Free Bring Your Own Poison by Jimmie Ruth Evans Page B

“and I don’t believe that for a minute.”
    â€œNo wonder Bill Warren was being so rough on Gerald,” Wanda Nell said.
    â€œWarren’s about as big a jerk as Travis Blakeley was,” T.J. said. “Plus I think him and Travis did some running around together.”
    â€œHave you had a run-in with Bill Warren?” Wanda Nell asked, her heart sinking.
    â€œTuck and I have seen him a few times around town,” T.J. said, looking away. “He’s made it real clear what he thinks of us.”
    â€œSounds like a real prince,” Jack said. “I’m sorry y’all have to deal with that kind of stupidity.”
    â€œI just can’t get over the change in him,” Wanda Nell said. “He was a really nice boy back in high school.”
    â€œYou mean he’s from around here?” Jack asked. “And you knew him in high school?”
    â€œYes, he grew up here,” Wanda Nell said. She paused a moment. “Actually, he and I dated for a little while.”
    â€œYou’ve got to be kidding!” T.J. said. “You and that ape?”
    â€œIt was about twenty-five years ago,” Wanda Nell said, getting a bit irritated. “And I told you, he was nice. At least, I thought he was. But we didn’t date for long, because I started seeing Bobby Ray.”
    Neither Jack nor T.J. said anything, and after a moment Wanda Nell went on. “With the way Bill’s acting, Gerald really does need a good lawyer. I’m glad Tuck was willing to do it.”
    â€œDo you think he did it, T.J.?” Jack asked.
    â€œI don’t know,” T.J. said. “I haven’t been around Gerald all that much for about five years, and since I’ve been back in town I haven’t talked to him more than two or three times. I probably wouldn’t have those times either, except I ran into him down at the courthouse.” T.J. worked in Tuck’s office, and he spent a fair amount of time at the courthouse.
    â€œWhat was Gerald doing in the courthouse?” Wanda Nell asked.
    â€œHe got a job a couple months ago in the county clerk’s office,” T.J. said. “Just the other day I had lunch with him in the cafeteria down there. That’s when he told me how worried he was about Tiffany.”
    â€œTiffany Farwell,” Wanda Nell said. “Wasn’t her daddy some kind of businessman?”
    â€œYeah,” T.J. said. “He owned a big construction company, for one thing, plus I think he had a hand in a lot of other businesses all over northeast Mississippi. He was pretty loaded.”
    â€œI know who you’re talking about,” Jack said. “Didn’t he die a couple of years ago?”
    â€œYes, he sure did,” Wanda Nell said, sitting up. “And it was pretty embarrassing for the family. They tried to hush it up, but he had a heart attack in one of those strip clubs in Memphis and died right there.”
    â€œI think he and his wife were already divorced by that point,” T.J. said. “It was bad enough, him dying in a place like that, but at least he wasn’t still married.”
    â€œWhat happened to his money?” Jack asked.
    â€œI think Tiffany got most of it, at least whatever her mother didn’t get in the divorce,” T.J. said. “I heard that Miz Farwell really took him to the cleaners.”
    â€œSounds like he deserved it,” Wanda Nell said, “if he went to places like that when he was married.”
    â€œHe did,” T.J. said. “At least that’s what I always heard.”
    â€œDo you know Tiffany?” Wanda Nell asked.
    â€œA little,” T.J. answered. “But she didn’t have much to do with me. She had her own little group, and they were too good for anybody who lived in a trailer park.” He grinned.
    â€œSounds pretty stuck-up,” Jack said. “I’ve got a few girls like her in my classes, I’m sorry to