Murder & Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction (26 page)

Tess
started. “I’d like two scrambled eggs with toast.”

“
And I’ll have two fried eggs over easy with bacon,” Martha Maye said.

“
I believe a western omelet and an English muffin sounds good
today,” Jack said. “And bring us three orange juices, too, please.”

“
Okay, that’s an Adam and Eve on a raft and wreck ‘em, flop two over easy with two pigs, a cowboy, burn the British, and a sun kiss times three.” They nodded hesitantly. “Comin’ right up.” Willa Jean walked away, yelling, “Walkin’ in…”

“
I reckon y’all wonta finish our conversation from the other night,” Martha Maye said.

“
If you wouldn’t mind . . . “ Tess hedged.

“
Naw, I don’t mind. I just didn’t wonta get into it in front a Henry Clay . . . it’s . . . it’s complicated.”

“
You don’t have to explain,” Jack assured her.

“
All right now, what else y’all wonta know?”

“
You said your grandmother was murdered, too, but they caught her killer, right?”

Martha
Maye snorted a sigh. “Yeah, they caught him. The killer was Mama’s uncle.” She looked up as Willa brought their juice.

“
Fresh squeezed just fer you, darlin'.” Willa winked at Jack.

“
Well, thank you, Willa Jean. See ladies? It pays to hang around with me!” The women looked at each other and shook their heads.

Martha
Maye continued, after a sip of juice. “My mama’s mama and my great grandmamma were on Mama’s back porch that day, on account a it bein’ sa hot.” She stopped talking for a moment, then slapped her hand down on the table. “Well cut my legs off and call me shorty! It was around this time a year that it happened. Lessee . . . yep, I b’lieve the shootin’ was on July 7. I remember ‘cause it was seven-seven-thirty-seven. Idn’t that somethin’? Almost to the day.”

“
That really is a weird coincidence,” Tess said, wide-eyed.

“
Well, anyway,” Martha Maye continued, “they were ironin’ and
jawin’ and all of a sudden Uncle Trevor appeared. Some people said he was insane. I don’t rightly know if he was or not. I guess a fella’d have to have a screw loose to shoot his sister-in-law and her mother. He was so ate up with love he couldn’t stand the thought of any man havin’ her.”

“
Ate up?”

“
Eaten up, consumed with love,” Jack explained.

“
Yeah,” Martha Maye said quietly. “Thank goodness Mama and my aunt and uncles didn’t see it. The boys were down at the crik playin’ around, Aunt Imy was down the street at a friend’s, and Mama was sound asleep upstairs takin’ a nap. She slept through it all, which was a blessin’. My great Aunt Denise and Uncle P.D. came over ‘n got Mama. P.D. was tore up about it, but he and Denise kept the kids while Grandma was in the hospital. It wadn’t but a few weeks later ‘n Trevor was tried and convicted, lickity-split.” Martha Maye looked up when Willa Jean arrived at the table with their food.

Once
the food had been served, Martha Maye’s face brightened. “Actually, I might could find some newspaper clippin’s if y’ont a see ‘em.”

“
Do you think we could?” Tess asked.

“
I don’t see why not. But we’d best not include Mama. Why don’t
I try ta find ’em, and bring ‘em over to your house, Tess.” Martha Maye was suggesting, not asking.

“
That would be great. Thank you.” Tess hesitated before she said, “Martha Maye, if your mother found out about our little project . . . how do you think she would feel?”

“
I cain’t rightly say. I don’t ‘spect she’d mind us talkin’ ‘bout it, as long as
she
doesn’t have ta talk about it, ya know?”

“
I just don’t want to go behind her back. I’d hate to offend her.”

“
So . . . you really think that key you have might pertain to my grandfather’s murder?”

“
We’re not sure,” Jack said. “But we’d like to try to find out—if you don’t think it would hurt your mother.”

They
ate in silence for a few minutes. Tess finally said, “So, your grandfather’s brother killed Lou's grandmother, and was convicted.” Martha Maye nodded her head. “And that was after your grandfather was murdered, but his killer was never found. Is that right?”

“
Yep. That’s about the size of it.”

“
Did they have any suspects?” Jack took a huge forkful of omelet.

“
Well . . . there were those who thought that man—Brick Lynch,
I b’lieve was his name—did it outta revenge, even though he was pardoned of the robbery conviction by the governor. He was indicted and tried for the murder, but he was acquitted.

“
And then ‘a course some people saw it as a suicide. They said my grandfather was into some shady dealin’s and was in over his head. And still others thought he knew somethin’ he shoulden-oughtta know, and he was killed to shut him up.”

“
What did your grandmother think?” Jack asked.

Martha
Maye cocked her head. “I just don’t know. Hmm . . . I’ll see if I can casually broach the subject with Mama. I’ll wait for an opportune time.”

She
chewed for a bit and then added, “I’ll keep our conversation under wraps fer now, how ‘bout that? I’ll kind a feel her out about it first. And you said she knows about the key you found?”

“
Yes, I told her about it right away, because I knew it was her old house. But she wasn’t interested in talking about it.”

“
Well, you let me do some pokin’ around. I’ll see what I can come up with.”

sweet tea
: noun \sweet tee\ southern wine, iced tea with a pound of sugar in it

Would you like lemon in your sweet tea?

[  July
2010  ]

“You will not believe what that dog of yours did!” Tess said into the phone, feeling very stressed.

“
Ezzie? Um . . . what’id she do?”

