Best Served Cold (A Trailer Park Mystery Book 3) Read online

  The tar-paper-and-tin-roof building, probably no bigger than four rooms, hunched in a tangle of weeds and debris like a drunken spinster in a threadbare dress. As she got out of the truck and walked slowly up the path through the weeds, Wanda Nell feared that knocking on the door might cause the whole structure to topple over.

  The screen door hung slightly loose, and Wanda Nell pulled it open. She knocked on the wooden door, then glanced at her knuckles. Flecks of paint dusted her fingers, and she wiped them against her jeans.

  “Who is it? What you want?” The door opened just enough to let Wanda Nell glimpse one wary green eye through the slit.

  “My name is Wanda Nell Culpepper, and I’m looking for Lily Golliday,” Wanda Nell said, trying to keep her voice steady. She wanted to sound friendly and confident, but the surroundings unnerved her. “Mrs. Hattie Conley told me I could find her here.”

  The eye blinked several times, but the door wasn’t moving. Then, suddenly, the door swung open, and the person holding it stepped back into shadow.

  “Come on in,” she said.

  Wanda Nell stepped into the house. As the door swung shut behind her, she took her first full breath. She almost gagged. The air was fetid, reeking of stale smoke and several other odors Wanda Nell didn’t care too much to identify.

  Breathing as shallowly as she could, Wanda Nell followed the woman into the room into which the front door opened. There was very little furniture, an old, stained couch that sagged in several places, and a couple of metal chairs with vinyl seats. A battered TV sat on a low table across from the couch, and the only light, hampered by the unchecked shrubs and trees outside, emanated from the windows on two sides of the room.

  As the woman turned, Wanda Nell got her first good look at her face. This had to be Lily Golliday. She was every bit as pretty as Melvin had described her. She might even be beautiful, but weariness and something else Wanda Nell couldn’t define had marked her face. The skin around her startlingly green eyes was puffy, and she moved listlessly, as if every step required an effort.

  Lily Golliday slumped down on the couch and waved a languid hand at one of the chairs. “Please sit down.”

  “Thank you,” Wanda Nell said. The girl’s voice had a pleasing tone to it, but she uttered even those three words with an obvious effort.

  On closer scrutiny, Wanda Nell decided Lily was probably closer to twenty-five than twenty. Melvin hadn’t been certain, but perhaps she hadn’t been so tired and washed-out looking when he saw her. Her skin was more gray than pale brown today.

  Lily leaned back on the couch and regarded Wanda Nell with half-closed eyes.

  “You came looking for me at the Kountry Kitchen,” Wanda Nell said. “What did you need to talk to me about?”

  “How did you find me?” Lily asked. More than curiosity, there was a tinge of fear to the question.

  “One of the girls I work with, Ruby Garner, saw you. She remembered you from a class she had with you at the junior college.”

  Lily didn’t respond for a moment. “Yeah, I wanted to talk to you,” she finally said.

  “Is it something to do with my brother?” Wanda Nell felt oddly protective toward this girl. There was something about Lily’s obvious unease and her appearance that aroused Wanda Nell’s maternal instincts. Was the poor girl here by herself? Then Wanda Nell remembered what Hattie Conley had said about Lily’s mother, that she was bad on drugs.

  “Yeah,” Lily said. “I been trying to find him.”

  “Why?” Wanda Nell asked. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but how do you know my brother? I’m trying to find him, too.”

  Lily stared at her for a moment before turning her head aside. Her gaze fixed on something Wanda Nell couldn’t see, she said, “I need to find him. I need some help.”

  “I can see that,” Wanda Nell said gently. She had to be careful and not lose her temper with this girl. “But why my brother?”

  “Do you know where he is?” Lily asked.

  Why won’t she answer my question? Wanda Nell thought. She could think of several possible answers, none of which pleased her.

  “I don’t know where he is,” Wanda Nell said. “He’s been missing a few days, and the sheriff’s department is looking for him. He’s a possible witness in a murder case.” That seemed a safe way to put it. “I’m afraid he could be in trouble, and I want to find him and make sure he’s safe.”

