Julia 03 - Miss Julia Throws a Wedding (8 page)

I was silent for a minute, trying to place the Hillandale Trailer Park. I had no trouble placing Etta Mae Wiggins. Her image immediately flew into my mind, and I just as immediately was on my guard. Yes, I remembered the small, curlyheaded, dyed-blond little snip; the one who was all over Sam pretending to take care of him, and the one with the checkered marital history. And some even more garish unmarital history, as well, if the tales told around town were true.

The trailer park was another matter. I had vague recollections of the list of properties that Wesley Lloyd had owned, none of which I’d known about until he was dead and gone. I’d been amazed at the number and variety of businesses that he’d invested in: convenience stores, gas stations, an office building, retail buildings, a car wash, untold numbers of
undeveloped acres and yes, a couple of trailer parks. He’d never said a word to me about any of them because, I later learned, he didn’t run them, just collected rent. Which I still did, although it all came to Binkie’s office through Mr. Willis Carter, my so-called properties manager. He was supposed to handle these matters, because I didn’t want to be bothered with them.

So why was this woman calling me about trouble out there?

“Ah, yes, Miss Wiggins,” I said. “I believe you want to get in touch with Mr. Carter. He manages things for me, and he’ll know how to take care of any problems you might have.”

“I’ve tried that, Mrs. Springer, and I can’t find him. In fact, we can never find him unless somebody hasn’t paid their rent on time, then he finds us. I’ve also called the sheriff’s department, and I might as well not’ve found them, either, because they haven’t done a thing.”

“The sheriff’s department! What on earth made you call the sheriff?”

“There’s a thief out here! I tell you, Mrs. Springer, something has to be done.” The woman’s voice was getting more heated by the minute.

“You mean somebody living there is a thief? Why, I’ll have him evicted first thing Monday. Who is it?”

“No, ma’am, it’s not anybody living here. At least, we don’t think so, since everybody’s been here for so long and this has just started.” She’d calmed down by this time, but I could hear the concern in her voice. Still, she had a nerve calling me over something even the sheriff couldn’t handle.

“Well,” I said, “if you don’t know who it is, what can I do about it?”

I heard her take a deep breath, then she said, “I would think that, as the owner of this place, you’d want to take some measures to increase security. The pole lights’re out all the time, so that it’s pitch-black at night. There’s no fencing anywhere, so that anybody can come in anytime they want to
from any direction. Why, when I have to go out at night to see one of my patients, I never know who’s going to be hiding in the bushes. It’s dangerous out here, Mrs. Springer, and, well, we need something done about it.”

“I’ll have Mr. Carter replace the lights as soon as I can reach him, and I’ll tell him to keep them in good repair. But, as far as a fence is concerned, Miss Wiggins, I believe there’re several acres out there. Do you know what it’d cost to enclose all that?”

“Mrs. Springer,” she said, and I could hear her voice getting tighter. “I just know that everybody out here has had things stolen from them, and I know that sooner or later somebody’s going to get hurt. And a lawsuit against you would cost more than any fence, I don’t care how many acres it went around.”

“A lawsuit! Young lady, are you threatening me?”

“No, ma’am, I’m not. I’m just passing on what I’ve heard others say who live here. Just come out here, Mrs. Springer, and see what we have to put up with.”

“All right, I will,” I said, determined to stop this little matter in its tracks. Just nip it in the bud, before she disrupted my already busy week with more phone calls. “I’ll come right now, even though I have my hands more than full here. How will I find you?”

She gave me directions to her trailer, and I put the phone down with a trembling hand. A lawsuit! I declare, everybody and his brother was suing people right and left. But, to sue
me
? The idea of being threatened with civil action made my blood boil. Mr. Carter had a lot to answer for, and believe you me, I intended to see that he did.

By the time I drove to Delmont and beyond, out Springer Road toward the Hillandale Trailer Park, I was even more incensed. Little Lloyd accompanied me, sitting in the passenger seat, occasionally cutting his eyes at me with concern.