“
While I was at the diner, she
opened my cabinets
and drug out my cupcake keepers
that had lids on them,
and she ate an entire container of cupcakes, including the wrappers, AND an
entire container
of brownies!”

“
Uh-oh.”

“
And
. . . “ Tess glared at Esmerelda.

“
There’s an ‘and’?”

“
And
, she opened every cabinet she could reach, and pulled everything out onto the floor!”

“
Tess, I’m not trying to make light of this, but are you sure it was Ezzie who did this?”

Tess
froze. “You think someone came in my house again?” she asked in a voice barely loud enough for him to hear.

“
Well, Ezzie’s never done anything like that here, and with all the trouble you’ve been havin’ . . . “

“
Jack, do you keep baked goods in your cabinets?”

“
Well, no . . . “

“
I rest my case.” Tess was sure this was havoc wreaked by a canine, and not a human. Especially when she looked at Ezzie with a guilty
expression and her ears back. As she talked, she picked up the mess that was all over her kitchen floor. “Don’t you feed this dog?” she practically shrieked.

“
I’m so sorry, Tess. She’s never done that before. Listen, let me make it up to you. Let me do somethin’ special for you tonight.”

“
Like what?” Tess’s voice softened.

“
Wear somethin’ casual, and I’ll pick you up around seven o’clock, all right?”

“
Where are we going? Casual has a wide meaning.”

“
It’s a surprise, Mary T. Go with it.” She could hear his smile over the phone, and she could picture the dimple that came with his smile. She smiled, too, and hung up the phone.

* * *

That evening Jack was right on time, but Tess wasn’t ready. Since she didn’t know where they were going, she didn’t know how to dress. She stood at her bedroom window and watched him get out of his car.

“
Red polo and khaki shorts
,”
she said to Ezzie, who promptly let out a whine.

The
doorbell rang, and Ezzie went racing to see who was there. Tess called down the stairs, “Come on in! I’ll be right down.”

She
quickly put on hot pink shorts and a white sleeveless linen blouse. Pushing her feet into white sandals, she fluffed her hair and took a deep breath. Suddenly Lou’s voice popped in her head, “You know what you’re doin’, right?” The times she’d been out with Jack hadn’t
really seemed like dates. Tonight felt like a date.

No
, she looked at her reflection in the mirror,
I don’t know what I’m doing
.

J
ack was lavishing attention on Ezzie when Tess walked into
the den. He stood up and greeted her with a huge smile. “You look beautiful.”

“
Thank you, Jack. How’s your head?” She moved to his side, turned his head with her hand, and pushed his hair away in the area of his
injury, to see for herself.

“
Well, Nosmo King said I’d feel like the underside of a turnip green for a while, which I did, but I’m doin’ better now, thank you. How ‘bout your knees and hands?”

“
Not too bad,” she said, extending her leg and holding her hands palms up to show the healing cuts and scrapes. “I’m ready to go, if you are. Just let me grab my purse.”

Throwing
her purse over her shoulder, she came back into the room saying, “So, Mr. Mystery Man, where are you taking me?”

“
Mystery Man? Who? Me? Excuse me, ma’am, but
I’m
not the
mysterious one—you are!” He put a hand at the small of her back as they started for the door. Ezzie had also followed, and Jack stooped down nose-to-nose to have a word with her. “I wish I could take you, old girl, but I’m afraid you’d eat all the food. You behave now,
Esmerelda. Stay out of trouble.” He bopped his finger playfully on her nose.

Jack
followed Tess out, and she locked the deadbolt. “Well . . . you write mystery novels, and you’re being mysterious about where we’re going tonight . . . hence the name, Mr. Mystery Man.”

“
Well then,” he opened the car door for her, “that would make me Mr. Mystery
Writer
Man. Outside of my novels, I’m an open book.”

Once
he’d slipped into the driver’s seat she said, “So that’s the way you want to play it?” She looked sideways at him and he flashed a cheesy grin. “Okay, Mr. Mystery
Writer
Man, where are you taking me?”

He
started the car and backed out of the driveway. “That, pretty
lady, is for me to know and you to find out.”

She
couldn’t believe he wasn’t going to say where they were going. “You’re really not going to tell me? What happened to the open book?”

“
Okay, okay! I’m takin’ you on a pic-a-nic, Boo Boo,” he said, using his best imitation of Yogi Bear, which was actually pretty good.

“
It’s a perfect night for a pic-a-nic, Yogi.”

“
I want to show you a spot that I came across recently. It’s beautiful, and I think you’ll like it.”

A
Chris Isaak CD played low on the car stereo, and she looked out the window as they drove down the street, heading out to the country.

“
I have some friends who own some property not far from here, and they said we were welcome to use it,” he explained. “I thought it would be the perfect place for a picnic. They haven’t built on it yet, and the land is totally untouched, except for the little bit of mowing I did this afternoon.”

It
wasn’t long before they arrived at their isolated destination, and Jack was leading her up a trail in the woods to a spot near the top of a hill. The view was breathtaking. Wildflowers and ferns were to the left and right of them. Just as Jack said, he’d cleared a spot from the trail to the edge of the hill.

Tess
stood looking in awe at the field of flowers. Jack ran to a tree, reached behind it, and then came back with a vase overflowing with wildflowers. “Don’t worry, not one flower was harmed in the making of this clearing!”

Tess
clapped her hands together with excitement. “You didn’t mow any down?” She took the vase from him.