Music City (16 page)

Shelly smiled at her, “I think everything you know about animals is amazing.” Dorothy put the chicken down, and began rubbing the goat with both hands, “Oh, it ain’t nothin’ special Miz Mi-… Miz Shelly, I just love animals, that’s all.”

Shelly smiled, “It shows. How old were you when you went to live with Francine and Murry?” she asked.

Dorothy sat back and thought for a moment, “Well, I reckon I was about ten or so. I don’t know, maybe I was twelve. I really don’t remember. The main thing I remember is how happy I was that I didn’t have to put up with none of Momma’s boyfriends a pawin' on me anymore. I was
just tickled to death that I had my own room and a hot meal ever’ night.”

Dorothy put her head down and her voice softened to barely above a whisper, “I remember you singing to me, and I can remember looking for you... and I cried and cried. Momma slapped me and told me you wasn’t ever coming back, to forget you. We wasn’t allowed to say your name no more.”

Shelly’s heart dropped. She had always carried some guilt that she had left her siblings behind, but being nothing but a child herself, there was really nothing she could have done, as an adult she knew that. She knew she never could have gone back. Shelly was curious, “Why did you leave Francine and Murry’s if you were happy there?”

Dorothy waved her hand in the air as if to dismiss them, “Oh, they turned me out when I was eighteen and the state didn’t give them no more money to keep me. It was okay, I
was a seein' Billy Joe by that time, and I just moved in with him. I sure did miss the animals though. Billy Joe always promised me we’d get a place in the country and I could have all the animals I wanted, but, well, Billy Joe weren’t so good at keepin’ his word either.”

“Are you planning on going back to Billy Joe or divorcing him?” Shelly asked.

Dorothy laughed, “Well, I don’t reckon I have to divorce him since we never got hitched or nothin’. I just started a usin’ his name, and no one ever even asked. But, no, I ain’t a never goin’ back to him. I reckon if BJ ever wants to find me he will, but he’s so much like his Daddy...” she trailed off, a sadness building up in her eyes, “I doubt they even noticed I left.”

Shelly sat back and took all this in. What a sad life Dorothy had lived. “What did Momma do to get in trouble at the hospital?” She asked.

Dorothy shook her head, “She was a stealin’ drugs is what they said. She done some time over it, I think. O’course, I don’t rightly know, but I figured that’s why the state came in and passed us all out to whoever they could find. I remember hearin’ Francine and Murry a talkin’ about it one night, somethin’ about if they’d a ever found out what Momma was a doin’ with those babies, they’d have thrown away the key.”

“Babies?” Shelly asked.

“Oh, I don’t know the whole story, just bits an’ pieces I heard Francine and Murry talkin’ bout. Seems Momma worked in the maternity ward right a’fore she got busted for the drugs, and she bragged to Francine that she was a takin’ babies and switchin’ them around. So’s babies that was born to poor parents went home with rich parents and babies that was born rich was a goin’ home with poor folks.”

Shelly gasped, “Oh, you’re kidding?” she asked.

Dorothy shook her head, “That’s what I heard, well, I should say overheard, nobody ever told me directly. Now, I don’t know how many she done that to, since as I recollect, there weren’t that many rich folks to be a switchin’ babies with, but according to Francine, she done it.”

Dorothy paused for a moment and then added quietly, “When Momma would leave for work, I was always glad that she was gone.”

Shelly hugged herself, “Yes, I always was too.”

Shelly looked at her watch, “It’s dinner time, I hope you like fried chicken.”

Dorothy smiled, “It’s one of my very favorite meals.”

The meal was uneventful; no more was mentioned about Dorothy’s childhood, Shelly didn’t want to push her too much. As the evening wore on, everyone was tired and Shelly suggested that Dorothy spend the night with her at the farmhouse. Dorothy agreed, and Shelly found that she was enjoying her company. She really did seem to have a good heart, and as she suspected, she really had not had much of a chance in life.