  When Lily didn’t respond, she went on, “You see, I’m afraid he may have been kidnapped. We may be running out of time, and if we don’t find him soon, I just don’t know what might happen.”

  “He was kidnapped,” Lily said, “but he’s not anymore.”

  “How do you know that?” Wanda Nell demanded.

  Lily’s face was sullen as she replied. “Because I talked to him a couple days ago. I ain’t heard from him since, though. That’s why I come looking for you. He told me if I needed help to come to you.”

  “Then why didn’t you wait until I got to work so we could talk?” Wanda Nell asked. This girl was confusing the heck out of her. She didn’t know what to make of her, but despite her increasing irritation, she felt sorry for Lily.

  “I didn’t feel good,” Lily said, “and I had to get somebody to give me a ride over there. She couldn’t wait till you got there, so I just came on home with her. I ain’t felt good enough since then to try to get a ride back over to the Kountry Kitchen.”

  “Well, I’m here now,” Wanda Nell said. “We’ll try to figure out what to do. First, though,” she continued, her tone firm, “tell me what you know about my brother being kidnapped, and how come he’s not still kidnapped.”

  “He told me about it,” Lily said.

  “So you’ve seen him? Or did you just talk to him on the phone?”

  “Ain’t got no phone,” Lily said. “He come by here a couple days ago.”

  “Where had he been before that?”

  Lily shrugged. “He said a couple guys had run his truck off the road, and they made him go with them. They was keeping him at somebody’s house, but he was able to get away from them.”

  “And he came here?”

  Lily nodded.

  “And they didn’t follow him here?”

  “No,” Lily said, “he was real careful about that. He didn’t want nobody connecting me and him and my mama.”

  “Where is your mother?” Wanda Nell asked.

  “Where she always is,” Lily said in a tone of contempt mingled with resignation. “She’s out looking for money for drugs.”

  Wanda Nell didn’t offer any comment. Frankly, she had no idea what to say. Instead, she pressed on with her questions. “What about Rusty, then? Where did he go when he left here?”

  “I don’t know exactly where he is,” Lily said, frowning. “He just said he knew someplace safe to hide out while he figured out what to do. He said nobody would know about it, except you.”

  Wanda Nell was puzzled. Where on earth was Rusty talking about? What safe place did they both know? There were times recently when she could have used it herself.

  “How did he get there? Was he walking? The sheriff’s department has his truck.”

  “He’s got my mama’s car,” Lily said, “and she’s real pissed about that.” From the look of grim satisfaction on Lily’s face, Wanda Nell figured that her mother’s irritation pleased her.

  “Why didn’t he have you or your mama drive him to this safe place he told you about? He must have known you’d need the car.” Wanda Nell was puzzled by her brother’s actions.

  Lily shrugged. “Him and Mama had an argument about it. Wasn’t nothing to do with me. I ain’t never seen him before this weekend. Mama don’t let me drive the car, but sometimes I get the keys when she’s passed out.” “Your mother’s name is Lavinia?” Wanda Nell asked. Rusty must have known Lily’s mother for some time, and she was beginning to suspect exactly what the connection between her brother and Lily was.

  “Yes,” Lily said. “People call he
r Veenie.”

  If Rusty had ever mentioned this woman in the past, Wanda Nell just didn’t remember it.

  “I don’t reckon I know her,” Wanda Nell said.

  Lily shrugged. “No reason you should, ’less you keep up with the drug addicts around here.”

  Wanda Nell hoped none of her children ever referred to her in such a tone. She felt chilled.

  She decided to probe deeper. “Lily, why are you staying here with your mother? It doesn’t sound to me like you get along real well.”

  Lily laughed, a bitter sound. “You got that right. Only reason I’m here is ’cause I got nowhere else to go. I got evicted from my apartment. I couldn’t work no more, and if I can’t work, I can’t pay the rent.”

  “I can see you’re ill,” Wanda Nell said. “You mind me asking what’s wrong with you?”

  “My kidneys,” Lily said. She got up from the couch. “Excuse me a minute. I be right back.” She shuffled from the room.

