forth between Jack and Wanda Nell. “How about, then, if I hold off poking around for a bit until you’ve had time to do some digging on your own?”
“Thanks,” Wanda Nell said. “I think that’s a good idea.”
“That’s settled, then.” Jack stood up. “I think, if you two will excuse me, I’ll go start making some notes about this.” He grinned. “I know you have other things you want to talk about that don’t necessarily include me.”
He blew Wanda Nell a kiss before he left the kitchen.
“You two are just so dang cute.” Wanda Nell tried hard not to blush again at Mayrene’s description.
“That’s enough of that,” Wanda Nell said. “Now let’s talk about you.”
“What about me? Ain’t much to tell that I know of.”
“Don’t give me that. We haven’t seen much of you this week, so I figured you had a hot date every night.”
Mayrene snorted. “Don’t I wish.”
“So what’s going on? I thought you and Dixon were doing real well.” Wanda Nell watched her friend in concern. Mayrene had been dating Dixon Vance, a policeman in Tullahoma, for several months now, and Wanda Nell had thought everything was fine with them.
Mayrene shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Come on now, you know you can tell me. Have y’all had a fight?”
Mayrene looked away, and when she finally turned to face Wanda Nell again, her face was red. “Yeah, we did. And it wasn’t the kind you can have fun making up afterwards.”
This was sounding pretty bad. “So what was it about?”
“He thinks I should go on a diet,” Mayrene said, her voice so low Wanda Nell could barely hear her.
“He what?” Wanda Nell wasn’t sure she had heard correctly.
“A diet,” Mayrene repeated, her voice louder. “He thinks I need to lose weight.”
Wanda Nell knew she had to choose her words carefully. As long as she had known Mayrene, her friend had been more than a bit plump. She could probably stand to lose about twenty pounds, but Mayrene had always seemed perfectly comfortable with her weight. It certainly hadn’t kept her from finding plenty of men to date.
“Why does he think that?” Wanda Nell asked. That was the safest response she could manage right then.
Mayrene started to tear up. She wiped her eyes with the back of her right hand. When she spoke, she was clearly indignant. “Dixon told me the other cops were kidding him about him going out with the Pillsbury Doughboy.”
“And he told you that?”
Mayrene nodded.
“You don’t look anything like that silly thing.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re my best friend.” Mayrene dashed back more tears.
“Of course I’m not. You may be a little plump, but you’re not obese like that stupid doll, or whatever it is.”
“Thank you, honey.” Mayrene’s voice was gruff with tears still unshed. “I needed to hear that.”
“I still can’t believe he would say something like that to you. What kind of jackass is he?”
Mayrene managed a brief smile. “I thought he was my jackass until a few days ago.”
“Does this mean you told him he could put it where the sun don’t shine?”
“Sort of.” Mayrene didn’t meet Wanda Nell’s gaze.
“You didn’t tell him off?”
“Not exactly.” Mayrene sighed after a brief pause. “I let him know he hurt me pretty bad, and that I wasn’t real happy with him right then. But I didn’t kick him out and tell him not to come back.”
“Well, frankly, I’m surprised at you,” Wanda Nell said. “I don’t think I’ve ever known you to put up with that kind of crap from anybody, let alone a man.”
“I know. But I really did think I had found somebody good, and I guess I hate to let him go completely.”
“What did he do when you told him how much he hurt your feelings?”
“He said he was sorry, but then he went on about how it would be good for my health, and all kinds of stuff like that.”
“They never learn when to just keep their mouths shut, do they?”
“Nope. I told him I didn’t much appreciate him criticizing me that way, even if he was concerned about my health. Which, frankly, I don’t think he was. He was more concerned about his pride.”
“I’m sorry to say it, but you’re probably right.” Wanda Nell shook her head. “So what’s happening right now?”
“Nothing. I told him I wasn’t sure if I could go on seeing him, knowing he felt like that. Then he stomped off, and I haven’t talked to him since.”
“He hasn’t called you?”
“Nope, and I sure ain’t called him, I can tell you that.”
“Good for you. It’s up to him to apologize.”
“It sure is.” Mayrene frowned. “The only thing is, it’s been four days now, and I still haven’t heard from him.”
That wasn’t good, but Wanda Nell didn’t want to make Mayrene more unhappy by pointing it out. “You know how men are, it takes them a little longer to get over these things and think about how it really was their fault. He’ll call you.”
“We’ll see. But I’m not sure what I’m going to say to him.”
“Listen to what he has to say first,” Wanda Nell advised. “Then you’ll know what to say back to him.”
“I guess you’re right. It’s not like I got much choice at the moment.”
Wanda Nell reached forward and patted her friend’s hand. “You hang in there. If he’s too stupid to realize how wonderful you are, then you don’t need him.”
Mayrene smiled her thanks. She got up from her chair and pulled a paper towel from the roll near the sink. After blowing her nose a couple of times, she wadded the paper towel up and threw it in the bin under the sink.
“Okay if I come in?” Jack said from the doorway of the kitchen.
“Sure, honey,” Wanda Nell said. Mayrene resumed her seat.
Jack advanced into the room. “How would you like to go visit your buddy Elmer Lee this afternoon?”
