Leftover Dead

by Jimmie Ruth Evans

Wanda Nell turned in her chair, staring at her husband in concern. “Honey, what’s going on?”

  “It’s missing,” Jack said, frowning. “I’ve looked through most of the drawers now, thinking it might simply be misfiled. But it’s just not here. The box we need just isn’t here.”

  Six

  Jack cursed, and Wanda Nell shook a finger at him. “Honey, don’t forget you’re in the library. Don’t be talking like that.”

  “Sorry,” Jack muttered. “I guess I should have expected this.”

  Wanda Nell got up and went over to him, slipping a consoling arm around his waist. “Well, if we had any doubts about somebody trying to cover the whole thing up, I guess we don’t anymore.”

  “We sure don’t.”

  “But it does tell us something,” Wanda Nell added in a more encouraging tone. “There must be something in the paper that would help us, if someone went to all the trouble of stealing the microfilm from the library.”

  “Good point.” Jack’s face brightened for a moment. “But where are we going to find other copies of the paper?”

  “First, let’s make sure there’s not something in the Memphis or Jackson papers,” Wanda Nell said. She nodded in the direction of the microfilm reader she had been using. “I’ve been through the twenty-fifth in the Commercial Appeal , and I haven’t found anything so far.”

  “I’ll check out the Clarion-Ledger.” Jack moved toward the drawers containing the Jackson paper. “I’m willing to bet, though, we’re not going to find anything in either one.”

  “Maybe not,” Wanda Nell said. “But somewhere, I bet you, we’ll be able to find a copy of the missing Tullahoma paper. You just wait and see.”

  Jack grinned at her. “That’s just one of the many reasons I love you, darling. The Unsinkable Wanda Nell.”

  Wanda Nell shook her head at him. “Get to work,” she said, trying to sound stern.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Wanda Nell turned her back on him and resumed her examination of the Memphis paper. She went carefully through the whole week after April twenty-third, but she never found a mention of the murder, or any mention at all of Tullahoma. She stopped looking, rewound the reel, took it off the machine, and put it back in its box.

  Jack was now sitting at the table next to her, using the other reader. “Any luck so far?” she asked.

  “No. I’m up to the twenty-sixth, and nothing so far. How far did you look?”

  “Through May first.”

  “That was probably enough,” Jack said. “If there wasn’t some kind of mention by that point, there probably never was. Let me just go that far here, and then we’ll try to figure out what to do next.”

  Wanda Nell waited in silence while Jack finished examining his reel of film. After about seven or eight minutes, he leaned back, pulled off his glasses, and rubbed at his eyes. “Now I’m getting a headache from staring at that screen.”

  “Didn’t find anything?”

  “No, not a blessed thing. No mention of Tullahoma at all.” He rewound the roll, extracted it, and stuck it in its box.

  “Let’s go talk to Miz Lockett,” Wanda Nell said. “She needs to know there’s a box missing, and maybe she’ll know of another way we can find what we’re looking for.”

  “Let’s not make a big deal out of it, though,” Jack said. “I don’t want to stir up anything at this point.”

  “Okay.” Wanda Nell followed him out of the room, flipping off the light switch as she went.

  At the front desk Mrs. Lockett was checking out a stack of books for the mother and the two children. Jack and Wanda Nell waited, increasingly impatient, as the mother kept interrupting the proceedings to admonish her children. Finally, the woman started herding them toward the door.

  With a tired smile, Mrs. Lockett turned her attention to Wanda Nell and Jack. “Did you find what you needed?”

  “Well, no, we didn’t,” Jack said, sounding slightly apologetic. “The one reel of film we needed seems to be missing.”

  “Oh, dear. Where could it have got to? Maybe someone just misfiled it, and it’s in another drawer somewhere.” She came from behind the counter and started for the microfilm room.

  “We checked for that,” Jack said, and Mrs. Lockett halted.

  “You looked through all the drawers?” Mrs. Lockett asked, her head cocked to one side.

  “Well, no, not through all of them,” Jack admitted. “But I checked all the drawers for the Tullahoma paper. I didn’t check anywhere else.”

