Bubba and the Dead Woman (10 page)

“Maybe you spanked a little hard once, and had a child look up at you, or a pet look up at you, and they were scared of you.” He finally put his Stetson back on his head, adjusting it carefully. She didn’t say anything. She thought she knew what he was getting at. “When the red haze cleared out, that man was frightened of me. That’s what’s worse. I had scared a man so badly, he was shaking with it. He thought-he thought I was going to kill him.”

There was a cool spring breeze wafting around the courthouse. Not too many people were around at the time. Across the way, the Pegram Café seemed to be almost empty. “I was angry at Melissa Dearman once. But if I had seen her again, I wouldn’t have lost my temper,” he finished. “I didn’t kill her. I want to find out who did.”

“Someone who is objective enough to see that I’m not the only suspect, or to at least, believe that maybe I might not have done it.” Bubba crackled the list in his hands. “This here is my list of suspects. My mother was tops.”

Willodean laughed, thinking of hours spent playing poker with various, eccentric ladies of Pegram County. “Well, that’s one down.”

“And Miz Adelia Cedarbloom, my mother’s housekeeper,” he went on, “was number two.”

“I guess you know that I was involved in the...ah...Pegramville Women’s Club activities, that night,” Willodean commented mildly.

“Is that what my mother is calling it lately?” Bubba chuckled. “Well, Mama claims that she murdered my father, but I don’t think she would have shot my ex-fiancée in the back. Same with Miz Adelia. Maybe they would have dropped a cement block on her head, but not shot her in the back.”

“Who else you got on that list?”

“Melissa’s husband.” Bubba’s voice was serious. “You know, the man’s whose arm I broke.”

Chapter Seven - Bubba Gets in a Fight –

Tuesday

“What about your intruder?” Willodean Gray asked of Bubba Snoddy. They still stood in front of the courthouse, a cool breeze wafting the smell of honeysuckle over them. The shrubbery around the edifice was abundant with honeysuckle and it was in full aromatic bloom.

Willodean was speaking to him in a different tone of voice, perhaps one that had a bit more seriousness in it. Bubba had suddenly ceased being a ‘suspect,’ and was now a ‘human being.’ He liked that.

“I wonder if that person might have seen something that night. Maybe that person can tell me what happened,” Bubba said, trying not to stare at Willodean’s ruby, pouting lips.

“Did you consider that your burglar might have done the killing himself?” Willodean chewed on her lower lip. Bubba watched, fascinated.
Just look at that lower lip. Golly gee whiz. What did she say?
“But why are they breaking in your place?”

“I suspect to scare my mother. I don’t believe the fella is interested in killing anyone.” Bubba took the piece of bed sheet out of his pocket. He had put in carefully into a plastic, ziplock baggie. He sighed, considering whether to tell Willodean the rest of the story behind the frequent intruders out at the Snoddy Mansion. But damned if Bubba was going to advertise to such an attractive woman that not only was there a famous, addlebrained kook in the family tree, but that his legacy was still impacting the property in terms excessive heaps of dirt scattered here, there and everywhere, as well as in the form of frequent and irritating intruders, intent on hitting the mother lode. “Here’s what he was wearing early this morning.” He amended that. “Well, he was wearing other stuff, too. But this was on top.”

Willodean carefully took the baggie. She held it up and turned it this way and that. Finally, she looked at Bubba again. Her lips were twitching. “I don’t suppose the Klan is mad at you. People burning crosses in your yard and such?”

Bubba smiled. “There hasn’t been an active Klan around here since the 1930s and no, my grandfathers were not involved. They were too busy making a living.”

She shrugged, and Bubba couldn’t help but admire the slender twist of her shoulders. “What else?”

“I read that DNA evidence can be taken from saliva,” Bubba said pointedly. Then he pointed at the baggie she still held in her hand. “Those are eye holes. So he must have breathed on it, maybe even left saliva on it. I figure we can identify that person. Not to mention that the window’s he’s been trying to get into must be covered with fingerprints. I don’t believe he was wearing gloves. You could come and see if there’s any there. Then run them on your database.” Bubba didn’t know what was wrong with him. That had been more than he had said in the last month, including at the police interrogation. He was beginning to sound like a charismatic preacher on a Sunday after the welfare checks had been delivered.

