Flamingo Fatale (A Trailer Park Mystery Book 1) Read online

  Well, there wasn’t a dang thing she could do about any of it now. She’d better concentrate on her job, or she could goof something up and get in trouble after all.

  By the time Wanda Nell was done at seven a.m., she was exhausted, but she wanted to get home as quickly as she could. She hoped she wasn’t going to find Bobby Ray there, asleep on the couch. Surely even he couldn’t be that brazen.

  The sun was just coming up, and Wanda Nell yawned all the way home. As she pulled her car into the trailer park, she scanned the area for unfamiliar vehicles. She breathed more easily when she didn’t see any signs of one. Clutching her purse, she got out into the cool morning air and shivered a little. She really was tired, and the sooner she got Juliet off to school, the sooner she’d be able to get some sleep.

  As she walked around the car toward the front door of the trailer, she glanced at the flower beds she had planted at that end of the trailer. She stopped and closed her eyes, then opened them again. She counted.

  Dammit! One of her pink flamingos was missing. That little brat of Janette Sultan’s had taken it again. He thought it was real funny to steal one of her pink flamingos and hide it, and his fool mama let him get away with it. For a moment, she was tempted to forget about it because she was so tired, but then it just flew all over her. Her temper flared, and she marched across the gravel road to the Sultans’ trailer.

  She banged on the door as hard as she could. She didn’t care if she woke everybody up, she was good and tired of that little brat playing his jokes on her.

  “What is it, Wanda Nell? What’s wrong?” Janette Sultan opened the door, blinking nervously in the early morning sun and clutching her threadbare bathrobe to her skinny bosom.

  “Wayland’s done done it again, that’s what,” Wanda Nell said furiously. “You get that little brat out here right this minute and tell him I want my flamingo back. I’m sick and tired of him and his pranks.”

  Janette drew up at this attack on her baby. “I’ll have you know Wayland ain’t here, Wanda Nell. And he ain’t been here for several days. He’s staying with his daddy this week, if it’s any of your business. Now I’ll thank you to get the hell out of my face.” Stepping back, she slammed the door.

  Stunned, Wanda Nell stood there a moment, trying to take it in. Janette might be too easy on her brat, but she didn’t lie about things like this.

  Slowly Wanda Nell turned around and stared at her trailer. Where in tarnation could the flamingo be? And who besides Wayland Sultan would have taken it?

  She looked slowly up and down the trailer park. Hers was the only one with pink flamingoes, and if someone had taken one to stick in a flower bed, she would spot it easily. She headed down the gravel road that divided the park into two long rows, turning her head back and forth.

  She had reached the end of the road without having spotted a single flash of pink. Now madder than ever, she was determined to find the damn thing if it killed her. She stalked back up the gravel and stopped in front of her trailer, considering. Maybe someone had taken it and dumped it in the woods.

  She went along the road, looking into the woods. The sun hadn’t penetrated very far into the dense growth, but if the flamingo was anywhere nearby she ought to be able to spot it.

  Abruptly, she halted. What was that? She peered into the woods. A few yards away stood a clump of bushes beneath a stand of trees. Was that a bit of pink she saw?

  Cautiously she made her way toward the bushes. She wasn’t too keen on finding a snake in the woods. In the summer they had to be real careful, because the snakes turned up around their trailers all the time, sunning themselves. Wishing she had thought to find a big stick, Wanda Nell drew slowly closer and closer to the bushes.

  The closer she came, the more she was sure that someone had stuck her flamingo in there. Why, she had no earthly idea.

  She stopped in front of the bushes. Sure enough, there was her flamingo. Its pink head was sticking up about an inch through the foliage. Wanda Nell had no idea what kind of bush it was, she just hoped it wouldn’t make her break out. She reached for the flamingo, then stopped.

  What was that smell?

  Jeez Louise, it stank something awful, like someone had been using these bushes for an outhouse. There was some other smell that seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. Holding her breath, Wanda Nell reached for the flamingo again and tugged.

  It didn’t give much. That was strange, Wanda Nell thought. She tugged again. This time she could hear and feel something move in the bushes.

  With one hand on the flamingo, and the other hand pushing some of the foliage aside, Wanda Nell looked down. Then she wished she hadn’t.