“Little Lloyd,” I said, “I’ll tell you one thing. It is a heavy responsibility to own things. If it’s not a roof leaking, it’s a furnace that’s out. And as the owner, you are responsible for seeing that it’s fixed, even when it’s an act of God, as the insurance people say. And does it come at a convenient time? No, sir, it does not. Just let yourself get busy with something important, and here comes another complaint. Or insurance bill. Or tax bill. Well.” I sighed. “Heavy hangs the head that bears the burden.”

“Ma’am?”

“I’m just saying that I’m glad you came with me. It’ll be good for you to see what you’re in for as a property owner. Eventually, you’ll be taking care of what you own, and maybe mine as well. In fact, if I remember right, this is one of the properties that belongs to both of us. So take note.”

I turned in at the gravel road that ran through the middle of Hillandale Trailer Park. Gravel had run off the side, leaving ruts and ridges in the road, and I had to slow considerably. Dust boiled up behind us, settling across the trailers as we passed.

“I guess,” I murmured, “I ought to have this scraped and more gravel put on.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Little Lloyd said, as he looked out his window at the grassless yards and the metal trailers baking in the sun. Lord, it was barely June. What would it be like in August?

“Maybe,” he went on, “you could have the road paved, and cut down on some of this dust.”

“That’d be nice, I’m sure. But an owner has to balance out his income with his expenses, and not get too carried away.” I leaned over to look through the side window. “I believe this is where Miss Wiggins lives. You remember her, don’t you? She was visiting when the power went out in that last ice storm we had.” The one who’d made a fool of herself over that race-truck driver, I almost said but didn’t.

“Yessum, I do. She was Mr. Sam’s nurse who he liked so much.”

“Huh,” I said under my breath. Then, “Now, Little Lloyd, you must learn to treat all people with respect, especially those who don’t have as much as you do. This young woman apparently has nowhere else to live but in a tin trailer on rented property, although I must say her place looks better kept than most of them.” I turned in behind an old, sagging car that I recognized as Miss Wiggins’s, and looked around. There was a plastic awning over the door on the side of the trailer that threw a green shadow over a poured concrete porch. An aluminum chair and a pot of geraniums decorated the entrance.

“Well, let’s see if we can get through this without too much trouble,” I said, opening the car door.

Little Lloyd followed me to the shade of the awning, but before I could knock on the door, Miss Wiggins opened it and stepped out to meet us. Right there, she made her first mistake with me. She should’ve invited us inside, unless there was something or somebody she didn’t want us to see.

“Miss Wiggins,” I said, acknowledging her with a formal nod of my head. “I’ve come to see what the problem is, and I sincerely hope that there’ll be no more talk of a lawsuit.”

“Yes, ma’am, but it’s not me that’s talking lawsuit. I was just passing on what I’d heard.”

She looked ill at ease, standing there clasping her hands together. I imagined that she was remembering the run-ins we’d had at our other meetings, from which I’d always come out the better.

“Well, tell me what’s going on. Oh, excuse me,” I said, taken up short for forgetting my own courtesies. “You remember Little Lloyd, don’t you? Say hello to Miss Wiggins, Little Lloyd.”

He smiled and held out his hand, making me proud. “Hello, Miss Wiggins.”

“Hi,” she said, a broad smile lighting up her face. It pained me to admit it, but she was not unattractive. Her personality, though, was another matter. Grating, I’d call it. She shook the child’s hand, and asked about his mother. I kept forgetting that Hazel Marie had grown up around this part of the county, and that Miss Wiggins was surely familiar with Hazel Marie’s long-term attachment to my husband.

For that matter, she knew who Little Lloyd was, too. That meant she could see right through me. Suddenly I didn’t feel at all comfortable in her presence.

“Now, Miss Wiggins, we don’t have all day, so tell me what’s going on.”

“Well, everybody in the park, just about, has been missing things.” She turned and pointed down the graveled street. “The Barnhardts in that second trailer over there are missing a yard chair. The Crenshaws’re missing a barbeque grill, and Miguel Martinez’s remote control is gone. And that was from
inside
his trailer.” She turned and pointed in the other direction. “Carrie Munson, who lives about five trailers down, lost every bag of Fritos and potato chips she had, and she’d just gone to the Wal-Mart super store to stock up. And I’m missing two bags of hard candy that I keep to give to my elderly patients. A lot of them don’t have enough teeth to chew, but they love the hard kind that’ll melt in their mouths. Now it’s all gone.”