  “Then the box you need is probably somewhere in one of the other drawers,” Mrs. Lockett said. She came back to the desk. “If you don’t mind waiting a couple of days, I’ll have one of the high school students who works here during the week go through all the drawers on Monday to see if he can find it.” She smiled at them. “I’m sure it’s there somewhere.” She pulled a slip of scrap paper from a slot behind the desk and handed it to Jack. “Just put your name and phone number on this for me, and I’ll call you on Monday.”

  “Thank you, I’d appreciate that very much.” Jack glanced sideways at Wanda Nell before he picked up a pen from the counter and wrote down the information Mrs. Lockett had requested.

  Neither Wanda Nell nor Jack thought the student would ever find the missing box, but they weren’t going to tell Mrs. Lockett that. That wouldn’t serve much purpose at this point.

  “What happened to the paper copies of the newspaper?” Wanda Nell asked. “I don’t imagine you still have them somewhere around, do you?”

  “Heavens, no.” Mrs. Lockett laughed. “We got rid of them once we were able to have them microfilmed. They took up so much space—and the dust!” She wrinkled her nose. “Ordinarily I hate getting rid of something like that, but we were certainly able to make better use of the space once they were gone.”

  “So they just got thrown away?” Jack asked.

  “Well, no,” Mrs. Lockett said, surprising him and Wanda Nell. “We gave them to the Tullahoma County Historical Society. And as far as I know, they still have them all.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know that.” Wanda Nell was trying to maintain a casual tone. “Does the Historical Society let people look at them?”

  “I don’t see why not,” Mrs. Lockett said. “Though they’re open only a couple of days a week. They have to depend on volunteers to do everything, and I think that’s about all they can manage these days.”

  “If we wanted to have a look at their collection,” Jack asked, “whom should we call?”

  “The president of the society, probably,” Mrs. Lockett said. “I’m sure you both know her—she taught at the high school for about forty years, until she retired a few years ago. Miss Ernestine Carpenter. She even taught me. It was her second year teaching at the high school.”

  Wanda Nell turned to Jack with a smile. “We sure do know her,” Wanda Nell said. “In fact, she came to our wedding.”

  “Well, then”—Mrs. Lockett beamed at them—“there you are. I know Miss Ernestine will be more than happy to help you. Y’all just give her a call, and I know she’ll fix you right up.”

  “Thank you, we will,” Jack said. “We really appreciate all your help.”

  “You’re more than welcome,” Mrs. Lockett replied. “And I’ll have our student worker look for that missing box. I’ll call you when he finds it.”

  “Thank you, Miz Lockett,” Wanda Nell said. “We’ll be seeing you.”

  “Bye now,” Mrs. Lockett called after them.

  In the car again, the air conditioner blasting once more, Wanda Nell adjusted her sunglasses. “It’s only about four-fifteen. What say we give Ernie a call right now?”

  “Fine by me,” Jack said. “Curiosity’s really getting to me, I have to say.”

  Wanda Nell pulled her cell phone out of her purse and started punching buttons. She had put Ernie’s number in her phone address book back when her brother Rusty had been involved in a nasty local murder. Ernie had been a big help to her during that awful ti
me. Since then she had chatted with Ernie a few times, and Ernie had been there, beaming, when Wanda Nell and Jack were married.

  There was no answer, so Wanda Nell ended the call and checked her book for Ernie’s cell number and punched it in. The phone rang three times before Ernie answered.

  “Hello, there, Wanda Nell. How are you and Jack doing?” Ernie asked, her voice cheerful and loud.

  “We’re doing just fine. How about you?”

  They exchanged pleasantries while Ernie inquired about the health of everyone in Wanda Nell’s family. After about three minutes, Ernie finally wound down long enough for Wanda Nell to broach the subject of her call.

  “Jack and I were just at the library talking to Miz Lockett, and she told us you’re the president of the Historical Society.”

  “I am, for all my sins,” Ernie said with another laugh. “Are you and Jack interested in volunteering? We’re always looking for help, let me tell you.”

