Sunset Beach(62)

Delores Estes peered at the two strangers from behind thick-lensed glasses. She made no move to unfasten the screen door. “What do y’all want?”

Drue cleared her throat. “Uh, well, my name is Drue Campbell, and this is my associate, Mr. Zee. We’re here about that accident we believe you witnessed at the 7-Eleven. When that woman slipped and hit her head?”

Mrs. Estes took a step backward. “How’d y’all get my name? Who told you where I stay?”

Drue glanced at Zee, who nodded approvingly.

“The woman who fell that day hired our law firm, Campbell, Coxe and Kramner, to represent her,” Drue said. “She was hurt pretty badly, you know. But thank goodness you called nine-one-one and spoke to the police. We got your name from the police report.”

“Huh.” Delores Estes shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Finally, she unlatched the door. “Come on in, then. I can’t be standing here talking to y’all while my fish gets burnt up.”

She waddled off in the direction of the kitchen, leaving Drue and Zee standing in the living room of the tiny, stifling apartment.



* * *



A moment later she was back, wiping her hands on a dishcloth. “Y’all can sit down over there,” she said, gesturing toward a green vinyl-covered sofa.

“I been thinking about that poor lady since all that happened that day,” she said. “I asked after her at the store, but Anna, that’s the lady who works there, she told me she don’t know nothing about it.”

“She has a serious head injury,” Drue said. “And a broken tailbone, among other things.”

Mrs. Estes dabbed at her perspiring face with the dish towel. “Yes, Jesus. That was really something. She hit her head so hard, I was afraid maybe she was killed or something. And my poor little grand-girl, it scared her so bad, we ain’t been back there since.”

“Was that the first time you’ve been to that particular 7-Eleven?” Drue asked.

“Oh no. We used to go there all the time, because that’s the closest store to me. Bitty, that’s my grand-girl, she stays here with me some days when her daddy is working, she’s always begging me to take her up there and buy her a treat. That day, I got my social check, so we went on up there like we usually do.”

“Can you tell me what happened that day? In the store?”

“I got me a Co-Cola from the drink cooler, and Bitty got her a Nutty Buddy. That’s a chocolate-covered cone, and it’s got nuts all over it. That’s her favorite. Anyway, while I was getting my Co-Cola, Bitty unwrapped her Nutty Buddy. We were walking up to the counter so I could pay, and Bitty was licking her ice cream, and the ice cream part, it just slid off the cone and fell on the floor. Then Anna started fussing at her a little bit, because I hadn’t paid yet, and that got me mad. That woman knew I was gonna pay! I had the money right there in my hand!”

“What happened next?” Drue asked.

“Bitty got her feelings hurt, and she started crying about that ice cream, and I told her I’d pay for another one. Right around that time, that white lady and that man came in the store. I wasn’t paying much attention to them, because Bitty was really having a fit. So I went over to the ice cream box to get another Nutty Buddy.”

“About the clerk, Anna, did she do anything to clean up the ice cream?”

“Uh-uh,” Mrs. Estes said. “She stayed right where she was at, behind the counter. I was gonna ask her for a paper towel to wipe up the mess, but before I could, that woman come up front to pay. I believe she had a Slurpee in her hand. And right then, that man she come in with, he started walking real fast up to the front too, acting like he was gonna leave the store. Anna hollered at him, told him he needed to pay, and that’s when he kind of took off. He had a bottle stuck down in his pants, and it fell out and smashed on the floor.”

“And then what?” Drue prompted.

“All hell broke loose. Bitty was crying, because she was scared and mad at the same time, and Anna, she went chasing after the man, and then that poor lady, her feet come right out from under her and she slammed backwards, hit her head hard on that concrete floor. That Slurpee went flying too. I was afraid to touch her, ’cause she looked bad hurt. That’s when I dialed nine-one-one. We stayed right there with that lady until the ambulance and the police came, and then I paid for two ice cream cones for Bitty and we left and we ain’t been back.”

Drue thought for a moment. “Did the lady fall before or after the man dropped the bottle?”

Mrs. Estes closed her eyes and pondered the question. Finally, she nodded. “Right before.”

Drue glanced over at Zee, noticing that he’d quietly placed his phone on his lap and had been recording the interview. He nodded silently.

“Did anybody else come into the store while all that was happening?” Drue asked, hoping she’d tied up all the loose ends in Delores Estes’s witness account.

Mrs. Estes dabbed at her neck. “No. It was just me and Bitty until that white lady and the man come in. And Anna, but she works there.”

“You didn’t see the white lady try to take anything, did you?”

“What? No, I didn’t see nuthin’ like that. She had a wallet in her hand, I think, getting ready to pay for her drink.”