Murder & Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction (21 page)

“
That’s impossible, Trevor. Don’t talk like that.” Maye got up and walked across the porch.

“
It’s not impossible. I know you want me. I’ve been comin’ to your house for over a year
now, and you haven’t discouraged me one iota. You know how I feel ‘bout you. I have always loved you. I always will.”

“
Trevor! Don’t talk that way! You’re a married man!”

“
I’ll get a divorce. Say you’ll marry me, and I’ll divorce Billie Jane, and you and I will be together. Say yes, Maye. Say yes. Be mine.” He was down on his knees in front of her, all but begging. “Marry me.” He clutched her hand.

“
Trevor, stand up, the children will see you!” She pulled away.

“
I don’t care who sees me. I don’t care who knows I love you,
Maye. Do you hear me? I love you.”

“
I cannot marry you, Trevor. I cannot.”

Trevor
stood up. In the dim light, Maye couldn’t see the hurt and anger in his eyes. He ran his hands through his hair and looked out at the carefree scene in the yard. The children sounded so happy. And he was so miserable.

“
Is it someone else? Is that it?” Maye didn’t answer.

“
I won’t let you marry someone else, Maye,” he said in almost a whisper.

“
Don’t talk like that! You don’t have any say in who I marry.”

“
I do, and I won’t allow it, Maye. I’ll kill both you and the man
before I’ll allow you to marry anyone else.”

[ 
July
2010  ]

A few days after the Fourth of July celebration, Tess and Jack had
arranged to meet Martha Maye at Slick & Junebug’s Diner. Tess walked over after work and arrived first. Clive and Earl, who seemed to have grown roots from their butts into the stools at the diner, greeted her.

“
Is it hot enough for you, gentlemen?”

“
I don’t know about the weather, but you, missy, are definitely hot enough for me!” Clive said, with a sparkle in his eye.

“
Forget it, Clive, she likes me better, don’t ya, Tess?” Earl flashed a toothless smile.

“
Oh, you two! You sure know how to make a girl’s day!” Tess patted them both on the back as she slid past them. “Hey, Slick!” She waved at Slick behind the window, working in the kitchen.

“
Hey, Mizz Tess! Junebug’ll be right out in a jiffy.”

Tess
heard Clive say, “You’re nuttier ‘n a squirrel turd if you think that purty lady would be interested in you.”

She
laughed to herself and headed for a table, settling into a booth
in the back. She sat back and looked around the room. A couple of
teenagers sat at a booth sipping milk shakes. An older gentleman sat
by himself, reading the newspaper and drinking coffee. And Clive and Earl cackled at the counter. It was late afternoon; the dinnertime rush would start soon. Through the window, she saw Jack crossing the street, and she quickly checked her compact mirror to make sure she had on enough lipstick. Jack stopped for some good-natured ribbing with
Clive and Earl and then he headed to Tess’s table.

“
’Scuse me, madam, is anyone sitting here?” He flashed
that dazzling smile of his.

“
Well, actually, I was hoping a handsome man would fill that seat, but you can sit there while I wait.” She smiled innocently.

Jack
made a show of clutching his heart. “Tess! You wound me!”

“
Somehow, I think you’ll survive.” Her eyes went to the door where Martha Maye had just entered. She managed to get past Clive and Earl without too much commotion.

Pickle
came in right behind her, and the men were busy teasing him about his shirt that said, “Ninja Cleverly Disguised As A Physicist.”

“
Hey, y’all!” Martha Maye said, coming toward them. Ever the
gentleman, Jack got up to greet her and moved to sit next to Tess,
allowing Martha Maye to take his place. They all settled in. Jack’s thigh nudged Tess’s. She pretended not to notice.

“
It was so nice of y’all to invite me out. I left Butterbean with Mama at the shop, so I cain’t stay long, but it’s nice to be out with grownups for a change!”

Junebug
appeared from the back, wiping her hands on her apron. Taking the pencil from behind her ear, she said, “Here’s all my little chickies, home to roost!”

Jack
hollered toward the kitchen, “Slick! Watch out! Junie’s bun is on top of her head today!”

Junebug
pointed her pencil at Jack. “That’s gonna cost ya, mister. Whatever you’re gonna order—we’re out of it.” She turned to Tess. “Let’s see . . . I’ll bet you want sweet tea with a lemon.”

“
And lots of ice, please.”

“
Check,” Junebug said. “We’re gonna turn you into GRITS, yet.”

“
Pardon me?”

“
Girl Raised In the South,” Martha explained. “Sweet tea for me too, please, Junebug, and no lemon.”

Junebug
started to walk away, and Jack hollered, “Hey! What about me?”

“
I done told ya,” she called back. “We’re out of it.”

“
Out of what?” he asked in mock disbelief.

“
Whatever it is you want.” She turned her head briefly to flash a cheesy grin at him. Then she hollered into the kitchen, “Two sweeties with lots of hail and sour one.”

A
few minutes later, Slick came out of the kitchen with an order of fried green tomatoes and a glass of sweet tea, which he sat down in front of Jack. “’S’on the house,” he deadpanned, before walking away.

Jack
got right to business.

“
The pleasure of baskin’ in your lovely company was just one of the reasons why we asked you here, Martha Maye.”

“
Oh?” Her eyebrows shot up.

