Hideaway Hospital Murders (19 page)

“
I didn’t mean to,” said
Mallie Mae. “I’m sorry.” She began to sob.

Macy helped her to her feet. “It’s okay. I’m
here to take care of you.”

Elmo watched as Macy walked his mother
toward the restroom. She was holding Mallie Mae’s purse behind her
as they walked, attempting to hide the large wet spot on the back
of her dress.

The ladies room was empty.

“
I can’t believe you did
that,” said Macy.

“
What? You think I wet
myself on purpose?” said Mallie Mae.

“
Well, you did it right
after Carsie called, so I figured—”

“—
hey, you know I don’t
want her as a daughter-in-law, but I would never purposely
humiliate myself in a crowded restaurant.”

“
I’m sorry. What happened?
Did you just start peeing without knowing it?” said
Macy.

“
I don’t know. I was just
sitting there, and then suddenly I felt wet. I don’t even remember
doing it.”

Poor Mallie Mae, Macy thought. She had faked
Alzheimer’s to manipulate her son. Now, maybe she really did have
it.

Chapter
24

Freddy’s Fenders was a small used car
dealership, located less than a mile from Jake’s house. Carnie left
her car at Jake’s while she went down to give Freddy some business.
She didn’t need a flashlight, thanks to the moonlight.

She was dressed in a cute
little exercise outfit. She figured a sexy 29-year-old seen on the
streets of Coreyville after dark might arouse suspicion. But not if
Miss Sexy was
jogging
. Some wives might have
to put their husbands’ eyes back in their sockets, but she didn’t
mind that.

The sticks in her hands were not really
sticks. They were poster tubes—one of which contained a large
screwdriver. The ring of auto jiggler keys was in her pocket.

The tiny portable office
building had not been
portable
in years. It had a
small office, a bathroom and a little storage room. Once you were
in Freddy’s office and he’d get between you and the door, you’d be
hard pressed to escape without buying one of his junky
cars.

A lamp illuminated the desk and little else,
and a ‘Closed’ sign hung in the window. Most of the vehicles in the
front lot had ‘$500 down’ scribbled across their sad faces. They
seemed to sense they were past their prime—shined up to look their
best despite their age. But Carnie had no interest in them. It was
the dark blue full-size van that had caught her eye earlier in the
day.

This is just too easy, she thought, as she
reached into her pocket for the jiggler keys. The first key didn’t
work. Neither did the second. She looked around to make sure there
was still nobody watching. She tried several more. Key number six
was the winner. She opened the door. Now she would use the
screwdriver to pop the ignition and then work a little magic with
the wiring and…

“
Hold it right there,” said
a rumbly low-pitched voice.

She turned around and saw Freddy himself—all
363 pounds worth, pointing a pistol at her.

“
Hey, don’t point that
thing at me,” said Carnie. “This is
my
van.”

“
No, Missy, this is
my
van,” said
Freddy. “And you are on
my
property, breaking into my
van.”

Carnie started to cry. “But you don’t
understand. When I broke up with Billy, he stole my van. I reported
it to the police, but they haven’t done a thing to find it. So, I
started searching all over Hallsville—that’s where I live. Then I
looked in Marshall and Longview too. My sister’s been driving me
all over the place trying to find it.”

“
So, where
is
your sister?”
Freddy looked around.

“
She already left. I told
her I would be fine, now that I found my van.”

“
Well, I don’t care what
you say. This van belongs to me and I have the paperwork to prove
it. I’m calling the cops.”

“
Oh, come on, Freddy.
You
are
Freddy, right?”

“
That’s right. And you
don’t mess with Freddy or his cars,” he said as he flipped open his
cell phone.

Carnie walked toward him.

“
Stay back.” He pointed the
gun at her head.

She ignored his warning and moved in closer
and placed her hand on his chest and began to rub it lightly and
gaze into his eyes. “Now Freddy, I’m sure we can work something
out.”

“
What are you doing?”
Freddy was losing focus. He must call the cops, he
thought.

Then she put her arms around his huge body.
She still had a poster tube in her left hand.

Freddy was in a daze. When was the last time
an incredibly sexy young woman put her arms around him and pressed
her smoking hot body into his? Never. Was he still holding his cell
phone? He wasn’t sure. And where was the gun? His hands were numb.
But his arms were around her exposed midriff. He loved the feel of
her smooth, tight skin.

Carnie removed the cap from the poster tube
behind his back and pulled out the large screwdriver. She rubbed
her breasts from side to side across his chest a couple of times,
and said, “How’s that feel, Baby?”

“
Don’t stop now,” he
said.

“
I wonder what would happen
if I reached down into your pants?” she said, as she pulled back a
little.”

Freddy didn’t speak. He just let his arms
fall to his sides as she pulled away. Do whatever you want, Baby,
he thought.

Carnie threw her right hand into the
air.

By the time he looked up and saw the shiny,
sharp object in her hand, it was too late to raise the gun or even
step back. He was a dead man, and he knew it.

She thrust the screwdriver deep into his
chest. She expected him to fall down, but he didn’t. For a moment
she wasn’t sure she had hit the mark. He just stood there, dazed.
Then he began to raise the gun.

She jumped toward him and grabbed the arm
with the gun and tried to wrench it from his hand. But he twisted
the pistol more and more toward her.

“
Die, you fat butt!” she
said, ripping her fingernails into his hand.

But her words made him stronger, more
determined to kill her. Just a couple more inches over and he would
blow a hole in her heart—if she even had one.

