Bring Your Own Poison (2 page)

“Yeah,” Wanda Nell continued, “he's a nice-looking man.”

“He sure is,” Mayrene said, grinning salaciously. “I just love that uniform and the way he fills it out. He's in real good shape, if you know what I mean.”

Wanda Nell laughed. “You are terrible, Mayrene. You sure move fast.”

“Ain't nothing holding me back,” Mayrene said smugly. “I'm old enough to know what I want, and what I'm willing to share.” She laughed. “What about you and Jack? When are you going to start sharing with him? You can't tell me he's not getting frustrated.”

This was the last thing Wanda Nell wanted to talk about right now. She and Jack Pemberton had been dating for several months. Jack had already told her he loved her and that he wanted to marry her, but Wanda Nell just couldn't make up her mind. They hadn't even been to bed together yet. Wanda Nell's two jobs kept her on the run, and her schedule and Jack's didn't give them that many opportunities. Jack taught English at the county high school, where Juliet had been one of his students. He often came by the Kountry Kitchen for his evening meal, but the only time they really had together was Sundays. There was no way she was going to jump into bed with him at her place, not with her daughters and her grandson anywhere around. That just wouldn't be right, and she would never do it.

They could have been together at Jack's house, but Wanda Nell felt funny about that, too. It would feel too much like shacking up with somebody while she left her girls and Lavon on their own, and that wasn't her way. She knew Jack was frustrated by the situation, and she was getting increasingly that way herself. She had finally admitted to herself that she really loved Jack, and it was only natural for them to take their relationship to the next level. Marriage was still a little further down the road.

“Don't mind me, honey,” Mayrene said as the silence between them lengthened. “I know you don't really want to talk about it, and I shouldn't aggravate you by asking like that.”

“Oh, it's okay,” Wanda Nell said with a rueful smile. “It's almost funny, it's so ridiculous.”

“No, it isn't,” Mayrene said. “I know how you feel. You can't turn your back on your responsibilities to your family just to make things easier for you and Jack. You wouldn't be
you
if you did that.” She patted Wanda Nell's shoulder.

“Thanks,” Wanda Nell said. “But it's getting real frustrating, I can tell you.”

“You don't have to tell me,” Mayrene said, her laugh booming out, startling Wanda Nell. “I know how I get when I'm in a dry spell, if you know what I mean.”

Wanda Nell couldn't help but grin at that, even though inside she wanted to yell. Her dry spell had pretty much lasted since she divorced Bobby Ray nearly twelve years ago.

“What we got to do is figure out a way for you and Jack to spend more time together,” Mayrene said. “You need more time to yourselves without family hanging around.”

“Yeah, but how?” Wanda Nell asked. “Which job should I give up? And who would be here with the girls? Mostly Juliet, these days, and even though she's fifteen, I just don't like her being here by herself.”

“No, I know,” Mayrene said. “You know you can always call on me.”

“Yeah,” Wanda Nell said, “and I thank you for that, but you have your own life. You can't always be running over here helping me out all the time.”

“It'll work out, somehow,” Mayrene said. “But I better stop all this jabbering, and let you get some rest. What time do you have to be at the Kountry Kitchen?”

“Not till five,” Wanda Nell said, glancing at the clock. “That gives me time for about a four-hour nap, and I'm sure going to need it tonight.”

Mayrene got up from the couch. “What's so special about tonight?”

“Oh, we've got this bachelor party,” Wanda Nell said, frowning in distaste. “They reserved the back room from seven o'clock until. You know how those things are. Grown men acting like idiots.”

“Yeah,” Mayrene said. “You reckon they're going to have one of those big cakes, with some woman hopping out of it?” She had an odd look on her face.

Wanda Nell laughed. “Who knows? They're sure spending a lot of money on this.”

“Dixon told me he's got something to do tonight,” Mayrene said slowly, “something that he couldn't take me to, he said. Just some of the guys. He sure didn't tell me it was a bachelor party. I figured they'd be playing poker or something.”

“That doesn't mean he's going to be at this party,” Wanda Nell pointed out.