  Wanda Nell sat in that depressing room and tried to remember to breathe through her mouth. After a minute or two, she heard the sound of a toilet flushing. Lily came slowly back into the room and dropped onto the couch.

  “You said it’s your kidneys,” Wanda Nell said. “Can’t you get some kind of treatment for them?”

  Lily stared at her, and Wanda Nell felt foolish. Of course this girl didn’t have the money for a doctor.

  “How bad is it?” Wanda Nell said after a moment.

  “Doctor says I’m gonna need a transplant. Not right this minute,” Lily said, “but sometime soon. If I don’t get it, I’ll die.”

  Once again Wanda Nell’s heart went out to the girl. Lily had said those last two words as calmly as if she were announcing that was going to take a walk.

  “And there’s no help for you at all?”

  Again Lily stared at her. Then, relenting, she said, “I can go to the doctor ’cause I get Medicaid, but they ain’t gonna be hurrying to find me a kidney. They got me on a list, but there ain’t much use in that.”

  “What about your mother?” Wanda Nell asked. “Couldn’t she donate one of her kidneys?”

  Lily laughed. “You think she in shape to be giving me anything of hers? I’d be worse off than ever. You don’t know how bad she be. It’s a wonder she’s even able to walk.”

  Dear Lord, Wanda Nell thought. No wonder Lily seemed so hopeless.

  Rusty must be trying to blackmail these men into giving money for Lily’s medical expenses. That made sense. He was trying to help this girl get treatment. The question was, why was he involved in this? What was his connection to Lily and her mother?

  “So how does my brother figure into all this?” Wanda Nell asked. This time Lily had to answer her. No more evasions.

  “I think he’s my daddy,” Lily said. She got up from the couch. “Excuse me. I be right back.” Once again she shuffled out of the room.

  Wanda Nell had the answer she had been looking for, one she had pretty much figured out for herself. She was appalled by the situation. If Rusty was this girl’s daddy, how could he have abandoned her and her mother? He had a lot of explaining to do, and when she got her hands on him, she might just wring his neck first and talk afterward.

  Chapter 22

  When Lily returned from the bathroom and flopped down on the couch again, Wanda Nell said, “I think my brother’s trying to help you. He may be your daddy. I just don’t know. He’s never said anything about it to me.” Not that he’s talked to me about anything important in years, she added silently.

  “I’m going to find him,” Wanda Nell said, “and we’re going to get this mess straightened out. If he’s your daddy, maybe he can donate a kidney. One way or the other, I’m going to see if we can’t get you some help.”

  “Maybe you’re my aunt,” Lily said. She watched Wanda Nell warily.

  Wanda Nell smiled. “Honey, I’d be proud to have a niece as beautiful as you are.”

  Lily startled her by breaking into loud sobs. Hurriedly Wanda Nell got up from her chair and moved to the couch beside Lily. Gathering the girl’s frail body into her arms, she rocked her gently, as she would her grandson.

  “Everything is going to be okay,” Wanda Nell murmured over and over.

  Lily’s crying gradually lessened, and Wanda Nell held her until she had stopped. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice hoarse. She pulled gently away from Wanda Nell and leaned against the back of the couch.

  “Don’t you worry about it,” Wanda Nell said. She had been thinking more about the possibility that Rusty was Lily’s father. “Lily, how old are you?”

  “Twenty-three.”

  “When were you born?”

  Lily named the date, and Wanda Nell did some rapid calculations. “You weren’t premature?”

  Lily shook her head.

  Wanda Nell expelled a shaky breath. Counting back nine months from the day Lily was born, Wanda Nell arrived at a time about three months before her father’s death.

  Rusty would barely have been fifteen when Lily was conceived, and if he had told his parents he had gotten a black girl pregnant, well, that would have been enough to trigger Mr. Rosamond’s fatal heart attack.

  But why had Mrs. Rosamond never said anything to Wanda Nell about any of this? Wanda Nell couldn’t believe that her mother would simply turn her back on a grandchild, no matter what that child’s heritage. There was still so much she didn’t know, so maybe Mrs. Rosamond hadn’t ignored Lily. Only Rusty knew the details, and the sooner she found him, the better.