  “Not exactly,” Wanda Nell said. “We were hoping you could help us with something. Miz Lockett told us that the library gave the Historical Society its copies of all the old Tullahoma newspaper when they got the microfilms of them.”

  “Yes, they did,” Ernie said. “Do you need to look at them?”

  “We sure do, if that’s possible. The ones we needed to see, well, the library didn’t have them. There was a box of microfilm missing.”

  “How strange,” Ernie said. “Is this something urgent?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say urgent,” Wanda Nell replied. “But we’d sure like to get a look as soon as we can. It’s kind of important.”

  “Can you tell me what it is?” Ernie asked. “You know how nosy I am, and right now I’m about to pop from curiosity.”

  Wanda Nell laughed. “Of course we can tell you. We’ll probably have some questions to ask you anyway, besides just looking at the newspapers.”

  “Good,” Ernie said. “I’m actually in Tullahoma at the moment, doing some shopping. Where are you and Jack right now?”

  “Sitting in the parking lot at the library.” Wanda Nell gave Jack a thumbs-up with her free hand, and he grinned. He had heard most of what Ernie had said, her voice was so strong and clear.

  “Then meet me at the Historical Society,” Ernie said. “I can be there in about seven or eight minutes.”

  “Where is it?” Wanda Nell asked. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever even seen the building. At least not that I can recall.”

  “It’s nothing remarkable, sad to say,” Ernie responded with a laugh. “It’s just a couple of blocks from the library, in one of the old houses off Main Street. Go back down Main Street, take a right on Elm, and it’s the second house on your right.”

  “Thanks, Ernie. We sure do appreciate this.”

  “See you in a few minutes,” Ernie said, and she broke the connection.

  Wanda Nell put away her phone and repeated the directions to Jack. He squeezed her hand quickly before he put the car in gear and drove out of the library parking lot.

  In less than two minutes they were parked at the curb in front of the house that was home to the Tullahoma County Historical Society. Like Mrs. Culpepper’s larger and grander house, this building was also antebellum, but on a more modest scale.

  “This is what they call Greek Revival, isn’t it?” Wanda Nell asked. “Like Miz. Culpepper’s house.”

  “Yes,” Jack replied. “The Culpepper house is a lot bigger, but this one looks like a little jewel box on the outside. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed it before.”

  “Me neither,” Wanda Nell said. “I’ve never had much call to drive down this street, but it sure is a nice one. All these old homes, and most of them look like they’ve been really taken care of.”

  “How would you like to live in one of them?” Jack asked, and something in his tone made Wanda Nell look at him.

  “You’re not kidding, are you?”

  Jack shrugged. “Well, you never know. If one of my books took off and sold really well, who knows? I could quit teaching and actually write full-time. And maybe we could afford a house like this. Would you like that?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never even really thought about something like that. I’ve never been able to look all that far ahead, past the next payment on the trailer.”

  “I know, honey, but there are two of us now, and we can dream as big as we want, together.”

  Wanda Nell smiled at him. “I’ll have to think about it. But to be honest, the first thing that occurs to me is, how the heck would I keep a house that size clean?”

  Jack laughed. “We’d hire a maid, honey.”

  “Me, with a maid? Are you serious?”

  A bright red, late-model Jeep pulled up beside them, and the driver honked. Startled, Jack and Wanda Nell peered at the driver as the vehicle pulled into the driveway. It was Ernie.

  Jack and Wanda Nell got out of the car and walked up the sidewalk to the front door. Ernie, dressed in a comfortable cotton dress and sensible, low-heeled shoes, met them at the door. At six feet, Ernie was only a bit shorter than Jack, and she had the bearing of a woman who never doubted that she was in command of any situation.

  After a quick hug, Ernie pulled a key from her purse and unlocked the door. “Come on in. It probably smells a little musty in here, but there’s not much we can do about that. Too many old things.”

  Wanda Nell’s nose wrinkled as she and Jack stepped into the front hall. Ernie was right, it did smell a bit funny. Ernie flipped a couple of light switches, and the shadowy hallway came into sharper focus.

