Page 72 of Sunset Beach
“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.”
“Fine,” Drue said, feeling grateful and encouraged. “That’s good to know.”
Zee cleared his throat. “If it’s all right with you, we’re gonna type up our notes about our conversation today. Like an affidavit. Would you be willing to sign that?”
“I reckon so. If it’s the truth like I told you.”
Drue smiled broadly. “Okay, I think that’s all the questions I have for now, Mrs. Estes. I want to thank you so much for talking to us today.”
“That’s okay. I try to be a good Christian, you know?”
Mrs. Estes pushed the screen door open to let her visitors pass. “Which law firm did y’all say you work for again?”
Zee passed her a business card. The older woman pushed her glasses down on her nose and studied it. “Oh yes. Campbell, Coxe and Kramner. You told me that earlier. I seen y’all’s billboards and television commercials. Let me ask you something. That man on the billboards, Brice Campbell, is he really a lawyer? Or just some actor?”
“He’s really a lawyer,” Drue assured her.
“Well, he’s got some real pretty hair on him,” Delores Estes said. “You think that’s a wig?”
“It’s absolutely a wig,” Zee said, his face solemn.
“High five,” Zee said, when they were both inside the pickup truck. He held his hand up, palm out, and Drue slapped it.
“The client didn’t even slip on the Smirnoff,” Drue exclaimed. “It was the ice cream. And the clerk should have cleaned it up. That’s negligence, right?”
“Should be,” Zee said. “Good work back there. I’d be very surprised if the insurance company doesn’t make us a very nice offer once they hear what Delores Estes has to say.”
“Really?” Drue’s face flushed with excitement. “Wow. I had no idea things could happen so fast. I mean, the Gulf Vista case, it took nearly two years to settle, and in that one the victim was murdered.”
Zee frowned. “You’re comparing apples to oranges. We had no witnesses to the hotel murder. No evidence that could show the victim wasn’t on the clock. This 7-Eleven thing is totally different. We should hear something back today about the client from our neurologist.” He picked up his phone and examined it.
“I’m kind of surprised Brice hasn’t already texted or called to fill me in.”
“You two really work closely together, don’t you?”
“We make a damn good team,” Zee said. He pulled the pickup into traffic and headed south, toward downtown. “Been like that since before you were born. We went through the police academy together, you know.”
“I didn’t know that,” Drue admitted.
“I was best man when he married your mom. He stood up for me when I got married.”
“Was that to…?”
“Frannie,” Zee said. His face softened. “She was a piece of work, my Frannie. I used to call her Big Red. She had a temper to go along with the hair.”