  “Lily, tell me again what Rusty said about his hiding place,” Wanda Nell said.

  Lily, who appeared to have fallen asleep, started and opened her eyes. “Huh? Oh, just what I told you before. He said he had someplace safe to stay, and you was the only one who’d know where it was.”

  Wanda Nell shook her head. What on earth could Rusty be talking about? When their father died, Mrs. Rosamond had been unable to hold on to the house they were living in. There just wasn’t enough money coming in, so they’d had to sell it. The same family who had bought it then still owned it, and Wanda Nell knew Rusty couldn’t be hiding there.

  So where?

  Then it hit her.

  The only possible place Rusty could be hiding was an old house in the woods on property that had once belonged to their maternal grandfather. He had been a farmer, and he died when Wanda Nell was about thirteen. His widow, his second wife, had sold the farm without giving her stepdaughter, Mrs. Rosamond, any say in the matter.

  Before their grandfather’s death, Wanda Nell and Rusty had visited often, and they had found many places to explore on the farm. One of them had been an old house out in the woods. Their grandfather said it had belonged to a family who owned the land before he did. It had an artesian spring near it, and though the house was suffering from neglect, it was still standing. Wanda Nell and Rusty had loved playing in it. If their parents had ever realized how much time the two children had spent there, they probably would have been horrified. Looking back now, Wanda Nell wondered how on earth she and her brother had escaped serious injury in the old place.

  After the land had been sold, Wanda Nell and her family had periodically been back. There was an old gravel road on the boundary of the property that ran very near where the old house stood, and the new owners of the land didn’t seem all that interested in tearing down the house or clearing the woods. Wanda Nell had even taken her kids there a few times on picnics, and no one had ever bothered them. The house had still been there about five years ago, and it must still be there. Otherwise Rusty would have found some other place to hide out.

  “I do know where he is,” Wanda Nell said. “I’m going to get him.”

  “What about those men that’s looking for him?” Lily sat up in alarm. “He say they real dangerous.”

  “I know,” Wanda Nell said. “One of them’s a murderer, or maybe both of them. But they don’t know where I am, and I’m not going to lead them to him. I’ll get him a
way from there, and we can go to the sheriff.”

  Even as she said the words, Wanda Nell wondered if going to the sheriff would be the right thing to do. If Marty Shaw was implicated in this, how would the sheriff handle it? She would have to tread carefully.

  “Lily, will you be okay a little while longer here by yourself?” Wanda Nell examined the girl with concern. “I can take you somewhere you’ll be safe and somebody will look after you until I find Rusty.” There was no telling how Mrs. Culpepper would react if Wanda Nell drove up with Lily, but she would trust Belle to look after her.

  “No, I’ll be okay,” Lily said.

  “Do you have something to eat?”

  Lily nodded.

  “Okay, then,” Wanda Nell said, though she hated going off and leaving the girl, even for a little while. “As soon as I get my brother and find out what’s going on, we’re going to help you.”

  “Thank you,” Lily said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  Wanda Nell leaned forward and kissed the girl on the forehead. “You get some rest, and I’ll be back soon.”

  She turned as she reached the front door and looked back. Lily had fallen asleep.

  Wiping away some tears, Wanda Nell hurried to the truck. When she was inside, she realized she had left her purse in the truck the whole time, and her cell phone was in it. Thankful that no one had interfered with the truck, she pulled her cell phone out and checked it.

  She had a message. She started the truck, then she called and checked her voice mail.

  The message was from T.J., asking where she was and why she wasn’t answering her phone. He went on to say that his search of records in the courthouse hadn’t turned up anything. And would she please call right away?

  Wanda Nell deleted the message, then hit the speed-dial number of Tuck’s office. As she tried backing the truck around with one hand, Wanda Nell decided she ought to get herself one of those ear thingies so she could talk and drive with both hands at the same time.

  T.J. answered the phone. “Mama, where the heck are you?”