Carnie realized she was losing the battle.
She could not overpower this bull of a man. She swung her right leg
back like in high school. She had been captain of the soccer team.
This one is for the win, she thought. She threw her leg forward
with all her strength, and plunged her shoe up into his crotch. It
was a kick that would have rocketed the ball way beyond the length
of the field.

Freddy dropped the gun and his cell phone
and rolled to the ground in excruciating pain. He was still
breathing and moaning when she yanked the screwdriver out of his
chest. The blood began to gush. He would be gone in a few seconds,
she thought. Nobody would find the corpse until morning. She used
his shirt to wipe off the screwdriver. Then she picked up the
pistol. Too easy for the cops to get fingerprints off of it, she
thought.

She climbed into the van, popped the
ignition, started the engine, and drove to Jake’s house.

When she pulled into the driveway, Jake
walked out to the van. “Where’d you get this thing?”

“
From a buddy,” she
said.

“
A buddy?”

“
Well, he
was
a buddy—for
about a minute. Now he’s not. Get in.”

“
Okay. Just a minute—I need
to turn off some lights and lock the door.”

“
Get in now!” said
Carnie.

Jake walked around to the passenger’s side
and got in.

“
This thing stinks,” he
said.

“
You’ll get used to
it.”

“
Smells like your
buddy
used it to
haul dead fish.”

“
My buddy
is
a dead
fish.”

Jake didn’t want to know what she was
talking about, so he shut up.

Carnie pulled into the Wal-Mart parking
lot.

“
Now, how are we going to
pick up women here?” said Jake. “There’s a guard driving around the
parking lot.”

“
That guy on the little
electric golf cart?”

“
Yeah. He may be old, and
he probably doesn’t even have a gun, but all he has to do is dial
911 and we’re in big trouble.”

“
He’s not gonna be a
problem.” Carnie parked the van.

“
Here he comes.”

“
Watch this,” she said, as
she stepped out of the van.

She waved to the guard as he approached.

He saw her, and drove to where she was
standing. “Do you need help, Ma’am? Dead battery? Flat tire?”

“
No, I’m fine, thank you. I
just wanted to tell you I’m meeting both of my grandmothers here
and taking them out for a fancy dinner. They think they’re coming
to help me pick out some material for drapes. In fact, neither of
them knows the other’s coming.”

“
I see.”

“
I hope that’s okay.
Because I know we’re really not supposed to do that. You’re only
supposed to park here if you’re shopping at Wal-Mart.”

The old guard smiled. “Well, Honey, don’t
worry. It’ll just be our little secret.” He winked at her.

“
Oh, you’re wonderful.
Thanks so much.”

“
No problem. Have a nice
time with your grandmothers.” He drove away.

**********

“
Well, at least
everything’s out of the truck,” said Greg.

“
Sorry about your garage,”
said Beverly to her daughter. “I didn’t realize I had so much
stuff.”

“
That’s okay, Mom,” said
Cynthia. “I don’t mind parking my car outside for a
while.”

“
Y’all getting hungry?”
said Greg.

“
I could eat a horse,” said
Beverly.

“
What did you have in mind,
Sweetie?” said Cynthia to Greg. “I’m pretty grungy. I don’t think
I’d want to go out to eat.”

“
Why don’t we order pizza?”
said Greg.

They agreed on a large pepperoni, and Greg
pulled out his cell phone and walked out of the room to call in
their order.

“
Honey, would you mind
helping me with my hair in the morning?” said Beverly.

“
Sure, Mom.”

“
I want it to fix it up
nice for church. So, I really need to wash it tonight. When we
finish eating I’ll run down to Wal-Mart and get some more of my
shampoo.”

“
You don’t need to go out
tonight. I have shampoo.”

“
No, Honey, there’s a
special brand I use. It’s the only kind that works right for
me.”

“
Okay. I’ll go with you,”
said Cynthia.

“
Oh, don’t be silly. You
just said you were too grungy to go out.”

“
But I hate for you to go
out alone at night—“

“—
now wait a second. If I
had known you were going to treat me like a child when I moved in
with you, I would have just stayed in Marshall.”

“
Alright, fine. Go by
yourself.”

“
That’s more like it,” said
Beverly.

They both smiled. This living together thing
would take some work, but they knew they could do it.

Chapter
25

“
Didn’t you forget a couple
of things at the house?” said Jake.

“
Nope. We’ve got everything
we need,” said Carnie.

They were sitting in the stolen van at
Wal-Mart, waiting for their first victim.

“
What about the knife? You
were going use it to scare them and make them get in the van? And
you forgot the gun. I was supposed to point it at them to keep them
quiet. We better go back. We can do this some other
night.”

“
Look in the glove box,”
said Carnie.

Jake twisted the latch and opened the glove
box, and a light came on inside.

“
Hey, ain’t this
my
screwdriver?”

He examined it. “What’s this red stuff on
the handle? Blood? Don’t tell me you killed somebody when you stole
this van?”

“
Of course not. That’s
probably red paint. Quit getting so freaked out about
nothing.”

“
And this ain’t
your
gun, is it? I
can’t believe I got myself into this mess.”

Carnie grabbed his shirt collar and got in
his face. “Do you want to go to prison?”

“
No.”

“
Then shut up and settle
down. Otherwise we’re gonna get caught.”

She grabbed the two weapons and handed the
gun to Jake.

He studied the gun a few seconds, and then
said, “You’re not so smart.”

“
What do you mean by
that?”

“
You gave
me
the gun,
and
yo
u just
have a screwdriver.”

“
So, what? You’re gonna
shoot me? You think you just might shoot me? Well, go ahead. If
you’re gonna do it, do it now, Jake!”