Wanda Nell grimaced. “How would I like to go to the dentist’s office and have a root canal instead?”
Jack and Mayrene laughed.
“He’s not that bad,” Mayrene said. “I mean, I know he don’t like it much if he thinks you’re stirring up trouble, but he can’t blame you if Jack wants to write a book.”
“He’ll think I put Jack up to it just to drive him crazy,” Wanda Nell said. “You just wait and see.”
Three
“I’m ready, Jack.” Wanda Nell paused in the doorway of what had been her bedroom until a couple of months ago. When Miranda and Lavon moved out, Wanda Nell had taken over their bedroom and started turning her old room into a study for Jack.
Jack looked up from his computer for a moment to smile at her. “Just let me shut this down, and I’ll be ready to go, too.”
Wanda Nell watched as he tapped at the keyboard, then punched the button on the monitor before pushing back his chair to stand. Jack had been saying he was going to teach her to use the computer, and Juliet had been after her to learn, too. She reckoned it was something she ought to know about, but for now she couldn’t figure out what she’d need to use the thing for.
Jack bent over his desk to retrieve something from one of the drawers, and Wanda Nell couldn’t help admiring the view. He was wearing jeans, and they were molded to his body in all the right places. He was wearing the cowboy boots her son T.J. and his partner, Tuck, had given him for his birthday. Wanda Nell had always liked the look of a man in boots, and she was glad Jack enjoyed wearing his so much.
He turned to face her and grinned. He knew what she had been thinking. She was amazed at the way he seemed to be able to read her mind so often. It had never been like this with her first husband, Bobby Ray. But then Bobby Ray never cared much about what anyone else thought or felt. He had been concerned only with himself most of the time.
“Okay, let’s go.” Jack stepped forward and hit the light switch.
“Yes, sir.” Wanda Nell led the way down the hall to the front door. She scooped up her purse while Jack opened the door.
Stepping out into the hot July afternoon, Wanda Nell blinked. She paused to pull her sunglasses out of her purse, and once they were in place, she could see better. Jack followed her down the two steps to the ground and then moved around her to get to his car first.
“Let me open all the doors and get the air conditioner going, honey. We’ll get fried if we don’t let it cool off a little first.”
“Thanks,” Wanda Nell said. She stepped under the shade provided by her one-car carport. They planned to have it extended to make room for Jack’s car, but they hadn’t gotten around to it yet.
Jack climbed out of his car and joined Wanda Nell in the shade. “The air will cool off enough in a minute, so we’ll be able to stand getting in.”
They waited about a minute before going to the car. The worst of the hot air had blown out when Jack had opened all the doors. Now they were all shut, the car was blasting cold air, and Wanda Nell didn’t feel like she was having some kind of hot flash.
As Jack carefully backed the car out of the driveway and pointed it toward the road that would lead them out of the trailer park and into town, Wanda Nell said, “How much did you tell Elmer Lee when you talked to him?”
“Not a lot. I told him I wanted to talk to him about an old case, and that I was thinking about writing a new book. I guess things must be pretty quiet around the Sheriff’s Department this afternoon. He didn’t really ask me any questions, just said to come on in and talk.”
“Does he know I’m coming with you?”
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“No. I didn’t think to mention it to him.” Jack glanced sideways at her. “Do you think it’ll make a difference?”
“Who knows with Elmer Lee?” Wanda Nell shrugged. “He might not want to talk much with me around. But maybe I can goad him into it if we need to.”
Jack laughed. “If anybody can do it, you can.” He patted her knee. “But Elmer Lee’s basically a good guy. He believes in doing the right thing, and I’m sure he’ll feel that way about this case.”
“You’re right,” Wanda Nell said. “I guess I don’t always give him enough credit, but he sure as heck don’t make it too easy sometimes.”
“What time is Juliet coming home?” Jack asked. “I forgot all about her supposed to be coming back this afternoon, and it’s already half-past one.”
“It’s okay. I called her and told her we had an appointment and wouldn’t be home till later. She’s going to get Miz Hankins to drop her off at Miz Culpepper’s house, and we’re going to pick her up there when we’re done with Elmer Lee.”
“We could have picked her up from the Hankins’s house.” Jack paused. “But you wanted a reason to go by Miz Culpepper’s house, didn’t you?”
Wanda Nell laughed. “Yeah, I thought as long as we were going to talk to Elmer Lee about this case, we might as well talk to Miz Culpepper, too. She’s lived in Tullahoma for over fifty years now, and I reckon she’ll know something about it. Old Judge Culpepper was always in the middle of everything.”
“If he was, what if he was involved in this particular case? What if he was part of the cover-up, if there was one?”
They had reached one of the main intersections in town now, and Jack signaled a right turn. They were only about five minutes from the town square, where the Sheriff’s Department and county jail were located.
“I thought about that,” Wanda Nell said. “She can be a bit touchy where her husband is concerned, but he’s been dead a long time now. I can’t see where it’ll hurt to ask her about it.”
“You know her better than I do,” Jack said. “So I think I’ll turn that interview over to you.” He laughed. “After all, I’m not sure she really likes me that much.”
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