Shelly decided the following morning she would invite Dorothy to go shopping with her. There were a few places around Franklin where reporters wouldn’t be, and the locals wouldn’t bother her. Although she had extended the invitation to stay to Alex and Derek as well, they declined, as they had a full calendar on the agenda the following day. Tracy opted to return to the city as well. Though Vani loved being at the farm, she too, had a full load the following day, but finally decided she would have to put it off, she wasn’t leaving her mother alone with this woman. Though she was pleasant enough during the meal, Vani didn’t fully trust her.

When morning arrived, Vani was awakened by the smell of bacon permeating the house. “Mmm,” she thought to herself,
“Momma made breakfast.” She threw on her clothes and hurried down to the kitchen where not her mother, but Dorothy was taking fresh rolls out of the oven.

“Wow, it smells amazing in here, Dorothy, but you didn’t have to do this, you’re a guest.”

Dorothy waved her off, “Your Momma has been so nice to me, this was the least I could do. Besides, I get up with the chickens usually, might as well make use of my time.”

“Everything looks delicious.” Vani said as her stomach growled.

“Well here, sit right down and I’ll fix ya a plate, Miss Vani.” Dorothy was beaming at the compliment.

As Vani ate, she thought Dorothy might just be a better cook than her own Momma, and she felt guilty for thinking it. She was almost finished with her second helping of eggs when Shelly came into the kitchen, “Dorothy, you didn’t have to make breakfast!” she exclaimed.

Dorothy just shook her head, “I’m happy to do it, you need some more meat on your bones anyway. Sit right down here and eat up.”

The day passed quickly. Dorothy had not wanted to accept all of the new clothes Shelly was having her try on. She said it was too much, and anyhow, with the first new outfit, she felt like a princess. Shelly was amazed at how little it took to make Dorothy happy, and Shelly noticed as the day wore on, that she really did enjoy Dorothy’s company.

They had decided to cook dinner together at the farmhouse. They taught Vani how to roll out the home-made noodles they were making from eggs Dorothy had gathered herself before they had left that morning. Shelly decided to tell Dorothy about the idea she had.

“Dorothy, I have been thinking. Remember, I told you that I live in town most of the time?”

Dorothy remembered, but she couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to be anywhere but right here on this farm and had told Shelly so.

Shelly continued, “Well, I was thinking, that maybe you would like to stay here at the farm for a while, until you figure out what you want to do. It would be a huge help to me and a huge help to
Donna and Jerry. There really is a lot of work here to be done with all the animals and the gardens.  I’ve thought about hiring someone else many times, I just never did.  I do however, think you would be the perfect person to do it. I’d pay you of course and you’d have the house to yourself.”

Dorothy wiped a tear from her eye. “I never had someone be so nice to me, Miss Shelly. Why I’d stay here at this farm for free, I done told you, it’s like heaven, but I don’t think I could feel right a stayin’ here in this house of yours. It’s too big for just one person, it was made for a family. I just wouldn’t feel right about it.”

That’s when Vani realized Dorothy had won her over as well and she was surprised by it. “Momma, what about the little house?” she asked.

“Good idea, Vani, I didn’t even think about that,” Shelly smiled, “Dorothy, there is another house here on the property. It’s not far from this house, a bit past the animal barns, back in the trees. It’s small, only a two bedroom,
but you are more than welcome to it, if you would be more comfortable there.” She took Dorothy’s hands, “Honestly, I really could use your help. Donna and Jerry do so much for me here, you would be a godsend for them, truly.”

Dorothy
wondered why there were so many houses here, so she asked.  “I just don’t know what to say, it sounds perfect.  Why are there so many houses here?”

Shelly laughed, “There wasn’t originally, but when the properties that adjoined the farm came up for sale, Trent, my husband, bought them.  He valued our privacy so much, and though the former residents were quite elderly when they sold to us, he was always afraid if he didn’t buy them, someone else would, and we’d lose some of our privacy.” 

