by K C Hart
Katy’s respirations began to increase as memories of a previous run-in with a crazed killer filled her mind. “What are you doing?” she whispered.
“You want to know all; well I’m going to tell all.” She clamped her hand onto Katy’s shoulder and steered her away from the front of the auditorium and around toward the darkened back lot. “I twisted on your guitar knob about thirty minutes ago and have been waiting by that back door ever since for you to come out.” She released Katy’s shoulder and slapped at a mosquito on her neck. “Them blood suckers have about eaten me alive.”
“How did you get through the stage door? It’s automatically locked on the outside.” Katy’s mind began to whirl. “You messed with my strings…and you have a key.” Her heart jumped into her throat. “You planted the key in Emma’s guitar.”
“Of course I did. Floyd would hang the key on a nail by the back door during the school day so people would quit coming to get him to let them in and out. Lazy cuss. I just rode with Lance one day to spray the school. I grabbed the key, made a copy, then brought it back before Floyd ever missed it.”
“But he said he didn’t have the key. He said somebody stole it.”
“Wouldn’t you say that, too, if somebody was trying to pin a murder on you?” Johnnie Mae squeezed Katy’s shoulder again. “Wait, go this way. I can’t get between those trucks without bumping my leg.”
Katy eased to the right and they made their way between a row of compact cars. “But why Emma? She didn’t have feelings for Rob. Why pin all of this on her?”
“All I ever heard was Emma this and Emma that. ‘Have you ever thought of going blond like Emma Robinson, Johnnie Mae? Why don’t you join the YWCA, Johnnie Mae? You need to tone up like Emma Robinson.’” She applied a little more pressure to the knife. “Then she came to him wanting guitar lessons. I knew something was going on even if he wouldn’t admit it. He had been changing towards me for a while, and heaven knows he didn’t mind telling a lie.”
“Is that why you broke up with him? You thought he was having an affair with Emma?” Katy could feel her pulse pounding in her head. “You’re wrong, Johnnie Mae. Emma couldn’t stand Rob.” She tried to ease forward a few feet away from her attacker. They were reaching another section of trucks. Maybe she could break away and hide long enough to call John.
“I didn’t break up with him.” The words fell from her lips like hot coals. “He left me. He said he had somebody younger, somebody he had more in common with. That day you came in the business asking all those questions I knew you were going to be trouble. I tried to throw you off the track, but you just wouldn’t let it go.”
“You killed him and framed Emma,” Katy whispered. “You killed your lover and framed a completely innocent woman.”
“No, not innocent. She was after Rob. I just stopped it before her little game had time to work.” Johnnie Mae reached across Katy’s shoulder and pointed to a car fifty yards away near the road. “There’s my car. Keep walking.”
She put her hand back on Katy’s shoulder and nudged her with the knife. “Setting her up was so easy. I talked Lance into dropping by Tubby’s practice one night. Sure enough, her guitar was laying on the backseat of her car while she flittered around from group to group, running her mouth. That’s when I got the idea to put the key in there. I made another copy of the key for me to keep and then I had a spare for her. We came back to the next practice, I planted it in the guitar’s belly, and she was set. Then when I killed Rob, everything pointed to her.”
Katy jumped as her phone vibrated in her back pocket. “Johnnie Mae, my phone’s ringing. If it’s John and I don’t answer it, he will come looking for me.”
“Alright, stop.” Johnnie Mae’s hand slid from Katy’s shoulder up to her neck. She squeezed a muscle on Katy’s neck between her thumb and fingers, almost bringing her to her knees. “Get your phone.”
Katy pulled the phone from her pocket. The vibrating stopped but started back immediately. A picture of John with his arm draped around Belinda’s neck appeared on her screen. “Okay,” Johnnie Mae said, “answer it but put him on speaker phone.”
She took a deep breath and pushed the green button. “Hey.” She could hear her voice shaking. “I broke a string and had to run out to the car for a new one. I am fine John.”
She glanced over at Johnnie Mae, who was looking at the screen. She looked so normal, well, except for the enormous hunting knife she was wielding.