  She let go of the flamingo and stumbled backwards. She was trying not to vomit, but she couldn’t erase that picture from her mind.

  Someone had killed Bobby Ray Culpepper, driving the metal legs of her flamingo through his neck, pinning him to the ground.

  Chapter 3

  Wanda Nell threw up the Nabs and MoonPie she had eaten on her last break of the morning at Budget Mart. She managed not to get any of it on her, but the tree she had leaned against wasn’t so lucky.

  Light-headed, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt, she staggered away from the tree, back toward the road. She kept moaning “Ohmigod, ohmigod” over and over. The horror of what she had seen wouldn’t leave her. She had seen dead people before, but nothing ever like this.

  She made it to the road and ran toward her trailer, thinking she would get inside and call the sheriff’s office. But then she realized that wasn’t such a good idea. She didn’t want to get her girls upset any sooner than she had to. Thank the Lord none of the neighbors seemed to be stirring just yet Wanda Nell went on to the trailer next door. Her best friend Mayrene was exactly who she needed right now. She reached the door of the trailer and started knocking on it as loud as she dared.

  Moments later, Mayrene swung the door open. “Now what in the hell are you banging... Oh, it’s you, Wanda Nell. My Lord, girl, what’s the matter with you?” Hands on her ample hips, Mayrene stared at her.

  As usual, Mayrene had not a hair out of place. Wanda Nell didn’t know how her friend did it, but she was immaculate every minute of the day, even in a nightgown and slippers.

  “Oh, my God, Mayrene, it’s awful,” Wanda Nell finally managed to get out. She burst into tears.

  Alarmed, Mayrene reached out and pulled Wanda Nell into the trailer. “What is it, honey? Is it the baby? Or one of the girls? What’s wrong?”

  Through her sobs, Wanda Nell managed to tell Mayrene what she had found in the woods.

  “Jesus H., Wanda Nell,” Mayrene said, staring blankly at her. “I knew the sonofabitch was useless, but who the hell would do something like this?”

  Wanda Nell just stood there, sobbing. Mayrene gathered her into her arms and held her close until she got her crying under control. “Now, come on over here and set yourself down, honey. I’m gonna get you some hot coffee with plenty of sugar, and I want you to drink it, you hear me?” Having been plopped down on the couch, Wanda Nell nodded up at Mayrene. Moments later, Mayrene was back with a mug of steaming coffee, and Wanda Nell wrapped her cold hands around it. Slowly she sipped at the hot liquid, and color began to seep back into her face. “Thank you,” she said, her voice steadier now.

  “You just sit there and keep on drinking,” Mayrene instructed, “whiles I go and call the sheriff’s department.” She turned away and went into the kitchen to the phone.

  Dimly, Wanda Nell could hear Mayrene’s voice as she spoke with the dispatcher. She looked down into the mug of coffee, trying to push away images of what she had found in the woods. She raised the mug to her lips and drank again.

  “They’ll be here soon, Wanda Nell,” Mayrene told her gently. “Now you just sit there for a minute, and I’m gonna go throw on some clothes. I don’t wanna be giving those lawmen any thrills they ain’t entitled to.” She grinned at Wanda Nell.

  Smiling faintl
y, Wanda Nell reached out a hand to her friend, and Mayrene gave it a reassuring squeeze. Thank you, Lord, for Mayrene, Wanda Nell thought.

  Mayrene was actually back in five minutes. Wanda Nell knew exactly how long it had been, because she had been staring at the Elvis clock on the wall to keep her mind clear and free.

  “You finish all that coffee, honey?” Mayrene took the mug from Wanda Nell’s hands. “Good. You feeling any better?’

  Wanda Nell nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

  Mayrene sat on the couch beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. “I know it was horrible for you, honey, and I wish you hadn’t seen it. But now we’ve got to start thinking about those girls of yours. We need to get on over to your trailer and talk to them, before the sheriff’s men get here, don’t you think? It won’t do to have them look out and see all those lawmen here without knowing what’s going on.”

  “You’re right,” Wanda Nell said, surprised at how clear and strong her voice sounded. “And the school bus is gonna be here any minute.” She got to her feet. Her knees were no longer shaking, and she took a step forward. “Oh, Lord, what am I thinking? Juliet can’t go to school today.” She turned to Mayrene.