Willodean nodded. “And if you can identify this person, then you might have a witness. However, we don’t really have the resources for all that. It takes a lot of money that the Pegram County Sheriff’s Department is not budgeted for. Folks don’t realize the stuff on CSI is a tad bit exaggerated. But Bubba, the real question would be why would anyone be trying to scare your mother?”

“I believe it’s that damned Neal Ledbetter.” Bubba chomped down hard on his lower teeth, not realizing that a vein in his forehead popped out as he did so. He could picture Neal in the yard with him, staring down at Melissa’s body.
Just as innocent as you please. That man was a carpetbagger born of other shady carpetbaggers.

“Of Ledbetter Realtors?” Her voice was incredulous. Bubba could see it plainly on her face. Why would a bland, well-to-do realtor feel like donning bed linens, and come a-calling after midnight? If it had been said in the bright light of day, it would sound a little silly, even to Bubba.

Bubba nodded anyway. He would explain the reasons that had led him to that conclusion. “For some reason, Neal has decided that the Snoddy property is the only and bestest place to put a new Wal-Mart. My mother, Miz Demetrice, isn’t of a mind to sell the family estates.”

“A Wal-Mart?”

“A Wal-Mart
Supercenter
. Just like the one fifteen miles up the road. I don’t think they would approve of Mister Ledbetter’s strategies. There’s a lot of farm land around the area, but most of the farmers wouldn’t let their lands go for what Neal wants to pay. But here’s a big chunk of land, just aching to be sold, and alls that’s on it, is a big, old, falling down, ramshackle of a place that needs demolishing before it comes crashing to the ground all by itself.” Bubba sighed. “Not to mention it’s convenient to the folks of Pegramville, and simple to get to. A big Wal-Mart sign could easily be seen from the freeway. It’s a good piece of property for that, except that there’s a woman standing in the way. Neal has always been a slimy, underhanded sort, just skirting the line of the law. You can ask the sheriff. He’s been trying to get Neal for fraud for the last decade.” He paused. “The money would be nice, but my mother is determined to keep the place up and running.”

“What about you?”

“I think it needs a historical foundation to restore the mansion. It’s a fine place, but it needs some tender loving care.” Bubba thought of something else that needed a little tender, loving care, and then mentally chastised himself.
Bubba
, he told himself silently.
You already got one woman dangling, and you would be a dandified fool to think you can play with two.
He scratched the side of his head, just under the edge of his hat. “I’d like to see it in all of its past glory, myself. D’you know that Robert E. Lee once spent the night there, on his way to Austin, Texas. And there’s been two presidents there as well. Taft, and Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt, that is. That was when the Snoddy name still had a little panache. And a little more money, too.”

Willodean looked mighty interested. “But Neal Ledbetter doesn’t see that?” she asked. “Nor does he care.”

“No. So, he thinks he can scare my mother. Or at least that’s who I think is doing that. Neal should know my mother doesn’t scare very easily. As a matter of fact, she thinks that someone parading around in a sheet on the Snoddy properties is next to hilarious. And it will be, until she lets go a round of salt rock right in his sheet-covered ass.” Bubba tipped his hat to Willodean. “Pardon my French.”

“I’ve heard the word before,” noted Willodean. Not only that, but she had gotten to know Miz Demetrice very well over the last couple poker games, and she didn’t think the older woman would be too scared by a linen-garbed idiot moaning and rattling chains in the middle of the night, either. “I think I can get the forensics guy to go by your place and take fingerprints of the windows. We’ll say your mother filed a complaint, hmm?”

“Perhaps that would be best,” Bubba said.

Suddenly, Willodean smiled. “Sometimes you sound like a redneck fresh out of the woods, and sometimes that parlance and phrasing sounds just like a cultured fella who forgot to talk down...Imagine that.”