“
Tess and I heard about, and subsequently have been researching, the murder of your grandfather. We think it’s a helluva story, and I’m considering using it in my next book. But there are holes all over the place. We think it’s a sore subject for your mom, so we thought we’d ask you . . . “ Jack didn’t know how to continue.

“
Oh, you’re right. Mama won’t talk about that.” Martha Maye sat back from the table.

“
Do you think she’ll mind if I write about it?”

“
Does a fat kid like cake?”

“
Ah, criminy. What if I helped solve the murder?”

“
Jack, she doesn’t want it solved.”

“
Why on earth not?”

“
She has her reasons, bless her heart.”

“
Well . . . how much do you know about what happened back then?” Jack asked.

“
I never knew him, of course, so it’s not a sensitive subject for me like it is for Mama. And I never heard much, because she was so little at the time she hardly remembers, and what she does remember is painful. What do you want to know?”

“
Anything you know,” Jack said. “If that’s not too intrusive.”

“
Oh my gosh, these things are good!” Tess said, around a mouthful of fried green tomatoes.

“
Well . . . lessee . . . “ Martha Maye took a sip of her tea while thinking. “Mama said her daddy took the family to church on that Sunday night, and then went to a meetin’. Apparently he’d gotten a message that his uncle wanted to see him right away on an urgent matter.”

“
What was the meeting about?” Tess asked.

“
Well that’s the thing . . . nobody ever could figure out who called him. His uncle said it wasn’t him. I’m not sure how my grandfather got the message, but I do know that whoever left the message, and why,
remains a mystery. ‘Course there were some who said he made the
message up. Said he was up to no good. They suggested he was involved in somethin’ shady havin’ to do with the bank robbery. Do y’all know ‘bout the robbery?”

“
Yes, we did see a newspaper account of that,” Tess said, as Junebug arrived at the table with the food.

“
Alrighty then.” Junebug set down a bowl of pea soup in front of Martha Maye. “I have a Frenchman’s delight.” She put a salad and crackers at Tess’s place and said, “Cow
feed and a dog biscuit for you, darlin’.” And last she set down a bun pup and some cherry gelatin. “And a bun pup, and nervous puddin’ for Mr. Trouble here.”

“
Aw, Junie, how long you gonna be mad at me? You know I love you. I just love to tease you.”

“
Jackson, you know I cain’t stay mad at you for long.”

Jack
waggled his index finger at her and she bent down. He kissed her cheek, and she swatted his arm.

She
tried not to grin. “Y’onta drag that dog through the garden?”

“
Just ketchup will be fine, sweetie.” She went off grumbling
about silver-tongued devils. Jack wasted no time getting back to the
subject at hand.

“
So people thought your grandfather was in on the robbery?”

“
Not necessarily.” Martha Maye took a sip of her soup. “That was one version. But some thought he may have found out about somebody else’s involvement and was bein’ given some hush money.”

“
How horrible!” Tess moaned. “How did your grandmother get through all of that? I mean, she had the horror of finding her husband shot to death, and then she had to deal with all the wild rumors. What a horrible time it must have been for her.”

“
Oh, honey, you don’t know the half of it.”

“
What else is there?”

“
It was a horrible year—1935 was. My great-grandfather
died in
January of that year, just eleven months before my grandfather died in December.”

“
Oh no,” moaned Tess.

“
Your poor grandmother,” Jack said.

“
Is there anything else you can tell us about his murder?”

Martha
Maye took a spoonful of soup, then said, “There’s one thing that’s always stuck out, the few times Mama’s talked about that night.”

“
What?”

“
Mama said
her
mama talked for years about my grandfather tryin’ to tell her about somethin’ that night, but she never gave him a chance.”

“
That is odd,” Tess said.

“
Yep. Grandmama said he kept sayin’ he wanted to tell her about somethin’ in the attic—somethin’ about the trunk in the attic. Noboby knows what he . . . “ Martha Maye’s sentence trailed off.

At
the word ‘trunk’ Tess froze, fork in mid-air. She turned to look at Jack, as he turned to look at her.

“
What’id I say?” Martha Maye asked.

“
Whoa.” Jack whistled. “Tess found somethin’ in the house, Martha Maye.”

“
What did you find?” Martha Maye looked at Tess. Tess reached
into her purse and pulled the key off
of
her key ring. “This. There was a tag attached that said, ‘trunk’.”

Martha
Maye took the key and looked at it.
“Trunk?”

“
Trunk,” Jack and Tess said together.

Tess
looked at Jack and said, “Jinx, buy me a Coke!”

“
Where’d you find it?”

“
It was in the floor register in the master bedroom. It must have
fallen in there and no one realized it,” Tess explained.

“
Well, I’ll see if I can broach the subject with Mama—”

Tess
interrupted her. “I told her about the key right after I found it. She didn’t say much, except they’d gotten a replacement key for their trunk way back when. But the look on her face was one of . . . I don’t know . . . strain . . . or alarm . . . maybe just pain. I felt like I shouldn’t ask her any more about it. She told me to keep the key.”

Jack
took the key from Martha Maye and twirled it between his
fingers, as Tess filled a plate with fried green tomatoes and spooned sauce over them. “These are
so
good,” she said, mostly to herself.

“
I do know that the trunk in the attic was searched thoroughly after my grandfather died. My grandmother was sure there was somethin’ in it that would help solve his murder. But nothin’ was ever found . . . “