  “Looks like we’ve stepped right back into the Civil War era,” Jack said.

  “As much as we’ve been able to, we’ve kept the house looking like it did back then,” Ernie said. “The elderly lady who left the house to the Historical Society fifty years ago was the daughter of a Confederate officer, and when she inherited the house, she kept it as much as possible in the state it had been in during her father’s time.”

  “Remarkable,” Jack said. “Truly remarkable, and a little bit macabre.”

  “You don’t know the half of it,” Ernie said. “You ought to be here alone in the evening, working. I’ve seen some interesting things, let me tell you.”

  Wanda Nell peered around her. One thing she didn’t like was ghost stories.

  Seeing Wanda Nell’s reaction, Ernie chuckled. “Don’t worry. Miss Ina never comes out during the daytime.”

  “About those newspapers?” Jack asked.

  “Right,” Ernie replied. “I’ll show you where they are, and you can tell me what you’re looking for. Follow me.” She turned and headed down the hall to a room near the rear of the house.

  “This is the library,” Ernie said, once they were all inside, “but of course you can see that, with all the bookshelves.” She waved a hand around. “The newspapers are in these cabinets, and I believe there are markers on the shelves to indicate the years, and so on.” She moved toward a series of metal file cabinets in one corner of the room. They were the only jarring, modern note in the room, as far as Wanda Nell could see.

  Jack walked over to the cabinets and started peering at the labels. “Here’s the drawer,” he said, turning to Wanda Nell for a moment. She held up crossed fingers, and he grinned.

  Jack pulled open the drawer and began examining the contents. Wanda Nell held her breath while Ernie watched, her eyes burning with curiosity.

  Seven

  Wanda Nell couldn’t stand it any longer. She moved beside Jack and peered into the drawer as he continued to examine its contents. As she watched, he pulled a handful of newspapers from the drawer.

  “Here they are.” Jack’s shoulders relaxed.

  “Thank goodness. I was afraid they’d be missing from here, too.” Wanda Nell heaved a sigh of relief.

  “Okay, you two, You had better fill me in now.” Ernie said. “Why did you think the papers you wanted might be missing?”

  “I guess we’d better start at t
he beginning.” Jack clutched the papers to his chest as he shut the file drawer with his other hand.

  “Good idea,” Ernie replied. “Y’all come on over here, and let’s sit down and talk about it.” She motioned them toward a desk with some chairs in front of it. She pointed at the chair behind the desk for Jack, and she and Wanda Nell sat down across from him.

  Stacking the newspapers neatly in front of him as he sat, Jack said, “It all started this morning when I was at the high school having my morning run. I saw old Gus, the custodian, and he got to telling me about how, thirty-one years ago, they found a dead girl on the football field one morning.”

  “Oh, my goodness,” Ernie said. “I’d forgotten all about that.”

  “I’d been thinking about working on a new book, and as soon as Gus told me about this case, I was hooked. He said the case was never solved, and he thought it was hushed up.”

  “From what I remember, there weren’t all that many details to go on,” Ernie said. “Or so everyone was led to believe. But that doesn’t mean somebody wasn’t pulling strings to make sure the investigation didn’t progress very far.”

  “Somebody was obviously pulling strings,” Jack said. “We’ve already talked to Elmer Lee, and he checked their files. He found a file, all right, but there were only two sheets of paper in it. Very few details.”

  “And when you went to the library to look for information in the newspaper, you found that the issues you wanted were missing,” Ernie said, her brow furrowing. “Somebody tried to remove as many traces of the case as they could.” She shook her head. “I suppose I shouldn’t really be that surprised. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened around here.”

  “Probably not,” Jack said. “But it does tell me there’s bound to be at least some useful information in the newspaper.”

  “You go on ahead and look.” Ernie rose from her chair. “I think one of the bits of information you’ll find is the name of a suspect who quickly disappeared, as I recall. His name escapes me just now. I’m going to check something in our records, and I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Jack nodded before he began examining the small stack of newspapers in front of him. Wanda Nell got up from her chair and went to stand beside him at the desk.