Bubba sure liked a sassy woman. Willodean was such a woman. She was full of sass and vinegar and a little spice that makes life a lot more interesting. He mentally compared her to Lurlene Grady. Although, Lurlene was a comely creature, she was more obliging, more ready to agree with Bubba and go with the flow. But this woman, she wouldn’t take any kind of guff from him, or from any other man. No wilting flower, she. He shrugged to the comment she had made.

They walked back toward the Sheriff’s Department offices and when they got there, out walked Major Michael Dearman.

Bubba supposed it had been inevitably that the man whose arm he had once broken would turn up to claim the body of his wife. But he was still surprised. The major was dressed in Army class ‘A’ attire, commonly called ‘greens.’ Every ribbon was in place. Every bit of gold was polished, rank and medal alike. He was putting on his green, saucer cap which had a band of gold leaves ringing it, when his eyes made contact with Bubba’s.

Dearman still looked like the same fella he’d been three years earlier. Although, Bubba thought that maybe having a little child, would make a difference on a man’s appearance. But then here was a man who had just lost his wife. How he had lost his wife was the important part, or at least it was to Bubba.

Dearman was a tall man, but not as tall as Bubba. He was also leaner with long ropy muscles that indicated a man who enjoyed running in a marathon or two. Not a spare ounce of fat on this man. The skin still fit as taut over his well-formed face, but the heavy black rings of exhaustion belied the rest of his appearance. His blonde hair was cut military short with not a dissenting lock out of place. Blue-gray eyes observed everything in purified military fashion. Here was a man who had been born and raised specifically for the intent of performing well in the United States Army.

Dearman continued to stare at Bubba with a puzzled look on his face. It was self-evident that while he hadn’t immediately recognized the other man, he knew his face from somewhere. It was a face Dearman should have recognized, and that was what was troubling him.

That surprised Bubba even further. Could it be possible that the major hadn’t known where his errant wife was going? That was part of Bubba’s theory. Irate major knows that beautiful, young, trophy wife is returning to old lover, follows her to old lover’s place, and murders her in a fit of rage. That theory plainly relied on the information that Major Michael Dearman knew
where
his wife was going and
who
his wife was going to see. Because if he didn’t know where and who then he didn’t have a motive for murder.

Dammitall,
thought Bubba, vexed.
So much for suspect no. 3
. But he brightened. It could be that the major was merely a good actor. After all, there was a sheriff’s deputy standing beside him, watching the major herself, with her own growing recognition of the general situation, even if she was a little, slender thing that looked as if a strong wind could blow her right over.

But then a couple came out from the door just behind the major. These were two people in their early sixties. Bubba knew them, but he had never met them. He had seen a framed portrait of them sitting on Melissa’s dresser for about two months, every time he had gone into the bedroom. The man was balding, and had a paunch. He was dressed in what had to be his best suit, a brown polyester accommodation that looked about twenty years old, with a wide, striped tie that looked even older. He was tugging at his collar as if its tightness pained him, and he had Melissa’s blue eyes. The woman looked to be his age, dressed in a flowered print with a neat little box-hat over her gray hair. She still held a little, snow-white handkerchief in her hand, with which she continued to dab at her eyes. Her features were a picture of what Melissa would have looked like had she lived so long.

Melissa had been one of five children, but the only girl. Although her family had been poor, they had loved their daughter. They had also been proud of her accomplishments while she had been in the Army. Certainly, they would have come to see about the murder of their only daughter. Maybe they would have accompanied their son-in-law to claim her body.

Bubba didn’t have a long time to cogitate about these matters, because Willodean hissed at him out of the corner of her perfect, ruby mouth, “You need to go now.”

Bubba agreed heartily. He took one step toward his truck where Precious was intently observing his every action.

Precious was quite perturbed that she hadn’t been allowed to go on a walk with the other human, and she would certainly hold it against her master, for as long as a minute perhaps. But then another game was afoot as the dog observed the human in the green suit and the green hat give a sudden hoarse shout that she didn’t understand. Her master twisted his head about, just in time to see the man in green launch himself at her master. Precious scrambled to get her body through the open window but couldn’t manage it, so she began to bark and bay as if a safe were going to be dropped on her master’s head, which in a way it was.