Her shoulders seemed to slump with the injustice of it all. Then with renewed energy, she said, “Just all of a sudden, seems like, things’re missing from one trailer or the other. Oh, and my neighbor across the street there, her son’s bicycle is gone. And it had a flat tire. I mean, who would want it?”

“Well,” I said with some relief, “it doesn’t seem that anything of value has been stolen. In fact, a lot of what you mentioned could just be lost.”

“No, Mrs. Springer,” she said, shaking her head. “We
formed like a search party, and looked all over, in and around all the trailers. Those things aren’t just lost; they’re gone.” She closed her eyes for a second, as if she needed to gather strength. Then she looked at me straight on with her hard blue eyes, and said, “Those things may not sound like much to you, but they’re things that people spent money on and not many of us can afford to spend twice on something. But the worst thing is that we never know when or where whoever it is, is going to strike next. At first we thought the same as you did, that they’d just been lost. But would everybody start losing things at the same time? I think not. And I didn’t even tell you everything that’s been stolen. I have a list inside. I’ll get it for you.”

“No need, Miss Wiggins. I understand the problem, and I’m trying to figure out what to do about it. I’ll certainly see about replacing the lights, and I’ll dress down Mr. Carter for his negligence. In addition, I’ll speak to someone at the sheriff’s department about putting a regular patrol out here. But a fence around all of this is out of the question. I think a better solution would be to assign some of the residents here to set up a watch at night. You people need to take some responsibility for looking after yourselves.”

A flush spread across the young woman’s face, and I realized that
you people
might’ve been a poor choice of words.

She lifted her head and gave me another hard look. “I told the others we couldn’t expect you to do anything and I was right. So I guess
we people
are on our own. Thank you for coming out; I’m sorry I bothered you.” And she turned on her heel and went inside the trailer, closing the door firmly behind her.

“Well,” I said, pursing my mouth. “If that isn’t the rudest thing. Come on, Little Lloyd, no need to stand here any longer.”

We got back in the car, and I drove slowly through a cloud
of dust until we were on a paved road. Somehow, the farther away we went, the more troubled I was about the exchange. I knew I was right. I mean, what could I do? Still, I felt that I hadn’t come off in the best light.

“Miss Julia?” Little Lloyd looked over at me. “We could hire somebody to stay out there for a while. I mean, like an off-duty deputy. Coleman told me that a lot of them take extra jobs like that.”

“You think we ought to?”

“Yessum, I do.” He was quiet for a minute, thinking over the problem as he usually did. “The worst thing, I think, is not knowing who’s sneaking around. If I lived there, I don’t think I’d ever get to sleep at night.”

It’d never entered my head that I would ever live in such a place, so it surprised me that the child could picture himself doing it. “What else would you want done if you lived there?” I asked.

“I’d want that street paved. And, let me see, I guess I’d want a fence around the park. Did you see down at the end of that street? Looked like a dump on the other side of that line of trees. I’ll bet there’re stray dogs and, maybe, some tramps or something that pick through the trash. They could just walk right into the trailer park anytime they wanted to. And I’d want Mr. Carter fired. He’s not taking care of things, Miss Julia. He should’ve been the one to notify you of the problems they’re having.”

“I declare, Little Lloyd,” I said, with an approving glance. “Here I was thinking you were too tenderhearted, but I see you have a businessman’s mind. All right, I think we’ve just had a board meeting. First thing Monday, I want you to call all the fencing companies in town and get some estimates. Then, as soon as the wedding’s over and things calm down, we’ll contract for a fence. It’ll cost us, but I expect we can take it off our taxes as a capital improvement. In the meanwhile, I’ll deal
with Mr. Carter. Just as soon as he replaces those lightbulbs, and I find somebody to replace him.”