“Yeah,” Mayrene said, her face darkening, “but what you want to bet that's exactly where he will be? Who's this party for?”

As Mayrene asked that question, Wanda Nell realized that Mayrene's new boyfriend probably would be there. “It's for some guy named Travis Blakeley. He's getting married next week, to this girl T.J. knew in high school. He's a policeman, too.”

“Travis Blakeley,” Mayrene said, her voice suddenly harsh. “I wouldn't let any child of mine anywhere near him. Who'd be crazy enough to marry him?”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Wanda Nell asked. She didn't know Travis Blakeley from Adam, but Mayrene seemed to. Whatever she knew, it obviously wasn't too good.

“He's been married twice already,” Mayrene said, her face set in grim lines. “Both his wives died within a year or two of getting married in so-called
accidents
. Would you want one of your girls to marry a man like that?”

Wanda Nell shivered. Something like that happening to one of her daughters didn't bear thinking about.

“No, I don't know much about him,” she said. “How do you know all this?”

“His first wife was a girl from down around Winona,” Mayrene said, “I knew her mama and daddy, Betty and Jack Treadwell. It liked to have killed them when she died.”

“What happened?”

“She was home by herself one night—asleep, or so they said—and the house caught on fire,” Mayrene said, her face dark with anger. “The smoke got to her before she could get out of the house.”

“How did the fire start?” Wanda Nell asked, trying not to picture the girl's death in her mind.

“Some kind of explosive,” Mayrene said. “They never did find out who set it. A lot of people thought it was Travis because of the insurance settlement he got. They couldn't ever prove anything, though.”

“If it wasn't him,” Wanda Nell said, “then who else could have done it?”

“Travis claimed it was somebody who'd threatened him,” Mayrene said, and the scorn in her voice indicated what she thought of that idea. “He helped get some pretty nasty guys sent to the state pen at Parchman, or so he said. He claimed they said they'd come after him when they got out and make him sorry.”

“Seems like that could have happened,” Wanda Nell said.

“Maybe,” Mayrene conceded, “but right after he got hold of that insurance money, he bought himself a fancy sports car. And he was courting some other girls less than three months after his first wife died.”

“That's pretty tacky,” Wanda Nell said, wrinkling her nose.

“It gets worse,” Mayrene said. “A couple years after his first wife died in that fire, he got married again. To one of the girls he started running around with right after his wife was killed.” She snorted. “Some say he was running around with them even
before
poor Jeanie Treadwell died.”

“And something happened to the second wife, too?”

“You bet it did,” Mayrene said. “The house they were living in burned down, too. Another explosive device, but this time the wife wasn't home.”

“Creepy,” Wanda Nell said. She was terrified of house fires.

“You got that right,” Mayrene replied. “Well, a couple months after
that
house burned down, the second wife was driving home late one night. They were living out in the country, and somebody ran her off the road into a steep ditch. Her car rolled over several times, and she died.”

“That's horrible,” Wanda Nell said. It was all too easy to picture. A country road late at night, no lights other than car lights—or moonlight if you were lucky. Wanda Nell shivered at the thought. It was bad enough driving around Tullahoma late at night with streetlights.

“It was,” Mayrene said, “because it turned out she was two months pregnant.” She paused for a moment. “Travis had a big insurance policy on her, too.”

“Didn't anybody try to investigate him that time?” Wanda Nell had thought Mayrene was maybe exaggerating at first, but the more she heard about this man, the more she was inclined to believe her friend.

Mayrene shrugged. “They might have, but what were they gonna do? He's a policeman, and the police department stood up for him. Travis claimed it was probably one of those same guys that threatened him that ran her off the road.”

“So you're telling me they didn't really investigate it?”

Shrugging again, Mayrene said, “I think they probably did some kind of half-assed poking around, but it didn't amount to a hill of beans.” She snorted in disgust. “So much for our police department.”

“If you feel that way,” Wanda Nell said, not certain how her friend would take this question, “then why are you going out with one of them?”