  “Don’t worry about that now, honey,” Mayrene said in a firm tone. “All in good time.” She pointed Wanda Nell toward the door.

  Out the trailer they went, across the yard that separated Mayrene’s home from Wanda Nell’s. Wanda Nell fumbled for her purse, then realized she didn’t have it. She turned an alarmed face to Mayrene. “Oh, my Lord, Mayrene, my purse. I must’ve dropped it in the woods.”

  “Don’t worry, they’ll find it,” Mayrene said, still in that firm tone. “We better not go looking for it. We don’t wanna be messing up the crime scene anymore’n it’s already messed up.” Mayrene watched a lot of those cop shows on TV, so Wanda Nell didn’t argue with her.

  Wanda Nell tried the doorknob, and it twisted open easily. She must have forgotten to lock it on the way out last night, and evidently Miranda had never thought to check it.

  She opened the door and stepped inside. The sight that met her eyes almost caused her to faint. Mayrene stepped in behind.

  “Lord have mercy!” Mayrene said. “What on earth?”

  From the back of the trailer, Wanda Nell could hear Lavon crying. She wondered why he wasn’t screaming. She sure wanted to, but she took a deep breath instead.

  The trailer looked like a tornado had ripped right through it. Cushions had been tossed off the chairs and the couch, and drawers had been pulled open, their contents thrown around the room. Without even thinking about it, Wanda Nell glanced into the kitchen and saw that the same thing had happened there.

  Then the shock began to pass, and all she could think about was the safety of her girls and her grandson. “Go check on Miranda and the baby,” she told Mayrene. Without waiting for an answer, she ran down the hall to her right toward the two bedrooms which were hers and Juliet’s.

  She didn’t spare a glance for the bathroom or her own room, intent on getting to her younger daughter as quickly as she could. She burst into Juliet’s room, then stopped short.

  Lying on her bed, her arms and legs immobilized by duct tape, with more tape on her mouth, Juliet blinked her eyes in relief at the sight of her mother.

  “Oh Lord, who could do such a thing,” Wanda Nell said as she dropped to her knees beside Juliet’s bed. With trembling fingers she reached for the tape covering the girl’s mouth. At least the person who had done this had wrapped some cloth around Juliet’s head and hands to protect them from the duct tape. He’d used the girl’s long nightgown to protect her legs. “I don’t want to hurt you, sweetie, but I’ve got to get this off.” Juliet nodded, and as gently as she could, but quickly, Wanda Nell found the edge and pulled off the tape.

  “Thank you, Mama,” Juliet whispered. “I was so afraid those men got ahold of you, too.”

  Wanda Nell tore at the tape which bound Juliet’s arms and legs in such a way that she couldn’t have gotten off the bed without injuring herself badly. The tape was wound so thickly that she didn’t bother trying to find the edge to unwrap it.

  “I’ve got some scissors in my desk drawer, Mama,” Juliet said.

  Wanda Nell scrambled for the scissors, then forced herself to slow down. She didn’t want to cut Juliet while she was trying to get the tape off. She couldn’t bear to think about what else “those men” might have done to Miranda and Juliet. If they had touched either of her girls, she swore she’d cut their balls off with a butter knife.

  Then Juliet’s arms were free, and the girl grabbed her mother in a hug. Wanda Nell returned it, then gently disengaged her daughter’s arms and began rubbing the two smaller hands between her own. “Are you okay, sweetie? Did they hurt you?” She braced herself for the answer.

  “No, Mama,” Juliet said. At fourteen she was old enough to know what her mother meant. “They didn’t touch me. They just tied me up with the tape.”

  Offering a silent prayer, Wanda Nell started cutting the tape that bound Juliet’s legs. They were soon released from their bondage, and Wanda Nell rubbed her hands up and down Juliet’s legs to bring the circulation back.

  “Thank you, Mama,” Juliet said, “but can you help me up? I’ve got to pee real bad.”

  Almost laughing with relief, Wanda Nell nearly lifted Juliet off the bed. With a supporting arm around the girl’s shoulders, she guided her to the bathroom.