“Wait, baby,” John’s voice finally rushed from the phone. “I can’t hear you over the noise. “What did you say?”
“I said I’m in the parking lot getting more guitar strings. I am fine John. See you in a bit.”
“Alright, but hurry up. The Tubs will be on in a minute.”
The phone went blank and Johnnie Mae snatched it from her hand and looked back at the screen. “I always wondered how you got such a good-looking man like John.” She sighed and slipped the phone into the side pocket of her khakis. “Lance used to be nice looking. He had a full head of blond curls and a nice, flat stomach. We were such a sharp couple. Now he’s just another balding, middle-aged man with a beer belly and saggy pants.”
“Everything doesn’t revolve around how someone looks.” Katy caught her breath and fell back against a car as Johnnie Mae pinched the muscle in her neck again.
“Don’t try to tell me anything about men. I’ve been with enough of them to know. They are all out for themselves. They can’t help it. It’s the way God made them.” Her grip eased slightly. “The only reason Lance didn’t leave me years ago is because I’m so good at running his business, and I’m the mother of his child. Believe me, it has nothing to do with love.”
“If you really feel that way about men, then why did it bother you so much that Rob Clay broke up with you?”
“Because.” She shook her head and laughed a caustic laugh. “I deserve better. Who is he to think he can just move from one woman to another, use her up then move on to the next younger model?” She pulled air through her nose. “He did the same thing to Edna Morse, you know. You saw that note she left him. If I hadn’t gotten to him first, it was just a matter of time before she did. Face it, Katy. I did this town a service.”
“But Johnnie Mae, what about Pam Newman? What about Emma Robinson?” She shook her head as she stared at the older woman. “I don’t agree with anything that you’ve done, but you did a lot more than just get revenge on your lover.”
Johnnie Mae let go of Katy’s shoulder and ran the back of her hand over her eyes. “Don’t you dare judge me. You’re just another woman who thinks she can look down on the rest of us because you have it all together. You try living with a man that you have to force to get up and go to work every day. You have to pay all the bills and hide all the extra money to keep him from gambling it away on some idiotic video game. You don’t know me. You don’t know nothing about me.”
Keep her talking. Keep her talking and keep from getting yourself stabbed. John will be here in a minute. They both looked toward the auditorium as thunderous applause reverberated through the walls. Katy swallowed hard and turned back toward Johnnie Mae. “The Rough Edge Boys must have done okay.”
“We have to get going. If we ain’t out of here before it’s time for you to go on stage, somebody will come looking for you. Now quit stalling and get a move on.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lord please, please let him remember the danger phrase, Katy thought as she stared at her captor and tried to slow her rapid breathing. Johnnie Mae released her grip on Katy’s neck and bent over to rub her left thigh, wincing with the movement. Her right hand continued to hold the knife securely in place. A dark stain about the size of a quarter was seeping through the mad woman’s khakis.
“You are the other dog bite that Trudy Mae was talking about.”
“That thing’s not a dog, it’s a wolf.” She straightened back up and shifted her weight to her right leg. “I’m not supposed to walk on it much. I
might have popped loose a stitch.”
“I don’t understand.” Katy leaned against the car, hoping Johnnie Mae would follow her lead. “You killed Rob Clay and pinned it on Emma. Nobody even suspected you. Why did risk it all by going after Pam, too?”
She lifted her left hand toward Katy’s face. “It will only fit on my pinky finger. That tattooed beautician had tiny hands.”
Katy squinted her eyes trying to focus on what Johnnie Mae was showing her in the dim moonlight. An expensive-looking, square-cut diamond glistened from a slim gold band. “That’s the ring?”
“That’s the ring. I eased up behind him and slipped that guitar string around his neck just like I planned.” She stretched her arm out in front of them and wriggled her fingers. “It wasn’t difficult. He always was sort of puny. When he fell back against my chest a ring box dropped out of his hand. I decided to check his pockets and found that note from Edna and a fancy handwritten love letter to the beautician.”
Now’s the time. She’s distracted and no longer has my neck in that unbearable wrestling hold. She took a deep breath and bolted toward a row of trucks but more importantly, away from Johnnie Mae’s knife. She wedged between a couple of bumpers and continued to franticly put distance between herself and the crazy woman.