“I know, I know.” Mayrene got a real sheepish look on her face. “I don't think they're
all
bad. Dixon's a good man, otherwise I wouldn't give him the time of day. If I find out he's not, then he's gonna rue the day he ever crossed my path.”

Most women who uttered threats like that were just talking, but with Mayrene, it was probably the truth. Wanda Nell knew her friend well, and Mayrene never made idle threats.

“I just hope for your sake he's as good a man as you think he is,” Wanda Nell said. “You deserve a good one.”

“Don't we all, honey, don't we all,” Mayrene said, grinning. She got up. “I'm going home and let you get some sleep.”

Wanda Nell nodded, sagging a little against the couch. “I'm not gonna argue with you.”

“I'll lock the door behind me,” Mayrene said. “You just get on to bed.”

The trailer was suddenly too quiet once Mayrene was gone. Without her daughters and grandson nearby, Wanda Nell felt oddly dislocated. She so rarely spent time alone in the trailer, the situation unnerved her a little bit.

Shaking away this unaccustomed twinge of nerves, Wanda Nell got up from the couch and went down the hall to her bedroom. Stripping off her clothes and slipping into bed in her bra and panties, she pulled the covers around her and made herself comfortable. Grimacing, she sat up and reached for the alarm clock. Sure as she didn't set it, she'd oversleep.

That task accomplished, she snuggled down in bed and willed herself to relax. For a few minutes, all she could think about was what Mayrene had told her about Travis Blakeley. She hadn't been looking forward to this bachelor party to begin with, and now she really didn't want to work it. She wasn't sure she wanted anything to do with a man like that.

She shouldn't be quick to judge, she knew, but the story Mayrene had told her was pretty compelling. Too many coincidences for there not to be some truth to it. Yawning, she made another effort to banish these thoughts so she could sleep.

When the alarm sounded at four-thirty, Wanda Nell came out of a deep sleep. She had been dreaming about a girl trapped in a burning house, and the images from the dream lingered in her mind while she struggled to wake up completely. She sat up and shut off the alarm clock.

For a few minutes she stayed in bed, the covers bunched up around her. The dream had frightened her, and she couldn't seem to shake it.

The phone rang, startling her. Reaching out a trembling hand, she picked up the phone from her bedside table.

“Hello.”

“Hey, darling, it's me.” Jack Pemberton's voice, warm and comforting, brought her back to reality. “I was just calling to make sure you were up. I know you hate to oversleep.”

“Thanks, sweetie,” she said, smiling. Jack was thoughtful and caring, always doing little things to show how he felt about her. “I remembered to set the alarm, but getting a phone call from you is a lot better.”

“Glad to oblige,” Jack said. “I just wish…well, you know.” His voice trailed off.

“I know,” Wanda Nell said, her voice soft. She wished it, too, and maybe one of these days he wouldn't have to call her on the phone to wake her up.

“Are you coming by for supper tonight?” Wanda Nell said after a brief pause. “If you are, I'll make sure to save you some apple pie.”

Jack groaned into the phone. “Honey, I'm gonna be about as big as the broad side of a barn if you keep on feeding me like that.”

Wanda Nell laughed. Jack did sometimes eat a lot, but he more than compensated for it by regular exercise. He had a lean, fit body and…well, she'd better not go down that road. Thinking like that led her into visualizing too many distracting images. She laughed again softly, this time at herself.

“What was that?” Jack said. “Are you laughing at me?” He pretended to be outraged.

“No, honey, just at myself,” Wanda Nell said. “Look, this party I've got to work is supposed to start around seven-thirty, so make sure you get there earlier than that. Otherwise I won't be able to spend much time with you.”

“I'll be there around six-thirty,” Jack said, “and I'll make sure you have time for me, if I have to bribe Melvin to do it.”

Wanda Nell laughed again. Melvin Arbuckle, her boss at the Kountry Kitchen, liked Jack, and the two men got along well. That was a good thing, because Melvin had more than once expressed interest in Wanda Nell himself. Not since Jack had entered the picture, though, and Wanda Nell was grateful for that. Melvin had been a good friend to her, and she would hate to lose that friendship, not to mention her job.