Vani spoke up, “And my Momma can’t see anything go to waste, so instead of tearing down the houses that were on the properties we bought, we renovated the houses, updated them, and use them for guests or friends whenever we need to.”

Dorothy nodded, understanding the part about not wasting anything, and it would be a shame to tear down a perfectly good house
.

Vani smiled at her, “Honest Dorothy, you would be doing us a huge favor by staying here—one less empty house to worry about.”

Dorothy wiped a tear from her cheek, “I don’t know what to say, Shelly, it sounds perfect.”

Shelly put her arms around Dorothy and hugged her, “Then all you have to say is yes.”

Dorothy nodded her head and hugged Shelly back. “Thank you, Shelly, thank you.”

Alex and Derek’s caseload was much larger than either of them had envisioned when they opened shop in Nashville. In only a few short months, they were juggling more cases than they really had time to dedicate to properly.

They discussed hiring another investigator, but decided to wait a little longer to see if it was just their advertising paying off, or if this was the way it would always be. Alex’s observation was that they may find themselves with little or nothing to do in a few weeks, and if they hired a new investigator, it wouldn’t be fair to anyone.

“I’ve got that stake-out on the Miller case I need to start this afternoon Derek,” Alex groaned. “Remind me again why we’re doing divorce work.”

“Because the client gave us a ten thousand dollar retainer.” Tracy reminded. “And he has very deep pockets. His pre-
nuptial contract voids any alimony if she’s caught cheating on him. It’s in his financial interest to do that.”

“But we already have pictures; we know she’s cheating on him. What else does he want?” Alex complained, knowing it was silly to do so, but doing it anyway.

“He wants to establish a long-term pattern, and not allow her to have any way to deny it, or say the pictures were taken out of context. This guy is very patient.” Tracy said.

“Better you than me,” Derek cheerfully declared with a smirk. “Don’t forget to charge your camera batteries,” a grinning Derek teased.

Just then Alex’s phone rang and he answered. Tracy and Derek could tell by the look on his face that something was wrong, but of course they were only hearing one side of the conversation.

“Yes, my firm represents Ms. Shepard.”

“Yes, that would be Ms. Shepard’s nephew and his father.”

“Where was that, did you say?”

“That is unfortunate.”

“Yes, we will see how Ms. Shepard and her sister would like to proceed and I will get back to you by the end of the day.”

“Not a problem, thank you for calling.”

Alex hung up the phone and just looked at Tracy and Derek.

Tracy spoke up, “What did Billy Joe and BJ do now?”

Alex shook his head, “Well, it seems they must have been on their way here. The reason the State Police tried calling me was because Billy Joe
still had my card in his wallet, with Shelly’s name written on it. He also had Shelly’s card, not sure how he got that, but anyway, thank goodness the officer got no answer when he called Shelly.”

Tracy shook his head, “I knew he’d try something after Dorothy left him and came here. I just knew it.”

Alex held up his hands as though to hold Tracy back, “Hang on a minute, Tracy, let me finish.”

Tracy’s face blushed crimson, “Sorry.”

“As I was saying, the officer called me because he couldn’t get through to Shelly. It seems Billy Joe and BJ were traveling west on I40. They were just inside the Tennessee State line when Billy Joe lost control of the truck he was driving and went through a guard rail and down a fairly steep embankment. Neither of them survived. They believe from the amount of beer cans found in the path that the truck took down the embankment, and the coolers they found inside of the truck itself, that alcohol was a major factor. But, they won’t know for certain until they run their blood alcohol levels.”

Derek interrupted, “Steep embankment, I’ve driven down there before, I40 runs through a Mountain Range, there are straight drop-offs on that stretch of highway. Oh no. I hate to hear of anyone losing their life.”

Tracy was stunned, “Wow. I’m sorry they died too, but they should know better than to drink and drive. We need to let Momma know.”