“Get back here, you nosy little do-gooder. We ain’t done yet.”
Katy weaved between the vehicles as fast as her wheezing chest and pounding heart would allow, not sure where she was going, just away from that voice. A flash from the corner of her eye made her turn her head. The sheriff’s car was creeping quietly down the road, but his blue lights were blazing bright. She heard Johnnie Mae let out a long streak of colorful words with Katy’s name as the central theme.
“Whoa, whoa.” John wrapped his arms around Katy as she plowed into his chest full force, almost taking them both to the ground.
Katy could feel the tears burning her eyes. “It’s Johnnie Mae. She’s got a gigantic hunting knife, and she’s nut-house crazy.” She held one hand to her pounding chest and pointed behind her with the other. “She was taking me to her car, but I made a run for it.” She fell forward again letting all her fears bleed from her ravaged nerves onto John’s sturdy, calm presence. “I was so scared that I couldn’t think of what to do. I just didn’t want to die.”
John held her tightly and rubbed her back while she calmed down. “It’s going to be okay. Just take a breath.”
Katy’s ear rested over John’s heart. Its steady rhythm began to work into her frazzled nerves to calm her own pounding pulse. She took a slow, deep breath and raised her head. “When I talked to you on the phone, I was so scared you wouldn’t understand. I’ve been forgetting to text you every couple of hours, and with our minds on the competition…” She lay her head back down. “I’m so thankful you made me set up that stupid system.”
They both looked across the lot toward the sheriff’s car. A second set of flashing patrol lights pulled up next to Johnnie Mae’s car from the opposite direction. “Do you think they have her?” Katy asked. “Her leg is bleeding, but we weren’t too far from her car. She can still get away.”
John pulled his buzzing phone from his jeans pocket. “Hey. Good. I’ll tell her. Thanks.” He took the phone from his ear. “The sheriff said that she’s in the backseat of his car and they are on their way to the station. He’ll get with you later.” He stroked the back of her head, “You’re safe.”
The sound of thunderous applause came from the auditorium behind them. “Edna must finally be getting around to introducing The Tubs.” He stuck a thumb under her chin and tilted her head up toward his face. “You don’t have to do this tonight. Everyone will understand if you let The Moonlighters go on without you.”
Katy thought about Mrs. Simmons, Laura Jean and the nursing home residents; even Mr. Emmet Smith and her gas station buddies that were so proud of their role in getting her band to this point. “No, I can do this.” She looked over her shoulder one more time as the blue lights pulled away from the side of the road. “That one bad apple ain’t going to ruin it for the rest of us.”
They entered through the front of the auditorium and made their way to where John had been sitting. Katy saw Emma’s blond head a few rows up, sitting by Trudy Mae and Mrs. Simmons. The next three rows were taken up by several nursing home staff and residents that Katy and the band knew personally from the years of their once-a-month performances. She looked around at the rest of the packed house. It was filled with people who had lived here their entire lives, and from just glancing around, most of them seemed happy and focused on the music that The Tubbs had started to belt out.
“I know I look a sight,” she turned back to John and shouted over the music, “but it doesn’t matter. They came here us play.” She wiped under her eyes with her fingertips and headed down the side aisle toward the stage. She eased behind the curtain and up to where the rest of The Moonlighters were waiting to go on. Joh Phobs crooned out the lyrics to a famous Dwight Yoakum song while the rest of the band backed him up.
“Where have you been?” Misty exclaimed. “We were this close to sending out a search party.”
“I’ll fill you in after the show.” She smoothed down her hair and rubbed her lips together. “How do I look?”
“Fine,” Misty tilted her head to the side. “Well, maybe a little pale. You okay?”
“Just a case of the nerves. They’ll pass.”
The auditorium roared to life as The Tubbs finished their last song. The group bowed, then bowed again before the crowd finally settled down.
“That’s a rough act to follow,” Sarah said as they watched The Tubbs walk off the stage.