“I'll see you then,” she said. “Now I better be getting up and into the shower, or I'll be late.”

“Okay, darling,” Jack said. “Love you. Drive carefully.”

“I will,” Wanda Nell promised. She cleared her throat. “Love you, too.” She hung up the phone.

She still had trouble sometimes saying those words to Jack. They came more easily to him, but for her they were so loaded with meaning she couldn't say them any old time. She knew it all had to do with commitment, and she was trying to be better about it. She had a hard time relying on a man after the years of marriage to Bobby Ray Culpepper, when she could never count on him for much of anything. She was used to relying on herself, and that was a hard habit to break. She had to keep reminding herself that Jack was very different from Bobby Ray, and that was a good thing.

A good thing she was determined to hang on to, Lord willing. She got out of bed and was soon in the shower.

By five o'clock she was dressed, her makeup done, and heading out the door to her car. The girls and Lavon wouldn't be home for a little while yet. After having lunch at old Mrs. Culpepper's house on Main Street, they were going to a movie.

Wanda Nell opened the door of her little red Chevy Cavalier and slid inside. The weather was still cool, but the warm April sun had heated up the interior of her car. She rolled her window halfway down before she headed out.

The Kozy Kove Trailer Park, where Wanda Nell lived, was situated close to the lake, and as she drove toward town, Wanda Nell passed a fair amount of traffic headed that way. It would be a nice night for a picnic or a barbecue at the lake, and suddenly Wanda Nell was envious. She'd much rather be doing that than going in to work tonight.

Shaking her head, Wanda Nell concentrated on driving to work. Nothing was far from anything else in Tullahoma, and it took her only about ten minutes to get to the Kountry Kitchen. She parked her car, grabbed her purse, and headed into the restaurant.

Melvin Arbuckle looked up from the cash register as she came through the front door. He smiled in welcome. “You're a little early,” he said, glancing at his watch. “It's not even five-fifteen yet.”

“Just couldn't wait to get here, I guess,” Wanda Nell said. She slipped behind the counter and passed him on her way to the room in the back where the waitresses had space to keep their purses and other personal belongings.

“Glad to hear it,” Melvin said.

“Hi, Ruby,” Wanda Nell said, pausing to greet the other waitress.

“Hey, Wanda Nell,” Ruby Garner said, her young face breaking into a wide smile. She was a sweet, smart girl, and Wanda Nell was very fond of her. She was attending the local junior college and working at the Kountry Kitchen to pay her way through.

“I'll be right back,” Wanda Nell said. She paused in the kitchen to speak to the cook and the dishwasher before dropping off her purse down the hall. She made a last quick check of her makeup in the mirror there. Deciding that she looked fine, she returned to the front of the restaurant. She paused behind the counter to survey the room.

Only a couple tables and three stools at the counter were occupied, and Ruby obviously had everything under control up front. “What do I need to do for the party?” Wanda Nell asked Melvin.

“Not much,” Melvin said. “It's been pretty slow this afternoon, so I think I've done everything that needed doing. You can double-check me, though.”

Wanda Nell nodded. Melvin was thorough, but sometimes he missed a few things. She might as well have a look.

She paused near the end of the counter to speak to one of the regulars. “Hey, Junior, how're you doing?”

Junior Farley, his plump face creased into a grin, said, “Howdy, Wanda Nell. I'm doing about as well as can be expected, I guess. How're you?”

“I'm fine,” Wanda Nell said. “You need anything?”

“Naw, I'm okay,” Junior said. “Little Miss Ruby there'll take care of me if I need something.” He beamed at the girl who blushed and turned away.

Suppressing a smile, Wanda Nell continued on her way to the restaurant's back room. Junior was pretty shy with women. He had been dating someone for a while, but Wanda Nell heard the woman had dumped him. Now it looked like Junior was mooning over Ruby. He was a nice man, but he was a bit too old for Ruby, Wanda Nell thought. Junior had to be her age, if not older, and Ruby was barely twenty. She was smart enough to handle the situation, though, and Wanda Nell wasn't going to interfere. Junior would probably be too chicken to do anything anyway.