  “What about Miranda?” Juliet asked as she sank down on the toilet seat.

  “Mayrene is with her,” Wanda Nell said. “I’ll go check on her, if you’ll be okay.”

  “I’m okay, Mama,” Juliet said.

  Wanda Nell turned and headed toward the other end of the trailer, afraid of what she might find. She met Mayrene, carrying a diaper, in the hall just outside the door of Miranda’s bedroom. Her eyes asked a silent question of her friend.

  “She’s okay, honey,” Mayrene said, reaching out a hand to give Wanda Nell’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “And so is Lavon. They’re just scared. Nobody hurt them. You go on in there, and I’m going to fix that baby a bottle soon as I get rid of this here smelly diaper. He’ll settle down when he’s had something to eat.”

  Wanda Nell stepped past Mayrene and into the bedroom. Miranda had Lavon in her lap, rocking him back and forth, crooning to him. On shaky legs, Wanda Nell went forward,

  then sank down to her knees on the floor in front of Miranda.

  Before she could say a word, Miranda said, “I heard the car drive up like fifteen minutes ago, Mama. Where were you?” Her eyes filled with tears. “What took you so long?”

  Guilt stabbed through Wanda Nell immediately. “Oh, honey,” she said, reaching out for her elder daughter. Miranda, still holding her son, sat stiff in her mother’s embrace.

  Wanda Nell sat back on her heels. “Miranda, I’m sorry. I wish I’d gotten here sooner, but something happened.” She broke off.

  The sound of a siren came closer and closer. Miranda’s eyes grew wide with surprise. “How’d you know to call the sheriff, Mama?”

  “We had to call them about something else, honey,” Wanda Nell said, desperately trying to find the words to break the news to Miranda. Of her three children, Miranda was the one who had always idolized her father.

  “What happened?” Miranda said. Lavon had grown quiet now, sucking his thumb and watching his grandmother through his dark lashes.

  Wanda Nell reached out a hand to her daughter. “Oh, sweetie, something awful’s happened.” She paused. “It’s your daddy.”

  “What happened to my daddy?” Miranda’s voice rose with each syllable.

  From behind Wanda Nell, Juliet, now dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, interrupted them. “Mama, the sheriff’s men are here. When did you call them?”

  Before Wanda Nell could answer either of her daughters, they all heard a loud knock at the door of the trailer.

  Reaching behind her to draw Juliet forward, Wanda
Nell sat her younger daughter down beside her sister on the bed.

  “Girls, I’m afraid I have some bad news about your daddy.” Miranda’s eyes were already filling with tears, while Juliet merely gazed at her mother with curiosity. “Your daddy’s dead. I found him out in the woods. Somebody killed him.”

  Miranda burst into noisy sobs, frightening her son, who began wailing just as loud as she was. Juliet frowned. “How, Mama? Was it those men who tied up me and Miranda?”

  Wanda Nell drew in a deep, steadying breath. “How they did it don’t matter right now, sweetie. And I guess it could’ve been those men who tied you up and trashed this place. But I just don’t know.” She stood up. “Did either of you recognize any of them? How many men were there?”

  Juliet opened her mouth to speak, but then she clamped it shut and jerked her head sideways at her mother.

  Wanda Nell turned at the sound of a throat being cleared behind her.

  “If you don’t mind, Miz Culpepper,” said a man in uniform, “I reckon I’d better be the one asking questions for a while.”

  Well, damn! Wanda Nell thought. I might’ve guessed.

  “Hello, Elmer Lee,” Wanda Nell said, feeling like she was going to vomit again. Elmer Lee Johnson was another old buddy of Bobby Ray’s, and he despised her, as he made plain anytime he ate at the Kountry Kitchen. He delighted in trying to make her feel like dirt.

  “If you don’t mind, Miz Culpepper,” he drawled, “you better remember to call me Lieutenant Johnson. This here’s an official investigation, and we have to keep things on a formal basis, you might say.”

  “Sure, Lieutenant Johnson,” Wanda Nell said, wanting to scratch his eyes out.

  “Now, Miz Lancaster here,” Elmer Lee said, jerking his head in Mayrene’s direction, “called in to the sheriff’s department to report that somebody found a body in the woods here.”