“We’ve done more than I ever dreamed of in just getting here,” Vickie replied. “Besides, if we have to get beaten by somebody, I hope it’s The Tubs.”
After Edna’s rather lengthy introduction, The Moonlighters walked onto the stage and Katy took her place behind the center mike. She strained her eyes until she found John giving her the thumbs up sign from about mid-way through the audience. She took a deep breath then looked at her empty hands. Color drained from her face. My guitar! It’s still in the back and the string’s still broken.
Before panic could completely take over, she felt a large hand touch her back. Tubby placed his own beloved six-string Taylor in her empty hand and helped lift the strap over her head.
“Thank you,” she said, fighting the tears from her eyes.
He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “I just got a text from Todd.” He hugged her cheek “Thank you.”
She watched his massive flannel-clad back as he walked back offstage. I’m already a winner…and so is he.
Tubby and the Tubs, The Moonlighters, and their families all accepted Misty’s invitation to come to her house to decompress after the show was over. Tubby and The Tubs had walked away as the big winners, followed by The Rough Edge Boys, then, to Katy’s great surprise, The Moonlighters.
“I can’t believe I walked on that stage without a guitar.” Katy practically fell into Misty’s porch swing as John handed her an icy cold can of Coke.
“I can’t believe you walked on that stage at all after what you went through in that parking lot!” exclaimed Misty’s mother.
“I can.” Joe Phobs popped the top on a Dr. Pepper. “She’s one of the toughest women,” he paused, “no, make that one of the toughest people that I have ever met.”
Katy smiled and lowered her head. “If running for your life makes you tough, then maybe so...but thank you.” She looked up with twinkling eyes. “How do you think The Babes are taking it coming in dead last?”
“All I know is if we run out of stamps any time soon, I’m driving to the next county to buy more,” John laughed.
“Amen to that,” Misty said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Barbara presents some kind of formal protest over the results before this is all over. I tried to shake her hand after they called our name for third place, and she flat-out snubbed me.�
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Katy leaned her head over on John’s shoulder as the stress of the evening began to trickle away. “You can’t help but feel sorry for women like her, and Edna, and Johnnie Mae.”
“Maybe you can’t.” Misty raised an eyebrow. “I’m not so sure I would describe what I’m feeling about Johnnie Mae Smithers right now as pity.”
“Rob Clay was seeing Edna Morse most Friday nights, and then her most Saturday nights, and poor Pam the rest of the time.” Katy took a sip of her Coke and nudged the porch swing forward with her foot. “Now that it’s all over and I’m truly safe, it just makes me sad that a person could get so wrapped up in all the wrong stuff; so bitter that she would kill two people.”
“And frame a third innocent person,” Tubby said softly.
The room grew quiet as everyone reflected on the past few weeks. “I’m very glad that you caught her when you did,” Emma said, breaking the silence. “I guess God was watching out for us through this whole thing.”
“He always has, Emma,” John said.
“And always will,” Katy finished.
Thank you for reading Music, Murder and Small Town Romance! I hope Katy doesn’t stumble on any other town folk with an eye for romantic endeavors like poor ole Rob Clay...bless his heart.
Don’t forget to leave me a review on Amazon. If you enjoyed this book, keep reading for a peak at my next book, Memories, Murder, and Small Town Money, coming soon. If you haven’t read book one, Moonlight, Murder and Small Town Secrets.
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Memories, Murder, and Small Town Money
CHAPTER ONE
It was a three-ring circus. Moms dragging kids to and from cars, kicking, screaming, squalling. Gray-haired women and men, either creeping along at a snail’s pace on their canes and walkers, or flying in front of her car at break-neck speed on their scooters. Katy had already slammed on brakes twice to avoid running into somebody’s grandma, who obviously needed her driver’s license, and her scooter license, revoked. If she lived in the city, she would have sat down on the horn, rolled the window down, and given them a piece of her mind. But you didn’t do that in Skeeterville. She bit her tongue, smiled, waved, and prayed for patience. The Pig, on the last Saturday of the month, when the school and hospital paid all their employees, and the old folks got their Social Security checks, was the last place any sane person wanted to be.
